Best movies like The Runaway
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
At the birth of two boys, one white and one black, a mysterious and powerful Conjure Woman (Maya Angelou) prophesies that they will start the change. Growing up as best friends in rural Georgia in the 1940s, the boys make a discovery that leads the town's new sheriff, Frank Richards (Dean Cain), to reopen the investigation of the unsolved murders of three black men. While the town would prefer that the truth remain hidden, the sheriff pursues the case, determined to see justice prevail. The Runaway is a stirring story of how friendship, determination and conviction can generate racial change in one heart or an entire town.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 322
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, captivating, suspenseful, serious, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like The Runaway (2000):
Similar in 85%
Open Gate (2011)
Plot Summary:
In East Texas, a rodeo clown and bull fighters happens upon a drug-smuggling operation.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 206
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, neo noir, realistic, independent film
Similar in 77%
30 Miles (2004)
Plot Summary:
An act of kindness leads to the destruction of two lives in just thirty miles, when a hitchiker and his ride let down their guards and reveal intimate, dark secrets about their pasts.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 188
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 90%
Othello (2001)
Plot Summary:
With freshly rechristened characters and brand-new dialogue, this British TV production of Othello is a "rethinking" of Shakespeare's play, albeit still retaining the original's power and potency. The story is set in the London of the near future, a crime-ridden metropolis virtually torn apart by racial hostilities. By order of the Prime Minister, black police officer John Othello (Eamonn Walker) is promoted to Commissioner, a post dearly coveted by Othello's friend, mentor and fellow officer Ben Jago (Christopher Eccleston). Seething with jealousy, Jago contrives to discredit Othello in the eyes of the public, and to destroy John's interracial marriage to the lily-white Dessie (Keeley Hawes). Among those used as unwitting dupes to gain Jago's ends are Othello's trusted lieutenant, Michael Cass (Richard Coyle), scrupulously honest police constable Alan Roderick (Del Synnott), and Jago's own wife, Lulu (Rachael Stirling).
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 657
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, modern day adaptation
Similar in 84%
The 19th Wife (2010)
Plot Summary:
Fundamentalist sect member BeckyLyn is accused of killing her husband. Queenie, another wife in the polygamist sect, doesn't believe BeckyLyn is capable of such violence and desperate to prove her innocence reaches out to her excommunicated son Jordan for help in freeing his mother.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 729
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, psychological, tense, captivating, rough, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
The Incident (1990)
Plot Summary:
Small town lawyer, Harmon Cobb, defends a Nazi prisoner of war against murder charges. Set during World War II, Cobb has to contend with the difficulties of defending the devil when the town's only doctor (Barnard Hughes) dies while at "Camp Bremen" in the fictitious town of Bremen, Colorado.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, serious, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, talky
Similar in 80%
Interstate 84 (2000)
Plot Summary:
When a body is found floating in an upstate New York river, hard-drinking cop Joe Weldon is left with few clues. After uncovering the man's identity - an enigmatic simpleton named Hap - Weldon is led to the crooked hustler who took advantage of Hap and the disturbed, young punk who tormented him. A tale of personal demons, shattered lives, and ultimate redemption.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 273
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, tense, touching, suspenseful, contemplative, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 78%
Secrets of Eden (2012)
Plot Summary:
Based on Chris Bohjalian’s New York Times best-selling novel, “Secrets of Eden” centers on Stephen Drew, an adored small-town minister, and the brutal and sadistic murder-suicide of Alice and George Hayward, the town’s most beloved parishioners. Dark secrets begin to surface.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 542
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, realistic, serious, captivating
Similar in 88%
The Wrong Woman (2013)
Plot Summary:
In this fresh take on Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Wrong Man,” Ellen Plainview, a sweet, caring, working wife and mother, answers the door one afternoon to learn that she is under arrest for attempted murder.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 789
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, psychological, tense, captivating, rough, mind bending, suspenseful, crying
Similar in 83%
Eye of the Stranger (1993)
Plot Summary:
A stranger comes into town and causes a stir when he stands up for the townfolk, in the face of the intimidation tactics from Mayor Howard Baines. The scheming mayor wants to buy up all the local properties, and has hired two thugs to help 'persuade' the owners to sell.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 135
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Blood Crime (2002)
Plot Summary:
For burned-out Seattle cop Daniel Pruitt, a camping trip turns hellish when his wife, Jessica, is savagely attacked in the forest. En route to the hospital, the Pruitts collide with a semi, and Jessica identifies the driver as her assailant. Enraged, Pruitt pummels the man. Once at the ER, however, she changes her mind and names a male nurse as her attacker. But before Pruitt can make amends, he learns that his victim, the son of Sheriff Morgan McKenna, is dead.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 670
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 81%
Fog and Night (2007)
Plot Summary:
Fog and the Night is the search of an investigator who has lost his confidence in his organization and whose happy"family father" order has been disrupted by his young lover.And introverted man due to his profession , not a big talker or well in expressing his feelings,Sedat is being consumed , going through the hardest time of his life , not able to silence his guilty conscience because he was unsuccessful in solving the murder of his partner , whom he saw a brother .His faith in his organization is shaken as he witness the schemes in machination inside the organization and between the organization and the state.Meanwhile , while trying to find his lover who has disappeared after falling for a former militant , he does not refrain from making use of the filthiest methods of his profession.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Turkey
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, bleak
Similar in 75%
As Summers Die (1986)
Plot Summary:
Set in a sleepy Southern Louisiana town in 1959, a lawyer, searches for justice as he volunteers to help a black woman whose property is being threatened by the Holts, the first family of the town, after she refuses to sell her valuable land.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 853
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: political, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, independent film
Similar in 87%
The World Made Straight (2015)
Plot Summary:
In a rural Appalachian community haunted by the legacy of a Civil War massacre, a rebellious young man struggles to escape the violence that would bind him to the past.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, tense, neo noir, suspenseful, independent film, psychotronic
Similar in 75%
Deceit (2004)
Plot Summary:
Ellen's life is turned upside down after her wealthy hubby vanishes at sea. Everyone close to her is a liar - especially Ellen's missing spouse. Was this a case of an affair gone bad? A corporate cover-up? Or something far more sinister? The truth can only be found when all of the deceit is finally revealed.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 139
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, mind bending
Similar in 88%
Carolina Skeletons (1991)
Plot Summary:
After a long time in the army, an Afro-American soldier returns to his hometown, where, years ago, his brother was executed for the rape and murder of two white girls. The commando believes his brother to have been innocent and seeks a proof for that, but there are some people in the town who will stop at nothing to hide the secrets of their past.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 457
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy
Similar in 80%
The Negro (2002)
Plot Summary:
A black teenager vandalizes a racist lawn ornament.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 519
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: tense, sincere, serious, disturbing, thought provoking, realistic
Similar in 88%
Word of Honor (2003)
Plot Summary:
Prompted by a just-published book that holds ex-lieutenant Ben Tyson accountable for a hushed-up massacre committed by his platoon in a Hue hospital 18 years before, the army recalls Tyson to stand trial for murder. Tyson, confronted by an army authority anxious to save its own face, an embarrassed federal government, and a threatened marriage, and entangled, furthermore, in his own past lives and present sense of guilt, must call on all his cleverness and his own inner toughness to fight his case.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 584
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, bleak, realistic
Similar in 75%
Verdict in Blood (2002)
Plot Summary:
When a female judge is found murdered in her home, television reporter and amateur detective Joanne Kilbourn finds herself neck-deep in a homicide investigation. Her only two clues are twin wills left by the victim -- one donating everything to the woman's daughters, another donating everything to a boarding house for former criminals.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 104
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, captivating
Similar in 87%
Small Town Conspiracy (2002)
Plot Summary:
Crime - Set in Florida at the close of 1941, this film noir follows small-town police chief John Haleran's (Zen Gesner) investigation of the murder of a young Japanese girl, a case that leads to a top secret government conspiracy. With the help of retired cop Taylor (William Morgan Sheppard), Haleran discovers a connection between the victim and an imminent Japanese attack. - Zen Gesner, Jeannetta Arnette, William Morgan Sheppard.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 127
