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Red River poster

Movies that feel likeRed River (1948)

Following the Civil War, headstrong rancher Thomas Dunson decides to lead a perilous cattle drive from Texas to Missouri. During the exhausting journey, his persistence becomes tyrannical in the eyes of Matthew Garth, his adopted son and protégé.

If you loved Red River, the closest films we have are The Virgin Spring (1960), My Darling Clementine (1946) and The Outfit (1973). All three share Red River's gritty and relentless feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Square (2008).

🍅 100% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Howard Hawksgrittycontemplativeepicrelentless
7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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See it on the Mood Map

If Red River hit the spot, these will too

The Virgin Spring poster
The Virgin Spring
1960 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 88%★ 8drama · history

Common ground: revenge

The difference: Leans harder into history than Red River does

Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.

My Darling Clementine poster
My Darling Clementine
1946 · dir. John Ford
🍅 100%★ 7.7western

Both keep coming back to the same thing: black and white

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Red River does

Three brothers stop off for a night in the town of Tombstone. The next morning they find one of their brothers dead and their cattle stolen. They decide to take revenge on the culprits.

The Outfit poster
The Outfit
1973 · dir. John Flynn
🍅 86%★ 7crime · drama

Both are built on the same subject: revenge

The difference: Made in the 1970s, in a different era of the craft

A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.

The Salvation poster
The Salvation
2014 · dir. Kristian Levring
🍅 72%★ 6.7drama · westernParamount+

Gritty and contemplative in the same breath

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

In 1870s America, a peaceful American settler kills his family's murderer which unleashes the fury of a notorious gang leader. His cowardly fellow townspeople then betray him, forcing him to hunt down the outlaws alone.

Lady Snowblood poster
Lady Snowblood
1973 · dir. Toshiya Fujita
🍅 100%★ 7.6action · crime · dramaMax

Relentless drama, and it commits to that

The difference: 25 years apart, and the 1970s show

A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.

In the Fade poster
In the Fade
2017 · dir. Fatih Akin
🍅 75%★ 7.1drama · crimePrime Video

Gritty western in both cases

Katja's life collapses after the deaths of her husband and son in a bomb attack. After a time of mourning and injustice, Katja seeks revenge.

A Better Tomorrow poster
A Better Tomorrow
1986 · dir. John Woo
🍅 95%★ 7.4action · crime · drama

Adventure with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.

Shogun Assassin poster
Shogun Assassin
1980 · dir. Robert Houston
🍅 82%★ 7.3action · adventure

Adventure built on scale, twice over

A Shogun who grew paranoid as he became senile sent his ninjas to kill his samurai. They failed but did kill the samurai’s wife. The samurai swore to avenge the death of his wife and roams the countryside with his toddler son in search of vengeance.

The Square poster
The Square
2008 · dir. Nash Edgerton
🍅 86%★ 6.7crime · drama · thriller

Both lean on relentlessness more than on drama

Ray, a construction worker trapped in an unhappy marriage, pursues an affair with his neighbor, Carla. Carla's husband, Greg, is a mobster who keeps large sums of drug money in their home. With this in mind, Carla comes up with a plan: She and Ray will steal Greg's money, burn down her house, convince Greg the money was lost in the fire and then run away together. Carla's scheme, however, doesn't go off as planned.

Green Street Hooligans poster
Green Street Hooligans
2005 · dir. Lexi Alexander
🍅 45%★ 7.4crime · drama

Western built on grit, twice over

After being wrongfully expelled from Harvard University, American Matt Buckner flees to his sister's home in England. Once there, he is befriended by her charming and dangerous brother-in-law, Pete Dunham, and introduced to the underworld of British football hooliganism. Matt learns to stand his ground through a friendship that develops against the backdrop of this secret and often violent world. 'Green Street Hooligans' is a story of loyalty, trust and the sometimes brutal consequences of living close to the edge.

Rolling Thunder poster
Rolling Thunder
1977 · dir. John Flynn
🍅 82%★ 6.9drama · thriller · action

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

A recently-returned Vietnam POW loses his family and his right hand during a violent home invasion, and seeks retribution against those responsible.

A Bittersweet Life poster
A Bittersweet Life
2005 · dir. Kim Jee-woon
🍅 100%★ 7.4action · drama · crime

Western with a pulse of relentlessness, in both cases

Kim Sun-woo is an enforcer and manager for a hotel owned by a cold, calculative crime boss, Kang who assigns Sun-woo to a simple errand while he is away on a business trip; to shadow his young mistress, Hee-soo, for fear that she may be cheating on him with a younger man with the mandate that he must kill them both if he discovers their affair.

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The best-reviewed films that share Red River’s defining feeling.