Best movies like The Trial of Billy Jack
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
After Billy Jack in sentenced to four years in prison for the "involuntary manslaughter" of the first film, the Freedom School expands and flourishes under the guidance of Jean Roberts. The utopian existence of the school is characterized by everything ranging from "yoga sports" to muckracking journalism. The diverse student population airs scathing political exposes on their privately owned television station. The narrow-minded townspeople have different ideas about their brand of liberalism. Billy Jack is released and things heat up for the school. Students are threatened and abused and the Native Americans in the neighboring village are taunted and mistreated. After Billy Jack undergoes a vision quest, the governor and the police plot to permanently put an end to their liberal shenanigans, leaving it up to Billy Jack to save the day.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, Music, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags: political, cult classic, exciting, rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful, biting, crying
Best tv shows and movies like The Trial of Billy Jack (1974):
Similar in 77%
Land of the Free (1998)
Plot Summary:
A politician's campaign manager (Speakman) discovers that the candidate (Shatner) is a front for a military organization plotting a political overthrow of the government. In trying to expose the candidate's right-wing activities, he puts himself and his family in danger of being killed. Written by John Sacksteder.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 436
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: political, independent film, serious, realistic, political thriller
Similar in 80%
Billy Jack (1971)
Plot Summary:
Ex-Green Beret hapkido expert saves wild horses from being slaughtered for dog food and helps protect a desert "freedom school" for runaway.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: independent film, grindhouse, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, psychotronic, unusual plot structure, humorous, harsh
Similar in 77%
The Born Losers (1967)
Plot Summary:
A ruthless motorcycle gang rides into a California town and terrorizes its denizens.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, grindhouse, hood, cult classic, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Brotherhood of Death (1976)
Plot Summary:
A group of Black soldiers are home from the war and head to a small Southern town. The town is dominated by a group of Klansmen who keep the Black majority from voting or being treated like human beings. However, these newcomers convince the local population to register to vote so they can take back power and achieve justice. When hundreds show up to register, the Klan responds with violence. Eventually, though, the Black community has little choice other than fight back and the film ends with a small war between these combat vets and the Klan.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 533
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Steele Justice (1987)
Plot Summary:
Steele is ex-cop and Vietnam vet who is determined to bring down Kwan, former South Vietnamese general and now rich and powerful drug lord.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 791
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: mockbuster, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast
Similar in 89%
Raw Target (1995)
Plot Summary:
This high-powered action flick follows kickboxing champion Johnny Rider, who quits the ring after accidentally killing an opponent but is forced to employ his skills again to avenge the death of his brother at the hands of crime boss Rod Sparks (Nicholas Hill). After infiltrating Rod's gang, Johnny is targeted himself by Bill Williams (Ron Hall), a cop seeking revenge for the death of his own brother -- the fighter killed by Johnny.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 92
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 75%
The Redemption: Kickboxer 5 (1995)
Plot Summary:
Kickboxing champion Matt Reeves witnesses the murder of his friend Johnny. While investigating the crime, he learns that a Mr. Negaal in South Africa has founded a new kickboxing association and does not leave international champions much of a chance. Johnny had to pay with his life when he did not want to join. Neegal seems to kill everybody who is in his way especially David Sloan from the previous Kickboxer films. Matt is on his own now, but suddenly finds an unexpected ally.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973)
Plot Summary:
Vigilante Slaughter comes under attack from Duncan, a local money launderer whose hit-man traps Slaughter in a car at a cliff, but Slaughter escapes, arms himself, and goes after Duncan's hideout.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 586
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, black cinema
Similar in 88%
A Force of One (1979)
Plot Summary:
Karate champion Matt Logan is enlisted by the police to train officers in self-defense after narcotics agents are killed by an assailant using the martial arts.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, christmas horror, cult classic, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, neo noir, suspense
Similar in 88%
Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)
Plot Summary:
The archetypical renegade Texas Ranger wages war against a drug kingpin with automatic weapons, his wits and martial arts after a gun battle leaves his partner dead. All of this inevitably culminates a martial arts showdown between the drug lord and the ranger, and involving the woman they both love.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, cult classic, action adventure, talky, neo western
Similar in 90%
Behind Enemy Lines (1997)
Plot Summary:
An ex-marine returns to Vietnam when he learns his former mercenary partner whom he thought was killed is being held by a sadistic general.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, tense, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, cult film
Similar in 83%
Eye of the Tiger (1986)
Plot Summary:
Buck (Gary Busey) is a Vietnam vet, recently released from prison. He returns home to discover the town being terrorized by a vicious motorcycle gang. When the bikers murder his wife and traumatize his daughter, Buck and his friends arm themselves to the teeth and wage war against the gang to destroy them once and for all.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: cult classic, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic, nostalgic, cult film
Similar in 76%
Running Red (1999)
Plot Summary:
Gregori is an ex-Soviet Commando haunted by the death of his brother, and trying to forget his old life in the US. However, Gregori realizes after he has already started a family of his own that the past is never far behind. A former superior from his days as a Russkie hired gun orders him to kill some people or watch his new family die. It looks like Gregori doesn't have much of a choice, because he's grown fond of having Angie Everhart for a wife.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 478
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Deadly Outbreak (1995)
Plot Summary:
Dutton Hatfield, played by Jeff Speakman, is working for the American embassy. He finds himself inside a biochemical weapon laboratory when terrorists headed by Colonel Baron (played by TimeCop villain Ron Silver) take over the place. Baron is looking for a sample of a deadly virus that is being developed inside the facility.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 598
