Best movies like Heartland
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to Heartland? Share your expertise to direct others to films and tv series you've viewed before that may likewise appeal to them. Support broadening the network of people mentioning videos to one another. We appreciate your involvement!
Plot Summary:
Disarmingly realistic in its depiction of the realities of frontier life, Heartland is a strong antidote to the cliches of traditional Westerns. This semi-documentary slice of life is based on the diaries of Elmore Randall Stewart about her days on the Wyoming frontier in the early 20th century. It's a strongly feminist statement about a woman raising her small daughter alone and scrapping for a living by working for a shy Scottish rancher. Director Richard Pearce brings an endearing touch to a film that is helped greatly by the dazzling cinematography of Fred Murphy. Conchata Ferrell and Rip Torn star in this small film that substitutes veracity for a high-powered plot.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: historically accurate, independent film, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, factual, wild
Best tv shows and movies like Heartland (1979):
Similar in 84%
Zandy's Bride (1974)
Plot Summary:
Zandy Allan purchases a mail-order bride, Hannah Lund. He treats her as a possession, without respect or humanity, until their shared ordeal as they struggle to survive develops in him a growing love.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: spaghetti western, sincere, atmospheric, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, technicolor, cult film
Similar in 80%
The New Land (1972)
Plot Summary:
Continuation from Utvandrarna (1971): The Swedes arrive in the USA. They still have a long journey to Minnesota where they expect to find other Swedes. When they arrive there, each family searches a place to build a home. Kristina and Karl-Oskar live a better life than in Sweden, even though Kristina is very homesick in the begin. Karl-Oskar's brother and his friend Arvid go to California to follow the gold rush. However, Robert returns sick without Arvid who died on the way to California. Robert gets no better and dies. Later, Kristina dies while being pregnant. Karl-Oska r gets much older than her but feels very lonely during his last years.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: Sweden
Duration: 202 min
Plot tags: epic, sentimental, atmospheric, touching, serious, captivating, intercultural, period drama, inter cultural
Similar in 79%
Listen... Amaya (2013)
Plot Summary:
"Book a coffee", is an offbeat library cum coffee shop. It is owned and run by Leela Krishnamoorthy, a middle aged widow. She herself is as interesting and free spirited as the café she runs! Amaya, Leelas only child is a fire-brand 22 year-old writer; quick witted, confident and open-minded. They adore each other as only mother daughter can.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 637
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 89%
King of Texas (2002)
Plot Summary:
In this re-imagining of Shakespear's King Lear, Patrick Steward stars as John Lear, a Texas cattle baron, who, after dividing his wealth among his three daughters, is rejected by them.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 735
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, psychological, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Thicker Than Water (2005)
Plot Summary:
After the death of her father, Natalie Travers (Melissa Gilbert) discovers he was married to a rodeo star before he married Natalie’s mother. Upset that her father kept part of his life a secret from her and bewildered over how a prominent judge could fall for a cowgirl, she sets out to find Maggie Mae Jarrett. But Natalie meets her daughter Jessie Mae Jarrett (Lindsay Wagner) who is struggling to keep the wild horses on her land alive and safe.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 574
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 87%
Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End (1999)
Plot Summary:
The third installment of the Sarah trilogy provides a glorious and touching story of a family drawn together by adversity. On a cold winter day a stranger shows up at the farm. He is slow to reveal his identity. When they find out he is Jacobs father, John Witting, thought long ago dead, hard questions about the past are difficult to get answered.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 88%
Love's Enduring Promise (2004)
Plot Summary:
In this Janette Oke sequel to "Love Comes Softly," the eldest child in an 1800s frontier family, Missie Davis is a bright and beautiful elementary schoolteacher whose love for the prairie is matched only by her passion for books. When Missie encounters Grant, a handsome New England railroad executive, she feels as though shes met a hero from one of her novels.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Family, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: uplifting, sentimental, serious, touching, emotional, realistic, romantic, saga, historical romance, christian film
Similar in 81%
Love's Long Journey (2005)
Plot Summary:
Missie's surprise pregnancy sets her on a new course that is both thrilling and terrifying. After all the planning and dreaming, she and her husband, Willie, have headed west in a covered wagon, leaving behind the prairie home of Missie's parents. Now, caught between the excitement of the new adventure and the pain of not knowing when she'll see her family again, Missie copes with the challenges, and cherishes the rewards, of her new homestead.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Family, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: uplifting, sentimental, touching, emotional, saga, costume drama, historical romance, serious, realistic, period drama
