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Home/The Rider/Similar Movies

The Rider

Movies Like The Rider (2018)

The Rider is a 2018 drama, western film from Chloé Zhao with a MovieMagicScore of 7.3/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Bus Stop and The Horse Whisperer.

Bus Stop poster

Bus Stop

1956

Cowboys Beauregard Decker and Virgil Blessing attend a rodeo in Phoenix, where Decker falls in love with beautiful cafe singer Cherie. He wants to take Cherie back to his native Montana and marry her, but she dreams of traveling to Hollywood and becoming famous. When she resists his advances, Decker forces Cherie onto the bus back to Montana with him, but, when the bus makes an unscheduled stop due to bad weather, the tables are turned.

The Horse Whisperer poster

The Horse Whisperer

1998

The mother of a severely traumatized daughter enlists the aid of a unique horse trainer to help the girl's equally injured horse.

Marnie poster

Marnie

1964

Marnie is a beautiful but emotionally withdrawn thief, stealing from employers before disappearing under new identities. When her new boss, Mark Rutland, discovers her secret, his fascination turns to obsession, and he blackmails her into marriage, convinced he can cure her. But as he probes deeper into Marnie’s fractured mind, long-buried fears and compulsions begin to surface.

The Electric Horseman poster

The Electric Horseman

1979

A former champion rodeo rider is reduced to using his saddle skills to promote a breakfast cereal in a gaudy Las Vegas show. When he's asked to perform with a $12 million horse, he discovers it is being doped to remain docile. He flees into the desert astride the beast in an act of defiance. A story-hungry female reporter gives chase.

Woman Walks Ahead poster

Woman Walks Ahead

2018

Based on a true story, this riveting western follows a headstrong New York widow as she journeys west to meet Sioux chief Sitting Bull, facing off with an army officer intent on war with Native Americans.

War Pony poster

War Pony

2023

The interlocking stories of two Lakota boys growing up on Pine Ridge Reservation. At 23, Bill just wants to make something of himself. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Matho can’t wait to become a man. Bound by their shared search for belonging, each of the boys grapple with identity, family, and loss, as they navigate their unique paths to manhood.

Thunderheart poster

Thunderheart

1992

A young mixed-blood FBI agent is assigned to work with a cynical veteran investigator on a murder on a poverty-stricken Sioux reservation.

Chino poster

Chino

1973

Chino Valdez is a loner horse breeder living in the old west. Partly a loner by choice, and partly because, being a 'half-breed', he finds himself unwelcome almost everywhere he goes. One day, a young runaway named Jimmy shows up at his door looking for work and a roof over his head. Reluctantly, Chino agrees to take him in and teach him the art of raising, breaking and breeding horses, until the pair finally begin to accept each other.

Shanghai Noon poster

Shanghai Noon

2000

Chon Wang, a clumsy imperial guard, trails Princess Pei Pei when she's kidnapped from the Forbidden City and transported to America. Wang follows her captors to Nevada, where he teams up with an unlikely partner, outcast outlaw Roy O'Bannon, and tries to spring the princess from her imprisonment.

8 Seconds poster

8 Seconds

1994

This film chronicles the life of Lane Frost, 1987 PRCA Bull Riding World Champion, his marriage and his friendships with Tuff Hedeman (three-time World Champion) and Cody Lambert.

Bull poster

Bull

2020

In a near-abandoned subdivision west of Houston, a wayward teen runs headlong into her equally willful and unforgiving neighbor, an aging bullfighter who's seen his best days in the arena; it's a collision that will change them both.

Ride 'Em Cowboy poster

Ride 'Em Cowboy

1942

Two peanut vendors at a rodeo show get in trouble with their boss and hide out on a railroad train heading west. They get jobs as cowboys on a dude ranch, despite the fact that neither of them knows anything about cowboys, horses, or anything else.

Yakari: A Spectacular Journey poster

Yakari: A Spectacular Journey

2020

With his tribe's move to follow the migrating bison, Yakari, the little Sioux boy, sets out on his own to follow the trail of Little Thunder, a wild mustang said to be untameable. Travelling far from home and deep into the territory of the terrible cougarskins, Yakari and Little Thunder undertake a great adventure and find their way back home.

Dudes poster

Dudes

1987

Two punks from the big city, traveling across the country in a Volkswagen bug, embrace the western ethos when they must take revenge against a group of rednecks for killing their friend in this lighthearted road movie. Along the way, they enlist the help of a young woman who runs a wrecking service.

The Man from Snowy River poster

The Man from Snowy River

1982

Jim Craig has lived his first 18 years in the mountains of Australia on his father's farm. The death of his father forces him to go to the lowlands to earn enough money to get the farm back on its feet.

Slow West poster

Slow West

2015

In the Old West, a 17-year-old Scottish boy teams up with a mysterious gunman to find the woman with whom he is infatuated.

Cowgirls n' Angels poster

Cowgirls n' Angels

2012

A group of rodeo trick-riders recruits a young girl to join them.

The Rounders poster

The Rounders

1965

Ben (Glenn Ford) and Marion (Henry Fonda) are two cowboys who make a meager living breaking wild horses. Their frequent employer Jim (Chill Wills), who always gets the better of them, talks them into taking a nondescript horse in lieu of some of their wages. Ben finds that the horse is un-rideable, he comes up with the idea of taking it to a rodeo and betting other cowhands they cannot ride it.

Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken poster

Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

1991

A runaway orphan, young Sonora, persists in a menial job mucking stables in Doc Carver's travelling stunt show. Her great wish is to become a death-defying "diving girl," but Doc refuses her pleas. Undaunted, Sonora's gutsy resolve finally convinces him to give her a break. On the brink of stardom, however, a cruel twist of fate threatens to destroy her dream.

Windstorm 2 poster

Windstorm 2

2015

Summer vacation. Mika is overjoyed to see Windstorm again. But then she discovers strange wounds on the belly of Windstorm, for which no one has an explanation. Yet this is Kaltenbach verge of bankruptcy! With a heavy heart Mika decides to participate in a variety tournament in which beckons a high prize money. But during training affects Windstorm distracted, often he runs away easily. Mika pursued the black stallion until deep into the forest and is quite surprised: From the thicket a seemingly magical gray mare appears and the two horses dance around lovingly. Suddenly, a strange boy named Milan appears, who says the mare had escaped him. He claimed that he could Help Mika to win the tournament. But is there still time to save Kaltenbach?

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Rider?

The top films similar to The Rider by MovieMagicScore are Bus Stop (6.1), The Horse Whisperer (6.9), Marnie (7.1). Each shares drama/western themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Rider worth watching?

The Rider holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.3/10 from 524 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is The Rider?

The Rider (2018) is a drama, western film directed by Chloé Zhao, starring Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Rider?

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 Bus Stop Movies like The Horse Whisperer Movies like Marnie Movies like The Electric Horseman Movies like Woman Walks Ahead Movies like War Pony

About movies like The Rider

This ranked list pairs The Rider (2018), a drama and western film from Chloé Zhao, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Brady Jandreau 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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