Best movies like Pickup on 101
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An elderly wanderer, a sexy young girl running away from home and a folk singer looking for stardom hitch-hike their way cross-country, trying to get to California.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: road movie, grindhouse, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Pickup on 101 (1972):
Similar in 75%
The Doo Dah Man (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1980, The Doo Dah Man tells the story of JAKE, a 20 year old college student living in New Jersey who, after fighting with his absentee father, decides to run away from his life and hitch hike across the country. Along the way he is picked up by a 50 year old con artist, SMITTY, who has recently broken out of jail. Together they travel through the back roads of Texas, always staying one step ahead of the law.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 146
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: road movie, exciting, touching, rough, captivating, independent film
Similar in 84%
Hot Rod (1979)
Plot Summary:
A drag-racer enters a local championship race. However, he runs up against the town boss, a corrupt sheriff who has already made arrangements to ensure that his own son wins the race.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 306
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychotronic
Similar in 77%
The Subject Was Roses (1968)
Plot Summary:
When Timmy Cleary (Sheen), comes home from soldiering, he's greeted by the open but strained arms of his two parents, John and Nettie, (Neal and Albertson). Once considered sickly and weak, he has now distinguished himself in the service and is ready to begin a new life. His parents, however, are still trapped in the bygone days of early and unresolved marital strife and begin emotionally deteriorating through several drama packed encounters. Now mature, the young Tim Cleary finally understands the family dynamics that has played all throughout his boyhood. By the simple act of bringing his mother roses on behalf of his father, Tim realizes he may have destroyed his family, but is helpless to obtain resolution which must come from both his parents.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
Thumb Tripping (1972)
Plot Summary:
Gary and Shay are two happy-go-lucky flower children who hitchhike in the beautiful Big Sur-Monterey area of California.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 153
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: road movie, independent film
Similar in 75%
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 83%
Changes (1969)
Plot Summary:
It's the late sixties, a time of peace signs, free love and revolution; and Kent (Kent Lane DEFIANT, HOOPER) like others of his generation, is looking for a meaning to his life. Driving alone along the Big Sur, he flashes back to difficult memories about college, drugs, family and relationships. The flashback over, Kent is back in his car, but he loses control and crashes over an embankment. Stunned and hurt, Kent starts hitchhiking, not caring which direction. He wanders aimlessly, taking rides from strangers, never making real contact. Then he meets Julie (Michele Carey, LIVE A LITTLE LOVE A LITTLE), who intrigues him and they move in together. Kent still has to find himself and the meaning of his existence. Co-starring Jack Albertson (TV's CHICO AND THE MAN), Manuela Thiess (TERROR CIRCUS), Sam Chew Jr. (TIME WALKER), Teri Garr (FIRSTBORN) and Marcia Strassman (TV's WELCOME BACK KOTTER). Made by award winning director Hall Bartlett (JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL)!.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 112
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 84%
Man, Woman and Child (1983)
Plot Summary:
A California professor (Martin Sheen), his wife (Blythe Danner) and his daughters make room for his orphaned illegitimate French son (Sebastian Dungan).
