Movies like Powwow Highway (1989)
The best movies like Powwow Highway (1989) are Smoke Signals (1998), Charlie & Boots (2009) and Little Big Man (1970). If Powwow Highway hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDances with Wolves (1990)7.8/10 from 4,908 votes
- NewestOmaha (2025)Released 2025
Smoke Signals (1998)
Young Native American man Thomas is a nerd in his reservation, wearing oversize glasses and telling everyone stories no-one wants to hear. His parents died in a fire in 1976, and Thomas was saved by Arnold. Arnold soon left his family, and Victor hasn't seen his father for 10 years. When Victor hears Arnold has died, Thomas offers him funding for the trip to get Arnold's remains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCharlie & Boots (2009)
After a family tragedy, Charlie and his estranged son, Boots, try to put their differences aside and head off on the road trip of a lifetime - from regional Victoria to the Cape York Peninsula - they overcome many challenges to reach their dream - to fish off the northernmost tip of Australia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKodachrome (2017)
Matt Ryder is convinced to drive his estranged and dying father Benjamin Ryder cross country to deliver four old rolls of Kodachrome film to the last lab in the world that can develop them before it shuts down for good. Along with Ben's nurse Zooey, the three navigate a world changing from analogue to digital while trying to put the past behind them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalf Brothers (2020)
Mexican aviation exec Renato is shocked to learn that he has an American half-brother he never knew about: free-spirited Asher. They are forced on a road trip together, tracing the path their father took from Mexico to the U.S.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGood Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! (2011)
Teddy Duncan's middle-class family embarks on a road trip from their home in Denver to visit Mrs. Duncans Parents, the Blankenhoopers, in Palm Springs. When they find themselves stranded between Denver and Utah, they try to hitch a ride to Las Vegas with a seemingly normal older couple in a station wagon from Roswell, New Mexico. It turns out that the couple believes they are the victims of alien abduction. The Duncan's must resort to purchasing a clunker Yugo to get to Utah, have their luggage stolen in Las Vegas, and survive a zany Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Blankenhooper.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Own Love Song (2010)
A wheelchair-bound singer and her best friend embark on a roadtrip to Memphis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAna (2020)
Ana meets Rafa in a chance encounter and they embark on a road trip to try and save him from bankruptcy, or worse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mountain Men (1980)
The story concerns two grizzled mountain men -- Bill Tyler and Henry Frapp -- during the dying days of the fur-trapping era. The plot begins when Running Moon runs away from her abusive husband Heavy Eagle and comes across the two seedy fur trappers. The mountain men take her in, unaware that Heavy Eagle has dispatched an army of Indian braves to reclaim her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisRoad to Paloma (2014)
While Native American Wolf is being pursued by the FBI for having taken the law into his own hands, when his mother was raped and killed on their reservation he crosses paths with Cash, a down and out musician who is coping with the end of his marriage. An unlikely friendship develops, as they ride together towards the Teton mountain range, where Wolf will spread his mothers ashes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFancy Dance (2024)
Following her sister's disappearance, Jax and her niece Roki must stick together. Desperate to keep what's left of their family intact, Jax and Roki defy the law and hit the road on a journey to the Grand Nation Powwow in Oklahoma City.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDances 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEnd of the Road (2022)
Recently widowed mom Brenda fights to protect her family during a harrowing road trip when a murder and a missing bag of cash plunge them into danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Homesman (2014)
When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs, to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThelma & Louise (1991)
Taking a break from their dreary lives, close friends Thelma and Louise embark on a short weekend trip that ends in unforeseen incriminating circumstances. As fugitives, both women rediscover the strength of their bond and their newfound resilience.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRancho Notorious (1952)
A man in search of revenge infiltrates a ranch, hidden in an inhospitable region, where its owner, Altar Keane, gives shelter to outlaws fleeing from the law in exchange for a price.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Way West (1967)
