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Stand by Me poster

Movies that feel likeStand by Me (1986)

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, but they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.

If you loved Stand by Me, the closest films we have are The Straight Story (1999), Dead Poets Society (1989) and Mud (2013). All three share Stand by Me's contemplative and wistful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Where Is The Friend's House? (1987).

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If Stand by Me hit the spot, these will too

The Straight Story poster
The Straight Story
1999 · dir. David Lynch
🍅 95%★ 8drama · adventureDisney+

The same preoccupation in both: road trip

The difference: Takes it somewhere less warm than Stand by Me does

Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

Dead Poets Society poster
Dead Poets Society
1989 · dir. Peter Weir
🍅 85%★ 8.1drama

Two things both keep coming back to: friendship and growing up

At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.

Mud poster
Mud
2013 · dir. Jeff Nichols
🍅 97%★ 7.3drama

One thread runs through both: friendship

The difference: 27 years apart, and the 2010s show

Two teenage boys find a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi River and help him reunite with his lover and escape an avenging family and their armed posse.

Where Is The Friend's House? poster
Where Is The Friend's House?
1987 · dir. Abbas Kiarostami
🍅 100%★ 8.1drama · adventure

Contemplative and epic in the same breath

An 8-year-old boy must return his friend's notebook he took by mistake, lest his friend be punished by expulsion from school.

The Florida Project poster
The Florida Project
2017 · dir. Sean Baker
🍅 96%★ 7.6drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: growing up

The story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle with hard times.

Dersu Uzala poster
Dersu Uzala
1975 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 73%★ 8.2adventure · drama

Warm drama, and it commits to that

A military explorer meets and befriends a Goldi man in Russia’s unmapped forests. A deep and abiding bond evolves between the two men, one civilized in the usual sense, the other at home in the glacial Siberian woods.

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle poster
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
2018 · dir. Andy Serkis
🍅 51%★ 6.5adventure · dramaNetflix

Wistful adventure in both cases

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

A human child raised by wolves, must face off against a menacing tiger named Shere Khan, as well as his own origins.

The Elephant Man poster
The Elephant Man
1980 · dir. David Lynch
🍅 91%★ 8.2drama · history

Drama built on stillness, twice over

The difference: Leans harder into history than Stand by Me does

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity.

Network poster
Network
1976 · dir. Sidney Lumet
🍅 90%★ 8.1drama

Both lean on dark humor more than on adventure

When veteran anchorman Howard Beale is forced to retire his 25-year post because of his age, he announces to viewers that he will kill himself during his farewell broadcast. Network executives rethink their decision when his fanatical tirade results in a spike in ratings.

Malena poster
Malena
2000 · dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
🍅 54%★ 7.4drama

Drama with a pulse of wistfulness, in both cases

12-year-old Renato experiences three significant events on the same day: the beginning of the Second World War, getting a bike, and witnessing the arrival of the gorgeous Malèna. Through his eyes, we see the curse of beauty and loneliness of Malena, whose husband is presumed dead, and, through his soul, we see his love for her.

Y Tu Mamá También poster
Y Tu Mamá También
2001 · dir. Alfonso Cuarón
🍅 90%★ 7.7drama · romance

Common ground: road trip

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

Dances with Wolves poster
Dances with Wolves
1990 · dir. Kevin Costner
🍅 87%★ 8adventure · drama · westernPrime Video

Adventure built on scale, twice over

Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.

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The best-reviewed films that share Stand by Me’s defining feeling.