Movies Like Places in the Heart (1984)

Places in the Heart is a 1984 drama film from Robert Benton with a MovieMagicScore of 7.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Mudbound and Sommersby.

Drama

Mudbound

2017

In the post–World War II South, two families are pitted against a barbaric social hierarchy and an unrelenting landscape as they simultaneously fight the battle at home and the battle abroad.

7.4

MagicScore

Sommersby

1993

Set in the South just after the US Civil War, Laurel Sommersby is just managing to work the farm without her husband, believed killed in battle. By all accounts, Jack Sommersby was not a pleasant man, thus when he suddenly returns, Laurel has mixed emotions. It appears that Jack has changed a great deal, leading some people to believe that this is not actually Jack but an imposter. Laurel herself is unsure, but willing to take the man into her home, and perhaps later into her heart.

6.3

MagicScore

The Intruder

1962

A man in a gleaming white suit comes to a small Southern town on the eve of integration. He calls himself a social reformer. But what he does is stir up trouble--trouble he soon finds he can't control.

7.1

MagicScore

12 Mighty Orphans

2021

Haunted by his mysterious past, a devoted high school football coach leads a scrawny team of orphans to the state championship during the Great Depression and inspires a broken nation along the way.

7.2

MagicScore

Django Unchained

2012

With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

8.2

MagicScore

Betrayed

1988

An FBI agent posing as a combine driver becomes romantically involved with a Midwest farmer who lives a double life as a white supremacist.

6.0

MagicScore

Road to Perdition

2002

Mike Sullivan works as a hit man for crime boss John Rooney. Sullivan views Rooney as a father figure, however after his son is witness to a killing, Mike Sullivan finds himself on the run in attempt to save the life of his son and at the same time looking for revenge on those who wronged him.

7.3

MagicScore

The Unforgiven

1960

The neighbors of a frontier family turn on them when it is suspected that their beloved adopted daughter was stolen from the Kiowa tribe.

6.2

MagicScore

Tea with Mussolini

1999

In 1930s fascist Italy, adolescent Luca just lost his mother. His father, a callous businessman, sends him to be taken care of by British expatriate Mary Wallace. Mary and her cultured friends - including artist Arabella, young widow Elsa, and archaeologist Georgie - keep a watchful eye over the boy. But the women's cultivated lives take a dramatic turn when Allied forces declare war on Mussolini.

6.4

MagicScore

#10

Remember the Titans

2000

After leading his football team to 15 winning seasons, coach Bill Yoast is demoted and replaced by Herman Boone – tough, opinionated and as different from the beloved Yoast as he could be. The two men learn to overcome their differences and turn a group of hostile young men into champions.

7.6

MagicScore

#11

What Josiah Saw

2021

A family with buried secrets reunite at a farmhouse after two decades to pay for their past sins.

5.8

MagicScore

#12

Country

1984

Jewell and Gil are farmers. They seem to be working against the odds, producing no financial surplus. Gil has lost hope of ever becoming prosperous, but Jewell decides to fight for her family.

6.4

MagicScore

#13

Tornado Valley

2009

Liz McAdams is haunted by the memories of a tornado that destroyed her home 25 years ago. Now a professional storm tracker, she and her family are in danger once again as another devastating twister rapidly gains momentum. Caught in the path of destruction, Liz and her estranged husband struggle to save those they love...

6.4

MagicScore

#14

Driving Miss Daisy

1989

The story of an old Jewish widow named Daisy Werthan and her relationship with her black chauffeur, Hoke. From an initial mere work relationship grew in 25 years a strong friendship between the two very different characters, in a time when those types of relationships were shunned.

7.2

MagicScore

#15

Mississippi Burning

1988

Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his partner, a former sheriff.

7.7

MagicScore

#16

BlacKkKlansman

2018

Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.

7.5

MagicScore

#17

A Time to Kill

1996

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

7.4

MagicScore

#18

The Best of Enemies

2019

Centers on the unlikely relationship between Ann Atwater, an outspoken civil rights activist, and C.P. Ellis, a local Ku Klux Klan leader who reluctantly co-chaired a community summit, battling over the desegregation of schools in Durham, North Carolina during the racially-charged summer of 1971. The incredible events that unfolded would change Durham and the lives of Atwater and Ellis forever.

7.4

MagicScore

#19

Texas Rangers

2001

Ten years after the Civil War has ended, the Governor of Texas asks Leander McNelly to form a company of Rangers to help uphold the law along the Mexican border. With a few veterans of the war, most of the recruits are young men who have little or no experience with guns or policing crime.

6.0

MagicScore

#20

The Help

2011

Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.

8.2

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Places in the Heart?

The top films similar to Places in the Heart by MovieMagicScore are Mudbound (7.4), Sommersby (6.3), The Intruder (7.1). Each shares drama themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Places in the Heart worth watching?

Places in the Heart holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.2/10 from 179 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Places in the Heart?

Places in the Heart (1984) is a drama film directed by Robert Benton, starring Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, John Malkovich.

Where can I find more recommendations like Places in the Heart?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Mudbound Movies like Sommersby Movies like The Intruder Movies like 12 Mighty Orphans Movies like Django Unchained Movies like Betrayed

About movies like Places in the Heart

This ranked list pairs Places in the Heart (1984), a drama film from Robert Benton, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Sally Field take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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