Movies like Thundering Jets (1958)
The best movies like Thundering Jets (1958) are Wings (1927), Sayonara (1957) and Test Pilot (1938). If Thundering Jets hooked you with its action and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)7.4/10 from 700 votes
- NewestALL YOU NEED IS KILL (2026)Released 2026
Wings (1927)
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them pines away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSayonara (1957)
Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver is reassigned to a Japanese air base and is confronted with US racial prejudice against the Japanese people. The issue is compounded because a number of the soldiers become romantically involved with Japanese women, in defiance of US military policy. Ordinarily, a by-the-book officer, Gruver must take a position when a buddy of his, an enlisted man, Joe Kelly, falls in love with a Japanese woman, Katsumi, and marries her. Gruver risks his position by serving as best man at the wedding ceremony.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTest Pilot (1938)
Jim is a test pilot. His wife Ann and best friend Gunner try their best to keep him sober. But the life of a test pilot is anything but safe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlying Tigers (1942)
Jim Gordon commands a unit of the famed Flying Tigers, the American Volunteer Group which fought the Japanese in China before America's entry into World War II. Gordon must send his outnumbered band of fighter pilots out against overwhelming odds while juggling the disparate personalities and problems of his fellow flyers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlways (1989)
The spirit of a recently deceased expert pilot mentors a newer pilot while watching him fall in love with the girlfriend that he left behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRacing with the Moon (1984)
In a small coastal California town, Henry and Nicky are pals from blue collar families with only a short time before they ship off to World War II. Henry begins romancing new-to-town Caddie Winger, believing her to be wealthy. Mischievous and irresponsible, Nicky gets into trouble which forces the other two to become involved, testing their relationship, as well as the friendship between the boys.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrategic Air Command (1955)
Air Force reservist Lt. Col. Robert "Dutch" Holland is recalled into active duty at the peak of his professional baseball career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Guy Named Joe (1944)
A cocky U.S. Army Air Force pilot stationed in England during World War II falls for a daring female flier. After he's killed on a mission, he's sent back to Earth by a heavenly General with a new assignment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Girl (1931)
A man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome by Spring (2018)
When an ambitious event planner gets an opportunity she can’t refuse, she goes undercover as her boss and returns to her rural hometown. With the help of her family and the man she left behind, she pulls off the perfect spring retreat, but will she discover home is where her heart is?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Golden Bowl (2000)
Wealthy American widower Adam Verver and his daughter Maggie live a refined life in Europe, surrounded by art. Maggie marries impoverished Italian Prince Amerigo, while Adam marries Maggie's friend Charlotte Stant. The Prince and Charlotte are having an affair, which Maggie discovers and navigates through a silent, psychological battle of wills, ultimately using her cunning to preserve her marriage and protect her father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalome (1953)
In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome, Herod's long-absent stepdaughter. Herodias sees the king's dawning lust for Salome as her means of bending him to her will. But Salome and her lover Claudius are–contrary to Scripture–nearing conversion to the new religion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Ring of Endless Light (2002)
When 15-year-old Vicky Austin, her sister Suzy and little brother Rob visit their grandfather on Seven Bay Island, Vicky faces several unexpected challenges. Her beloved grandfather, retired Reverend Eaton, seems to be seriously ill, but tries to pretend that nothing is wrong. Vicky met the rich but emotionally troubled Zachary Gray the previous summer, and he reappears to renew the acquaintance. Another boy, 17-year-old Adam Eddington, recruits Vicky to help him with a research project, working with a dolphin called Basil. Vicky discovers she can communicate telepathically with the dolphin and his mate - and possibly with Adam as well
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMansfield Park (1999)
Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams, where she is treated poorly by most except her cousin Edmund. Her life is complicated by the arrival of the worldly Mary and Henry Crawford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFar from the Madding Crowd (1967)
Bathsheba Everdine, a willful and flirtatious young woman, unexpectedly inherits a large farm and becomes romantically involved with three widely divergent men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnly Angels Have Wings (1939)
A traveling performer arrives at a remote South American port town where the head of an air freight service must risk his pilots' lives to earn a major contract.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)
A widow with three children hires a handyman to fix her house during a major storm. When not doing home repairs, he shares his philosophy of believing in the power of the universe to deliver what we want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHell's Angels (1930)
