Best movies like The Way Back
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A former basketball all-star, who has lost his wife and family foundation in a struggle with addiction attempts to regain his soul and salvation by becoming the coach of a disparate ethnically mixed high school basketball team at his alma mater.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 52000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: realistic, motivational, touching, inspirational, serious, feel good, depressing, spiritual, emotional, cult classic
Best tv shows and movies like The Way Back (2020):
Similar in 79%
Blue Chips (1994)
Plot Summary:
Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team aren't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: suspense, intense, serious, tense, realistic, biting, surprise ending, exciting, light, inspirational
Similar in 78%
Home Run (2013)
Plot Summary:
A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: uplifting, realistic, emotional, christian film, captivating, motivational, serious, independent film, inspirational
Similar in 81%
Resurrecting the Champ (2007)
Plot Summary:
Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, uplifting, serious, cult classic, captivating, realistic, tense, sentimental, inspirational
Similar in 75%
My Brother's Keeper (2004)
Plot Summary:
Identical twin brothers Lou and Eric plan to compete together in the National Rowing Championships. But when Eric leaves their small town to attend an Ivy League University, the brother's bond is torn apart.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 219
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, exciting, crying, freeze frame
Similar in 75%
4 Minute Mile (2014)
Plot Summary:
A teenager overcomes odds to run a 4-minute mile race.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, realistic, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, crying, motivational, gloomy
Similar in 77%
The Slaughter Rule (2002)
Plot Summary:
A young man finds solace with a young woman, his mother, and a high-school football coach who recruits him to quarterback a six-man team.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, cult classic, indie film, independent film, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Across the Tracks (1990)
Plot Summary:
When Billy returns from reform school he has to attend a different high school at the other side of town. He tries to start with a clean slate but his old rival doesn't make it easy on him and his buddy Louie tries to make him go astray again. His brother Joe, quite the opposite of Billy, is a good runner and determined to win a track scholarship. He suggests Billy to join his school's track team, which pits the two brothers against each other.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 88%
All the Right Moves (1983)
Plot Summary:
Sensitive study of a headstrong high school football star who dreams of getting out of his small Western Pennsylvania steel town with a football scholarship. His equally ambitious coach aims at a college position, resulting in a clash which could crush the player's dreams.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: realistic, talky, melancholic, sentimental, sincere, feel good, touching, serious, inspirational, erotic
Similar in 81%
One on One (1977)
Plot Summary:
Henry Steele is a basketball phenom at his small town high school, but when he matriculates to a big city university on a scholarship, soon realizes that he has few skills outside the sport. Expected by his coach to contribute significantly to the team, Henry is overwhelmed by the demands on his time, the "big business" aspect of college sports, and the fact that he never fully learned to read. Things look bleak for Henry when Janet Hays, a pretty graduate student, is assigned as Henry's tutor. Her intellect and strength lift Henry out of his doldrums just in time to battle the coach, who attempts to rescind Henry's scholarship.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, sincere, melancholic, grindhouse
Similar in 86%
The Kid (1997)
Plot Summary:
Jimmy Albright is a young athlete with a passion for boxing. His mentor, Harry Sloan, an aging trainer and former boxer, sees Jimmy's potential, not only as a boxer but as a young man. With Harry's guidance, Jimmy trains and fights his way to the top of his division. All things appear to be on track, except for one small twist: Jimmy's parents, Don and Doreen, don't know he's a boxer.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 192
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sincere, uplifting, touching, feel good, serious, realistic
Similar in 88%
Sunset Park (1996)
Plot Summary:
A white school teacher takes over a talented, but undisciplined black high school basketball team and turns them into a winning team.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: hood, humorous, grim, sincere, touching, feel good, captivating, realistic, semi serious, funny
Similar in 75%
Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987)
Plot Summary:
Chuck Murdock, a 12-year-old boy from Montana and son of a military jet pilot, becomes anxious after seeing a Minuteman missile on a school field trip. He protests the existence of nuclear weapons by refusing to play baseball, which results in the forfeit of a Little League game by his team. "Amazing Grace" Smith, a fictional Boston Celtics player, played by NBA star Alex English, decides to join the boy in his protest by resigning from professional basketball. This gives it nationwide coverage, inspiring more pro athletes to join the protest against nuclear weapons. The film reaches a climax when the President of the United States personally meets with Chuck, admiring his resolve but at the same time explaining the practical difficulties of disarmament. Sinister forces, meanwhile, threaten the lives of Amazing Grace and his agent, Lynn.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: sentimental, inspirational, melancholic, uplifting, touching, serious, sincere, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 85%
Vision Quest (1985)
Plot Summary:
High school wrestler Louden Swain is a man obsessed , trying to shed 23 pounds in a dangerously short time and take on Shute, the undefeated, tough-as-nails 168-pound champion who's the best wrestler in the state. Matthew Modine stars as the mop-headed student undeterred in his Vision Quest...until a day a sexy drifter threatens to pin Louden and his dreams to the mat of unrequited love.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: inspirational, melancholic, sentimental, serious, realistic, cult classic, intense, romantic, uplifting, romantic drama
Similar in 88%
Forever Strong (2008)
Plot Summary:
Rick Penning lives life just like he plays rugby; fast, hard-hitting and intense. When life on the edge lands him in jail, prison ward Marcus Tate offers him a chance to get back in the game by playing for his rival, Highland Rugby. Reluctantly Rick joins the team where he must adopt the grueling training schedule that Coach Gelwix enforces, or finish out the season behind bars.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, inspirational, motivational, touching, disturbing, rough, spiritual, emotional, entertaining
Similar in 82%
Matchups (2003)
Plot Summary:
Ian Willams -- who was born blind in one eye -- grew up undaunted to become an elite college basketball player. But his dream of winning a national championship and turning pro was sidetracked when a tragic accident left him completely blind. Triumphing over adversity, Williams recalibrated his ambition and went on to become college basketball's first blind coach. A truly inspiring story about the triumph of the human spirit.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 29
