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Movies that feel like Deliverance (1972)

If you loved Deliverance, the closest films we have are Sorcerer (1977), Runaway Train (1985) and Watership Down (1978). All three share Deliverance's epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 9 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Paramount Plus Premium and others, checked against today's data.

Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.

πŸ… 90% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.6 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. John Boormancontemplativeepictense

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If Deliverance hit the spot, these will too

Sorcerer poster
Sorcerer
1977 Β· dir. William Friedkin
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.7thriller Β· adventure

Epic and tense in the same breath

The difference: Missing the stillness of Deliverance

Four men from different parts of the globe, all hiding from their pasts in the same remote South American town, agree to risk their lives transporting several cases of dynamite (which is so old that it is dripping unstable nitroglycerin) across dangerous jungle terrain.

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Runaway Train poster
Runaway Train
1985 Β· dir. Andrei Konchalovsky
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.2action Β· thriller Β· drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

The difference: Leans harder into action than Deliverance does

A hardened convict and a younger prisoner escape from a brutal prison in the middle of winter only to find themselves on an out-of-control train with a female railway worker while being pursued by the vengeful head of security.

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Watership Down poster
Watership Down
1978 Β· dir. Martin Rosen
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.5adventure Β· animation Β· drama

Contemplative adventure in both cases

The difference: Sits closer to animation than Deliverance does

When the warren belonging to a community of rabbits is threatened, a brave group led by Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry and Hazel leave their homeland in a search of a safe new haven.

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Aguirre, the Wrath of God poster
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
1972 Β· dir. Werner Herzog
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.8history Β· adventure Β· drama

Thriller built on scale, twice over

A few decades after the destruction of the Inca Empire, a Spanish expedition led by the infamous Aguirre leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon River in search of the lost city of El Dorado. When great difficulties arise, Aguirre’s men start to wonder whether their quest will lead them to prosperity or certain death.

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Easy Rider poster
Easy Rider
1969 Β· dir. Dennis Hopper
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.2adventure Β· drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

Wyatt and Billy, two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth.

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Munich poster
Munich
2005 Β· dir. Steven Spielberg
πŸ… 79%β˜… 7.5drama Β· history Β· thriller

Thriller with a pulse of tension, in both cases

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack.

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The Wages of Fear poster
The Wages of Fear
1953 Β· dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8.1drama Β· thriller Β· adventure

Adventure built on scale, twice over

In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.

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Army of Shadows poster
Army of Shadows
1969 Β· dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
πŸ… 97%β˜… 8.1war Β· drama Β· thriller

Tense drama, and it commits to that

Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.

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Fitzcarraldo poster
Fitzcarraldo
1982 Β· dir. Werner Herzog
πŸ… 78%β˜… 7.9drama Β· adventure

The adventure is handled with the same confidence

Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rainforest.

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Knife in the Water poster
Knife in the Water
1962 Β· dir. Roman Polanski
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.4drama Β· thriller

Thriller approached the same way

On their way to an afternoon on the lake, husband and wife Andrzej and Krystyna nearly run over a young hitchhiker. Inviting the young man onto the boat with them, Andrzej begins to subtly torment him; the hitchhiker responds by making overtures toward Krystyna. When the hitchhiker is accidentally knocked overboard, the husband's panic results in unexpected consequences.

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The Experiment poster
The Experiment
2001 Β· dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel
πŸ… 72%β˜… 7.7drama Β· thriller

One thread runs through both: rape

20 volunteers agree to take part in a seemingly well-paid experiment advertised by the university. It is supposed to be about aggressive behavior in an artificial prison situation. A journalist senses a story behind the ad and smuggles himself in among the test subjects. They are randomly divided into prisoners and guards. What seems like a game at the beginning soon turns into bloody seriousness.

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Escape from Alcatraz poster
Escape from Alcatraz
1979 Β· dir. Don Siegel
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.5drama Β· thriller

Cut from the same drama cloth

San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates begin to carefully prepare an escape plan.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

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