Movies like The Virginian (1929)
The best movies like The Virginian (1929) are Man Without a Star (1955), The Rare Breed (1966) and The Tall Men (1955). If The Virginian hooked you with its western, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedEl Dorado (1966)7.4/10 from 620 votes
- Newest8 Seconds (1994)Released 1994
Man Without a Star (1955)
A wandering cowboy gets caught up in a range war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rare Breed (1966)
When her husband dies en route to America, Martha Price and her daughter Hilary are left to carry out his dream: the introduction of Hereford cattle into the American West. They enlist Sam "Bulldog" Burnett in their efforts to transport their lone bull, a Hereford named Vindicator, to a breeder in Texas, but the trail is fraught with danger and even Burnett doubts the survival potential of this "rare breed" of cattle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tall Men (1955)
Two brothers discharged from the Confederate Army join a businessman for a cattle drive from Texas to Montana where they run into raiding Jayhawkers, angry Sioux, rough terrain and bad weather.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlood on the Moon (1948)
Down-and-out cowhand Jim Garry is asked by his old friend Tate Riling to help mediate a cattle dispute. When Garry arrives, however, it soon becomes clear that Riling has not been entirely forthright. Garry uncovers Riling's plot to dupe local rancher John Lufton out of a fortune. When Lufton's firecracker of a daughter, Amy, gets involved, Garry must choose between his old loyalties and what he knows to be right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Hunt (1956)
A buffalo hunter has a falling-out with his partner, who kills for fun.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCity Slickers (1991)
Three New York businessmen decide to take a "Wild West" vacation that turns out not to be the relaxing vacation they had envisioned.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Dorado (1966)
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
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 this8 Seconds (1994)
This film chronicles the life of Lane Frost, 1987 PRCA Bull Riding World Champion, his marriage and his friendships with Tuff Hedeman (three-time World Champion) and Cody Lambert.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOld Yeller (1957)
Young Travis Coates is left to take care of the family ranch with his mother and younger brother while his father goes off on a cattle drive in the 1860s. When a yellow mongrel comes for an uninvited stay with the family, Travis reluctantly adopts the dog.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRenegade (1987)
While on his travel across the Southwestern United States, with his Jeep CJ Renegade and his chestnut colt named Joe Brown, Luke meets Matt, son of a friend of his, Moose, who is in jail. Moose asks Luke to take care of Matt, and to help him to take possession of a piece of land. So starts their travel, full of adventures...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChisum (1970)
Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County Land War in the New Mexico Territory of 1878.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRough Night in Jericho (1967)
The only business in the Wild West town of Jericho that corrupt sheriff Alex Flood doesn't control behind the scenes is the stagecoach owned by tough-willed widow Molly Lang and her right-hand man, Hickman. Former marshal Dolan, recently hired by Lang and Hickman as a driver, wants to stay out of the mess, but when he sees Flood's henchman Yarbrough assault Lang, he steps up to fight the corruption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShane (1953)
A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReturn of the Gunfighter (1967)
A gunfighter and a cowboy help a Mexican girl avenge the land-related murder of her parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGo West (1925)
With little luck at keeping a job in the city a New Yorker tries work in the country and eventually finds his way leading a herd of cattle to the West Coast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGo West (1940)
A con man heading west to search for gold teams up with a pair of scheming brothers along the way. The trio soon find themselves in the middle of a feud between two rival families and two underhanded land developers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Left Handed Gun (1958)
When a crooked sheriff murders his employer, William "Billy the Kid" Bonney decides to avenge the death by killing the man responsible, throwing the lives of everyone around him into turmoil, and endangering the General Amnesty set up by Governor Wallace to bring peace to the New Mexico Territory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sheepman (1958)
A stranger in a Western cattle-town behaves with remarkable self-assurance, establishing himself as a man to be reckoned with. The reason appears with his stock: a herd of sheep, which he intends to graze on the range. The horrified inhabitants decide to run him out at all costs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBroken Lance (1954)
