Movies like Written on the Wind (1956)
The best movies like Written on the Wind (1956) are Picnic (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) and Peyton Place (1957). If Written on the Wind hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)7.6/10 from 879 votes
- NewestThis Property Is Condemned (1966)Released 1966
Picnic (1955)
Labor Day in a small Kansas farm town. Hal, a burly and resolute drifter, jumps off a dusty freight train car with the purpose of visiting Alan, a former college classmate and son of the richest man in town.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSweet Bird of Youth (1962)
Gigolo and drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. Chance runs into trouble when he finds his ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the local politician Tom "Boss" Finley, who more or less forced him to leave his daughter and the town many years ago.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPeyton Place (1957)
In the outwardly respectable New England community of Peyton Place, shopkeeper Constance McKenzie tries to make up for a past indiscretion -- which resulted in her illegitimate daughter Allison -- by adopting a chaste, prudish attitude towards all things sexual. In spite of herself, Constance can't help but be attracted to handsome new teacher Michael Rossi. Meanwhile, the restless Allison, who'd like to be as footloose and fancy-free as the town's "fast girl" Betty Anderson, falls sincerely in love with mixed-up mama's boy Norman Page.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSplendor in the Grass (1961)
A fragile Kansas girl's unrequited and forbidden love for a handsome young man from the town's most powerful family drives her to heartbreak and madness.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll That Heaven Allows (1955)
Two different social classes collide when Cary Scott, a wealthy upper-class widow, falls in love with her much younger and down-to-earth gardener, prompting disapproval and criticism from her children and country club friends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSummer and Smoke (1961)
In a small Mississippi town in 1916, an eccentric spinster battles her romantic yearnings for the randy boy next door.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Baby Doll (1956)
Archie Lee Meighan is a failing cotton gin owner who is married to Baby Doll, a 19-year old childlike beauty whose father arranged the marriage for financial reasons. As Archie awaits the arrival of Baby Doll's 20th birthday, the day that they are supposed to consummate their marriage, he faces interference from business rival Silva Vacarro, who plots to seduce Baby Doll away from Meighan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBaby the Rain Must Fall (1965)
Henry Thomas tries to overcome the horrors of his childhood and start a new life with his wife and kid. However, his abusive step-mother and his dependence on alcohol threaten to ruin his future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome from the Hill (1960)
The wealthiest man in a Texas town decides to teach his teenage son how to hunt to make a man out of him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagnificent Obsession (1954)
Reckless playboy Bob Merrick crashes his speedboat, requiring emergency attention from the town’s only resuscitator while a local hero, Dr. Phillips, dies waiting for the life-saving device. Merrick then tries to right his wrongs with the doctor’s widow, Helen, falling in love with her in the process.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThere's Always Tomorrow (1956)
When a toy manufacturer feels ignored and unappreciated by his wife and children, he begins to rekindle a past love when a former employee comes back into his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRoom at the Top (1958)
An ambitious young accountant schemes to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter, despite falling in love with a married older woman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fugitive Kind (1960)
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Place in the Sun (1951)
A young social climber wins the heart of a beautiful heiress but his former girlfriend's pregnancy stands in the way of his ambition.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisImitation of Life (1959)
In 1940s New York, a white widow who dreams of being on Broadway has a chance encounter with a black single mother, who becomes her maid.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Night of the Iguana (1964)
A defrocked Episcopal clergyman leads a bus-load of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunting his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGiant (1956)
Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWild River (1960)
A young bureaucrat for the Tennessee Valley Authority goes to rural Tennessee to oversee the building of a dam. He encounters opposition from the local people, in particular a farmer who objects to his employment (with pay) of local black laborers. Much of the plot revolves around the eviction of a stubborn octogenarian from her home on an island in the river, and the young man's love affair with that woman's widowed granddaughter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Summer Place (1959)
A self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarjorie Morningstar (1958)
While working as a counselor at a summer camp, college-student Marjorie Morgenstern falls for 32-year-old Noel Airman, a would-be dramatist working at a nearby summer theater. Like Marjorie, he is an upper-middle-class New York Jew, but has fallen away from his roots, and Marjorie's parents object among other things to his lack of a suitable profession. Noel himself warns Marjorie repeatedly that she's much too naive and conventional for him, but they nonetheless fall in love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Marty (1955)
Marty, a butcher who lives in the Bronx with his mother, is unmarried at 34. Good-natured but socially awkward, he faces constant badgering from family and friends to get married but has reluctantly resigned himself to bachelorhood. He then meets Clara, an unattractive school teacher. Realising their emotional connection, Marty promises to call, but family and friends try to convince him not to.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Misfits (1961)
While filing for a divorce, beautiful ex-stripper Roslyn Taber ends up meeting aging cowboy-turned-gambler Gay Langland and former World War II aviator Guido Racanelli. The two men instantly become infatuated with Roslyn and, on a whim, the three decide to move into Guido's half-finished desert home together. When grizzled ex-rodeo rider Perce Howland arrives, the unlikely foursome strike up a business capturing wild horses.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLonelyhearts (1959)
Burdened by a family secret, Adam White lands a job as a newspaper advice columnist. Little does he realize that it's all part of a nasty desire by cynical editor William Shrike to crush the souls of his underlings. Adam feels his readers' pain, and eventually, he takes an assignment to meet with Faye Doyle, who is exasperated by her crippled husband. When Faye tries to seduce Adam, he must choose between his job and his girl.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Days of Wine and Roses (1963)
An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThis Property Is Condemned (1966)
Owen Legate, a railroad official, comes to Dodson, Mississippi to shut down the local railway - the town's main income. But Owen unexpectedly finds love with Dodson's flirt and main attraction, Alva Starr.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rose Tattoo (1955)
A grieving widow embarks on a new romance when she discovers her late husband had been cheating on her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSome Came Running (1958)
A former novelist returns to his small Midwest town after serving in the Army during WWII, to the chagrin of his social-climbing brother, and becomes close with an easy-going professional gambler and torn between two very different women.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Written on the Wind?
The closest matches to Written on the Wind are Picnic (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) and Peyton Place (1957). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Written on the Wind?
People who watched Written on the Wind most often go on to Picnic (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) and Peyton Place (1957).
What is the highest-rated movie like Written on the Wind?
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), rated 7.6/10 by 879 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Written on the Wind?
This Property Is Condemned (1966) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Written on the Wind?
Yes: Picnic (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) and Peyton Place (1957).
How are movies similar to Written on the Wind chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Written on the Wind, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.