Movies like In Search of America (1971)
The best movies like In Search of America (1971) are Hello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006), Angels in the Snow (2015) and Samantha: An American Girl Holiday (2004). If In Search of America hooked you with its drama and tv movie, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedParis, Texas (1984)8.1/10 from 2,374 votes
- NewestOmaha (2025)Released 2025
Hello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006)
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngels in the Snow (2015)
The affluent, yet troubled Montgomery family hits the road for a special Christmas in the mountains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamantha: An American Girl Holiday (2004)
Kindhearted Samantha Parkington's world starts to change the day Nellie O'Malley walks into her life. Nellie, her father, and her two little sisters have moved in next door to be servants for the Ryland family. Though they come from completely different backgrounds, Samantha and Nellie become fast friends. The girls turn to each other in happiness and sorrow, adventure and danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJacob (1994)
Isaac's son Jacob deprives his brother Esau of his birthright and has to flee for his life. He finds shelter with his uncle Laban, but is himself deceived. Finally, Jacob has to face both his uncle and brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBaywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003)
Mitch Buchannon, believed to have died in a boating accident survived and only has amnesia, he has been recovering in a Los Angeles hospital. His new fiancée, Allison Ford, resembles his old lover, Lt. Stephanie Holden who died years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors (2015)
"Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors" is based on the inspiring true story of living legend Dolly Parton's remarkable upbringing. This once-in-a-lifetime movie special takes place inside the tight-knit Parton family as they struggle to overcome devastating tragedy and discover the healing power of love, faith and a raggedy patchwork coat that helped make Parton who she is today. The film is set in the Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains in 1955. It is neither a biopic nor a musical about Dolly's whole life and performing career, but rather a family-oriented faith-based story about the incidents in her and her family's life around the time she was nine years old.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHomeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996)
A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based occurrences. A reformed junkie returns from prison to clean up his act and devote the rest of his life to the young kids of Harlem. 1996 was the 25th anniversary of the first tournament named after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Son (2019)
Time passes and tension mounts in a Florida police station as an estranged interracial couple awaits news of their missing teenage son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDouble Teamed! (2002)
Heather and Heidi play volleyball for their school team, when their family decides that they need to go to a bigger school so that they will have a better chance for scholarships. But at the new school, the twins are discovered by the basketball coach. Inspired by the true story of Heather and Heidi Burge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScarecrow (1973)
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHead Full of Honey (2018)
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJungle Run (2021)
A brother and sister's journey into the jungle to find their missing father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisDog Gone (2023)
When his beloved dog goes missing, a young man embarks on an incredible search with his parents to find him and give him life-saving medication.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (2003)
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParis, Texas (1984)
A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHelter Skelter (1976)
The investigation of two horrific mass murders leads to the capture and trial of the psychotic pseudo-hippie Charles Manson and his "family".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOperation Heartbeat (1969)
Lawsuits fly when a widow believes a gifted surgeon allowed her husband to die so his heart could be transplanted into the doctor's ailing mentor and friend. Operation Heartbeat was the pilot movie for the TV series Medical Center.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Night Stalker (1972)
Wisecracking reporter Carl Kolchak investigates a string of murders in Las Vegas and suspects the culprit is a vampire. His editor thinks he's crazy and the police think he's a nuisance, so Kolchak takes matters into his own hands.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarter's Army (1975)
A racist officer is put in charge of an all-black squad of troops charged with the mission of blowing up an important hydro-dam in Nazi Germany. Their failure would delay the Allies' advance into Germany, thus prolonging the war.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Night Strangler (1973)
After being run out of Las Vegas, reporter Carl Kolchak heads for Seattle and another reporting job with the local paper. It's not long before he’s on the trail of another string of bizarre murders. It seems that every 21 years, for the past century, a killer murders a certain number of people, drains them of their blood, and then disappears into the night. Kolchak is on his trail, but can he stop him?
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hippie Revolution (1996)
Back in the stone aged we all went to San Fransisco to escape our parents and the Vietnam war. To laugh, dance and love each other. To make love not war. Music bt Country Joe & The Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Steve Miller Band and Mother Earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Almost Famous (2000)
In 1973, a precocious 15-year-old aspiring rock journalist lands a dream assignment from Rolling Stone to tour with a rising rock band, embarking on a coming-of-age journey as he discovers the exhilarating and heartbreaking realities behind rock stardom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBig House Blues (1990)
Ren and Stimpy, on the streets starving, are captured by the dog catcher. They end up in the pound and become frightened when one of the dogs tells them of the "big sleep".
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Bhaji on the Beach (1993)
A group of South Asian women try but cannot escape their problems on a day trip to a British beach resort.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Heroin (TBA)
This color propaganda ‘scare’ film is about the horrors of the drug heroin. It seems to be reel 1 and is missing its credits and its other reels. It is made circa the late 1960s in England.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like In Search of America?
The closest matches to In Search of America are Hello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006), Angels in the Snow (2015) and Samantha: An American Girl Holiday (2004). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after In Search of America?
Start with Hello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006), the closest match to In Search of America.
What is the highest-rated movie like In Search of America?
Paris, Texas (1984), rated 8.1/10 by 2,374 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like In Search of America?
Omaha (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like In Search of America?
Yes: Hello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006), Angels in the Snow (2015) and Samantha: An American Girl Holiday (2004).
How are movies similar to In Search of America chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside In Search of America, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.