Best movies like Desert Rats
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Series pilot about a local rebel who is appointed sheriff of a small Arizona town.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 47
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Desert Rats (1988):
Similar in 76%
Frybread Face and Me (2023)
Plot Summary:
Two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds bond during a summer herding sheep on their grandmother's ranch in Arizona while learning more about their family's past and themselves.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 667
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Lace II (1985)
Plot Summary:
While in the first part, Lili searched for her mother, she now questions her mom on the identity of her father.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 486
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 188 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Lighter Fluid (2016)
Plot Summary:
An experimental look into the lives of teens and young adults in a dysfunctional town.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 66 min
Plot tags: experimental
Similar in 90%
Blessings (2003)
Plot Summary:
Released from jail after a term basically served instead of friends he refused to rat out, Charles 'Skip' Cuddy is grateful his gentleman instinct gets him a job with living quarters as handyman on a semi-destitute estate Blessings. Working hard, he wins further confidence from the owner, bitter widow Lydia Blessing, unlike her in-living bitch nurse Jennifer. When a baby is left at the state, Skip takes it in and secretly cares for it. Lydia eventually finds out but sides with him, feeling robbed of grandchildren by her careerist only daughter Meredith. Then Skip's past comes knocking, and the baby's birth parents.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 137
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Co-ed Call Girl (1996)
Plot Summary:
Thanks to a roommate's practical joke, bookish college student Joanna Halbert finds herself signed up with a Malibu-based escort service which promises her big money and an easy ride. Instead, she becomes entangled in a web of corruption, sleaze, and violence.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 562
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: detective, ridiculous
Similar in 75%
Skateboard (1978)
Plot Summary:
A Hollywood agent finds himself in debt to a powerful bookie. To make a fast buck, he creates a team of exceptionally talented skateboarders and enters them in a downhill race. If they win, they will get $20,000.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 297
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 89%
Reefa (2021)
Plot Summary:
Reefa Hernandez Jr, an 18-year-old Colombian immigrant and talented artist spending his last summer in Miami with friends, family and his new girl Frankie before moving to New York City on an art scholarship.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 154
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Child Bride of Short Creek (1981)
Plot Summary:
Partially based on the true events surrounding a rural religious cult in the American Midwest, and how the members' children suffered for their parents' fanaticism.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 336
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Ilegales (2010)
Plot Summary:
Tells the stories of a group of people in Ciudad de Juarez with one thing in common: they are all looking for a better life for them and their families. For many, that better life waits just a short walk away in the United States.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: suspense, touching, suspenseful, independent film, exciting, contemplative
Similar in 82%
Escape from Terror: The Teresa Stamper Story (1995)
Plot Summary:
True story of an abusive husband's obsession with his wife and daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 265
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Hail, Hero! (1969)
Plot Summary:
Hail, Hero! stars Michael Douglas in his screen debut as long-haired college student Carl Dixon. Reversing the usual procedure in late-1960s films, Dixon decides to quit school and enlist in the Army, even though he's already run afoul of the law as a Vietnam protestor. It is our hero's intention to use love, rather than bullets, to combat the Viet Cong. Needless to say, his idealism is no match for the harsher realities of war, but this doesn't stop him from endlessly spouting the sort of agit-prop rhetoric so beloved of filmmakers of the era. In addition to Michael Douglas, co-star Peter Strauss likewise makes his first film appearance in Hail, Hero! Dated in the extreme, the film is saved by the musical score by Gordon Lightfoot.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 233
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, cult film
Similar in 81%
God Has a Rap Sheet (2003)
Plot Summary:
8 men in a holding cell with a homeless man who claims to be god.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 188
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, captivating
Similar in 87%
The Land (2016)
Plot Summary:
Four teenage boys devote their summer to escaping the streets of Cleveland, Ohio, by pursuing a dream life of professional skateboarding. But when they get caught in the web of the local queenpin, their motley brotherhood is tested, threatening to make this summer their last.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: hood
Similar in 80%
Solitude (2002)
Plot Summary:
Each character involved in this psychological exploration of family and sexuality discovers what it means to suffer inexplicable torment rather than be alone.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 157
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: avant garde, independent film
Similar in 86%
Desert Blue (1998)
Plot Summary:
An academic obsessed with "roadside attractions" and his tv-star daughter finally discover the world's largest ice cream cone, the centerpiece for an old gold-rush town struggling to stay on the map. They end up staying longer than expected because of an accident that spilled an unknown cola ingredient all over the highway. They spend the next few days with the various residents of the town which include a teenage girl who loves to blow things up and a boy trying to keep alive his fathers dream of building a beachside resort in the middle of the desert.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, offbeat, humorous, semi serious, black comedy, romantic, road movie, sexy, clever, feel good
Similar in 77%
7 Suns (2008)
Plot Summary:
A man called "The Black" is hired to smuggle a group of undocumented migrants into the United States. He wants to quit the smuggling business and claims this is his last trip. His superiors, now suspicious, send Gavilan, a younger smuggler, to keep an eye on him. During the troubled crossing, the smugglers fight and eventually lose part of their human cargo. "The Black" escapes from his former associates but also needs to ecape from the Border Patrol.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 102
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Pontiac Moon (1994)
Plot Summary:
An absent-minded-professor father and his son take off in an old Pontiac to bond during a symbolic road trip through the Western U.S. This while his wife tries to overcome her neuroses to save the family.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 801
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: uplifting, offbeat, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
The Ride (2018)
Plot Summary:
The story of John Buultjens, who has dedicated his life to the sport of BMX.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 79%
The Miracle of Kathy Miller (1981)
Plot Summary:
With the support of her parents (Sharon Gless & Frank Converse), an Arizona adolescent (Helen Hunt) overcomes severe injuries to run in a 10K race.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 204
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
The Aliens (2017)
Plot Summary:
A UFO believer must choose between the aliens above he has never seen or the mysterious guide who appears in his campsite week after week.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 83
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: captivating, futuristic, independent film
Similar in 86%
Skate Kitchen (2018)
Plot Summary:
Camille's life as a lonely suburban teenager changes dramatically when she befriends a group of girl skateboarders. As she journeys deeper into this raw New York City subculture, she begins to understand the true meaning of friendship as well as her inner self.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK, Brazil
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, captivating, social, art house, art film, teen, aesthetic, interesting
Similar in 75%
Vicious Circle (2009)
Plot Summary:
Shot on digital , HD and 8 mm. Filmed through both sides of North America. 'Vicious Circle' pushes the limits of what can be accomplished on a bike. Featuring the first ever 65 foot 'Double Road Gap' , some of the gnarliest tricks ever done on a mountain bike and the fastest racers coming out of Canada. BMX is also featured in the DVD. This movie includes the top athletes of the industry , plus the introduction of Graham Agassiz and Isael CotÚ.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 84
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 89%
Last Days in the Desert (2015)
Plot Summary:
On his way out of the wilderness, Jesus struggles with the Devil over the fate of a family in crisis, setting himself up for a dramatic test.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: biblical, atmospheric, serious, contemplative, stylized, independent film, fable
Similar in 80%
Lilies of the Field (1963)
Plot Summary:
An unemployed construction worker (Homer Smith) heading out west stops at a remote farm in the desert to get water when his car overheats. The farm is being worked by a group of East European Catholic nuns, headed by the strict mother superior (Mother Maria), who believes that Homer has been sent by God to build a much needed church in the desert.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: black and white, christian film, touching, inspirational, retro, social, atmospheric, uplifting, serious, captivating
Similar in 87%
The King Is Alive (2000)
Plot Summary:
Stranded in the heat of a barren African desert, eleven bus-passengers shelter in the remnants of an abandoned town. As rescue grows more remote by the day and anxiety deepens, an idea emerges: why not stage a play. However the choice of King Lear only manages to plunge this disparate group of travelers into turmoil as they struggle to overcome both nature's wrath and their own morality.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, South Africa, Norway, USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: bleak, stylized, melancholic, atmospheric, psychological, independent film, offbeat, serious, realistic, road movie
Similar in 76%
Ordeal (1973)
Plot Summary:
Left to die in the desert by his wife and her lover, a businessman fights to survive and get his revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 236
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Black Cloud (2004)
Plot Summary:
Black Cloud, is an inspirational story about a young Navajo, Native American boxer, who overcomes personal challenges as he comes to terms with his heritage, while fighting his way for a spot on the US Olympic boxing team.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 545
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: uplifting, sincere, touching, serious, colorful, emotional, realistic
Similar in 85%
3 Nights in the Desert (2014)
Plot Summary:
Three former band mates enter a cave after hearing it has the power to give them what they need. As unsettling desires rise to the surface, they all wonder if the cave has real power.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, talky, serious, realistic, minimal cast, independent film
Similar in 89%
Jerome (1998)
Plot Summary:
Jerome is a day in the life of a dreamer. Wade Hampton has found himself trapped by responsibility and lack of understanding by those closest to him. As a result, Wade simply leaves his old life with the idea of fulfilling a repressed dream of becoming an artist in Jerome, Arizona, a town he knows only through a postcard given to him years earlier by a co-worker. Naturally, an action as extreme as this is not without consequences. On his way, Wade meets Jane, a road hard, enigmatic drifter who lives the life of total freedom he has longed for. As the two speed farther and farther across the scorching Arizona desert, events snowball into an unforeseen crisis forcing Wade to confront realities he never could have imagined only hours earlier.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 143
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993)
Plot Summary:
Rebelling against his dreary life in a small Arizona town, salesman Nick abandons his girlfriend, Beth, and strikes out onto the highway in search of... something else. Encouraged by her best friend, Carol, Beth reluctantly accepts the romantic attentions of Sid, a local housepainter.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, clever, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, philosophical, thought provoking, intellectual