feelsalike.com

Movies that feel like Red River (1948)

If you loved Red River, the closest films we have are My Darling Clementine (1946), Unforgiven (1992) and The Outfit (1973). All three share Red River's gritty and relentless 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.

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.

🍅 100% Rotten Tomatoes7.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Howard Hawksgrittyrelentless

Not on subscription streaming right now. Rent or buy below.

See it on the map

When is Red River streaming? →

If Red River hit the spot, these will too

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

Both are working the same pair: revenge, black and white

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.

Feels alike?
Unforgiven poster
Unforgiven
1992 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 96%8.2western

Common ground: kansas, usa

The difference: Made in the 1990s, in a different era of the craft

William Munny is a retired, once-ruthless killer turned gentle widower and hog farmer. To help support his two motherless children, he accepts one last bounty-hunter mission to find the men who brutalized a prostitute. Joined by his former partner and a cocky greenhorn, he takes on a corrupt sheriff.

Feels alike?
The Outfit poster
The Outfit
1973 · dir. John Flynn
🍅 86%7crime · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: revenge

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Red River does

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.

Feels alike?
Lady Snowblood poster
Lady Snowblood
1973 · dir. Toshiya Fujita
🍅 100%7.6action · crime · drama

Gritty and relentless in the same breath

The difference: Leans harder into action than Red River does

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

Feels alike?
The Salvation poster
The Salvation
2014 · dir. Kristian Levring
🍅 72%6.7drama · western

Gritty western in both cases

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

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.

Feels alike?
The Big Heat poster
The Big Heat
1953 · dir. Fritz Lang
🍅 95%7.9crime · thriller

Western built on relentlessness, twice over

After the suspicious suicide of a fellow cop, tough homicide detective Dave Bannion takes the law into his own hands when he sets out to smash a vicious crime syndicate.

Feels alike?
In the Fade poster
In the Fade
2017 · dir. Fatih Akin
🍅 75%7.1drama · crime

Gritty western, and it commits to that

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.

Feels alike?
Fort Apache poster
Fort Apache
1948 · dir. John Ford
🍅 100%7.4western

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

The difference: None of the relentlessness Red River is built on

Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant, obsessed with military form and ultimately self-destructive, he attempts to destroy the Apache chief Cochise after luring him across the border from Mexico, against the advice of his subordinates.

Feels alike?
The Outlaw Josey Wales poster
The Outlaw Josey Wales
1976 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 91%7.8western

The same preoccupation in both: texas

After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to travel alone, but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him - and Wales can't bring himself to leave them unprotected.

Feels alike?
Rio Bravo poster
Rio Bravo
1959 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 96%8western · drama

The same hand behind both of them: Howard Hawks

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

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

Both work the same relentlessness

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

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

A 1970s cousin in spirit

A Vietnam veteran, Charles Rane, returns home after years in a POW camp and is treated as a hero. He has a hard time adjusting, and things go badly. A movie about the walking dead, before that meant just flesh-eating zombies.

Feels alike?

In the mood for more gritty?

all gritty movies →

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