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, touching, independent film
Similar in 76%
Gracie (2007)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of a teenager named Gracie Bowen, who lives in South Orange, New Jersey, is crazy about soccer, as are her three brothers and former soccer star father. Although Gracie wants to join her brothers and father in the nightly practices, she is discouraged by everyone except her elder brother, Johnny. Her father does not believe that girls should play soccer and tells her that she is neither tough enough nor talented enough to play with the boys team. Undeterred, Gracie finds reserves of strength she never knew existed, and persists in changing everyone's beliefs in what she is capable of, including her own. She faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer. But as the beautiful and strong person that she has always been but she also brings her family together in the face of their own tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, serious, crying
Similar in 84%
He Got Game (1998)
Plot Summary:
A basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter sentence.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: inspirational, hood, thought provoking, captivating, rough, touching, stylized, scary, cult classic, serious
Similar in 81%
Streetballers (2009)
Plot Summary:
Defining street basketball as America's new favorite pastime, it is a story driven by passion, faith, and achieving goals. A story capturing the poetic nature of street basketball, highlighting the struggles endured on and off the court by the purest of athletes. Constantly searching for sanity in the midst of alcoholism, racism, and drugs, John Hogan and Jacob Whitmore, two junior college basketball players, find release and therapy while competing at one of the most competitive and poetic street courts in the U.S. Both men must spend an entire summer helping one another overcome their adversities. Their dedication and love for the game of basketball transcends from the playground courts into each of their dysfunctional households where the two boys play the constant role of the father figure. Together, the two boys paint a sad and delightful portrait with their innocence, concerns, and faith in the unknown.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 383
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, spiritual
Similar in 88%
That Championship Season (1982)
Plot Summary:
It started as a friendly meeting between 4 old buddies with their basketball coach and ended up in revealing the truth about their relationship. The meeting forces the five men to reveal their true identity, to be honest with each other for the first time in their lives. When the night comes to an end they decide to go back to the old glorious days and reunite into the team which won that championship season, back in 1957.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 688
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: independent film, serious, realistic, contemplative, adaptation directed by original author
Similar in 88%
A Season on the Brink (2002)
Plot Summary:
"A Season on the Brink: A Year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers" is based on the best-selling book by John Feinstein. The movie chronicles Indiana's 1985-86 season, when Knight granted Feinstein unprecedented access to the team and its practices, meetings, and huddles.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 555
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 86%
Believe in Me (2006)
Plot Summary:
In a conservative small town, a young man's wish to coach high school basketball are tweaked by a school board decision that makes him the new coach of the girls' team.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, inspirational, spiritual
Similar in 78%
The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend (1991)
Plot Summary:
A story about the great basketball player "Pistol" Pete Maravich when he was in the eighth grade. He plays on the varsity basketball team at Daniel High School but has some very difficult obstacles standing in his way of playing. The only support he has is from his father, retired basketball pro Press Maravich.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 80%
Hurricane Season (2009)
Plot Summary:
Based on true events amid the wreckage and chaos dealt by Hurricane Katrina; one basketball coach in Marrero, Louisiana just will not give up. Coach Al Collins(Forest Whitaker), gathers other players from hard-hit schools and builds a team actually worthy enough to go to the state playoffs. A very honest look at what can be done with the right people having the desire and fortitude to pick up and.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sincere, uplifting, serious, realistic, hood, inspirational, contemplative
Similar in 90%
Pride (2007)
Plot Summary:
In this uplifting film based on a true story, coach Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard) shocks the community and changes lives when, aided by a local janitor (Bernie Mac), he sets out to form Philadelphia's first black swim team. But the odds are against them as they battle rigid rules, racism and more.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: inspirational, uplifting, serious, emotional, realistic, sincere, touching, crying, exciting, road movie
Similar in 75%
Coach Carter (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 168000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: motivational, inspirational, touching, hood, feel good, captivating, teen, intense, philosophical, sexy
Similar in 77%
Hoosiers (1986)
Plot Summary:
High school basketball is king in small-town Indiana, and the 1954 Hickory Huskers are all hope and no talent. But their new coach -- abrasive, unlikable Norman Dale -- whips the team into shape ... while also inciting controversy.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 50000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: inspirational, emotional, realistic, exciting, sincere, captivating, entertaining, independent film, scary, motivational
Similar in 82%
Without Limits (1998)
Plot Summary:
The film follows the life of famous 1970s runner Steve Prefontaine from his youth days in Oregon to the University of Oregon where he worked with the legendary coach Bill Bowerman, later to Olympics in Munich and his early death at 24 in a car crash.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sincere, factual, exciting, captivating, touching, emotional, realistic, feel good, crying
Similar in 76%
We Are Marshall (2006)
Plot Summary:
When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 64000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, inspirational, touching, compassionate, sincere, serious, realistic, historical drama, feel good
Similar in 90%
McFarland, USA (2015)
Plot Summary:
A track coach in a small California town transforms a team of athletes into championship contenders.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, uplifting, feel good, exciting, sentimental, serious, light, emotional, sweet
Similar in 76%
Glory Road (2006)
Plot Summary:
In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 48000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sincere, emotional, intense, sentimental, serious, uplifting, touching, feel good, period piece