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 446
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, uplifting, touching, emotional, realistic
Similar in 88%
Return to Macon County (1975)
Plot Summary:
In 1958, two teenagers take their pride and joy, a hopped-up Chevy, and start a cross-country journey to enter it in the National Championship drag races in California. Along the way they hook up with a pretty but dingy waitress who quits her job and hops in their car--and turns out to be more trouble than they thought--drag-race a gang of town punks who lose to to them and then accuse them of cheating, and come up against a local cop who is obsessed with putting these two "juvenile delinquents" in jail.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 863
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, exciting, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 90%
Road Movie (1973)
Plot Summary:
Gil and Hank are two independent truckers who run into problems when they are forced to pay off traffic managers to get loads. They also have to pay off highway cops when their rigs are overweight and bank loans but consider themselves lucky just to be able to keep up the interest payments. Add to that a small, frizzy-wigged highway hooker named Janice, who tempts them with her lurid charms.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 177
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: road movie, crying, independent film
Similar in 79%
How Much Further (2006)
Plot Summary:
Esperanza and Tristeza both have to get to Cuenca. However, by an unlucky turn of events, the bus they are on gets delayed due to a worker strike. Taking their journey into their own hands, they decide to hitchhike to Cuenca. Along the way they meet interesting characters who help them re-evaluate the purpose of their journey.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 809
Genere: Drama
Country: Ecuador
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: road movie, realistic, touching, captivating, scenic, semi serious
Similar in 81%
River of Grass (1994)
Plot Summary:
Cozy, a dissatisfied housewife, meets Lee at a bar. A drink turns into a home break-in, and a gun shot sends them on the run together, thinking they've committed murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: road movie, independent film, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious
Similar in 87%
Moving Violation (1976)
Plot Summary:
Eddie Moore is a young drifter passing through the small town of Rockfield when suddenly he gets harassed by corrupt sheriff Leroy Rankin and his Deputy, Tylor. Later he meets up with waitress Camille "Cam" Johnson and both skinny dip in a swimming pool owned by H.L. Rockfield, the richest man in the area. Later Tylor shows up at his mansion and starts criticizing his business practices, something that he doesn't know is Sheriff Rankin is also there and hears every word he said, he then shoots Tylor and staggers away and manages to seek refuge in the back of Cam's van. Felling his reputation as Sheriff will be tarnished if anyone finds out about it. He blames Eddie and Cam for the killing and puts out an APB. Endess car chases and shootouts ensue as they try to stay alive.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 403
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, road movie, independent film, grindhouse
Similar in 83%
Katie Says Goodbye (2016)
Plot Summary:
In order to best save the necessary funds to leave her desolate town and start anew, Katie prostitutes herself to a handful of regulars that frequent the diner she waitresses at. As she draws near to saving the funds she believes her new life requires, she encounters a young ex-convict named Bruno. Katie quickly falls in love, much to the dismay of Bruno’s coworkers at the local auto body shop. As a relationship with Bruno begins to form, the delicate harmony of their small town slowly begins to fall into disarray.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, France
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, psychological, sentimental, sincere, sexy, erotic, dark, crying
Similar in 77%
Digging to China (1997)
Plot Summary:
Harriet, a ten-year old girl, lives together with her big sister and her alcoholic mother out in the countryside. The family runs a motel. Harriet is different from the others, as she owns a great creativity and has nobody to play with. Her infinite world exists only in her mind. One day, Ricky comes along. He is a grown-up, but retarded son of an elderly lady. Soon, Harriet and Ricky share their experiences of life from a different point of view and become close friends. But his mother still plans to give Ricky away into professional care in a home, because she won't live forever to be there for him.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, intellectual, crying, independent film, sentimental, feel good, humorous, emotional, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 80%
Stone Pillow (1985)
Plot Summary:
A homeless woman named Florabelle becomes the unwitting guide to the streets for a New York social worker named Carrie who thinks she has lessons to offer the down-and-out clients she serves at the homeless shelter. Soon, however, Carrie realizes that she's the one who has much to learn.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 591
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 86%
Nomadland (2020)
Plot Summary:
A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the American West after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 177000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: road movie, serious, sincere, captivating, social, sad, realistic, funny, inspirational, philosophical
Similar in 86%
Vagabond (1985)
Plot Summary:
Mona Bergeron is dead, her frozen body found in a ditch in the French countryside. From this, the film flashes back to the weeks leading up to her death. Through these flashbacks, Mona gradually declines as she travels from place to place, taking odd jobs and staying with whomever will offer her a place to sleep. Mona is fiercely independent, craving freedom over comfort, but it is this desire to be free that will eventually lead to her demise.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: road movie, disturbing, art house, sincere, thought provoking, bleak, realistic, contemplative, social, retro
