Movies like The Forty-Niners (1954)
The best movies like The Forty-Niners (1954) are North to Alaska (1960), True Grit (1969) and Return of the Gunfighter (1967). If The Forty-Niners hooked you with its western, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedEl Dorado (1966)7.4/10 from 620 votes
- NewestA River of Skulls (2011)Released 2011
North to Alaska (1960)
After striking gold in Alaska, the romantic George sends his womanizing partner Sam to bring his fiancée up from Seattle. When Sam finds that she has already married, he returns instead with Angel, a dancer originally from France.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Grit (1969)
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReturn of the Gunfighter (1967)
A gunfighter and a cowboy help a Mexican girl avenge the land-related murder of her parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRamrod (1947)
A cattle-vs.-sheepman feud loses Connie Dickason her fiance, but gains her his ranch, which she determines to run alone in opposition to Frank Ivey, "boss" of the valley, whom her father Ben wanted her to marry. She hires recovering alcoholic Dave Nash as foreman and a crew of Ivey's enemies. Ivey fights back with violence and destruction, but Dave is determined to counter him legally... a feeling not shared by his associates. Connie's boast that, as a woman, she doesn't need guns proves justified, but plenty of gunplay results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGo West (1940)
A con man heading west to search for gold teams up with a pair of scheming brothers along the way. The trio soon find themselves in the middle of a feud between two rival families and two underhanded land developers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Stalking Moon (1968)
While moving a group of Apaches to a Native American reservation in Arizona, an American scout named Sam Varner is surprised to find a white woman, Sarah Carver, living with the tribe. When Sam learns that she was taken captive by an Indian named Salvaje ten years ago, he attempts to escort Sarah and her half-Native American son to his home in New Mexico. However, it soon becomes clear that Salvaje is hot on their trail.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
SnoozefestMovies like thisHombre (1967)
John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Indians, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bravados (1958)
Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Badlanders (1958)
Two men are released from the Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma in 1898. One, The Dutchman, is out to get both gold and revenge from certain people in a small mining town who had him imprisoned unjustly. The other, McBain, is just trying to go straight, but that is easier said than done once The Dutchman involves him in his gold theft scheme. Based on the 1949 novel The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett, the story is given an 1898 setting. It is the second film adaptation of the novel following 1950's noir classic The Asphalt Jungle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForty Guns (1957)
An authoritarian rancher rules an Arizona county with her private posse of hired guns. When a new Marshal arrives to set things straight, the cattle queen finds herself falling for the avowedly non-violent lawman. Both have itchy-fingered brothers, a female gunman enters the picture, and things go desperately wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Wagon (1956)
When a handful of settlers survive an Apache attack on their wagon train they must put their lives into the hands of Comanche Todd, a white man who has lived with the Comanches most of his life and is wanted for the murder of three men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Duel at Silver Creek (1952)
When a gang of ruthless claim jumpers brutally murders his miner father, a gunman known as the Silver Kid joins forces with the local marshal to free the tiny town of Silver City from the clutches of the dastardly villains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEl Dorado (1966)
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnion Pacific (1939)
One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCanyon Passage (1946)
In 1850s Oregon, a businessman is torn between his love of two very different women and his loyalty to a compulsive gambler friend who goes over the line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRawhide (1951)
At a desolate relay station in the west, a stagecoach attendant and a stranded woman traveller are held captive by a band of escaped convicts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like this3 Bad Men (1926)
Three outlaws come to the aid of a young girl after her father is killed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like this3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Dan Evans, a small time farmer, is hired to escort Ben Wade, a dangerous outlaw, to Yuma. As Evans and Wade wait for the 3:10 train to Yuma, Wade's gang is racing to free him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Comancheros (1961)
Texas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner in an undercover effort to defeat a band of renegade arms merchants and thieves known as Comancheros.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Return of Frank James (1940)
Farmer Frank and his ward hunt brother Jesse's killers, the back-shooting Fords.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiver of No Return (1954)
An itinerant farmer and his young son help a heart-of-gold saloon singer search for her estranged husband.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrail of the Falcon (1968)
In the latter half of the 19th century, gold is discovered in the Black Hills, sacred land of the Lakota people. Gold diggers, profiteers and adventurers flock to the region. Among them is the hard-hearted land speculator Bludgeon, who tries to expel the Lakota using brutal methods. Lakota warriors retaliate, and soon the gold diggers' town becomes a battlefield.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
A River of Skulls (2011)
After her mother's death, Eula is forced to leave home and travel with a stranger into a world far more dangerous than she ever imagined. Stars Kelly Nixon & Aleph Ayin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967)
To restore his family's lost wealth, a young Boston lad stows away on a ship bound for the California Gold Rush. When their very proper butler gives chase, all roads lead to nonstop adventure, wild and woolly characters, and a lucky punch that leads to a bonanza of belly laughs!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Far Country (1954)
During the Klondike Gold Rush, a misanthropic cattle driver and his talkative elderly partner run afoul of the law in Alaska and are forced to work for a saloon owner to take her supplies into a newly booming but lawless Canadian town.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBend of the River (1952)
Two men with questionable pasts, Glyn McLyntock and his friend Cole, lead a wagon-train load of homesteaders from Missouri to the Oregon territory...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCan't Help Singing (1944)
With the California Gold Rush beginning, Senator Frost's singing daughter Caroline loves a young army officer; the Senator can't stand him, and has him sent to California. Headstrong Caroline follows him by train, riverboat, and covered wagon, gaining companions en route: a vagrant Russian prince and gambler Johnny Lawlor, who just might take her mind off the army.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Two Brothers in Trinity (1972)
Charming, blithely amoral devil-may-care rogue Jesse Smith and peaceful, devout straight-arrow Mormon Lester O'Hara are estranged half brothers who are reunited after receiving a sizable inheritance from their deceased mother. The wildly contrasting mismatched duo get into all sorts of trouble while trying to claim said inheritance. Written by Woodyanders
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
In Old California (1942)
Boston pharmacist Tom Craig comes to Sacramento, where he runs afoul of local political boss Britt Dawson, who exacts protection payment from the citizenry. Dawson frames Craig with poisoned medicine, but Craig redeems himself during a Gold Rush epidemic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Raiders (1952)
A rancher who has staked a claim during the California gold rush goes after the gang of murderous claim-jumpers who have stolen his claim and murdered his wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Like The Forty-Niners and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Forty-Niners?
The closest matches to The Forty-Niners are North to Alaska (1960), True Grit (1969) and Return of the Gunfighter (1967). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Forty-Niners?
Start with North to Alaska (1960), the closest match to The Forty-Niners.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Forty-Niners?
El Dorado (1966), rated 7.4/10 by 620 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Forty-Niners?
A River of Skulls (2011) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Forty-Niners?
Yes: North to Alaska (1960), True Grit (1969) and Return of the Gunfighter (1967).
How are movies similar to The Forty-Niners chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Forty-Niners, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.





