Tensions erupt within an Arizona cattle baron's household when his three sons vie for control of the ranch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFighting Mustang (1948)
Filmed back-to-back with three other Sunset Carson vehicles in 1947, this Yucca Pictures Western starred the former Republic cowboy as a Texas Ranger chasing a gang of rustlers into the notorious outlaw territory of Three Corners. Attempting to sabotage the proposed annexation of the territory, desperado Bart Dawson (Stephen Keyes) and his men ambush Sunset and his young trainee Jed (Al Terry). The villains, who have been terrorizing pretty trading post operator Helen Bennett (Patricia Starling), are eventually defeated by the rangers in a violent gun battle and the planned annexation takes place on schedule. For all intents and purposes, the handsome but wooden Sunset Carson ended his screen career with this series of extremely low-budget Westerns, originally filmed in 16mm and released by that dumping ground of Poverty Row flotsam, Astor Pictures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Rustlers of Devil's Canyon (1947)
Red Ryder returns to Sioux City, Wyoming, at the close of the Spanish-American War, settling down at the ranch of his aunt, The Duchess, with his pals Little Beaver and "Blizzard". But Red soon discovers that the country is over-run by rustlers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Two-Gun Man (1926)
Dean Randall is a hero of the Great War who comes home to his horse and his father's ranch. When back he saves a family in a wagon train -- a father, daughter Grace, and three orphan children.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Wildfire (1945)
Fanning has his men rustle horses and then blame it on a wild horse named Wildfire. Happy and Alkali arrive and immediately get into trouble with Fanning and his men. When Alkali is shot, Happy catches the outlaws but the Judge not only releases them, he discharges the Sheriff and tries to arrest Happy for rustling. Happy escapes and he and the Sheriff then set out to prove who the real rustlers are.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
South of Sonora (1930)
Bill Tracy is a Cattleman's Protective Association agent. Working undercover on his way to Sonora, a town dominated by rustlers, saves Betty Carter from a situation, but her rancher father, believing Blackie's suggestion that Bill is a rustler, forbids her to see him. Bill and his pal Heinie Schmaltz rescue each other from rustlers' various plots and ambushes and eventually discover that Blackie, Carter's foreman, is the leader of the rustlers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Ragtime Cowboy Joe (1940)
Universal's Ragtime Cowboy Joe is a modern western with a dash of music, not unlike the standard fare at Republic Pictures. The title character is a confused cowhand played by Fuzzy Knight, while the hero is Steve (Johnny Mack Brown), an undercover detective on the prowl for cattle rustlers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Secrets (1933)
In the 1860s, Mary Marlowe defies her father's wishes to marry a British lord and runs away with clerk John Carlton as he heads West to make his fortune. Mary and John endure the difficult journey and settle into a small cabin, then face the hostilities of a cattle rustling gang, as well as the tragic loss of their only son. With Mary's help, John defeats the gang, which propels him to political power that, over the years, gradually erodes the once-happy marriage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Shadows on the Range (1946)
Johnny Mack Brown stars in the formula oater Shadows on the Range. The film was made at a time when Monogram was experimenting with the notion of passing Brown off as a singing cowboy. While his voice is dubbed, he's definitely handling all the action sequences himself, and that's what the fans really wanted.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Cyclone Ranger (1935)
A trio of former cattle rustlers try to go straight, but find that they can't shake off their reputations and trouble follows them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Trigger Fingers (1939)
Marshal and his men disguise themselves as gypsies to catch a gang of cattle thieves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Virginian?
The closest matches to The Virginian are Man Without a Star (1955), The Rare Breed (1966) and The Tall Men (1955). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Virginian?
Start with Man Without a Star (1955), the closest match to The Virginian.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Virginian?
El Dorado (1966), rated 7.4/10 by 620 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Virginian?
8 Seconds (1994) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Virginian?
Yes: Man Without a Star (1955), The Rare Breed (1966) and The Tall Men (1955).
How are movies similar to The Virginian chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Virginian, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.