Movies like The Horse Thief (1986)
The best movies like The Horse Thief (1986) are Flicka (2006), The Missouri Breaks (1976) and Shoot to Kill (1988). If The Horse Thief hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedChildren of Paradise (1945)8.1/10 from 475 votes
- NewestPlay Dirty (2025)Released 2025
Flicka (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 thisThe Missouri Breaks (1976)
When vigilante land baron David Braxton hangs one of the best friends of cattle rustler Tom Logan, Logan's gang decides to get even by purchasing a small farm next to Braxton's ranch. From there the rustlers begin stealing horses, using the farm as a front for their operation. Determined to stop the thefts at any cost, Braxton retains the services of eccentric sharpshooter Robert E. Lee Clayton, who begins ruthlessly taking down Logan's gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShoot to Kill (1988)
When a cunning murderer vanishes into the rugged mountains of the Pacific Northwest, pursuing FBI agent Warren Stantin must exchange familiar city streets for unknown wilderness trails. Completely out of his element, Stantin is forced to enlist the aid of expert tracker Jonathan Knox. It's a turbulent yet vital relationship they must maintain in order to survive... and one that becomes increasingly desperate when Knox's girlfriend Sarah becomes the killer's latest hostage!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRide in the Whirlwind (1966)
Three cowboys, mistaken for members of an outlaw gang, are relentlessly pursued by a posse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGone in 60 Seconds (1974)
Insurance investigator Maindrian Pace and his team lead double-lives as unstoppable car thieves. When a South American drug lord pays Pace to steal 48 cars for him, all but one, a 1973 Ford Mustang, are in the bag. As Pace prepares to rip-off the fastback, codenamed "Eleanor", in Long Beach, he is unaware that his boss has tipped off the police after a business dispute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKundun (1997)
From childhood to adulthood, Tibet's fourteenth Dalai Lama deals with Chinese oppression and other problems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlay Dirty (2025)
Expert thief Parker gets a shot at a major heist, but to pull it off he and his team must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world's richest man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTake Me to the River (2015)
A naive California teen plans to remain above the fray at his Nebraskan family reunion, but a strange encounter places him at the center of a long-buried family secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRobbery (1967)
In this fictionalised account of the Great Train Robbery, career criminal Paul Clifton plans an audacious crime: the robbery of a mail train carrying millions in cash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hateful Eight (2015)
Bounty hunters seek shelter from a raging blizzard and get caught up in a plot of betrayal and deception.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Place Beyond the Pines (2013)
A motorcycle stunt rider considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014)
Frustrated with her mundane life, a Tokyo office worker becomes obsessed with a fictional movie that she mistakes for a documentary. Fixating on a scene where stolen cash is buried in North Dakota, she travels to America to find it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Vault (2021)
Madrid, Spain, 2010. While the whole city follows the national team's successful participation in the World Cup, a group of daring thieves look for a way into one of the most secure and guarded places on the planet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeist (2001)
Joe Moore has a job he loves. He's a thief. His job goes sour when he gets caught on security camera tape. His fence, Bergman, reneges on the money he's owed, and his wife may be betraying him with the fence's young lieutenant. Moore and his partner, Bobby Blane, and their utility man, Pinky Pincus, find themselves broke, betrayed, and blackmailed. Moore is forced to commit his crew to do one last big job.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Yakuza (1974)
When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Forger (2014)
A former child art prodigy and second generation petty thief arranges to buy his way out of prison to spend time with his ailing son, only to be forced to alter his plans and commit one more job for the man who financed his release.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTornado (2025)
When her father's puppet samurai show gets ambushed by a notorious gang, Tornado vows to seek vengeance and forge her own destiny by stealing their ill-gotten gold.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Beauty (2020)
Born free in the American West, Black Beauty is a horse rounded up and brought to Birtwick Stables, where she meets spirited teenager Jo Green. The two forge a bond that carries Beauty through the different chapters, challenges and adventures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Air I Breathe (2007)
A gambler’s bet spiraling into chaos, a gangster's prophetic visions, a pop star’s dark entanglement, a doctor’s desperate race against time to rescue his beloved... Four interconnected stories reveal life unfolding through four emotional pillars — joy, passion, grief, and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPopular Music (2004)
Matti and Niila, growing up in the mid-sixties in the harsh and conservative environment of a Finnish-speaking part of Tornedalen in Swedish Laponia, close to the Finnish border. Their big dream is to become rock stars. In the present the now grown-up Matti feels guilt for the death of his drug-addicted rock star friend Niila.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCamp Harlow (2014)
On the brink of a family crisis, Alex finds herself being sent to the last place she wants to be, summer camp. Knowing that a young admirer from school will be at the camp, Alex reluctantly agrees. Thrown into a group of people she has never met, Alex is determined to shut out the world. However, Alex is brought out of the corners of her own heart by the most unlikely of friends: a horse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
No Good Deed (2002)
While doing a friend a favor and searching for a runaway teenager, a police detective stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLupin the 3rd: Goemon's Blood Spray (2017)
A yakuza boss hires Goemon Ishikawa, a modern day samurai, to protect him aboard his cruise ship casino. Everything goes sideways when the famous thief, Lupin the Third, tries to rob the vessel. Lupin's being hunted by a powerful and mysterious man: the so called “Ghost of Bermuda.” With Goemon's employer dead in the ensuing chaos, his honor is at stake, and the only way to preserve it is with blood. But this opponent is like no other, and to make things right, Goemon may need to sharpen not only his sword, but himself as well!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Diary of a Murderess (1975)
A beautiful young woman sets her sights on an aging millionaire. She seduces him, and moves into his mansion with him. She soon tires of him, though, and after she gets rid of him, she goes after his son.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Children of Paradise (1945)
In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDreamer: Inspired By a True Story (2005)
Ben Crane believes that a severely injured racehorse deserves another chance. He and his daughter Cale adopt the mare and save it from being sacrificed by the owner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGood Girls (2016)
Two sisters navigating the no man's land between childhood and adulthood have to deal with the consequences of their actions after one of the horses of their farm loses one eye.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Little Buddha (1993)
After the death of Lama Dorje, Tibetan Buddhist monks find three children — one American and two Nepalese — who may be the rebirth of their great teacher.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEntrapment (1999)
Two thieves, who travel in elegant circles, try to outsmart each other and, in the process, end up falling in love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Horse Thief?
The closest matches to The Horse Thief are Flicka (2006), The Missouri Breaks (1976) and Shoot to Kill (1988). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Horse Thief?
Start with Flicka (2006), the closest match to The Horse Thief.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Horse Thief?
Children of Paradise (1945), rated 8.1/10 by 475 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Horse Thief?
Play Dirty (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Horse Thief chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Horse Thief, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.