Movies like Empire of the Summer Moon
The best movies like Empire of the Summer Moon are Emperor (2020), Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) and Two Rode Together (1961). If Empire of the Summer Moon hooked you with its western and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDances with Wolves (1990)7.8/10 from 4,909 votes
- NewestFirebrand (2024)Released 2024
Emperor (2020)
An escaped slave travels north and has chance encounters with Frederick Douglass and John Brown. Based on the life story of Shields Green.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGeronimo: An American Legend (1993)
The Apache Indians have reluctantly agreed to settle on a US Government approved reservation. Not all the Apaches are able to adapt to the life of corn farmers. One in particular, Geronimo, is restless. Pushed over the edge by broken promises and necessary actions by the government, Geronimo and thirty or so other warriors form an attack team which humiliates the government by evading capture, while reclaiming what is rightfully theirs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwo Rode Together (1961)
Two tough westerners bring home a group of settlers who have spent years as Comanche hostages.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Way West (1967)
In the mid-19th century, Senator William J. Tadlock leads a group of settlers overland in a quest to start a new settlement in the Western US. Tadlock is a highly principled and demanding taskmaster who is as hard on himself as he is on those who have joined his wagon train. He clashes with one of the new settlers, Lije Evans, who doesn't quite appreciate Tadlock's ways. Along the way, the families must face death and heartbreak and a sampling of frontier justice when one of them accidentally kills a young Indian boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisComanche Station (1960)
A white man trades with the Comanche for the release of a female stranger and the pair cross paths with three outlaws who have their eyes on the handsome reward for bringing her home and Comanche on the warpath.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 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 thisMonte Walsh (2003)
Monte Walsh and Chet Rollins are long-time cowhands, working whatever ranch work comes their way, but "nothing they can't do from a horse." Their lives are divided between months on the range and the occasional trip into town. Monte has a long-term relationship with prostitute Martine Bernard, while Chet has fallen under the spell of the widow who owns the hardware store. Camaraderie and competition with the other cowboys fill their days, until one of the hands, Shorty Austin, loses his job and gets involved in rustling and killing. Then Monte and Chet find that their lives on the range are inexorably redirected.
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 thisTerror on the Prairie (2022)
A pioneering family fights back against a gang of vicious outlaws that is terrorizing them on their newly-built farm on the plains of Montana.
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 thisDances with Wolves (1990)
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Man Called Sledge (1970)
James Garner is Luther Sledge, the leader of a pack of rebels who are planning to steal a stash of gold. But after the thieves actually manage to get away with the bounty, they soon discover that the enemy lies within their midst. As they begin to bicker over who should get the biggest cut, the stage is set for a deadly showdown. Claude Akins and John Marley co-star in this Italian Western directed by Vic Morrow.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Call of the Wild (1972)
John Thornton, is a fearless man who's after more than gold; he wants to do what's right. Thornton works for the U.S. mail and is the only person daring and smart enough to figure out how to travel the deadly 600 miles from Skagway to Dawson, Alaska in the icy winter. His incredibly dog Buck is by his side and part of how he survives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Claim (2000)
A prospector sells his wife and daughter to another gold miner for the rights to a gold mine. Twenty years later, the prospector is a wealthy man who owns much of the old west town named Kingdom Come. But changes are brewing and his past is coming back to haunt him. A surveyor and his crew scouts the town as a location for a new railroad line and a young woman suddenly appears in the town and is evidently the man's daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisBacklash (1956)
Jim Slater's father (whom he never knew) died in the Apache ambush at Gila Valley, and Jim is searching for the one survivor, who supposedly went for help but disappeared with a lot of gold. In the process, he gets several people gunning for him, and he keeps meeting liberated woman Karyl Orton, who may be on a similar mission. Renewed Apache hostilities and an impending range war provide complications.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove's Enduring Promise (2004)
In the 1800s frontier, Missie Davis is a bright and beautiful schoolteacher whose love for the prairie is matched only by her passion for books. When Missie encounters Grant, a handsome New England railroad executive, she feels as though she's met a hero from one of her novels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Big Man (1970)
Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFoxes of Chironup (1987)
Foxes Ken and Chin become the proud parents of cubs, Koro and Kan, who enjoy a carefree life on the northern Japanese island of Chironup. They befriend a fisherman and his wife but are forced to run for their lives when soldiers on a military exercise decide to take home some fox pelts as souvenirs. A sweet little film that obliquely symbolizes the plight of Japan's aboriginal Ainu people and the northern islands that have been contested with Russia since they were occupied by Stalin's soldiers in 1945.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Coco Before Chanel (2009)
Several years after leaving the orphanage, to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entree into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFirebrand (2024)
Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Queen of Spades (1937)
Russia, 1835. Lieutenant Hermann, a compulsive gambler, is fascinated by an infallible martingale held by Countess Tomski, nicknamed The Queen of Spades. The day Hermann wants to wring the secret from her, the countess dies of fear. Following this tragic scene, Hermann sinks into dementia. Luckily, Lisa, his frail lover, brings him back to life and happiness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Tobruk (2008)
Believing that there is no possibility of survival at the front, a Czech infantryman abandons his battalion and wanders through the Libyan desert.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Ivanhoe (1952)
Sir Walter Scott's classic story of the chivalrous Ivanhoe who joins with Robin of Locksley in the fight against Prince John and for the return of King Richard the Lionheart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lost Wizard: Life and Times of Nikola Tesla (TBA)
The first of a planned trilogy. Nikola Tesla's tales as told to a female cub reporter assigned to cover him, seeking to reveal the secrets of a man who had come to be labeled a "mad scientist".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
The Cage (2017)
Based on 1947 short story of the same name by Hasan Azizul Haque.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Max Havelaar: or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company (1976)
An idealistic Dutch colonial officer posted to Indonesia in the 19th century is convinced that he can make the kinds of changes that will actually help the local people he is in charge of, but circumstances soon make him realize just how out of touch he really is, and it doesn't take long for things to go from bad to worse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Marketa Lazarová (1967)
Mikolás and his brother Adam end up with a young German hostage of noble blood during a robbery. While their clan prepares for the wrath of the German king, Mikolás is sent to pressure his neighbor Lazar into a defense pact. Persuasion fails and he abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa on the eve of her initiation as a nun in an act of vengeance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Empire of the Summer Moon?
The closest matches to Empire of the Summer Moon are Emperor (2020), Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) and Two Rode Together (1961). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Empire of the Summer Moon?
Start with Emperor (2020), the closest match to Empire of the Summer Moon.
What is the highest-rated movie like Empire of the Summer Moon?
Dances with Wolves (1990), rated 7.8/10 by 4,909 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Empire of the Summer Moon?
Firebrand (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Empire of the Summer Moon?
Yes: Emperor (2020), Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) and Two Rode Together (1961).
How are movies similar to Empire of the Summer Moon chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Empire of the Summer Moon, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.