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, War
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense, bleak
Similar in 89%
Jesse Stone: No Remorse (2010)
Plot Summary:
Police Chief Jesse Stone, who was suspended by the Paradise, Mass. Town Council, begins moonlighting for his friend, State Homicide Commander Healy, by investigating a series of murders in Boston, leaving Rose and Suitcase to handle a crime spree in Paradise on their own. Jesse pours his energy into his work in an effort to push away his twin demons: booze and women. When his investigation leads to notorious mob boss Gino Fish, Jesse's pursuit becomes hazardous.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic
Similar in 77%
Older Than America (2008)
Plot Summary:
The truth of the past come to light in a series of haunting visions in this drama. The strange visions grow more vivid with each passing day, a young woman of Native American heritage begins piecing together a Catholic priests diabolical plot to prevent her mother from revealing the atrocities that unfolded at a Native Indian boarding school.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 81%
Blood Done Sign My Name (2010)
Plot Summary:
A drama based on the true story in which a black Vietnam-era veteran is allegedly murdered by a local white businessman who is later exonerated. The plot focuses on the role of a local high school teacher and the civil unrest that followed the acquittal.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 635
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: disturbing, serious, captivating, realistic, thought provoking, tense, bleak, contemplative, entertaining
Similar in 78%
Ricochet River (2001)
Plot Summary:
hree teenagers looking for adventure find more than they expected in this coming-of-age drama. High school seniors Wade (Jason James Richter) and Lorna (Kate Hudson) have spent all their lives in the small logging town of Calamus Grove, a conservative place where change comes slowly. Jesse Howl (Douglas Spain), a teenager of Native American ancestry, has just moved to Calamus Grove, and soon finds he doesn't fit in this close-knit community. Wade and Lorna go out of their way to befriend Jesse, and soon find that they're also regarded as outcasts among their peers. Eager to get away from the narrow minds which are stifling them, the three friends grab a car and take off for a summer road trip that turns out to be full of lessons in life and love. Ricochet River was based on the novel by Robin Cody.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, independent film, talky
Similar in 83%
One Angry Juror (2010)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Sarah Walsh, a tough New Orleans attorney who serves on a murder trial jury and does some investigating of her own.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 279
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, tense, independent film
Similar in 75%
Color of Justice (1997)
Plot Summary:
Four young black men kill a white woman, the D.A. is very cautious in how to proceed.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 228
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Main Street (2010)
Plot Summary:
From the once thriving tobacco warehouses, to the current run-down and closed shops of Five Points, a diverse group of residents and their respective life changes when outsider Gus Leroy brings something new and potentially dangerous into their quiet town.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, atmospheric, anamorphic, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 79%
A Stranger in the Kingdom (1999)
Plot Summary:
A Vermont town in the 1950's hires a new minister based on his war record and capable presentation, but then are shocked when he shows up and is a black man. Things go completely wrong for.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 224
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Deadline (2012)
Plot Summary:
Deadline is the story of the murder of an African American youth in rural Alabama that has gone uninvestigated, unsolved, and unpunished for almost twenty years. That changes when Nashville Times reporter Matt Harper (Steve Talley) meets an idealistic young blueblood bent on discovering the truth. Harper undertakes the investigation despite the opposition of his publisher, violent threats from mysterious forces, a break-up with his fiancée, and his father's cancer diagnosis.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 454
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 75%
Sudie and Simpson (1990)
Plot Summary:
A television movie about the friendship that develops between a young white girl and an older black man in a racist, rural Georgia town during the 1940s.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 169
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 90%
The Rising Place (2001)
Plot Summary:
The close friendship of two young women, each of a different race, and their struggle to find purpose in their lives during this time of social injustice and world war.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 208
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic