Movies like COWBOYS: A Short Film (2022)
The best movies like COWBOYS: A Short Film (2022) are Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Man in the Shadow (1957) and Sergeant Rutledge (1960). If COWBOYS: A Short Film hooked you with its western and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedEyes Wide Shut (1999)7.5/10 from 7,471 votes
- NewestOscar Shaw (2026)Released 2026
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
One-armed war veteran John J. Macreedy steps off a train at the sleepy little town of Black Rock. Once there, he begins to unravel a web of lies, secrecy, and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSergeant Rutledge (1960)
Respected black cavalry Sergeant Brax Rutledge stands court-martial for raping and killing a white woman and murdering her father, his superior officer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOscar Shaw (2026)
After retiring from the police force, a relentless detective haunted by the tragic loss of his closest friend sets out on a perilous quest for vengeance, seeking redemption and fighting to restore justice to the streets he once swore to protect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTime Without Pity (1957)
Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec’s father, David Graham, a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in from Canada to visit his son on death row. David then goes on a quest to try and clear his son’s name while battling “the bottle.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEach Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Name on the Bullet (1959)
When hired killer John Gant rides into Lordsburg, the town's folk become paranoid as each leading citizen has enemies capable of using the services of a professional killer for personal revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & 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 thisReturn of the Bad Men (1948)
US Marshall Vance is assigned to rid the Oklahoma Territory of outlaws.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRide the Pink Horse (1947)
A con man tries to blackmail a Mexican gangster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRedemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004)
Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence resolutions which earned him multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was executed by lethal injection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIndemnity (2022)
An ex-fireman with PTSD goes on the run when accused of a crime he doesn't even remember committing, leading him down a rabbit hole of conspiracy to the highest degree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBroken Lance (1954)
Tensions erupt within an Arizona cattle baron's household when his three sons vie for control of the ranch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe Glass Key (1942)
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForty Guns (1957)
An authoritarian rancher rules an Arizona county with her private posse of hired guns. When a new Marshal arrives to set things straight, the cattle queen finds herself falling for the avowedly non-violent lawman. Both have itchy-fingered brothers, a female gunman enters the picture, and things go desperately wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of Bamboo (1955)
Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Proud Rebel (1958)
Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhile the City Sleeps (1956)
Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed "The Lipstick Killer".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Suicide Theory (2014)
Steven Ray was never quite normal. But when tragedy strikes in the form of a deadly hit-and-run incident at a city cross walk, his violent and bizarre behavior becomes uncontrollable. One night, as Steven plots his next murder, he meets Percival, whose unsuccessful attempt at suicide not only interferes with Stevens plans, but the chance encounter also introduces the two into each others sad and lonely lives. Percival believes hes cursed after miraculously surviving each suicide attempt and concludes fate brought he and Steven together. So he hires Steven to assist him in suicide. Steven does not believe in fate and thinks Percival is desperate and delusional. But he accepts the offer. Easy money. After Percival continues to miraculously survive each attempt on his life, Steven starts to believe. He tries to help Percival figure out ways to break the curse. And in the process, they form an unlikely friendship through the common bond of tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEyes Wide Shut (1999)
After Dr. Bill Harford's wife, Alice, admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he is in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBorderland (2007)
Three college students, Phil, Ed, and Henry take a road trip into Mexico for a week of drinking and carefree fun only to have Phil find himself a captive of a group of satanic Mexican drug smugglers who kill tourists and whom are looking for a group of new ones to prepare for a sacrifice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisDesert Kickboxer (1992)
A kickboxing cop abandons the violent life after he accidentally kills his opponent during a match. After quitting, he heads for the Arizona desert to live alone and occasionally work tracking drug runners for the area sheriff. One particularly wily Mexican drug lord, Santos, has been a real thorn in tracker Joe Highhawk's side, so when he encounters the beautiful Claudia and her simpleton brother Anthony running for their lives because she, an accountant, embezzled $20 million from Santos, he decides to help them. This actioner follows what happens next. Along the way, they encounter all sorts of danger, and double cross until the exciting final standoff between the kickboxer and the villain.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & western
The Divinity of a City (2024)
David Bono is a hitman hired to target Orshanabi Nazzar, a high-ranking priest-bureaucrat in a temple corporation in the fictional city of Babylonia (Brussels-based). The corporation has invented a way to avoid death by recording people's lives. While gathering information and preparing for the job, David meets Ellie, with whom they slept together. However, Ellie is a member of a cult called Children of Ishtar, and David's job would interrupt their life-recording ceremony. Facing an obsessive dilemma, David tries to find a way to do his mission without killing Ellie. First, he tries to convince Ellie not to attend the ceremony, and then he hires a local crook to kidnap her while he does the job. After the successful job, Ellie frees herself from the kidnapper, discovers the truth, and leaves for Akkadia. Meanwhile, David calls to receive the rest of his payment but gets ambushed by the contractor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Manhunter (1986)
FBI Agent Will Graham, retired after catching notorious cannibal Hannibal Lecter, returns to duty to engage in a risky cat-and-mouse game with Lecter to capture a new killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDirty Boy (2025)
Raised in an oppressive cult, a reclusive schizophrenic discovers that he's being framed by cult leaders for a series of ritualistic murders and must prove his innocence by saving their next victim and exposing the evil sect.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Mind Ripper (1995)
A top secret experiment intended to produce a superhuman has gone terribly wrong. Now the creators, trapped in a remote desert outpost, are being pursued ruthlessly by their creation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisWekufe: The Origin of Evil (2016)
A student travels with her boyfriend to Chiloé, remote Patagonia island in southern Chile, to investigate the link that exists between the high number of sexual related crimes and the myths 'n' legends that surround this mysterious place.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Pump Up the Volume (1990)
Mark Hunter, a lonely high school student, uses his shortwave radio to moonlight as the popular pirate DJ "Hard Harry." When his show gets blamed for a teen committing suicide, the students clash with high school faculty and the authorities.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like COWBOYS: A Short Film?
The closest matches to COWBOYS: A Short Film are Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Man in the Shadow (1957) and Sergeant Rutledge (1960). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after COWBOYS: A Short Film?
Start with Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), the closest match to COWBOYS: A Short Film.
What is the highest-rated movie like COWBOYS: A Short Film?
Eyes Wide Shut (1999), rated 7.5/10 by 7,471 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like COWBOYS: A Short Film?
Oscar Shaw (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like COWBOYS: A Short Film?
Yes: Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Man in the Shadow (1957) and Sergeant Rutledge (1960).
How are movies similar to COWBOYS: A Short Film chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside COWBOYS: A Short Film, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.