Movies like Rough Waters (1930)
The best movies like Rough Waters (1930) are Jungleland (2020), Salomé (2013) and Goal II: Living the Dream (2007). If Rough Waters hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFlicka (2006)6.9/10 from 318 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
Jungleland (2020)
Stanley manages his boxer brother Lion but when a devastating loss in the ring leaves the pair in debt, an opportunity to recoup the cash leads to a series of misadventures that threaten to break the bond between them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoal II: Living the Dream (2007)
Tempted away from Newcastle United to join Real Madrid, rising star Santiago Munez finds this latest change of fortune the greatest challenge yet - personally as well as professionally. He is reunited with Gavin Harris, though they must compete to be on the team, and estranged from fiancee Roz, whose nursing career keeps her back home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisO.G. (2018)
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
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 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 thisFast 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 thisViolent Saturday (1955)
Three men case a small town very carefully, with plans to rob the bank on the upcoming Saturday, which turns violent and deadly.
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 thisWaiting 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisResurrecting the Champ (2007)
Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTyson's Run (2022)
When fifteen-year-old Tyson attends public school for the first time, his life is changed forever. While helping his father clean up after the football team, Tyson befriends champion marathon runner Aklilu. Never letting his autism hold him back, Tyson becomes determined to run his first marathon in hopes of winning his father's approval. With the help of an unlikely friend and his parents, Tyson learns that with faith in yourself and the courage to take the first step, anything is possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sky Rider (1928)
The disinherited nephew of an aviation magnate plots to get a share of his uncle’s millions. He causes the near-death of his cousin when a bomb placed in his plane explodes in mid-air. He then hires thugs to abduct the uncle in order to force him to give over part of his fortune, but is foiled by the arrival of a cousin and police.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Find Your Man (1924)
Paul Andrews returns from the World War with Buddy, a dog he found in Europe. Instead of getting a warm welcome, he finds his sweetheart, Caroline Blair, missing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
My Dad (1922)
Tom's father, Barry, lives at a lonely trading post up north and is constantly in fear the post's factor, who has threatened to turn him in to the Mounted Police for a murder committed many years before.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Where the North Begins (1923)
A German Shepherd puppy is "adopted" by a wolf pack in the snowy and frozen Great North and raised by them as one of their own. A few years later he comes upon a fur trapper and saves the man from certain death, and begins to feel a kinship with him that is stronger than the one he has with his adopted pack.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Below the Line (1925)
Slasher falls off the train that is carrying him. He is found, broken in spirit, by Donald Cass. The dog is regenerated by Donald's love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Night Cry (1926)
A giant condor decimates a herd of sheep, and Rin-Tin-Tin is accused of having turned killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Hills of Kentucky (1927)
Adapted from Dorothy Yost's story, "The Untamed Heart"
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Jaws of Steel (1927)
Our doggy hero is abandoned in the desert while in pup-hood. Upon reaching maturity, Tin Tin has undeservedly earned the reputation as a killer canine. Thus, the human characters spend most of their time hunting down the dog in hopes of collecting a huge bounty.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Dog of the Regiment (1927)
During World War I, Rin-Tin-Tin finds that he must rescue his master, a fighter pilot, from his wrecked aircraft. He also has to help him escape his rival, who has ordered him shot so he can have the girl they're competing for all to himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Lighthouse by the Sea (1924)
A lighthouse keeper and his daughter are in trouble on two fronts--if the authorities find out he is going blind they will remove him, and a gang of liquor-smugglers is trying to destroy the lighthouse so they can land their illegal cargo on shore without being spotted.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Rough Waters?
The closest matches to Rough Waters are Jungleland (2020), Salomé (2013) and Goal II: Living the Dream (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Rough Waters?
Start with Jungleland (2020), the closest match to Rough Waters.
What is the highest-rated movie like Rough Waters?
Flicka (2006), rated 6.9/10 by 318 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Rough Waters?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Rough Waters?
Yes: Jungleland (2020), Salomé (2013) and Goal II: Living the Dream (2007).
How are movies similar to Rough Waters chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Rough Waters, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.