Movies Like Carny (1980)

Carny is a 1980 drama film from Robert Kaylor with a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Nightmare Alley and 31.

Drama

Nightmare Alley

2021

An ambitious carnival man with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychologist who is even more dangerous than he is.

7.0

MagicScore

31

2016

Five carnival workers are kidnapped and held hostage in an abandoned, Hell-like compound where they are forced to participate in a violent game, the goal of which is to survive twelve hours against a gang of sadistic clowns.

5.4

MagicScore

Nightmare Alley

1947

Roustabout Stanton Carlisle joins a traveling carny and unsuccessfully schemes to figure out the mind-reading act of Mademoiselle Zeena and her alcoholic husband, Pete.

7.1

MagicScore

The Hustler

1961

Fast Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary Minnesota Fats to a high-stakes match.

7.7

MagicScore

Transamerica

2005

A transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.

7.0

MagicScore

Knucklebones

2016

A group of bored college students unleash a murderous demon while playing a dice game made from human knucklebones.

4.1

MagicScore

Follow That Bird

1985

Big Bird is sent to live far from Sesame Street by a pesky social worker, who thinks it would be better for him to live with other birds. Unhappy, Big Bird runs away from his foster home, prompting the rest of the Sesame Street gang to go on a cross-country journey to find him.

6.3

MagicScore

She Freak

1967

Jade is a waitress who leaves the greasy-diner business for the excitement of the carnival. She quickly discovers that she despises freaks and human oddities.

3.4

MagicScore

Tag

2018

For one month every year, five highly competitive friends hit the ground running in a no-holds-barred game of tag they’ve been playing since the first grade. This year, the game coincides with the wedding of their only undefeated player, which should finally make him an easy target. But he knows they’re coming...and he’s ready.

6.7

MagicScore

#10

The Unknown

1927

On the lam, criminal Alonzo hides in the circus as The Armless Wonder – a performer who uses his feet to hurl knives. Alonzo keeps the arms he really has concealed to hide his identity. Meanwhile, ringmaster's daughter Nanon has a phobia of being touched by men, but is romantically pursued by not only Alonzo but the strongman Malabar. Alonzo's desperation to remain with Nanon will only end in tragedy.

7.5

MagicScore

#11

Adventureland

2009

In the summer of 1987, a college graduate takes a 'nowhere' job at his local amusement park, only to find it's the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world.

6.4

MagicScore

#12

Mysterious Skin

2005

A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.

7.7

MagicScore

#13

Midnight Cowboy

1969

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.

7.5

MagicScore

#14

Night and the City

1950

Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan.

7.5

MagicScore

#15

Marty Supreme

2025

Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.

7.4

MagicScore

#16

The Last Match

2013

Cuba is not a country for young gays. Teen rent boy Reinier falls in love with a mate in the slum soccer field in their neighbourhood in Havana. Although obsessed with moneymaking to hold up his baby, teen wife, and wife's grandma, gambler Reinier always fails to get the stroke of luck he looks for. At the same time he cannot help being infatuated by Yosvani. Handsome Yosvani will give up his older, wealthy girlfriend (whom he hooked up to pay for a lavish life in the big city), and the work he does for her father, a loan thug, so much in love he is with Reinier. But the boys would fight hard to keep this love in the reckless Havana streets.

7.2

MagicScore

#17

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

1984

A henpecked housewife ekes out a meager existence, surrounded by a host of colorful characters: her ungrateful husband, her delinquent sons, her headstrong mother-in-law, and her sex worker neighbor, among others.

7.1

MagicScore

#18

4 Moons

2014

Four interwoven stories about love and self-acceptance: An eleven year-old boy struggles to keep secret the attraction he feels towards his male cousin. Two former childhood friends reunite and start a relationship that gets complicated due to one of them’s fear of getting caught. A gay long lasting relationship is in jeopardy when a third man comes along. An old family man is obsessed with a young male prostitute and tries to raise the money to afford the experience.

7.1

MagicScore

#19

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

MagicScore

#20

Searching for Bobby Fischer

1993

A seven-year-old chess prodigy refuses to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.

7.1

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Carny?

The top films similar to Carny by MovieMagicScore are Nightmare Alley (7.0), 31 (5.4), Nightmare Alley (7.1). Each shares drama themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Carny worth watching?

Carny holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10 from 41 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Carny?

Carny (1980) is a drama film directed by Robert Kaylor, starring Gary Busey, Jodie Foster, Robbie Robertson.

Where can I find more recommendations like Carny?

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 Nightmare Alley Movies like 31 Movies like Nightmare Alley Movies like The Hustler Movies like Transamerica Movies like Knucklebones

About movies like Carny

This ranked list pairs Carny (1980), a drama film from Robert Kaylor, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Gary Busey 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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