In the mid-19th century, Senator William J. Tadlock leads a group of settlers overland in a quest to start a new settlement in the Western US. Tadlock is a highly principled and demanding taskmaster who is as hard on himself as he is on those who have joined his wagon train. He clashes with one of the new settlers, Lije Evans, who doesn't quite appreciate Tadlock's ways. Along the way, the families must face death and heartbreak and a sampling of frontier justice when one of them accidentally kills a young Indian boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEasy Rider (1969)
Wyatt and Billy, two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)
While confronting the disapproving father of his girlfriend Lola, Native American man Willie Boy kills the man in self-defense, triggering a massive manhunt, led by Deputy Sheriff Christopher Cooper.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJourney of My Heart (2021)
Abby, a wildlife biologist, travels to remote Alaska where she finds inspirational guidance from a Native American family and possible romance from a rugged wilderness guide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Battles of Chief Pontiac (1952)
In pre-Revolutionary America, the efforts of a Colonial officer trying to broker a peace deal between Indian chief Pontiac and British and American settlers are threatened by the commander of a Hessian mercenary unit who embarks on a campaign of extermination against the Indians.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Trail of the Falcon (1968)
In the latter half of the 19th century, gold is discovered in the Black Hills, sacred land of the Lakota people. Gold diggers, profiteers and adventurers flock to the region. Among them is the hard-hearted land speculator Bludgeon, who tries to expel the Lakota using brutal methods. Lakota warriors retaliate, and soon the gold diggers' town becomes a battlefield.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Call of Fayu Ujmu (2002)
A 13-year-old Indian boy is found unconscious after being attacked in the jungle by the evil spirit Fayu Ujmu. A shaman attempts to ritually tame the spirit and advises the boy’s father to capture it. This story is based on a Chachi Indian legend; it was shot with indigenous inhabitants of the jungle community of Loma Linda, on the Rio Cayapas.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Brave (1997)
A down-on-his-luck American Indian recently released from jail is offered the chance to "star" as the victim of a snuff film, the resulting pay of which could greatly help his poverty stricken family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Mother's Future Husband (2014)
Headly, a 15-year-old teenager, thinks her mother, Rene, has mourned her father's death long enough, so she decides to find her a new husband by the end of the summer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Taínos: la última tribu (2005)
Sara, a young archaeology student, organizes an expedition to La Mora Cave. Guided by Yabey, Sara and her four friends, discover a hidden Taíno tribe, believed to be extinguished 500 years ago.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Big Eden (2000)
Henry Hart is a young gay artist living in New York City. When his grandfather has a stroke, Henry puts his career on hold and returns home to the small town of Big Eden, Montana, to care for him. While there, Henry hopes to strike up a romance with Dean Stewart, his high-school best friend for whom he still has feelings. But he's surprised when he finds that Pike, a quiet Native American who owns the local general store, may have a crush on him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deerslayer (1913)
Wah-Ta-Wah, or Hist, the lady-love of Chingachgook, a Delaware chief, has been captured by the warlike Hurons. Chingachgook asks the aid of Deerslayer, a white man brought up among the Indians, in rescuing her, and. the two men arrange to meet at Lake Otsego, then called Glimmerglass. Deerslayer sets out for the meeting place, accompanied by Hurry Harry March, a trapper, who acts as his guide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
This Is Not a Ceremony (2022)
This cinematic VR experience offers insights into the struggles and conflicts of growing up an Indigenous man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Powwow Highway?
The closest matches to Powwow Highway are Smoke Signals (1998), Charlie & Boots (2009) and Little Big Man (1970). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Powwow Highway?
Start with Smoke Signals (1998), the closest match to Powwow Highway.
What is the highest-rated movie like Powwow Highway?
Dances with Wolves (1990), rated 7.8/10 by 4,908 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Powwow Highway?
Omaha (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Powwow Highway?
Yes: Smoke Signals (1998), Charlie & Boots (2009) and Little Big Man (1970).
How are movies similar to Powwow Highway chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Powwow Highway, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.