Movies like Bugles in the Afternoon (1952)
The best movies like Bugles in the Afternoon (1952) are Day of the Outlaw (1959), Return of the Gunfighter (1967) and Decision at Sundown (1957). If Bugles in the Afternoon hooked you with its western, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)7.8/10 from 1,361 votes
- NewestOrgan Trail (2023)Released 2023
Day of the Outlaw (1959)
Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReturn of the Gunfighter (1967)
A gunfighter and a cowboy help a Mexican girl avenge the land-related murder of her parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDecision at Sundown (1957)
A man and his partner arrive at a small Western town to kill its most powerful man because the former blames him for his wife's death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRamrod (1947)
A cattle-vs.-sheepman feud loses Connie Dickason her fiance, but gains her his ranch, which she determines to run alone in opposition to Frank Ivey, "boss" of the valley, whom her father Ben wanted her to marry. She hires recovering alcoholic Dave Nash as foreman and a crew of Ivey's enemies. Ivey fights back with violence and destruction, but Dave is determined to counter him legally... a feeling not shared by his associates. Connie's boast that, as a woman, she doesn't need guns proves justified, but plenty of gunplay results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
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 · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRun of the Arrow (1957)
When the South loses the war, Confederate veteran O'Meara goes West, joins the Sioux, takes a wife and refuses to be an American but he must choose a side when the Sioux go to war against the U.S. Army.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrgan Trail (2023)
A young Abigale Archer is left friendless and alone in a brutal Montana winter during the 1870s—fighting for survival and to retrieve her one earthly possession, her family’s horse, from a gang of bloodthirsty bandits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNorth to Alaska (1960)
After striking gold in Alaska, the romantic George sends his womanizing partner Sam to bring his fiancée up from Seattle. When Sam finds that she has already married, he returns instead with Angel, a dancer originally from France.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Spoilers (1942)
When honest ship captain Roy Glennister gets swindled out of his mine claim, he turns to saloon singer Cherry Malotte for assistance in his battle with no-good town kingpin Alexander McNamara.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan in the Shadow (1957)
In a modern cow town, the powerful ranch owner’s henchmen kill a ranch hand, prompting the sheriff to investigate despite facing strong opposition. He finds an unlikely ally in the rancher's overprotected daughter, but their quest for justice puts them both in danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Died with Their Boots On (1941)
The story follows General George Armstrong Custer's adventures from his West Point days to his death. He defies orders during the Civil War, trains the 7th Cavalry, appeases Chief Crazy Horse and later engages in bloody battle with the Sioux nation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlaming Star (1960)
Pacer Burton, a young man of mixed Kiowa and white heritage, is caught between two worlds as conflict erupts between Native Americans and white settlers in Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBilly Two Hats (1974)
After a bank robbery, runaway Scottish outlaw Arch Deans and his young half-breed Kiowa partner Billy Two Hats develop a father-son relationship, but Sheriff Henry Gifford is determined to capture or kill them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
SnoozefestMovies like thisWestward the Women (1951)
There's a deficit of good, honest women in the West, and Roy Whitman wants to change that. His solution is to bring a caravan of over 100 mail-order brides from Chicago to California. It will be a long, difficult and dangerous journey for the women. So Whitman hires hardened, cynical Buck Wyatt to be their guide across the inhospitable frontier. But as disaster strikes on the trail, Buck just might discover that these women are stronger than he thinks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance. As the territory's safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBuchanan Rides Alone (1958)
Passing through a border town, a man is caught up in a Mexican's murder of a member of the town's most powerful family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Alamo (1960)
The legendary true story of a small band of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from smashing the new Republic of Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Gunfight (1971)
Will Tenneray and Abe Cross are two aging, famous gunfighters, both in need of money. Tenneray comes up with the idea to stage a duel to the death in a bullfight arena, with the ticket proceeds going to the winner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Burrowers (2008)
