Movies like Cowboy (1988)
The best movies like Cowboy (1988) are Paradise (1982), The Shooting (1966) and Odd Thomas (2013). If Cowboy hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedJeremiah Johnson (1972)7.3/10 from 740 votes
- NewestWicker (2026)Released 2026
Paradise (1982)
After their caravan is attacked and their respective families butchered by Arab marauders, teenagers David and Sarah flee across the desert. But the desert is filled with danger from the elements, animals and the unwholesome appetite of the Jackal, a sheik who wants Sarah for himself. However, the desert also holds temptation and love. David and Sarah hide out in an oasis and build a life for themselves, discovering each other in new ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shooting (1966)
Two miners agree to guide a mysterious woman, who has appeared in their camp from nowhere, to a nearby town; but soon, because of her erratic behavior, they begin to suspect that her true purpose is quite different.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOdd Thomas (2013)
In a California desert town, a short-order cook with clairvoyant abilities encounters a mysterious man with a link to dark, threatening forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEat Pray Love (2010)
A married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to "find herself".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNomadland (2021)
A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the western United States after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn the Lost Lands (2025)
A queen sends the powerful and feared sorceress Gray Alys to the ghostly wilderness of the Lost Lands in search of a magical power, where she and her guide, the drifter Boyce, must outwit and outfight both man and demon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGerry (2002)
Two friends named Gerry become lost in the desert after taking a wrong turn. Their attempts to find their way home only lead them into further trouble.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHostile (2018)
Juliette, a lone survivor of an apocalyptic era, fights to survive against hunger, thirst, a broken leg and strange disturbing creatures that only come out at nighttime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHappiness for Beginners (2023)
At a crossroads after her divorce, a schoolteacher ventures toward a fresh start in life — and love — when she signs up for a grueling group hiking trip.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWicker (2026)
On the outskirts of a village by the sea, lives a Fisherwoman; smelly, single and perpetually ridiculed. One day, fed up with her stuffy, small-minded neighbours, she commissions herself a husband to be made from wicker. In an otherwise conservative town, this unconventional romance sparks outrage, jealousy and chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
Through good times and bad, Stella and Delilah have always had each other. Now, Stella's so busy building a life that she's forgotten how to really live. But Delilah is about to change all that. What starts as a quick trip to Jamaica, ends as an exhilarating voyage of self discovery as Stella learns to open her heart and find love – even if it's with a man 20 years her junior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSalmon Fishing in the Yemen (2012)
A fisheries expert is approached by a consultant to help realize a sheik's vision of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to the desert and embarks on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rainmaker (1956)
Lizzie Curry is on the verge of becoming a hopeless old maid. Her wit and intelligence and skills as a homemaker can't make up for the fact that she's just plain plain! Even the town sheriff, File, for whom she harbors a secrect yen, won't take a chance --- until the town suffers a drought and into the lives of Lizzie and her brothers and father comes one Bill Starbuck ... profession: Rainmaker!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAquamarine (2006)
Two teenage girls discover that mermaids really do exist after a violent storm washes one ashore. The mermaid, a sassy creature named Aquamarine, is determined to prove to her father that real love exists, and enlists the girls' help in winning the heart of a handsome lifeguard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlight of the Phoenix (2004)
When an oil rig in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia proves unproductive, an aircraft crew are sent to shut the operation down and fly them out. On the flight out over the desert on the way to Beijing, Capt. Frank Towns and co-pilot A.J. are unable to keep their cargo plane, a C-119 Flying Boxcar, in the air when a violent sandstorm strikes. Crash-landing in a remote uncharted part of the desert, the two pilots and their passengers -- a crew of oil workers and a drifter -- must work together to survive by rebuilding the aircraft. Soon, low supplies and a band of merciless smugglers add even greater urgency to their task.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shift (2023)
Following a tense encounter with a mysterious stranger with otherworldly powers, a man finds himself banished to a parallel, tyrannical Earth, where he fights to get back to the woman he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Huntsman: Winter's War (2016)
As two evil sisters prepare to conquer the land, two renegades—Eric the Huntsman, who aided Snow White in defeating Ravenna in Snowwhite and the Huntsman, and his forbidden lover, Sara—set out to stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSplash (1984)
A successful businessman falls in love with the girl of his dreams. There's one big complication though; he's fallen hook, line and sinker for a mermaid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJeremiah Johnson (1972)
While slowly adapting to the grueling life of a mountain man in the Rocky Mountains, Jeremiah Johnson encounters the Crow and Flathead tribes as well as hunters, trappers and settlers, all of whom call these mountains home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Cowboy?
The closest matches to Cowboy are Paradise (1982), The Shooting (1966) and Odd Thomas (2013). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Cowboy?
Start with Paradise (1982), the closest match to Cowboy.
What is the highest-rated movie like Cowboy?
Jeremiah Johnson (1972), rated 7.3/10 by 740 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Cowboy?
Wicker (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Cowboy?
Yes: Paradise (1982), The Shooting (1966) and Odd Thomas (2013).
How are movies similar to Cowboy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Cowboy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.