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Movies that feel like Shane (1953)

If you loved Shane, the closest films we have are Giant (1956), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949). All three share Shane's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 8 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Criterion Channel and TCM and others, checked against today's data.

A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.

πŸ… 97% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.6 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. George Stevenscontemplativegrittywarm
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If Shane hit the spot, these will too

Giant poster
Giant
1956 Β· dir. George Stevens
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.6drama Β· western

The same hand behind both of them: George Stevens

The difference: Not nearly as warm as Shane

Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.

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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid poster
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969 Β· dir. George Roy Hill
πŸ… 89%β˜… 8western Β· crime Β· drama

The same mix in both: stillness, then grit

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Shane does

As the west rapidly becomes civilized, a pair of outlaws in 1890s Wyoming find themselves pursued by a posse and decide to flee to South America in hopes of evading the law.

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She Wore a Yellow Ribbon poster
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
1949 Β· dir. John Ford
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.2drama Β· western

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

On the eve of retirement, Captain Nathan Brittles takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled.

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Bad Education poster
Bad Education
2004 Β· dir. Pedro AlmodΓ³var
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4drama Β· crime

One thread runs through both: friendship

The difference: 51 years apart, and the 2000s show

When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school. Weaving through past and present, the script follows a transvestite performer who reconnects with a grade school sweetheart. Spurred on by this chance encounter, the character reflects on her childhood sexual victimization and the trauma of closeting her sexual orientation.

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The Wrong Man poster
The Wrong Man
1956 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama

Gritty western in both cases

In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.

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Old Yeller poster
Old Yeller
1957 Β· dir. Robert Stevenson
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.2adventure Β· drama Β· family

Warm drama, and it commits to that

Young Travis Coates is left to take care of the family ranch with his mother and younger brother while his father goes off on a cattle drive in the 1860s. When a yellow mongrel comes for an uninvited stay with the family, Travis reluctantly adopts the dog.

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Pickpocket poster
Pickpocket
1959 Β· dir. Robert Bresson
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.5crime Β· drama

Western built on stillness, twice over

Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.

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Midnight Cowboy poster
Midnight Cowboy
1969 Β· dir. John Schlesinger
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.8drama

Common ground: friendship

Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.

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Hang 'em High poster
Hang 'em High
1968 Β· dir. Ted Post
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7western Β· drama

Both lean on grit more than on drama

Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.

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Fort Apache poster
Fort Apache
1948 Β· dir. John Ford
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.4western

The same western instincts

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.

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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance poster
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962 Β· dir. John Ford
πŸ… 95%β˜… 8.1western

Both are built on the same subject: showdown

Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance. As the territory's safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.

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In a Better World poster
In a Better World
2010 Β· dir. Susanne Bier
πŸ… 77%β˜… 7.6drama

Both sit in the same warm register

The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.

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