Best Drama Movies of 1991

The highest-rated drama films from 1991, ranked by MovieMagicScore based on authentic viewer ratings.

Drama 1990 Drama 1992 All Time Drama

Action Comedy Horror Science Fiction Thriller Romance Animation Documentary Fantasy Crime

The Silence of the Lambs

1991

Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.

8.3

Raise the Red Lantern

1991

In 1920s China, 19-year-old Songlian becomes a concubine of a powerful lord and is forced to compete with his three wives for the privileges gained.

7.9

Thelma & Louise

1991

Taking a break from their dreary lives, close friends Thelma and Louise embark on a short weekend trip that ends in unforeseen incriminating circumstances. As fugitives, both women rediscover the strength of their bond and their newfound resilience.

7.6

Fried Green Tomatoes

1991

Amidst her own personality crisis, a southern housewife meets an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in 1920s Whistle Stop, Alabama.

7.7

JFK

1991

Follows the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison.

7.6

A Brighter Summer Day

1991

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

8.2

Boyz n the Hood

1991

In the middle of the Los Angeles ghetto, drugs, robberies and shootings dominate everyday life. During these times, Furious tries to raise his son Tre to be a decent person. Tre's friends, on the other hand, have little regard for the law and drag the entire neighborhood into a street war...

7.6

Barton Fink

1991

A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.

7.5

My Girl

1991

Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J., her best friend, is "allergic to everything", and sticks with Vada despite her hangups. When Vada's father hires Shelly, and begins to fall for her, things take a turn to the worse...

7.4

#10

Night on Earth

1991

A quintet of cabbies in five cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.

7.5

#11

The Double Life of Véronique

1991

Véronique is a beautiful young French woman who aspires to be a renowned singer; Weronika lives in Poland, has a similar career goal and looks identical to Véronique, though the two are not related. The film follows both women as they contend with the ups and downs of their individual lives, with Véronique embarking on an unusual romance with Alexandre Fabbri, a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues.

7.5

#12

Only Yesterday

1991

In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.

7.4

#13

The Fisher King

1991

Two troubled men face their terrible destinies and events of their past as they join together on a mission to find the Holy Grail and thus to save themselves.

7.3

#14

Cape Fear

1991

Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.

7.2

#15

The Doors

1991

The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.

7.1

#16

The Commitments

1991

Jimmy Rabbitte, just a thick-ya out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan.

7.3

#17

The Lovers on the Bridge

1991

Set against Paris' oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, while it was closed for repairs, this film is a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michele, a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and an affliction which is slowly turning her blind.

7.4

#18

My Own Private Idaho

1991

In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.

7.1

#19

Europa

1991

Just after World War II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.

7.4

#20

The Man in the Moon

1991

Maureen Trant and her younger sibling Dani share a strong connection, but local boy Court Foster threatens to throw their bond off balance. Dani and Court meet first and have a flirtatious rapport -- but when he meets Maureen, he falls hard and they begin a passionate affair. The new couple try to keep their love hidden from Dani, but she soon learns the truth, disavowing her sister. But a heartbreaking accident later reunites the girls.

7.3

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Best Drama Movies of 1991

This ranking features the top drama movies released in 1991, sorted by MovieMagicScore viewer ratings. Looking for more? Browse all genres from 1991 or see the best drama movies of all time.