Skip to content

Movies like Tap Roots (1948)

The best movies like Tap Roots (1948) are The Birth of a Nation (1915), Union Pacific (1939) and The Alamo (1960). If Tap Roots hooked you with its drama and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. The Birth of a Nation (1915)

    Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

  2. Union 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 drama & western

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  3. The Alamo (1960)

    The legendary true story of a small band of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from smashing the new Republic of Texas.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & western

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  4. The Last Rifleman (2023)

    A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  5. Battleground (1949)

    Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  6. Gettysburg (1993)

    In the summer of 1863, General Robert E. Lee leads the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with the goal of marching through to Washington, D.C. The Union Army of the Potomac, under the command of General George G. Meade, forms a defensive position to confront the rebel forces in what will prove to be the decisive battle of the American Civil War.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  7. The Proud Rebel (1958)

    Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  8. True 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 & drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  9. The One That Got Away (1957)

    Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  10. Shenandoah (1965)

    Charlie Anderson, a farmer in Shenandoah, Virginia, finds himself and his family in the middle of the Civil War he wants nothing to do with. When his youngest boy is taken prisoner by the North, the Civil War is forced upon him.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & war

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  11. The Young Lions (1958)

    The lives of three young men, a German and two Americans, during WWII.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  12. Andersonville (1996)

    This lengthy docudrama records the harrowing conditions at the Confederacy's most notorious prisoner-of-war camp. The drama unfolds through the eyes of a company of Union soldiers captured at the Battle of Cold Harbor, VA, in June 1864, and shipped to the camp in southern Georgia. A private, Josiah Day, and his sergeant try to hold their company together in the face of squalid living conditions, inhumane punishments, and a gang of predatory fellow prisoners called the Raiders.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  13. Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)

    An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his Jewish heritage. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade the poorly prepared country as soon as partition is granted. He is made commander of the Israeli forces just before the war begins.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)

    A dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  15. The Big Trail (1930)

    Young scout Breck Coleman leads a wagon train along the dangerous trail to Oregon as he tries to get the affection of the beautiful pioneer Ruth Cameron and plans his revenge on the harsh scoundrels who murdered a friend of his in the past.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  16. All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)

    At the start of World War I, Paul Baumer is a young German patriot, eager to fight. Indoctrinated with propaganda at school, he and his friends eagerly sign up for the army soon after graduation. But when the horrors of war soon become too much to bear, and as his friends die or become gravely wounded, Paul questions the sanity of fighting over a few hundreds yards of war-torn countryside.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. Don't Come Knocking (2005)

    Howard Spence has seen better days. Once a big Western movie star, he now drowns his disgust for his selfish and failed life with alcohol, drugs and young women. If he were to die now, nobody would shed a tear over him, that's the sad truth. Until one day Howard learns that he might have a child somewhere out there...

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. Run for Cover (1955)

    An ex-convict drifter and his flawed young partner are made sheriff and deputy of a Western town.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Rooster Cogburn (1975)

    After a band of drunken thugs overruns a small Indian Nation town, killing Reverend Goodnight and raping the women folk, Eula Goodnight enlists the aid of US Marshal Cogburn to hunt them down and bring her father's killers to justice.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. Waiting for Anya (2020)

    During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  21. Ride with the Devil (1999)

    Friends Jake and Jack Bull join up with Civil War guerrilla fighters, yet after the realities of war set in, they must decide what honor truly means.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  22. Under Fire (1983)

    Three U.S. journalists get too close to one another and their work in 1979 Nicaragua.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  23. C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2005)

    Through the eyes of a British "documentary", this film takes a satirically humorous, and sometimes frightening, look at the history of an America where the South won the Civil War.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama

  24. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

    Spain in the 1930s is the place to be for a man of action like Robert Jordan. There is a civil war going on and Jordan—who has joined up on the side that appeals most to idealists of that era—has been given a high-risk assignment up in the mountains. He awaits the right time to blow up a crucial bridge in order to halt the enemy's progress.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  25. In a Valley of Violence (2016)

    The story of a drifter named Paul who arrives in a small town seeking revenge on the thugs who murdered his friend. Sisters Mary Anne and Ellen, who run the town's hotel, help Paul in his quest for vengeance.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & western

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  26. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

    In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the brothers apart.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  27. Bloody History of Soldiers (1958)

    A historical film that portrays the fervent and violent actions of young Army and Navy officers, such as the February 26 and May 15 incidents, in a semi-documentary style.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war

  28. The Great Locomotive Chase (1956)

    During the Civil War, Union spy Andrews is assigned to lead a band of soldiers into the South in order to destroy the railway system. However, things don't go as planned when the conductor of the train they steal is on to them and is doing everything he can to stop them.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama

  29. Admiral (2015)

    When the young republic of The Netherlands is attacked by England, France and Germany and faces its own civil war no less, only one man, Michael de Ruyter, can lead the county's strongest weapon, the Dutch fleet.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  30. Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989)

    A gallery of characters in Brooklyn in the 1950s are crushed by their surroundings and selves: a union strike leader discovers he is gay; a prostitute falls in love with one of her clients; a family cannot cope with the fact that their daughter is illegitimately pregnant.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this

Like Tap Roots and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Tap Roots?

The closest matches to Tap Roots are The Birth of a Nation (1915), Union Pacific (1939) and The Alamo (1960). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Tap Roots?

Start with The Birth of a Nation (1915), the closest match to Tap Roots.

What is the highest-rated movie like Tap Roots?

True Grit (1969), rated 7.3/10 by 902 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Tap Roots?

The Last Rifleman (2023) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Tap Roots?

Yes: The Birth of a Nation (1915), Union Pacific (1939) and The Alamo (1960).

How are movies similar to Tap Roots chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Tap Roots, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

↑ ↓ to move · Enter to open · Full search page