Movies like Dances with Wolves (1990)
The best movies like Dances with Wolves (1990) are The Revenant (2015), Jeremiah Johnson (1972) and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007). If Dances with Wolves hooked you with its adventure and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDjango Unchained (2012)8.2/10 from 28,938 votes
- NewestNews of the World (2020)Released 2020
The Revenant (2015)
In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Fans watch both · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)
Beginning just after the bloody Sioux victory over General Custer at Little Big Horn, the story is told through two unique perspectives: Charles Eastman, a young, white-educated Sioux doctor held up as living proof of the alleged success of assimilation, and Sitting Bull the proud Lakota chief whose tribe won the American Indians’ last major victory at Little Big Horn.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Big Man (1970)
Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHostiles (2017)
A legendary Native American-hating Army captain nearing retirement in 1892 is given one last assignment: to escort a Cheyenne chief and his family through dangerous territory back to his Montana reservation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGeronimo: An American Legend (1993)
The Apache Indians have reluctantly agreed to settle on a US Government approved reservation. Not all the Apaches are able to adapt to the life of corn farmers. One in particular, Geronimo, is restless. Pushed over the edge by broken promises and necessary actions by the government, Geronimo and thirty or so other warriors form an attack team which humiliates the government by evading capture, while reclaiming what is rightfully theirs.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Man Called Horse (1970)
In 1825, English peer Lord John Morgan is cast adrift in the American West. Captured by Sioux Indians, Morgan is at first targeted for quick extinction, but the tribesmen sense that he is worthy of survival. He eventually passes the many necessary tests that will permit him to become a member of the tribe.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last of the Mohicans (1992)
In war-torn colonial America, in the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron warriors. Fortunately, a group of three Mohican trappers comes to their rescue.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrue Grit (2010)
Following the murder of her father by a hired hand, a 14-year-old farm girl sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. Marshal she can find—a man with 'true grit'—Reuben J. 'Rooster' Cogburn.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe New World (2005)
A drama about explorer John Smith and the clash between Native Americans and English settlers in the 17th century.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWoman Walks Ahead (2018)
Based on a true story, this riveting western follows a headstrong New York widow as she journeys west to meet Sioux chief Sitting Bull, facing off with an army officer intent on war with Native Americans.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWyatt Earp (1994)
From Wichita to Dodge City, to the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Wyatt Earp is taught that nothing matters more than family and the law. Joined by his brothers and Doc Holliday, Earp wages war on the dreaded Clanton and McLaury gangs.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnforgiven (1992)
William Munny is a retired, once-ruthless killer turned gentle widower and hog farmer. To help support his two motherless children, he accepts one last bounty-hunter mission to find the men who brutalized a prostitute. Joined by his former partner and a cocky greenhorn, he takes on a corrupt sheriff.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFar and Away (1992)
A young free-spirited Irish woman from an affluent Protestant family spontaneously befriends a street-smart commoner cheated by her family’s hostile land takeovers. They escape to America, ready to take advantage of the 19th century Oklahoma land rush.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHidalgo (2004)
Set in 1890, this is the story of a Pony Express courier who travels to Arabia to compete with his horse, Hidalgo, in a dangerous race for a massive contest prize, in an adventure that sends the pair around the world...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Outlaw Jesse James is rumored to be the 'fastest gun in the West'. An eager recruit into James' notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw and, when Robert and his brother sense an opportunity to kill James, their murderous action elevates their target to near mythical status.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDjango Unchained (2012)
With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & western
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOpen Range (2003)
A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to travel alone, but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him - and Wales can't bring himself to leave them unprotected.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Searchers (1956)
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRooster Cogburn (1975)
After a band of drunken thugs overruns a small Indian Nation town, killing Reverend Goodnight and raping the women folk, Eula Goodnight enlists the aid of US Marshal Cogburn to hunt them down and bring her father's killers to justice.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLegends of the Fall (1994)
In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unconventional but close-knit family are bound by loyalty, tested by war, and torn apart by love, as told over the course of several decades in this epic saga.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNews of the World (2020)
A Texan traveling across the wild West bringing the news of the world to local townspeople, agrees to help rescue a young girl who was kidnapped.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSoldier Blue (1970)
After a cavalry group is massacred by the Cheyenne, only two survivors remain: Honus, a naive private devoted to his duty, and Cresta, a young woman who had lived with the Cheyenne two years and whose sympathies lie more with them than with the US government. Together, they must try to reach the cavalry's main base camp. As they travel onward, Honus is torn between his growing affection for Cresta.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTexas Rangers (2001)
Ten years after the Civil War has ended, the Governor of Texas asks Leander McNelly to form a company of Rangers to help uphold the law along the Mexican border. With a few veterans of the war, most of the recruits are young men who have little or no experience with guns or policing crime.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Man from Snowy River (1982)
Jim Craig has lived his first 18 years in the mountains of Australia on his father's farm. The death of his father forces him to go to the lowlands to earn enough money to get the farm back on its feet.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMcCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
A gambler and a prostitute become thriving business partners in a remote Old West mining town until a large corporation arrives on the scene.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Missing (2003)
When rancher and single mother of two Maggie Gilkeson sees her teenage daughter, Lily, kidnapped by Apache rebels, she reluctantly accepts the help of her estranged father, Samuel, in tracking down the kidnappers. Along the way, the two must learn to reconcile the past and work together if they are going to have any hope of getting Lily back before she is taken over the border and forced to become a prostitute.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRevolution (1985)
New York trapper Tom Dobb becomes an unwilling participant in the American Revolution after his son Ned is drafted into the Army by the villainous Sergeant Major Peasy. Tom attempts to find his son, and eventually becomes convinced that he must take a stand and fight for the freedom of the Colonies, alongside the aristocratic rebel Daisy McConnahay. As Tom undergoes his change of heart, the events of the war unfold in large-scale grandeur.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMeek's Cutoff (2011)
A group of settlers traveling through the Oregon High Desert in 1845 find themselves stranded in harsh conditions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Dances with Wolves?
The closest matches to Dances with Wolves are The Revenant (2015), Jeremiah Johnson (1972) and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Dances with Wolves?
People who watched Dances with Wolves most often go on to The Revenant (2015), Jeremiah Johnson (1972) and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007).
What is the highest-rated movie like Dances with Wolves?
Django Unchained (2012), rated 8.2/10 by 28,938 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Dances with Wolves?
News of the World (2020) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Dances with Wolves?
Yes: The Revenant (2015), Jeremiah Johnson (1972) and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007).
How are movies similar to Dances with Wolves chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Dances with Wolves, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.