Best tv shows like Lonesome Dove
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Lonesome Dove is a Western television miniseries based on Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. Starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, Lonesome Dove was originally broadcast by CBS on February 5, 1989, drawing a huge viewing audience, earning numerous awards, and reviving both the television western and the miniseries.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 384 min
Plot tags: epic, touching, realistic, entertaining, anime, sentimental, captivating, contemplative, soap opera, serious
Best tv shows and movies like Lonesome Dove (1989):
Similar in 81%
Bordertown (1989)
Plot Summary:
Bordertown is a television western-drama series that aired from 1989 to 1991. It depicts the town formerly known as Pemmican that was later renamed Bordertown when the western border between the United States and Canada was surveyed in 1880, dividing the town.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: France, Canada, USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
Dead Man's Walk (1996)
Plot Summary:
Dead man's Walk is the beginning of the Lonesome Dove Saga. Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call are just starting out in the Texas Rangers and have no idea of what they are doing for Call it's Duty above all else. For Gus it's the thrill of adventure. Both men don't know just how much danger and death await for them on their first patrol. Jonny Lee Miller and David Arquitte do a fine job as Gus and Call. Miller in particular carries the movie on his shoulders his portrayal of Call is very good. the rest of the cast is outstanding Keith Carradine deserves special mention for his role as Bigfoot Wallace he adds to the movie greatly. A outstanding movie which adds and enhances the Lonesome Dove saga This is a fantastic beginning to an legendary tale of heroes and incredible story telling.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Western
Country: USA
Duration: 272 min
Plot tags: detective, exciting, sincere, rough, touching, epic, serious, realistic, suspenseful, crying
Similar in 80%
Streets of Laredo (1995)
Plot Summary:
Captain Woodrow Call, now retired from the Rangers, is a bounty hunter. He is hired by an eastern rail baron to track down Joey Garza, a new kind of killer, only a boy, who kills from a distance with a rifle. Joined by his old compadre Pea Eye, it is a long ride to south Texas and the Mexican side of the border, where the past, in the form of Maria Garza, Joey's mother, haunts Call.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 300 min
Plot tags: serious, exciting, atmospheric, rough, realistic, period drama
Similar in 80%
Kung Fu (1972)
Plot Summary:
The adventures of a Shaolin Monk as he wanders the American West armed only with his skill in Kung Fu.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: fast paced, exciting, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy, vintage, telenovela
Similar in 85%
Rooster Cogburn (1975)
Plot Summary:
After a band of drunken thugs overruns a small Indian Nation town, killing Minister Goodnight and raping the women folk, Eula Goodnight enlists the aid of Marshal Cogburn to hunt them down and bring her father's killers to justice.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: spaghetti western, action adventure, independent film, exciting, sincere, clever, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sentimental
Similar in 78%
Centennial (1978)
Plot Summary:
The economic and cultural growth of Colorado spanning two centuries from the mid-1700s to the late-1970s.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 1256 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, epic, historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, family saga, vintage
Similar in 90%
The Good Old Boys (1995)
Plot Summary:
An aging cowboy must choose between his desire to remain free and the responsibilities of maintaining a family.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 826
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Return to Lonesome Dove (1993)
Plot Summary:
'Captain' Call has just buried Gus at Lonesome Dove and plans to head back to his ranch in Montana. Looking at a herd of wild Mustangs, he decides to drive them north with the help of Isom and Gideon Walker. Gideon hires Agostina Vega and Mexican Cowboys to run the Mustangs. Call leaves the drive for Nebraska and runs into Cherokee Jack and a group of Indians, which almost costs him his life. In Montana, Newt and Jasper get into a shoot out in the local bar and wind up in jail. The odds of them surviving the lynch mob are slim until Dunnegan has them freed. However, Newt and Jasper will have to work for Dunnegan to keep their freedom. Newt has mixed emotions about working for Dunnegan who helps him in any way, because he also has respect for Call - who may or may not be his true father. Dunnegan has big plans for his cattle and the future. Those plans do not include those who do not throw in with him and the Hat Creek Cattle Company is not interested in Dunnegan.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 322 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, epic, serious, captivating, realistic, wild
Similar in 87%
The Cowboys (1972)
Plot Summary:
When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage; however, neither Andersen nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: harsh, serious, captivating, exciting, suspense, funny, cult classic, rough, realistic, tense
Similar in 84%
Ride the High Country (1962)
Plot Summary:
An ex-lawman is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. But what he doesn't realize is that his partner and old friend is plotting to double-cross him.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: spaghetti western, sentimental, realistic, retro, cult classic, aesthetic, serious, captivating, tense, atmospheric
Similar in 90%
Texas Rising (2015)
Plot Summary:
A depiction of the rise of Texas from the Battle of the Alamo to San Jacinto. A story told through the lives of the men who gave everything up to defend an infant country from a ruthless Dictator and savage Native Americans, and paved the way for the Republic of Texas to emerge.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, Western
Country: Mexico, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, costume drama, spaghetti western
Similar in 77%
Klondike (2014)
Plot Summary:
The story centers on the friendship of two adventurers, Bill Haskell and Byron Epstein, as they travel west during the Klondike Gold Rush. Along the way they "must navigate harsh conditions, unpredictable weather and desperate, dangerous characters," including mill owner Belinda Mulrooney and aspiring writer Jack London.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, Western
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 274 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, realistic, historical drama, atmospheric, stylized, exciting, period drama
Similar in 81%
Bad Company (1972)
Plot Summary:
Jeff Bridges stars as young con man named Jake Rumsey in this highly original Western. After Drew Dixon (Barry Brown), an upright young man, is sent west by his religious family to avoid being drafted into the Civil War, he drifts across the land with a loose confederation of young vagrants.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, bleak, realistic, offbeat, political, sentimental, rough, serious, witty, psychological
Similar in 82%
Broken Trail (2006)
Plot Summary:
Broken Trail is a 2006 Western miniseries directed by Walter Hill and starring Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church. Written by Alan Geoffrion, who also wrote the novel, the story is about an aging cowboy and his nephew who transport 500 horses from Oregon to Wyoming to sell them to the British Army. Along the way, their simple horse drive is complicated when they rescue five Chinese girls from a slave trader, saving them from a life of prostitution and indentured servitude. Compelled to do the right thing, they take the girls with them as they continue their perilous trek across the frontier, followed by a vicious gang of killers sent by the whorehouse madam who originally paid for the girls.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 184 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, tense, realistic, emotional, epic, wild, post modern
Similar in 80%
El Dorado (1966)
Plot Summary:
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with an old indian fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: talky, tense, suspense, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, spaghetti western, entertaining
Similar in 78%
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
Plot Summary:
When brash Texas border officer Mike Norton wrongfully kills and buries the friend and ranch hand of Pete Perkins, the latter is reminded of a promise he made to bury his friend, Melquiades Estrada, in his Mexican home town. He kidnaps Norton and exhumes Estrada's corpse, and the odd caravan sets out on horseback for Mexico.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Western
Country: France, Mexico, USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, intense, atmospheric, thought provoking, rough, serious, road movie, independent film, neo western
Similar in 82%
The Missing (2003)
Plot Summary:
When rancher and single mother of two Maggie Gilkeson sees her teenage daughter, Lily, kidnapped by Apache rebels, she reluctantly accepts the help of her estranged father, Samuel, in tracking down the kidnappers. Along the way, the two must learn to reconcile the past and work together if they are going to have any hope of getting Lily back before she is taken over the border and forced to become a prostitute.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Thriller, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: suspense, intense, serious, atmospheric, disturbing, suspenseful, scary, dark, period piece, historical drama
Similar in 80%
Hell on Wheels (2011)
Plot Summary:
Hell on Wheels tells the epic story of post-Civil War America, focusing on Cullen Bohannon, a Confederate soldier who sets out to exact revenge on the Union soldiers who killed his wife. His journey takes him west to Hell on Wheels, a dangerous, raucous, lawless melting pot of a town that travels with and services the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, an engineering feat unprecedented for its time.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, rough, serious, captivating, suspenseful, historical drama, tense, realistic, stylized, dramatic
Similar in 87%
The Way West (1967)
Plot Summary:
In the mid-19th century, Senator William J. Tadlock leads a group of settlers overland in a quest to start a new settlement in the Western US. Tadlock is a highly principled and demanding taskmaster who is as hard on himself as he is on those who have joined his wagon train. He clashes with one of the new settlers, Lije Evans, who doesn't quite appreciate Tadlock's ways. Along the way, the families must face death and heartbreak and a sampling of frontier justice when one of them accidentally kills a young Indian boy.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: rough, captivating, realistic, serious, suspenseful, retro, epic, road movie, wild
Similar in 76%
Heaven's Gate (1980)
Plot Summary:
Harvard graduate James Averill (Kris Kristofferson) is the sheriff of prosperous Jackson County, Wyo., when a battle erupts between the area's poverty-stricken immigrants and its wealthy cattle farmers. The politically connected ranch owners fight the immigrants with the help of Nathan Champion (Christopher Walken), a mercenary competing with Averill for the love of local madam Ella Watson (Isabelle Huppert). As the struggle escalates, Averill and Champion begin to question their decisions.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 219 min
Plot tags: epic, captivating, talky, atmospheric, period piece, serious, realistic, erotic, controversial, stylized
Similar in 82%
A Man Called Horse (1970)
Plot Summary:
In 1825 an English aristocrat is captured by Indians. He lives with them and begins to understand/accept their lifestyles. Eventually he is accepted as part of the tribe and becomes their leader.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: suspense, scenic, intense, exciting, serious, captivating, epic, realistic, historical drama, independent film
Similar in 75%
Comanche Moon (2008)
Plot Summary:
Comanche Moon, the prequel to McMurtry's bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Lonesome Dove follows Texas Rangers Augustus "Gus" McCrae (Zahn) and Woodrow F. Call (Urban), now in their middle years, as they continue to deal with the ever-increasing tensions of adult life--Gus with his great love, Clara Forsythe (Cardellini), and Call with Maggie Tilton (Banks), the young prostitute who loves him and bears him his son, Newt (Joseph Castanon). Kilmer plays Captain Inish Scull, a Yankee aristocrat and hero of the recently concluded Mexican War. Griffiths plays Inez Scull, the Captain's sexy wife who doesn't hesitate to fill her time with other men when he's away from home. Wes Studi plays Comanche Chief Buffalo Hump.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 360 min
Plot tags: captivating, tense, suspense, exciting, sincere, detective, rough, bleak, epic, serious
Similar in 81%
Into the West (2005)
Plot Summary:
Steven Spielberg executive produced this TNT miniseries about American Westward expansion during the 19th century. Told from both the perspective of the white Wheeler family and the Native American Lakota tribe, the 12-hour epic follows the clans as they struggle to find their place in a country confounded by turmoil and change.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 552 min
Plot tags: epic, sincere, realistic, atmospheric, serious, educational, historical drama, contemplative, period drama, wild
Similar in 87%
True Grit (1969)
Plot Summary:
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy, Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), on a mission of "justice", which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, "Rooster" Cogburn (John Wayne), because he has "grit", and a reputation of getting the job done. The two are joined by a Texas Ranger, La Boeuf (Glen Campbell), who is looking for the same man (Jeff Corey) for a separate murder in Texas. Their odyssey takes them from Fort Smith, Arkansas, deep into the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) to find their man.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: stylized, suspense, harsh, exciting, spaghetti western, period piece, action adventure, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 90%
Little Big Man (1970)
Plot Summary:
Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: epic, humorous, sentimental, captivating, disturbing, breathtaking, realistic, scenic, picaresque, parody
Similar in 89%
1883 (2021)
Plot Summary:
Follow the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. A stark retelling of Western expansion, and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land — Montana.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 107000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: historical drama, captivating, suspense, disturbing, psychological, epic, sad, anime, southern gothic, costume drama
Similar in 89%
Open Range (2003)
Plot Summary:
A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 77000
Genere: Action, Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, stylized, intense, realistic, captivating, contemplative, period piece, funny, sexy, epic
Similar in 76%
The Homesman (2014)
Plot Summary:
When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs, to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: France, USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, tense, bleak, realistic, depressing, harsh, emotional, suspense, serious, road movie
Similar in 83%
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Plot Summary:
A mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by Indians when he proves to be the match of their warriors in one-to-one combat on the early frontier.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, epic, realistic, scenic, meditative, factual, serious, bleak, existential, spaghetti western
Similar in 77%
Far and Away (1992)
Plot Summary:
A young man (Cruise) leaves Ireland with his landlord's daughter (Kidman) after some trouble with her father, and they dream of owning land at the big giveaway in Oklahoma ca. 1893. When they get to the new land, they find jobs and begin saving money. The man becomes a local barehands boxer, and rides in glory until he is beaten, then his employers steal all the couple's money and they must fight off starvation in the winter, and try to keep their dream of owning land alive. Meanwhile, the woman's parents find out where she has gone and have come to America to find her and take her back.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 67000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, period piece, sentimental, epic, intense, serious, romantic, entertaining, romantic comedy