Movies like Angel River (1988)
The best movies like Angel River (1988) are Love's Enduring Promise (2004), Rancho Notorious (1952) and One-Eyed Jacks (1961). If Angel River hooked you with its western and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRio Bravo (1959)7.8/10 from 1,319 votes
- NewestMistletoe in Montana (2021)Released 2021
Love's Enduring Promise (2004)
In the 1800s frontier, Missie Davis is a bright and beautiful schoolteacher whose love for the prairie is matched only by her passion for books. When Missie encounters Grant, a handsome New England railroad executive, she feels as though she's met a hero from one of her novels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Running from the law after a bank robbery in Mexico, Dad Longworth finds an opportunity to take the stolen gold and leave his partner Rio to be captured. Years later, Rio escapes from the prison where he has been since, and hunts down Dad for revenge. Dad is now a respectable sheriff in California, and has been living in fear of Rio's return.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 western & drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHud (1963)
Hud Bannon is a ruthless young man who tarnishes everything and everyone he touches. Hud represents the perfect embodiment of alienated youth, out for kicks with no regard for the consequences. There is bitter conflict between the callous Hud and his stern and highly principled father, Homer. Hud's nephew Lon admires Hud's cheating ways, though he soon becomes too aware of Hud's reckless amorality to bear him anymore. In the world of the takers and the taken, Hud is a winner. He's a cheat, but, he explains, "I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCry Macho (2021)
A one-time rodeo star and washed-up horse breeder takes a job from an ex-boss to bring the man's young son home from Mexico.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
SnoozefestMovies like thisRun for Cover (1955)
An ex-convict drifter and his flawed young partner are made sheriff and deputy of a Western town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilverado (1985)
Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrontera (2014)
After crossing the border illegally for work, Miguel, a hard-working father and devoted husband, finds himself wrongfully accused of murdering a former sheriff’s wife. After learning of his imprisonment, Miguel’s pregnant wife tries to come to his aid and lands in the hands of corrupt coyotes who hold her for ransom. Dissatisfied with the police department’s investigation, the former sheriff tries to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and discovers disturbing evidence that will destroy one family’s future, or tear another’s apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cowboys (1972)
When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage, however, neither he nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDon't Come Knocking (2005)
Howard Spence has seen better days. Once a big Western movie star, he now drowns his disgust for his selfish and failed life with alcohol, drugs and young women. If he were to die now, nobody would shed a tear over him, that's the sad truth. Until one day Howard learns that he might have a child somewhere out there...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
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 western & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEl Dorado (1966)
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Man from Colorado (1948)
Two friends return home after their discharge from the army after the Civil War. However, one of them has had deep-rooted psychological damage due to his experiences during the war, and as his behavior becomes more erratic--and violent--his friend desperately tries to find a way to help him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRio Bravo (1959)
A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 & western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead Men (2018)
Jesse Struthers and his brother Jake find themselves on the run after a band of men begin murdering their family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western & drama
The Valley of Decision (1945)
Mary Rafferty comes from a poor family of steel mill workers in 19th Century Pittsburgh. Her family objects when she goes to work as a maid for the wealthy Scott family which controls the mill. Mary catches the attention of handsome scion Paul Scott, but their romance is complicated by Paul's engagement to someone else and a bitter strike among the mill workers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Green Grass of Wyoming (1948)
The romance of a rancher's niece and a rival rancher's son parallels that of a stallion and a mare.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & western
My Friend Flicka (1943)
Ken McLaughlin is a precocious 10-year-old who lives with his family on a remote Wyoming ranch. When Ken returns home from school with failing grades, his father, Rob, blames the boy's lack of personal responsibility. At the suggestion of his wife, Nell, Rob allows Ken to choose a single colt from the herd to raise as his own. Much to his father's dismay, Ken chooses a fiery mustang filly -- but the two soon become fast friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & western
Tickle Me (1965)
A singing rodeo rider takes a job at an all-female dude ranch, where he gets involved with a physical trainer and a treasure hunt for gold in a ghost town, leading to a showdown with kidnappers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & western
Return of the Lash (1947)
Six wanted outlaws are rounded up and captured by the Cheyenne Kid. Collecting the reward money, Cheyenne instructs his sidekick Fuzzy Q. Jones to give the money to a group of financially strapped ranchers. Alas, Fuzzy falls off his horse, loses his memory, and forgets what became of the money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Wild Rovers (1971)
Ross Bodine and Frank Post are cowhands on Walt Buckman's R-Bar-R ranch. Bodine is older and broods a bit about how he will get along when he's too old to cowboy. Post is young and rambunctious and ambitious for a better life than wrangling cows. When one of their fellow cowboys is killed in a corral accident, Post suggests a way into a better life for himself and his friend: robbing a bank. Bodine reluctantly joins in the plan and the two contrive to rob the local bank. They make good their escape initially, but Walt Buckman and his two sons, John and Paul, are incensed at this betrayal by their own trusted employees. John and Paul set out to bring Bodine and Post to justice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGun Fury (1953)
After a stagecoach holdup, Frank Slayton's notorious gang leave Ben Warren for dead and head off with his fiancée. Warren follows, and although none of the townspeople he comes across are prepared to help, he recruits two others who have sworn revenge on the ruthless Slayton.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Stranger Wore a Gun (1953)
Having been a spy for Quantrill's raiders during the Civil War, Jeff Travis thinking himself a wanted man, flees to Prescott Arizona where he runs into Jules Mourret who knows of his past. He takes a job on the stage line that Mourret is trying to steal gold from. When Mourret's men kill a friend of his he sets out to get Mourret and his men. When his plan to have another gang get Mourret fails, he has to go after them himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Mistletoe in Montana (2021)
Merry, who owns the ranch, has been unlucky in love, but that's about to change when a single father, Mark, and his two kids book the ranch for Christmas week. Adventure is on the menu, the holiday spirit is everywhere, and love is in the air.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Angel River?
The closest matches to Angel River are Love's Enduring Promise (2004), Rancho Notorious (1952) and One-Eyed Jacks (1961). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Angel River?
Start with Love's Enduring Promise (2004), the closest match to Angel River.
What is the highest-rated movie like Angel River?
Rio Bravo (1959), rated 7.8/10 by 1,319 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Angel River?
Mistletoe in Montana (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Angel River?
Yes: Love's Enduring Promise (2004), Rancho Notorious (1952) and One-Eyed Jacks (1961).
How are movies similar to Angel River chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Angel River, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.