Movies like The Drifter (1917)
The best movies like The Drifter (1917) are Man Without a Star (1955), Run for Cover (1955) and The Bravados (1958). If The Drifter hooked you with its western, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Drifter
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTrue Grit (1969)7.3/10 from 902 votes
- NewestThe Five (2023)Released 2023
Man Without a Star (1955)
A wandering cowboy gets caught up in a range war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bravados (1958)
Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Sunset (1961)
At a Mexican ranch, fugitive O'Malley and pursuing Sheriff Stribling agree to help rancher Breckenridge drive his herd into Texas where Stribling could legally arrest O'Malley, but Breckenridge's wife complicates things.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Westerner (1940)
Drifter Cole Harden is accused of stealing a horse and faces hanging by self-appointed Judge Roy Bean, but Harden manages to talk his way out of it by claiming to be a friend of stage star Lillie Langtry, with whom the judge is obsessed, even though he has never met her. Tensions rise when Harden comes to the defense of a group of struggling homesteaders who Judge Bean is trying to drive away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnion Pacific (1939)
One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
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 thisRough Night in Jericho (1967)
The only business in the Wild West town of Jericho that corrupt sheriff Alex Flood doesn't control behind the scenes is the stagecoach owned by tough-willed widow Molly Lang and her right-hand man, Hickman. Former marshal Dolan, recently hired by Lang and Hickman as a driver, wants to stay out of the mess, but when he sees Flood's henchman Yarbrough assault Lang, he steps up to fight the corruption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Violent People (1956)
A rancher, his shady bride and his one-armed brother fight amid carpetbaggers in Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHombre (1967)
John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Indians, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Great Train Robbery (1903)
After the train station clerk is assaulted and left bound and gagged, then the departing train and its passengers robbed, a posse goes in hot pursuit of the fleeing bandits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies 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 Five (2023)
A scorned woman enlists the help of five strangers to execute a bank robbery. Tensions rise as the men anxiously await her arrival with the money, leaving the crew to wonder if they have been betrayed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
SnoozefestMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisComanche Station (1960)
A white man trades with the Comanche for the release of a female stranger and the pair cross paths with three outlaws who have their eyes on the handsome reward for bringing her home and Comanche on the warpath.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sign of Zorro (1958)
In this film, edited from eight episodes of Disney's hit TV series, Don Diego returns home to find his town under the heel of a cruel dictator, Capitan Monastario. Diego dons the mask of Zorro to fight the evil commandant's tyranny, and, with the help of his mute servant Bernardo, free the pueblo from his oppression.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Duel at Silver Creek (1952)
When a gang of ruthless claim jumpers brutally murders his miner father, a gunman known as the Silver Kid joins forces with the local marshal to free the tiny town of Silver City from the clutches of the dastardly villains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCanyon Passage (1946)
In 1850s Oregon, a businessman is torn between his love of two very different women and his loyalty to a compulsive gambler friend who goes over the line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Law and Jake Wade (1958)
Jake Wade breaks Clint Hollister out of jail to pay off an old debt, though it's clear there is some pretty deep hostility between them. They part, and Jake returns to his small-town marshal's job and his fiancée only to find he has been tracked there by Hollister. It seems they were once in a gang together and Jake knows where the proceeds of a bank hold-up are hidden. Hollister and his sidekicks make off into the hills, taking along the trussed-up marshal and his kidnapped bride-to-be to force the lawman to show them where the loot is.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDavy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956)
Davy Crockett and his sidekick Georgie compete against boastful Mike Fink ("King of the River") in a boat race to New Orleans. Later, Davy and Georgie, allied with Fink, battle a group of river pirates trying to pass themselves off as Native Americans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Red Glove (1919)
On the American frontier in the last decades of the 19th century, Billie is a female cowboy who fights a series of bad men in this film serial.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Man Who Dared (1920)
When Mamie Lee's father, Sam Corwin, is sentenced to jail for forgery, the sheriff, Ed Cass, offers to cover the debt in return for Mamie Lee's hand in marriage. The distraught daughter agrees, and Cass robs the saloon to obtain the money, placing the blame on Jim Kane, his rival for Mamie's affections. Jim is sent to jail an embittered man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Ranger of the Big Pines (1925)
A college graduate returns West after ten years in the East to her home in Sulfur Springs. Virginia's mother, the owner of a rooming house has turned hard and uncaring in her absence and the girl finds comfort in her friendship with Ross Cavanagh, a forest ranger. The latter runs afoul of cattle baron Sam Gregg, who resents a new tax on cattle grazing on government land.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Virgin of the Seminole (1923)
The film focused on a young black man who joins the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and becomes a hero by rescuing a captive mixed-race woman from a hostile American Indian tribe. The young man later purchases a ranch that becomes the foundation for great financial wealth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Knickerbocker Buckaroo (1919)
A lost film. Teddy Drake is a pleasure-seeking aristocrat who ends up expelled from his exclusive Fifth Avenue club for playing practical jokes and other rambunctious antics. He decides to reform his selfish ways and boards a train heading heading for the Southwest.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Whispering Canyon (1926)
Returning from the war to his father's California sawmill, Bob Cameron takes up with Hinky Dink, a cocky Englishman and man of the road. Ignoring a "no trespassing" sign on Cameron's property, Hinky is caught in a steel trap; Cameron, seeking aid, is threatened by Eben Beauregard, an old southerner, but the appearance of Antonia "Tony" Lee, Bob's childhood friend, quells his temper.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Devil's Partner (1923)
An adventure tale set in the North Woods. The villain, smuggler Jules Payette, would give anything if Jeanne would give in. Saving her virtue in the nick of time is stalwart Pierre, who turns out to be a Northwest Mountie.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Bull-Dogger (1921)
The famous black cowboy Bill Pickett shows his prowess in rodeos. Only small parts of the film survive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Don't Shoot (1926)
Nancy Burton, niece of the sheriff, is in love with Deputy Tom Farrell, but she as an aversion to bloodshed. She overhears that he shot and killed an outlaw three years in the past. He swears to her that it never happened but she does not believe him. Later her uncle tells he that it was he who killed the outlaw, Trevis, in the line of duty. She also learns that the brother of Trevis, seeking revenge, is on his way to kill Farrell.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Martin of the Mounted (1926)
Martin, the heroine's father is falsely believed to be in league with fur thieves, but the real villain, not content with robbing the old man of his furs, also plots the theft of his fair daughter. He nearly succeeds, but the resourceful Martin blocks both games.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Drifter?
The closest matches to The Drifter are Man Without a Star (1955), Run for Cover (1955) and The Bravados (1958). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Drifter?
Start with Man Without a Star (1955), the closest match to The Drifter.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Drifter?
True Grit (1969), rated 7.3/10 by 902 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Drifter?
The Five (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Drifter?
Yes: Man Without a Star (1955), Run for Cover (1955) and The Bravados (1958).
How are movies similar to The Drifter chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Drifter, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.