Movies like The Spirit of Culver (1939)
The best movies like The Spirit of Culver (1939) are Fast Girls (2012), Won't Back Down (2012) and The River (1984). If The Spirit of Culver hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMan on Fire (2004)7.5/10 from 6,015 votes
- NewestMinotaur (2026)Released 2026
Fast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe River (1984)
Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHurry Sundown (1967)
A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnne of Green Gables (2016)
Anne Shirley, an orphan, is fostered by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to be sent them to help with their farm work. They accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and to the local villagers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHead Full of Honey (2018)
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Chips (1994)
Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNational Theatre Live: Hamlet (2015)
As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father's death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHungry Hearts (2015)
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Bus (2021)
Widower Tom, on the recent passing of his wife Mary, uses his free bus pass to travel the length of Britain from John O'Groats in Caithness to Land's End in Cornwall, their shared birthplace, using only local buses. It's an incident-fuelled nostalgia trip and his encounters with local people make him a media phenomenon. Tom is totally unaware and to his surprise on arrival at Land’s End he’s greeted as a celebrity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSound of Christmas (2016)
Lizzie is a young piano teacher working at a music school while trying to save enough money for a Steinway piano. The school is gearing up for their major Christmas fundraiser and she has committed much of her time to plan the event. One afternoon, she meets Brad who takes an interest in her playing and asks if she will teach his uninterested teenage daughter. She begins to break through to the young girl, and sparks begin to fly with Brad, but she is shocked to find out that his interest is not solely in her playing, but in the property that houses the music school. She sets out to save the school and the event, but can she work things out with Brad?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Color of Friendship (2000)
Mahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from California and who lives in a nice home in Washington DC. When Mahree is chosen to spend a semester at the Dellums' house, she doesn't expect that her host family would be black. Nor do her hosts suspect that she is not a black South African.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKid Galahad (1962)
After completing military service, Walter Gulick takes a job as a sparring partner at a gym, the owner of which sees potential in Walter as a professional fighter—and takes him under his wing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of Bamboo (1955)
Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Finds You in Charm (2015)
A young Amish woman, who isn't satisfied with her path at home, visits a cousin for the summer. Over the summer, she is exposed to another world, finds friendship and more. Soon she must choose and come to terms with the life she wants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
A rebellious youth, sentenced to a boy’s reformatory for robbing a bakery, rises through the ranks of the institution by impressing its Governor through his prowess as a long distance runner. He is encouraged to compete in an upcoming race, but faces ridicule from his peers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMan on Fire (2004)
Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she's kidnapped he's consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save her life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMinotaur (2026)
When Gleb, a successful company director, finds himself under siege from mounting corporate pressures, an increasingly unstable world, and the discovery of his wife's affair, the collapse of his carefully ordered life accelerates toward violence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRangamarthanda (2023)
After retirement, a Shakespearean theater actor, divides his property amongst his two children. However, their ungratefulness leaves him and his wife homeless during their old age.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Udaharanam Sujatha (2017)
Sujatha, mother of a teenaged girl, nurses a dream to educate her daughter by doing multiple jobs at houses and factories. However, her daughter Athira doesn't take education seriously, believing that being the off spring of a domestic help, she too will end up the same. A dismayed Sujatha is on the lookout for ways to rouse Athira's competitive spirit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Narappa (2021)
Narappa is forced to flee into the forest with his younger son, Sinappa, after Sinappa murders an upper caste landlord to avenge his older brother’s death. And now Narappa must make more sacrifices and navigate a deeply unjust justice system to give his son a chance at future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
GodFather (2022)
The sudden demise of the celebrated leader PKR leaves the ruling party in a political crisis and shakes up the family. The party has to elect a leader, and more than one player is in contention. Everyone’s intentions are blurred, and loyalties are in question. Brahma is a game changer in this squabble. Who will succeed as the leader and become the CM?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
An Actor's Revenge (1963)
In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBhola Shankar (2023)
A reformed gangster now taxi driver unwittingly draws the vengeance of a crime syndicate after aiding the police in busting a smuggling operation. Fueled by a burning desire for justice and to protect his adopted sister, he embarks on a relentless quest to hunt down the mobsters responsible.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Unholy Three (1930)
A trio of former sideshow performers double as the "Unholy Three" in a scam to nab some shiny rocks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
After a baron steals his scientific discoveries, runs away with his wife, and slaps him in public, a man joins a Parisian circus sideshow as a clown whose act consists of being slapped repeatedly and becomes infatuated with a showgirl colleague whose father intends to marry her off to the baron.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like The Spirit of Culver and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Spirit of Culver?
The closest matches to The Spirit of Culver are Fast Girls (2012), Won't Back Down (2012) and The River (1984). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Spirit of Culver?
Start with Fast Girls (2012), the closest match to The Spirit of Culver.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Spirit of Culver?
Man on Fire (2004), rated 7.5/10 by 6,015 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Spirit of Culver?
Minotaur (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Spirit of Culver?
Yes: Fast Girls (2012), Won't Back Down (2012) and The River (1984).
How are movies similar to The Spirit of Culver chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Spirit of Culver, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.