Similar in 79%
Certain Women (2016)
Plot Summary:
The lives of four women intersect in small-town America, where each is imperfectly blazing a trail.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, ironic, disturbing, poetic, indie film, heartfelt, profound, weird, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
Bombón: El Perro (2004)
Plot Summary:
In Patagonia, a mechanic who dreams of a different life starts to think big after his adopted pup wins first prize at a local dog show.Life is no bed of roses for 52-year-old Juan "Coco" Villegas. He, who has been a gas station attendant for twenty years in Patagonia, finds himself jobless overnight. He first tries to survive by selling knives of his own making. But business is bad and he can't find real work. One day though, after fixing a vehicle on a farm, he gets paid by means of a ... beautiful Argentinian watch-dog! From this blessed day on, things start shaping well at last... Written by Guy Bellinger.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, Spain
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, semi serious, touching, humorous, realistic, road movie, slow cinema, aesthetic
Similar in 77%
Best Friends (1975)
Plot Summary:
Two young couples taste the "free and easy" life on a cross country motor-home tour until love backfires and tragedy follows.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 565
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: cult classic, grindhouse, road movie, touching, realistic, semi serious, independent film, cult film
Similar in 80%
Pick-up (1975)
Plot Summary:
Sexy hippie chicks Carol and Maureen get more than they bargained for when they hitch a ride with groovy hippie dude Chuck in his nifty mobile bus home. The trio get lost in the Florida Everglades following a fierce rain storm and embark on a startling spiritual journey of self-discovery.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: cult classic, surreal, grindhouse, mind bending, scary, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, psychotronic
Similar in 75%
It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988)
Plot Summary:
A nameless young character travels to the country, meeting some acquaintances and strangers, having banal conversations, and dedicating his existence to daily mundane activities.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 76%
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Plot Summary:
A driver and a mechanic travel around the United States hopping from drag strip to drag strip in a 1955 Chevy Bel-Air coupe. They race for money, betting with their competitors. The pair gain a young and talkative female stowaway. Along the way they unintentionally attract a well-to-do drifter driving a new Pontiac GTO. This older man, looking for attention, antagonizes their efforts.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: road movie, meditative, atmospheric, grindhouse, disturbing, serious, realistic, cult classic, existential, independent film
Similar in 82%
Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story (1986)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 128
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
Shattered Spirits (1986)
Plot Summary:
Martin Sheen plays an alcoholic father who loses his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 355
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: spiritual, sincere, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, sexy
Similar in 75%
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Plot Summary:
A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: road movie, serious, realistic, thought provoking, captivating, cynical, cerebral, cult classic, philosophical, existential
Similar in 87%
Around the Bend (2004)
Plot Summary:
A tale of four generations of men, all of whom have had their offspring at a young age: a great-grandfather, a grandfather, a father in his twenties and a son who is about 7 years old. When the oldest member passes away, the trio heads out on the road together in the Southwest to search out an old family secret that connects to their past.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, road movie, emotional, semi serious, humorous, family saga, realistic, crying, funny
Similar in 90%
The Dream Catcher (1999)
Plot Summary:
An abandoned teen jumps a freight train in Philadelphia intent on reaching his uncle in Indiana, whom he believes will help him with financial difficulties including a pregnant girlfriend. In Ohio, he meets another homeless teen, who escorts him to his uncle. Finding his uncle equally broke, the duo head on to Oklahoma City to try to find the first teen's long-gone ex-con father. A confrontation between father and son send the duo on into exploits in the west including getting beaten up, busting into an Indian reservation church, and hitch-hiking with a beautiful nurse.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 606
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, road movie
Similar in 77%
Wendy and Lucy (2008)
Plot Summary:
Wendy, a near-penniless drifter, is traveling to Alaska in search of work, and her only companion is her dog, Lucy. Already perilously close to losing everything, Wendy hits a bigger bump in the road when her old car breaks down and she is arrested for shoplifting dog food. When she posts bail and returns to retrieve Lucy, she finds that the dog is gone, prompting a frantic search for her pet.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: touching, sad, road movie, psychological, realistic, emotional, meditative, talky, stylized, sincere
Similar in 81%
Scarecrow (1973)
Plot Summary:
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, emotional, sincere, touching, depressing, anamorphic, cult classic, serious, realistic