Best movies like Kent State
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to Kent State? Share your expertise to lead others to movies and tv series you've watched previously that might similarly absorb them. Aid in expanding the network of people mentioning videos to each other. We encourage your involvement!
Plot Summary:
Fine television chronicle of the events of May 1970 at Kent State University in Ohio that led to the killing of four students by the National Guard. Barkin's screen debut!.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 218
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Kent State (1981):
Similar in 84%
Summer of '67 (2018)
Plot Summary:
Based on real life events, Summer of '67 brings to life the turbulent times of the sixties and the struggles faced by the men and women impacted by the Vietnam War. Young wife and mother Milly (Rachel Schrey) is forced to live with her mother-in-law while her husband Gerald (Cameron Gilliam) is away on the USS Forrestal. Kate (Bethany Davenport) must choose between Peter (Christopher Dalton) her high school sweetheart and Van (Sam Brooks) her new hippie boyfriend. Ruby Mae (Sharonne Lanier) finally finds true love with Reggie (Jerrold Edwards) only to have him whisked away by the draft. Each woman faces the question of whether or not their man will return, and even if he does, will life as they know it ever be the same?.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 196
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: independent film, soap opera, patriotic, historical romance, period drama
Similar in 87%
Open Letter To The Evening News (1970)
Plot Summary:
Hoping to shake up the complacent Italian Communist Party, a group of leftist radicals sends an incendiary letter to a major evening newspaper declaring their intention to volunteer to fight American troops in Vietnam as a political statement against the war.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 79
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: intellectual
Similar in 82%
Friendly Fire (1979)
Plot Summary:
In March 1970, a U.S. Army officer arrived at the Iowa farm of Peg and Gene Mullen and informed them that their son Michael had been killed in Vietnam by "friendly fire." Their determined attempts to learn more about the circumstances of their son's death are the subject of this true account film.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 454
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 147 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Coach of the Year (1980)
Plot Summary:
An ex-football star, paralyzed from the waist down during Vietnam, accepts the challenge of coaching football in a juvenile reform school.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 186
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
The 24th (2020)
Plot Summary:
The incredibly powerful and timely true story of the all-black Twenty-Fourth United States Infantry Regiment, and the Houston Riot of 1917. The Houston Riot was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers in response to the brutal violence and abuse at the hands of Houston police officers.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 988
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, contemplative, visually appealing
Similar in 76%
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 83%
Ashes and Embers (1982)
Plot Summary:
Ashes and Embers is an original screenplay by Haile Gerima, about a Vietnam veteran, who, several years after the war, is struggling to come to terms with his role in the war, and his role as a Black person in America. He survives by working odd jobs in Washington, D.C. and living with his girlfriend and her son. When criticism of his alienated behavior come from her and a father figure too often, he runs to the streets or to his grandmother's rural house in Virginia. Her criticism and his memories of the past both send him fleeing again to Los Angeles, where he is surrounded by superficial people who have forgotten how to be compassionate human beings. It is here that the advice of his friends and grandmother combine to transform him from an embittered ex-soldier to a strong and confident man.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: non-linear, independent film, black cinema
Similar in 78%
Waiting for the Barbarians (2019)
Plot Summary:
At an isolated frontier outpost, a colonial magistrate suffers a crisis of conscience when an army colonel arrives looking to interrogate the locals about an impending uprising, using cruel tactics that horrify the magistrate.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, serious, suspense, sad, costume drama, cult classic, action drama, period drama
Similar in 81%
Cease Fire (1985)
Plot Summary:
Tim Murphy is a Vietnam Vet. When he loses his job he starts to relive all the pain and horror of his time in Vietnam. The stresses and strains nearly destroy his marriage and his family. Only after joining a veterans' therapy group does Tim find relief from his nightmares. With the support of his fellow vets and the love of his wife, Tim recovers. Written by Pfyre Caidmon.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 243
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: independent film, cult film
Similar in 80%
'68 (1988)
Plot Summary:
'68 covers exactly one year (January 1st through December 31st) in the lives of Zoltan Szabo and his family, Hungarian immigrants, working hard to make a life in San Francisco in 1968. The Szabos tries to adjust to the new country, changing times and each other. The year covered was one of particular cultural change in the US and this interplays with the cultural changes occurring around Zoltan, his wife and his two college-age sons.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 91
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, soap opera
Similar in 80%
She Said (2022)
Plot Summary:
New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation — a story that helped launch the #MeToo movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
The Strawberry Statement (1970)
Plot Summary:
Simon (Bruce Davison), a student at a fictional university in San Francisco (based on San Francisco State College) is indifferent to the student protests around him, until walking in on a naked woman (Kristina Holland) in his dormitory roommate's bed. While she quickly runs over to the toilets to dress, Simon protests to his roommate that their time should only be devoted to studying, so they can get good jobs and lots of money. Coming back clothed, the woman refuses setting another date with the roommate because she'll be busy protesting. She explains the university's plan to construct a gymnasium in an African-American neighborhood, thus causing conflict with the local African American population. She tells him that she and others plan to take over one of the university's buildings.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: political, social, serious, realistic, cult film
Similar in 75%
Death as a Slice of Bread (1994)
Plot Summary:
The violence and high drama of this film is taken directly from recent Polish history. On December 13, 1981 national security forces swoop down on unsuspecting workers of the Wujek mine and arrest a Solidarity leader. Pushed to the limits, the miners call a massive strike, which is specifically forbidden under the martial law. A battle between the heavily armed police and the outnumbered miners ensues, and nine miners are killed.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 249
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Poland