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 80%
Hennessy (1975)
Plot Summary:
Set in the Seventies, Hennessy is a Irishman who believes in peace, but who has had connections to the IRA. Hennessy's family is killed, and he plots revenge, setting out to assassinate Queen Elizabeth of England.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 824
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: offbeat, political, grindhouse, independent film, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
The Way of War (2009)
Plot Summary:
Paramilitary operative David Wolfe stumbles upon an international conspiracy connecting presidential cabinet members to a Middle Eastern terrorist plot. Wanting to expose the truth, Wolfe defies orders and returns to the US as an army of one fighting for American security and integrity.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, action packed, independent film
Similar in 77%
Storm Catcher (1999)
Plot Summary:
A renegade general plots to bomb Washington using a new top secret jet called the Storm Catcher. The only trouble is only one man is capable of flying it. So they seek to put him on the run in a conspiracy that makes him appear to have murdered several men and stolen the plane. Then try to murder his wife and take his daughter prisoner. Threatening to kill his daughter if he doesn't help, he appears trapped. However, his best friend who is the plane's computer specialist has a few tricks up his sleeve.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, exciting, serious, suspenseful, suspense, cult classic, independent film, bleak, fast
Similar in 85%
The Evil That Men Do (1984)
Plot Summary:
Professional killer Holland is forced out of retirement to break a Central American government's political torture ring when one of his friends, a Latin American journalist, is killed. The murderer, Doctor Clement Molloch, is the master sadist behind the political torture of innocent victims. Posing as a journalist, Holland lures Molloch out of his fortress-like headquarters by using his murdered friend's wife and daughter as bait. When Holland kidnaps Molloch's sister, the doctor is led on a wild chase that takes him to an abandoned opal mine where he finally comes face to face with Holland.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Mexico, USA, UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: cult classic, action adventure, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, cult film
Similar in 87%
Detention (2003)
Plot Summary:
A heroic high school teacher leads a band of students trapped in school by violent drug-runners.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspense, exciting, suspenseful, fast
Similar in 86%
Fire Down Below (1997)
Plot Summary:
Martial arts star Steven Seagal stars in this action drama as Jack Taggart, an undercover agent working for the Environmental Protection Agency. When an EPA representative is murdered in a small Appalachian community, Taggart is sent in -- posing as a handyman working with a Christian relief agency -- to find out what happened.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: suspense, serious, suspenseful, realistic, spiritual, cult classic, action adventure, rough, fast, neo noir
Similar in 85%
Malone (1987)
Plot Summary:
Erstwhile C.I.A. assassin Richard Malone hopes for a tranquil retirement in the placid Pacific Northwest, but what he gets is a rumble with a right-wing extremist plotting a secret revolution. Adapted from the novel "Shotgun," by William Wingate.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, serious, cult classic, neo noir, perverse, visually stunning, surprise ending, psychotronic
Similar in 80%
Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Plot Summary:
CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 106000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: suspense, political, exciting, suspenseful, rough, serious, political thriller, entertaining, action adventure, anamorphic
Similar in 76%
Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977)
Plot Summary:
After a senator suddenly dies after completing (and sealing) an investigation into the nuclear power industry, the remaining senator and the state governor must decide on a person who will play along with their shady deals and not cause any problems. They decide on Billy Jack, currently sitting in prison after being sent to jail at the end of his previous film, as they don't expect him to be capable of much, and they think he will attract young voters to the party.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 798
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: political, talky, independent film, sincere, clever, serious, realistic, suspenseful, biting, light
Similar in 88%
Dragon Eyes (2012)
Plot Summary:
In St. Jude, drug dealers and corrupt cops have destroyed an urban neighborhood. But newcomer, Hong, has the fighting skills and moral vision to save this town from itself.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, rough, realistic, dark, cult classic, action packed, independent film, exciting, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
A Dry White Season (1989)
Plot Summary:
Taking place during the 1976 Soweto uprising, the story follows a white school teacher whose life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: talky, emotional, disturbing, rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, political, retro, thinking
Similar in 83%
The Master Gunfighter (1975)
Plot Summary:
Don Santiago (Richard Angarola) is a vicious man who helps provoke an Indian massacre that will allow him to steal the Indians' land and claim it as his own. However, his son-in-law, Finley (Tom Laughlin), is an expert hand with both guns and swords and will not allow him to push around the peace-loving Indians or fellow settlers of the West.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 424
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: independent film, spaghetti western, exciting, rough, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
In Hell (2003)
Plot Summary:
A man must survive a prison where hardened criminals battle to the death for the warden's entertainment.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: harsh, brutal, emotional, stylized, intense, serious, realistic, exciting, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
Plot Summary:
Prequel to the first Missing In Action, set in the early 1980s it shows the capture of Colonel Braddock during the Vietnam war in the 1970s, and his captivity with other American POWs in a brutal prison camp, and his plans to escape.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: cult classic, grindhouse, independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, psychotronic
Similar in 89%
The Hard Corps (2006)
Plot Summary:
An Army veteran assembles a team of bodyguards to protect a former boxer. Complications arise when the boxer suspects his sister may be romantically involved with the bodyguard.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: UK, Germany, USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, exciting, realistic, suspenseful, cult classic, action packed, rough, fast, cult film
Similar in 85%
Above the Law (1988)
Plot Summary:
Seagal is Nico Toscani, an Italian immigrant, American patriot, ex-CIA agent, aikido specialist, and unorthodox Chicago policeman. He is as committed to his job as he is to his personalized brand of justice: expert and thorough bone-crushing.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, cult classic, heroic, satanic, action thriller