Best movies like Payday
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A cynical look at the life of a not so nice country-western singer, Maury Dann - played by Rip Torn in one of his most memorable performances. He ruthlessly manipulates every one around him to suit his selfish needs...he even gets his limo driver to take the blame for the death of a fan which he stabbed.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: light, independent film, psychological, tense, sincere, clever, serious, realistic, witty, contemplative
Best tv shows and movies like Payday (1973):
Similar in 88%
Honeysuckle Rose (1980)
Plot Summary:
Buck Bonham (Willie Nelson) is a country singer, with a good family, struggling to find national fame. He juggles his music career with his responsibilities to his wife and son. He has everything going his way until the daughter of his former guitarist joins his tour. The road leads to temptation, which leads to his downfall. The only question is will his family and friends stand by him?.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: road movie, southern gothic, sentimental, touching, realistic, semi serious, erotic, funny, light, feel good
Similar in 83%
One-Trick Pony (1980)
Plot Summary:
Jonah (Paul Simon) is an aging rock star trying to put together a new album in the face of an indifferent record label and a talentless producer. At the same time, he's struggling to save his failing marriage.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 750
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, reflective, eighties
Similar in 84%
The Hours and Times (1991)
Plot Summary:
A fictionalized account of what may have happened when John Lennon and Brian Epstein went on holiday together to Spain in 1963.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 808
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, serious, realistic, talky, tension, suspense, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010)
Plot Summary:
Three angels bestow the gift of song to a young girl, who must follow a series of rules in order hold on to it during her rise to fame and fortune.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 903
Genere: Drama, Music, Musical, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sincere, realistic, sentimental, serious, contemplative
Similar in 75%
Redemption Road (2010)
Plot Summary:
A Tennessee-set drama focused on an individual's spiritual redemption.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 586
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, semi serious, contemplative, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, humorous, talky, independent film
Similar in 82%
Protecting the King (2007)
Plot Summary:
Sex, drugs and violence--they're all part of the job when you're protecting The King of Rock & Roll. And when you're only 16, the on-the-job training comes in ways that can't be taught in school. The story of David Stanley, stepbrother and bodyguard of The King. Through the dizzying highs and lows of life on the road with unlimited excess, he experienced it all...and barely survived.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 350
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 80%
Cocaine Angel (2006)
Plot Summary:
A week in the life of a young drug addict.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 323
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, mumblecore, independent film, sincere, witty, gloomy
Similar in 77%
The Jazz Singer (1980)
Plot Summary:
Neil Diamond stars as Yussel in this tale of a young Jewish cantor who strives to make a career in music.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: touching, intense, sentimental, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, inspirational, road movie, feel good
Similar in 78%
Stardust (1974)
Plot Summary:
Sequel to 1973's That'll Be The Day. Jim McLain is now enjoying the nomadic 'gigs and groupies' life on tour with his band. When he achieves all his wildest dreams of international stardom, the sweet taste of success begins to turn sour.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: independent film, serious, realistic, stylized, cult film
Similar in 88%
A Star Is Born (1976)
Plot Summary:
A Star Is Born is a 1976 rock music film telling the story of a young woman, played by Barbra Streisand who enters show business, and meets and falls in love with an established male star, played by Kris Kristofferson, only to find her career ascending while his goes into decline.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, corny
Similar in 85%
My Dinner with Jimi (2003)
Plot Summary:
The story of the night The Turtles met The Beatles and Howard Kaylan had dinner with Jimi Hendrix.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 265
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, captivating, semi serious, sincere, touching, serious, contemplative, cult film
Similar in 88%
Shooting Livien (2005)
Plot Summary:
A dark psychological drama, Shooting Livien explores the inner psyche of John Livien, a disillusioned New York musician who deals with a childhood trauma by claiming an alter ego. His band on the brink of success, fantasy becomes dangerously blurred with reality as Livien struggles with his identity crisis. At the peak of his insanity Livien decides to take his dementia to the furthest reaches.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 284
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, bleak, suspense, independent film, psychological
Similar in 86%
Habana Blues (2005)
Plot Summary:
When Spanish record producers express interest in Cuban musicians Ruy and Tito, the longtime friends are faced with the prospect of leaving their loved ones behind. After years of hoping and dreaming, they've finally earned the opportunity to bring their music to the rest of the world. But are the emotional trade-offs worth it in the end?.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Spain, Cuba, France
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, realistic, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 75%
Country Strong (2010)
Plot Summary:
Soon after the rising young singer-songwriter Beau Williams gets involved with a fallen, emotionally unstable country star Kelly Canter, the pair embark on a career resurrection tour helmed by her husband/manager James and featuring a beauty queen-turned-singer Chiles Stanton. Between concerts, romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: romantic, intense, sentimental, serious, visually appealing, feel good, heartbreaking, sad, cult classic, sincere
Similar in 82%
Filly Brown (2012)
Plot Summary:
“Majo” Tonorio, a.k.a. Filly Brown, is a raw, young Los Angeles hip-hop artist who spits from the heart. When a sleazy record producer offers her a crack at rap stardom, Majo faces some daunting choices. With an incarcerated mother, a record contract could be the ticket out for her struggling family. But taking the deal means selling out her talent and the true friends who helped her to the cusp of success.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, captivating, psychological, hood, serious, independent film
Similar in 81%
The Five Heartbeats (1991)
Plot Summary:
In the early 1960's, a quintet of hopeful, young African-American men form an amateur vocal group called The Five Heartbeats. After an initially rocky start, the group improves, turns pro, and rises to become a top flight music sensation. Along the way, however, the guys learn many hard lessons about the reality of the music industry.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: sentimental, hood, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, independent film, light, inspirational, road movie
Similar in 79%
What We Do Is Secret (2007)
Plot Summary:
A biopic of punk legend Darby Crash and his band, the Germs.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, tense, suspense, informative, interesting, rockumentary, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Your Cheatin' Heart (1964)
Plot Summary:
The story of the country and western singer Hank Williams.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 857
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: retro, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 90%
Crazy (2008)
Plot Summary:
Crazy is the story of a legendary guitar player who emerged from Nashville in the 1950s. Blessed with incomparable, natural talent, Hank Garland quickly established his reputation as the finest sessions player in Nashville.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 827
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 84%
Elvis (1979)
Plot Summary:
Biographical movie about the famous rock singer Elvis Presley.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 168 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sentimental, serious, retro, captivating, psychotronic
Similar in 82%
Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back (2000)
Plot Summary:
"Meat Loaf" Aday is an overgrown Texas youngster, the son of a gentle woman dying of cancer and an alcoholic, abusive father. Tormented by his father and schoolmates over his size, he strikes out on his own after his mother's death, in an impossible task to prove himself to the world and to himself. A chance audition for a musical leads him to join forces with composer Jim Steinman, and together the two make music history with the operatic rock album "Bat Out of Hell." But the demons that drive Meat Loaf aren't assuaged by success, and eventually he must come to terms with them.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 537
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, captivating, semi serious
Similar in 90%
Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story (2004)
Plot Summary:
Chronicles the rise and fall of pop king Michael Jackson.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: semi serious, touching, humorous, realistic
Similar in 87%
The Rose (1979)
Plot Summary:
Midler is the rock-and-roll singer Mary Rose Foster (known as the Rose to her legions of fans), whose romantic relationships and mental health are continuously imperiled by the demands of life on the road.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: retro, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, sentimental, light
Similar in 87%
The Mambo Kings (1992)
Plot Summary:
The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, melancholic, serious, realistic, touching, captivating, fairy tale, romantic, sexy
Similar in 88%
'Round Midnight (1986)
Plot Summary:
Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius in director Bertrand Tavernier.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA, France
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, independent film, light, inspirational
Similar in 75%
King of Salsa (2006)
Plot Summary:
The rise and fall of salsa singer, Héctor Lavoe (1946-1993), as told from the perspective of his wife Puchi, who looks back from 2002.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, informative, sentimental, vintage
Similar in 82%
Bird (1988)
Plot Summary:
Saxophone player Charlie Parker comes to New York in 1940. He is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 161 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, psychological, factual, stylized, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 78%
Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998)
Plot Summary:
In the mid-80s, three women (each with an attorney) arrive at the office of New York entertainment manager, Morris Levy. One is an L.A. singer, formerly of the Platters; one is a petty thief from Philly; one teaches school in a small Georgia town. Each claims to be the widow of long-dead doo-wop singer-songwriter Frankie Lyman, and each wants years of royalties due to his estate, money Levy has never shared. During an ensuing civil trial, flashbacks tell the story of each one's life with Lyman, a boyish, high-pitched, dynamic performer, lost to heroin. Slowly, the three wives establish their own bond.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: emotional, inspirational, melancholic, touching, sentimental, serious, realistic, cult classic, independent film, entertaining
Similar in 89%
Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)
Plot Summary:
Prey for Rock & Roll is set in the Los Angeles club scene of the late 1980s and follows the story of Jacki (Gershon) and her all-girl punk rock band, Clam Dandy. On the verge of turning 40, Jacki decides that if the band's one last shot at the big time is unsuccessful, she will give up her dreams of stardom. Along the way, the women are rocked by personal tragedies that threaten to break up the band before they can get their last shot at success.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, cynical, witty, gloomy, sexual, sexy
Similar in 81%
Georgia (1995)
Plot Summary:
Sadie looks up to her older sister Georgia, a successful folk singer who's happily married with children, but can't break out of the bar-band circuit and hit the big time she desperately covets. It's in part due to her attraction to drugs and booze, and also to her own unwise choice in men. Finally, though, Sadie's Achilles heel is a rough, unlovely voice very different than her sister's crowd-pleasing singing.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: emotional, melancholic, sincere, serious, realistic, talky, independent film, touching, gloomy, sexy