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Getting Straight (1970)
Plot Summary:
Graduate student Harry Bailey was once one of the most visible undergraduate activists on campus, but now that he's back studying for his master's, he's trying to fly right. Trouble is, the campus is exploding with various student movements, and Harry's girlfriend, Jan, is caught up in most of them. As Harry gets closer to finishing his degree, he finds his iconoclastic attitude increasingly aligned with the students rather than the faculty.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: sentimental, thought provoking, touching, humorous, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, reflective
Similar in 76%
Captain Milkshake (1970)
Plot Summary:
A Marine on leave from Vietnam becomes involved with hippies, communes and drug-running.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, psychotronic, independent film
Similar in 85%
She Said (2022)
Plot Summary:
New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation — a story that helped launch the #MeToo movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: serious, sexual, sexy, interesting
Similar in 87%
Origin (2023)
Plot Summary:
While grappling with tremendous personal tragedy, writer Isabel Wilkerson sets herself on a path of global investigation and discovery.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 503
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Wackersdorf (2018)
Plot Summary:
Not an easy decision! District Administrator Hans Schuierer from the Upper Palatinate first opposed his own political line in 1981 and finally against the entire Bavarian Free State and Prime Minister Strauss. Because the planned reprocessing plant Wackersdorf promised 3,000 new jobs for the structurally weak region - but what if these are associated with massive health and ecological damage for future generations? Isn't it then the duty of a politician and citizen to resist?.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 524
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Germany
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
The Molly Maguires (1970)
Plot Summary:
Life is rough in the coal mines of 1876 Pennsylvania. A secret group of Irish emigrant miners, known as the Molly Maguires, fights against the cruelty of the mining company with sabotage and murder. A detective, also an Irish emigrant, is hired to infiltrate the group and report on its members. But on which side do his sympathies lie?.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, tense, suspenseful, rough, captivating, detective, period drama
Similar in 78%
Zabriskie Point (1970)
Plot Summary:
An epic portrait of late Sixties America, as seen through the portrayal of two of its children: anthropology student Daria (who's helping a property developer build a village in the Los Angeles desert) and dropout Mark (who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policeman during a student riot).
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: road movie, serious, surreal, atmospheric, realistic, political, contemplative, stylized, erotic, psychedelic
Similar in 85%
Medium Cool (1969)
Plot Summary:
John Cassellis is the toughtest TV-news-reporter around. He becomes an expert in reporting about violence in the ghetto and racial tensions. But he discovers that his network helps the FBI by letting them look at his tapes to find suspects. When he protests he is fired and goes to the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: independent film, political, cult classic, disturbing, cynical, neo noir, aesthetic, tense, thought provoking, clever
Similar in 81%
Heat Wave (1990)
Plot Summary:
A rookie black journalist investigates the tensions of the Watts section of Los Angeles in the bloody summer of 1965.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 213
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 89%
Blonde (2022)
Plot Summary:
From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 70000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 167 min
Plot tags: exciting, depressing, art house, black and white, cerebral, visual, crying, period piece, erotic drama, psychological
Similar in 86%
Dear Comrades! (2020)
Plot Summary:
Novocherkassk, USSR, 1962. Liudmila is a Party executive and devout communist who fought at the front of WWII for Stalin’s ideology. Certain that her contribution will create a communist society, she detests any anti-Soviet sentiment. During a workers’ strike at the local electromotive factory, Liudmila witnesses the demonstration being gunned down on the government’s order, seeking to suppress mass strikes in the USSR. During the bloodbath and the ensuing panic, her daughter disappears, which changes Liudmila’s world view. Despite the blockade of the city, mass arrests, and the authorities’ attempts to cover up the massacre, Liudmila searches for her daughter. We don’t know how the search will end, but realize that her life will never be the same.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Russia
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: psychological, exciting, suspense, realistic, black and white, independent film, art film, banned, beautiful
Similar in 87%
The Siege at Ruby Ridge (1996)
Plot Summary:
A mini-series dramatization of the controversial 1992 attack by federal agents on the Idaho home of Randy Weaver, a white seperatist. The ten-day siege, begun over a minor gun charge, resulted in the deaths of Weaver's son, wife and dog, and a U.S. Marshall. The incident caused major public outcry against the FBI and U.S. Marshals.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 683
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 192 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, controversial
Similar in 90%
10 Days in a Madhouse (2015)
Plot Summary:
Nellie Bly, a 23 year-old reporter for Joseph Pulitzer, goes undercover in the notorious Blackwell's Island women's insane asylum in order to expose corruption, abuse and murder.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, bleak, independent film
Similar in 82%
Shattered Glass (2003)
Plot Summary:
Fact-based 2003 drama about the young journalist Stephen Glass, who got a job at The New Republic in 1995 and for three years fabricated at least half of the stories he wrote.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, enigmatic, captivating, disturbing, thought provoking, clever, realistic, talky, independent film, sincere
Similar in 81%
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)
Plot Summary:
In February, 1962, as the civil rights movement reaches Bayonne, Louisiana, a New York journalist arrives to interview Jane Pittman, who has just turned 110. She tells him her story dating back to her earliest memories before slavery ended. In between the chapters of her life, the present-day struggles of Blacks in Bayonne, urged on by Jimmy, are dramatized.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: political, epic, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 79%
Boycott (2001)
Plot Summary:
This made-for-TV movie dramatizes the historic boycott of public buses in the 1950s, led by civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, political, talky
Similar in 88%
Stonewall (2015)
Plot Summary:
"Stonewall" is a drama about a young man in New York caught up during the 1969 Stonewall Riots, a pivotal event widely considered the starting point for the modern gay civil rights movement.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, political, lgbt cinema, social, controversial, queer cinema