Movies like The River Rat (1984)
The best movies like The River Rat (1984) are Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995), The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon (1997) and Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024). If The River Rat hooked you with its adventure and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Night of the Hunter (1955)7.9/10 from 1,942 votes
- NewestLost on a Mountain in Maine (2024)Released 2024
Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995)
Two teen girls, one from the city, one from the country, try to find the hidden gold of Bear Mountain learning about friendship, loyalty and courage on the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon (1997)
Jack London's classic story from 1903 about Buck, a dog kidnapped from his home in California and taken to the Yukon where he is mistreated until a prospector discovers him and relates to his situation. Although the two are bonded, Buck yearns to run free with the wild dogs in the wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLost on a Mountain in Maine (2024)
When twelve-year-old Donn Fendler gets tired of waiting for his father and brothers to join him on the summit of Maine's highest peak, he decides to find his own way back to camp. But Donn doesn't count on a fast-moving fog that obscures the path. He doesn't count on falling down an embankment that hides him from sight. And he doesn't count on taking a turn that leaves him alone to wander aimlessly for nearly two weeks in the empty mountain wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears (2020)
After freeing a young Bedouin girl from her unjust imprisonment in Jerusalem, an Australian adventuress, together with her devoted police detective friend, begins to unravel a decade-old mystery concerning priceless emeralds, an ancient curse and the disappearance of the girl's mother and massacre of her tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Grit (1969)
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Count of Monte-Cristo (1975)
Young sailor Edmond Dantès is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes, finds treasure, and reinvents himself as the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJacob (1994)
Isaac's son Jacob deprives his brother Esau of his birthright and has to flee for his life. He finds shelter with his uncle Laban, but is himself deceived. Finally, Jacob has to face both his uncle and brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCassandra's Dream (2007)
The tale of two brothers with serious financial woes. When a third party proposes they turn to crime, things go bad and the two become enemies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCave Rescue (2019)
When a youth football team of 12 boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach is trapped deep inside a cave in Northern Thailand, thousands of volunteers and soldiers from around the world unite in a race against time to find them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am David (2003)
A 12-year-old boy manages to flee a Communist concentration camp on his own, through sheer will and determination. All he has in his possession is a loaf of bread, a letter to deliver to someone in Denmark, and a compass to help get him there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe River Wild (1994)
Gail and Tom Hartman are struggling to stay together and decide to take a white-water rafting holiday adventure in Montana for their son Roarke's 10th birthday, only to meet up with a pair of mysterious men whose desperation grows, turning their vacation into a nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night of the Hunter (1955)
In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStillwater (2021)
Bill Baker, an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma, travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, Allison, who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Witch (2008)
A mysterious woman comes in to town and inhabits the local haunted mansion, making everyone wonder if she's a witch or "The Grey Lady".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJamaica Inn (1939)
In early 19th-century Cornwall, young Mary Yellan travels to live with her aunt and uncle at the remote Jamaica Inn, where she discovers the inn is a front for a violent gang of wreckers who lure ships to their doom along the coast. As she becomes entangled in their crimes, Mary must fight to survive and uncover the truth behind the terror that haunts the moors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bygone (2019)
When a young rancher crosses paths with a Lakota girl from a nearby reservation, her mysterious disappearance sparks a search that uncovers a harrowing past and hints at a dire future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors (1992)
At the insistence of Ruth Van Rydock, an old schoolfriend who is convinced that there is something wrong, Miss Marple agrees to visit 'Stonygates', the country house of Ruth's sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSnow Queen (2002)
Since a bitter winter storm stole the life of Gerda's mother, she and her father have sadly continued to run the remote hotel they call home. Lonely and isolated, Gerda's only joy is Kai, the handsome bellboy. A mysterious guest with an icy stare arrives at the hotel one night, wrapped in fur and diamonds. By daybreak, the "Snow Queen" has vanished with Kai! Gerda embarks on a journey of morphing seasons, fantastical creatures, and long-frozen mysteries in a desperate quest to find her stolen love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlawless (2007)
A female executive and a night janitor conspire to commit a daring diamond heist from their mutual employer, The London Diamond Corporation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBackdraft (1991)
Two feuding siblings carrying on a heroic family tradition as Chicago firefighters. But when a puzzling series of arson attacks is reported, they are forced to set aside their differences to solve the mystery surrounding these crimes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Heat of the Night (1967)
African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHard Luck (2006)
Three converging story lines involving bootleggers, a serial killer and drug dealers are followed. A former drug dealer tries to go straight, but comes across a stash of stolen drugs. Meanwhile, a middle-aged suburban housewife hides a sadistic and vicious streak.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Man from London (2008)
A switchman at a seaside railway witnesses a murder but does not report it after he finds a suitcase full of money at the scene of the crime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bow (2005)
On a fishing boat at sea, a 60-year old man has been raising a girl since she was a child. It is agreed that they will get married on her 17th birthday. They live a quiet and secluded life, renting the boat to day fishermen and practicing strange divination rites. Their life changes when a teenage student comes aboard.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
The Fantastic Four return to the big screen as a new and all powerful enemy threatens the Earth. The seemingly unstoppable 'Silver Surfer', but all is not what it seems and there are old and new enemies that pose a greater threat than the intrepid superheroes realize.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisFiretrap (2001)
Master burglar Max Hopper is released early after three years and soon gets an exceptional job: stealing an advanced computer-chip from the IQ Industries headquarters. His first attempt fails; when he enters in cop uniform during an emergency board meeting, a fire quickly spreads- he considers it a godsend opportunity and stays, but soon has his hands too full saving other lives and just surviving to concentrate on the chip; only the owner, his wife who just filed for divorce and a few employees remain, but it soon turns out one of them stole company secrets but the arsonist and/or another chip-thieves are among them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Earth and Ashes (2004)
Elderly Dastaguir and his newly deaf 5-year-old grandson Yassin hitchhike and walk, but mostly walk, as they make their way to the coal mine where Dastaguir's son Murad works. Dastaguir must tell Murad that the rest of their family were all killed in a recent bomb attack.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Oil (1977)
When a huge fire erupts at an oil field in the wilds of the Sahara Desert, an American who specializes in fighting oil-field fires and his team are called in to put it out. As the fire rages out of control, the expert finds that he not only has to battle the fire but greed and political corruption as well.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
The Narrows (TBA)
NORTHERN ENGLAND, 1900. A young woman joins the crew of a narrow boat as they transport a dangerous and valuable cargo to the man responsible for her father's death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The River Rat and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The River Rat?
The closest matches to The River Rat are Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995), The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon (1997) and Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The River Rat?
Start with Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995), the closest match to The River Rat.
What is the highest-rated movie like The River Rat?
The Night of the Hunter (1955), rated 7.9/10 by 1,942 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The River Rat?
Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The River Rat?
Yes: Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995), The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon (1997) and Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024).
How are movies similar to The River Rat chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The River Rat, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.