It is 1879 in the Dakota Territories, a band of men who set out to find and recover a family of settlers that has mysteriously vanished from their home. Expecting the offenders to be a band of fierce natives, but they soon discover that the real enemy stalks them from below.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Legend of Custer (1968)
Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer has been reinstated and assigned to command the 7th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hays. The regiment has become a ragtag outfit of thieves and ruffians and Custer must whip the soldiers into shape to fight, the Kiowa, Sioux and Blackfoot tribes who confront them. These tribes are being supplied shotguns by a white gunrunner and Custer and his men must rescue General Terry and the Fifth Cavalry Regiment from annihilation when they are ambushed and trapped by a large Kiowa war party.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Chief Crazy Horse (1955)
When young Crazy Horse, of whom great things were predicted, wins his bride, rival Little Big Man goes to villainous traders with evidence of gold in the sacred Lakota burial ground. Of course, a new gold rush starts despite all treaties, and Crazy Horse becomes military leader of his people. Initial Indian victories lead to the inevitable result. Uniquely, all is told from the Indian perspective.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCuster of the West (1967)
The story of U.S. Army commander George Armstrong Custer, a flamboyant hero of the Civil War who later fought and was exterminated with his entire command by warring Sioux and Cheyenne tribes at the battle of Little Big Horn in 1876.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Red Tomahawk (1967)
After Custer's defeat an army captain tries to warn a small town that the Sioux are coming. The inhabitants own two machine-guns but don't want to lend them to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Sitting Bull (1954)
Chief Sitting Bull of the Sioux tribe is forced by the Indian-hating General Custer to react with violence, resulting in the famous Last Stand at Little Bighorn. Parrish, a friend to the Sioux, tries to prevent the bloodshed, but is court- martialed for "collaborating" with the enemy. Sitting Bull, however, manages to intercede with President Grant on Parrish's behalf.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Texas (1941)
Two Virginians are heading for a new life in Texas when they witness a stagecoach being held up. They decide to rob the robbers and make off with the loot. To escape a posse, they split up and don't see each other again for a long time. When they do meet up again, they find themselves on different sides of the law. This leads to the increasing estrangement of the two men, who once thought of themselves as brothers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Dakota (1945)
In 1871, professional gambler John Devlin elopes with Sandra "Sandy" Poli, daughter of Marko Poli, an immigrant who has risen to railroad tycoon. Sandy, knowing that the railroad is to be extended into Dakota, plans to use their $20,000 nest egg to buy land options to sell to the railroad at a profit. On the stage trip to Ft. Abercrombie, their fellow passengers are Jim Bender and Bigtree Collins, who practically own the town of Fargo and Devlin is aware that they are prepared to protect the little empire... trying to drive out the farmers by burning their property, destroying their wheat, and blaming the devastation on the Indians. Continuing their journey north on the river aboard the "River Bird', Sandy and John meet Captain Bounce, an irascible old seafarer. Two of Bendender's henchmen, Slagin and Carp, board the boat and relieve John of his $20,000 at gunpoint. Captain Bounce, chasing the robber's dinghy..
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Sanctified (2022)
An outlaw is rescued from death by a nun who is traveling through the Badlands. She nurses him back to health in exchange for him guiding her to a Church in Williston. A deep friendship develops between these two unlikely people as they learn to work together to survive their dangerous journey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Like Bugles in the Afternoon and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Bugles in the Afternoon?
The closest matches to Bugles in the Afternoon are Day of the Outlaw (1959), Return of the Gunfighter (1967) and Decision at Sundown (1957). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Bugles in the Afternoon?
Start with Day of the Outlaw (1959), the closest match to Bugles in the Afternoon.
What is the highest-rated movie like Bugles in the Afternoon?
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), rated 7.8/10 by 1,361 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Bugles in the Afternoon?
Organ Trail (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Bugles in the Afternoon?
Yes: Day of the Outlaw (1959), Return of the Gunfighter (1967) and Decision at Sundown (1957).
How are movies similar to Bugles in the Afternoon chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Bugles in the Afternoon, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.