As the Great War breaks out in Europe, English brothers Roy and Monte enlist in the Royal Flying Corps to fight for king and country, while their Oxford College friend Karl is ordered back to Germany. As a love triangle develops involving Monte, Roy, and Roy's girlfriend, Helen, the brothers' disparate personalities, and Monte's cowardice in the face of war soon threaten to compromise a top-secret bombing mission over German territory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Whole Wide World (1996)
In 1930s Texas, pulp fiction master Robert E. Howard is introduced to Novalyne Price, a teacher with aspirations of becoming an author herself, and they begin a unique relationship filled with conversation and imagination. Although the possibility exists for romance, Howard's obsession with his work and dedication to his sick mother leads Price to look elsewhere for love, leaving Howard feeling betrayed and alone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sleeping Dictionary (2003)
In the 1930s, British officer John Truscott journeys to a remote village in colonial Malaysia to educate and Westernize the local Iban population. There, he's introduced to the lovely Selima. In keeping with tradition, Selima is assigned to sleep with Truscott and teach him the native language and customs. But when they fall in love, both colonists and natives object to their plans to marry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Four Feathers (2002)
A young British officer resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers as symbols of what they view as his cowardice. To redeem his honor, he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO (2001)
Even though he's the only black student at the elite Palmetto Grove Academy, star basketball player Odin James has the adoration of all, including the team's coach and the Dean's beautiful daughter Desi. Odin's troubled friend Hugo, the coach's son, deeply resentful of his father's preference of Odin on and off the court, plots a diabolical scheme to sow the seed of mistrust between O and Desi, setting in motion a disturbing chain of events which erupts into a firestorm of breathtaking intensity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisAnimal Attraction II: Passion's Desire (1999)
Unable to control his carnal desires, handsome and successful Mark gets caught in a dicey situation in this slick erotic thriller helmed by Mike Sedan. Juggling relationships with three beautiful women -- Cindy , Donna, and Jill -- the young lothario can't decide between them but crosses into dangerous territory when he adds more ladies to his harem.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
ALL YOU NEED IS KILL (2026)
When a massive alien flower known as "Darol" unexpectedly erupts in a deadly event, unleashing monstrous creatures that decimate the population of Japan, Rita is caught in the destruction—and killed. But then she wakes up again. And again. Caught in an endless time loop, Rita must navigate the trauma and repetition of death until she crosses paths with Keiji, a shy young man trapped in the same cycle. Together, they fight to break free from the loop and find meaning in the chaos around them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSteel (1997)
When a renegade military reject puts new superweapons in dangerous hands, John Henry Irons becomes Steel. Wearing body armor, wielding a fearsome electrohammer and riding a gadget-packed motorcycle, he's ready to wage war... if he can fix the untimely glitches in his untested gear.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisDog Days (2001)
Vignettes of the lives of several residents of a Vienna suburb during a heat wave.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGetting Gertie's Garter (1927)
Attorney Ken Walrick, not quite realizing the difference between a garter and a bracelet, gives Gertie Darling a bejewelled garter with his photograph in miniature attached. But then he must cover his indiscretion by getting the garter back before his fiancee finds out.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Broken Arrow (1996)
When rogue stealth-fighter pilot Vic Deakins deliberately drops off the radar while on maneuvers, the Air Force ends up with two stolen nuclear warheads -- and Deakins's co-pilot, Riley Hale, is the military's only hope for getting them back. Traversing the deserted canyons of Utah, Hale teams with park ranger Terry Carmichael to put Deakins back in his box.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Day (2004)
At Christmas time, 19-year-old Simon returns home to visit his dysfunctional family with Louise, a fearless girl he met during his train ride. While Simon struggles to cope with the growing distance between him and his parents, he starts to examine his feelings when Louise develop a liaison of her own with his childhood friend Mathieu.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Crimson Tide (1995)
After the Cold War, a breakaway Russian republic with nuclear warheads becomes a possible worldwide threat. U.S. submarine Capt. Frank Ramsey signs on a relatively green but highly recommended Lt. Cmdr. Ron Hunter to the USS Alabama, which may be the only ship able to stop a possible Armageddon. When Ramsey insists that the Alabama must act aggressively, Hunter, fearing they will start rather than stop a disaster, leads a potential mutiny to stop him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like Thundering Jets and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Thundering Jets?
The closest matches to Thundering Jets are Wings (1927), Sayonara (1957) and Test Pilot (1938). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Thundering Jets?
Start with Wings (1927), the closest match to Thundering Jets.
What is the highest-rated movie like Thundering Jets?
The Secret: Dare to Dream (2020), rated 7.4/10 by 700 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Thundering Jets?
ALL YOU NEED IS KILL (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Thundering Jets?
Yes: Wings (1927), Sayonara (1957) and Test Pilot (1938).
How are movies similar to Thundering Jets chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Thundering Jets, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.