Movies like The Cyclist (1989)
The best movies like The Cyclist (1989) are The Good Lie (2014), Hardball (2001) and Max (2015). If The Cyclist hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBlack Beauty (2020)8.0/10 from 363 votes
- NewestNight Always Comes (2025)Released 2025
The Good Lie (2014)
A young refugee of the Sudanese Civil War who wins a lottery for relocation to the United States with three other lost boys. Encountering the modern world for the first time, they develop an unlikely friendship with a brash American woman assigned to help them, but the young man struggles to adjust to this new life and his feelings of guilt about the brother he left behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisMax (2015)
A dog that helped soldiers in Afghanistan returns to the U.S. and is adopted by his handler's family after suffering a traumatic experience.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Born Losers (1967)
A biker gang incites a reign of terror in a California coastal town that culminates in four teenage girls being raped. Vietnam veteran Billy Jack has had enough, however, and takes on the depraved bikers single-handedly. He rescues young Vicky Barrington from their clutches, but then has to contend with not only the thugs, but also the ineffectual and racist local lawmen, who have it out for the half-Native American Billy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Always Comes (2025)
Facing eviction in a city her family can no longer afford, a woman plunges into a desperate and increasingly dangerous all-night search to raise $25,000.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Kite Runner (2007)
After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Color of Friendship (2000)
Mahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from California and who lives in a nice home in Washington DC. When Mahree is chosen to spend a semester at the Dellums' house, she doesn't expect that her host family would be black. Nor do her hosts suspect that she is not a black South African.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBennett's War (2019)
After surviving an IED explosion in combat overseas, a young soldier with the Army Motorcycle Unit is medically discharged with a broken back and leg. Against all odds he trains to make an impossible comeback as a motocross racer in order to support his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCharm City Kings (2020)
Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCardboard Boxer (2016)
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmbattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Program (2015)
An Irish sports journalist becomes convinced that Lance Armstrong's performances during the Tour de France victories are fueled by banned substances. With this conviction, he starts hunting for evidence that will expose Armstrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Breadwinner (2017)
A headstrong young girl in Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban, disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAdam (2020)
A hard-living salesman becomes a quadriplegic after an accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrothers (2009)
When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisPoor Cow (1967)
Joy lives a life filled with bad choices. At a young age, she marries and has a child–with an abusive thief who quickly ends up incarcerated. Left alone, she takes up with the guy's mate, another thief, who seems to give her some happiness but who also ends up locked up. She then takes up with a series of seedy types who offer nothing but momentary pleasure–if that.
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 thisThe Bikeriders (2024)
After a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBiker Boyz (2003)
A mythic motorcycle tale of father and son, this is the story of Manuel Galloway, also known as "the King of Cali", the president of a motorcycle club whose members are all African-American men, mostly white-collar workers who exchange their suits and ties at night and on weekends for leather outfits and motorcycle helmets.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKilling Jesus (2017)
Paula, a young art student, witnesses the assassination of her father, a university professor. Frustrated by the local police she starts to investigate the murder herself. Driven by anger, frustration and sorrow, she commits fearless acts that put her and her family at risk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me It Would Become This Bad in Afghanistan (2007)
Near-silent and shot via a cell phone, a war veteran observes the world which has been colored by his experiences in Afghanistan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Carry You with Me (2021)
An epic love story spanning decades is sparked by a chance encounter between two men in provincial Mexico. Based on a true story, ambition and societal pressure propel an aspiring chef to leave his soulmate and make the treacherous journey to New York, where life will never be the same.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCoxless Pair (2008)
The film tells the story of the friendship between Johann and Ludwig as they strive for the ultimate “buddy” relationship. Going beyond, well beyond, what would be considered good and healthy, the pair attempt to become the ideal twins, driving their relationship based on their partnership in competitive rowing (coxless pairs) to the ultimate, to perfect harmony in mind, word, thought and deed. But their symbiotic relationship is thrown out of balance: Ludwig strives to tighten the bonds ever closer, but Johann discovers happiness in the form of love for Ludwig’s sister, Vera. But because Ludwig hates her, the couple keep their relationship secret. But secrets have a way of coming out and Ludwig is wounded to the core. As the finals of the rowing competition draw closer, Ludwig has already set his sights on a greater goal: to preserve their friendship forever, no longer in life but in death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Stand! (2019)
In post-World War I Winnipeg, a Ukrainian immigrant and a Jewish woman get caught up in a labour strike.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Brown Bunny (2003)
Bud Clay races motorcycles in the 250cc Formula II class of road racing. After a race in New Hampshire, he has five days to get to his next race in California. During his road trip, he is haunted by memories of the last time he saw Daisy, his true love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ragman's Daughter (1972)
Based on the Alan Sillitoe short story. The film tells the story of the ill-fated love between Tony, a petty thief from a working-class family, and Doris, the daughter of an upwardly mobile scrap dealer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Moment in the Reeds (2018)
Having moved to Paris for university, Leevi returns to his native Finland for the summer to help his estranged father renovate the family lake house so it can be sold. Tareq, a recent asylum seeker from Syria, has been hired to help with the work, and when Leevi's father has to return to town on business, the two young men establish a connection and embark on a romance set against the idyllic Finnish summer. However, looming over this chance encounter, is the father's imminent return to the lake house, the continuation of Leevi's studies abroad as well as Tareq's complex relationship with his family in Syria.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Cyclist?
The closest matches to The Cyclist are The Good Lie (2014), Hardball (2001) and Max (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Cyclist?
Start with The Good Lie (2014), the closest match to The Cyclist.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Cyclist?
Black Beauty (2020), rated 8.0/10 by 363 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Cyclist?
Night Always Comes (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Cyclist chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Cyclist, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.