Similar in 84%
Comes a Horseman (1978)
Plot Summary:
Ella Connors is a single woman who gets pressured to sell her failing cattle farm to her corrupt ex suitor, Jacob Ewing. She asks for help from her neighbor, Frank Athearn. As Ella and Frank fight back through stampedes, jealousy, betrayal, and sabotage...they eventually find love.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
Cowboy Up (2001)
Plot Summary:
"Cowboy Up" is a celebration of the risk-taking, daredevil personalities of modern rodeo. In the world of professional bull riding, newcomer Ely Braxton (Marcus Thomas) is the craziest guy around; his brother Hank (Kiefer Sutherland) is a rodeo clown, and the two use each other to play up their acts. But love may be one thing that tears the brothers apart. When Ely falls for the rodeo's sweetheart (Daryl Hannah), Hank is filled with jealousy and hatred. The brothers try to come to grips with their differences, but the competition gets as fierce as the bulls in the ring.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 941
Genere: Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching, sex comedy
Similar in 84%
The Last Cowboy (2003)
Plot Summary:
John William 'Will' Cooper is a modern-day rancher, maintaining his ranch in hard times along with his friend and foreman Amos Russell. When Will's estranged daughter Jake returns to the ranch for her grandfather's funeral, father and daughter clash over how to run the ranch and over the death years before of Jake's mother, which she blames on Will. Crisis comes in the form of insurmountable debt, and it is only by working together that Will and Jake have any chance of saving their home and their family.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 673
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
Country (1984)
Plot Summary:
Gilbert Ivy and his wife Jewell are farmers. They seem to be working against the odds, producing no financial surplus. Gilbert has lost hope of ever becoming prosperous, but his wife decides to fight for her family.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, sexy, feel good, entertaining, melancholic, dramatic
Similar in 75%
The Horse Whisperer (1998)
Plot Summary:
Based on the novel by the same name from Nicholas Evans, the talented Robert Redford presents this meditative family drama set in the country side. Redford not only directs but also stars in the roll of a cowboy with a magical talent for healing.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 169 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, melancholic, light, serious, realistic, romantic, retro, offbeat
Similar in 78%
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1984)
Plot Summary:
Brick, an alcoholic ex-football player, drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife, Maggie. His reunion with his father, Big Daddy, who is dying of cancer, jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 588
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, talky, gloomy, sexual, southern gothic
Similar in 84%
A Quiet Little Marriage (2008)
Plot Summary:
A Quiet Little Marriage is the love story of Dax and Olive, who manage to find harmony even as they juggle family, romance and intimacy, but that all changes the night she asks him for a baby. Writer/director Mo Perkins’ intense and profound, raw feature debut is laced with sly humor, exquisitely rendered characters, and a pitch-perfect emotional honesty.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 361
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, realistic, captivating, sincere, serious, talky, independent film
Similar in 87%
The End of Innocence (1990)
Plot Summary:
Seemingly autobiographical story of a woman overwhelmed with trying to please everyone except herself, and not finding any answers until she's admitted to a rehab center by her parents. Eventually here is where she finds her answers.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 233
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, psychological, serious, emotional, contemplative, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 82%
Emoticon ;) (2014)
Plot Summary:
Elena Gallenti is an anthropology graduate student struggling to complete her thesis on 'modern means of communication.' All that changes when she meets her new boyfriend's teenage kids, who are going through their own journeys of self-discovery. All of them learn to navigate love and intimacy in the digital age.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 125
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, psychological, contemplative, independent film, serious
Similar in 84%
The New Year Parade (2008)
Plot Summary:
When Mike and Lisa separate, their children suffer quietly in the middle of the annual Mummer's Parade.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 126
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, psychological, contemplative, captivating, sincere, serious, emotional, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 86%
Carry Me Home (2004)
Plot Summary:
A widow named Harriet and her two children Carrie and Brian are living in rural New York in 1947 and are still recovering from the death of Harriet's husband killed in World War II. Carrie is a tomboy and hangs around with boys and they have their own clubhouse. Carrie and her friends make mischief and taunt their mentally challenged neighbor Charlie by stealing one of his puppies. Harriet meets a man named Bernard and begin a courtship, but Carrie is furious that her mother is dating Bernard and wants it to stop. The jealousy and anger of Carrie raises to a fever pitch when Carrie and her friends destroy their neighbor Mr. Grizzle's garden and pour sugar into his tractor. Grizzle then takes Charlie's other puppies away from him and then Grizzle's barn is destroyed by fire. Carrie learns it's time for her to grow up and make amends with her mother and her neighbors for the grief and pain she caused them.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 229
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 79%
A Cooler Climate (1999)
Plot Summary:
Iris is broke after her divorce and takes a job working as a housekeeper for a wealthy woman named Paula. When Paula and her husband separate, an unlikely friendship blossoms between the women.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 702
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky
Similar in 85%
Automatic (2005)
Plot Summary:
Everyone falls into self destructive habits. Automatic lets us view a small cross-section of the lives of six characters as they struggle to break free from the automatic behavior that drives their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 125
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: sincere, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, independent film, crying
Similar in 84%
Due East (2002)
Plot Summary:
The movie spotlights an intelligent high school senior and National Merit Scholar (Bryant) who has never been part of the "in crowd." She teaches a high school equivalency night class, tends to the needs of her widower father, Jesse (Forster), and pretty much stays to herself. But when she meets a loner who recently moved to the town of Due East, she feels a sense of belonging for the first time in her life.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 295
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, touching, contemplative
Similar in 80%
Conagher (1991)
Plot Summary:
Mrs. Evie Teale is struggling to stay alive while raising her two children alone on a remote homestead. Conn Conagher is a honest, hardworking cowboy. Their lives are intertwined as they fight the elements, indians, outlaws, and loneliness.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, wild
Similar in 86%
Dead Man's Burden (2012)
Plot Summary:
A western set on the New Mexico frontier a few years after the Civil War and centered on a struggling young family and the mining company who wants to buy their land.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 688
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, tense, stylized, independent film
Similar in 85%
Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, 15 year old Tina Spangler discovers she is pregnant. Her choices are abortion, adoption, or a lonely, exhausting life as a single parent. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she turns to her mother. Tina discovers although it has torn her world apart, her pregnancy could re-unite her shattered family and help her find her true purpose in life.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, psychological, sincere, talky, ridiculous
Similar in 76%
Love Comes Softly (2003)
Plot Summary:
Marty is a 19 year old pioneer woman, recently married. She goes west with her husband Clem, hoping to start a new life. But Clem unexpectedly dies, and Marty finds herself alone, two months pregnant. Clark Davis, a widower, offers her a marriage of convenience: she needs food and money, and he needs someone to take care of his daughter Missie. She accepts his proposal as a temporary solution.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Family, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, feel good, serious, emotional, heartbreaking, funny, romantic, saga
Similar in 88%
Convicts (1991)
Plot Summary:
Texas writer Horton Foote's touching story set in 1902 features Robert Duvall as Sol, the hardened boss of a sugar plantation who unwittingly becomes a mentor to a young boy named Horace (Lukas Haas), who comes to Sol looking for a way to earn a living. Horace eventually learns, through his associations with Sol, Ben (James Earl Jones) and others, that life, though it isn't always fair or just, is worth rising for every day.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 716
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, crying
Similar in 80%
Hud (1963)
Plot Summary:
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.".
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: emotional, atmospheric, realistic, black and white, thought provoking, neo western, cynical, tense, suspense, retro
Similar in 85%
Face (2002)
Plot Summary:
Genie, a Chinese-American teenager, develops feelings for a charming African-American DJ, but her grandmother forbids their romance forcing Genie to choose between family and love.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 350
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, sentimental, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 88%
The Magic of Ordinary Days (2005)
Plot Summary:
Pregnant out of wedlock, an educated young woman is pressured by her father into an arranged marriage with a lonely farmer in this drama set during WWII.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, melancholic, contemplative, heartbreaking, sad