Movies Like Kansas (1988)

Kansas is a 1988 crime, drama, romance, thriller film from David Stevens with a MovieMagicScore of 5.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Picnic and The Locusts.

Crime Drama Romance Thriller

Picnic

1955

Labor Day in a small Kansas farm town. Hal, a burly and resolute drifter, jumps off a dusty freight train car with the purpose of visiting Alan, a former college classmate and son of the richest man in town.

6.3

MagicScore

The Locusts

1997

Delilah Potts has always had her choice of men to work her ranch and fill her bed. But from the moment Clay Hewitt, a handsome drifter with a mysterious past, arrives at her door, Delilah knows that her life will never be the same. And when he spurns her affections, she unleashes a torrent of forbidden passions and deadly secrets that will prove to Clay that the only thing darker and more dangerous than the past he's escaping... is the one he's about to discover.

5.7

MagicScore

The Petrified Forest

1936

Gabby, the waitress in an isolated Arizona diner, dreams of a bigger and better life. One day penniless intellectual Alan drifts into the joint and the two strike up a rapport. Soon enough, notorious killer Duke Mantee takes the diner's inhabitants hostage. Surrounded by miles of desert, the patrons and staff are forced to sit tight with Mantee and his gang overnight.

7.1

MagicScore

The Postman Always Rings Twice

1946

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

7.0

MagicScore

The Postman Always Rings Twice

1981

The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.

6.5

MagicScore

Silver Streak

1976

A somewhat daffy book editor on a rail trip from Los Angeles to Chicago thinks that he sees a murdered man thrown from the train. When he can find no one who will believe him, he starts doing some investigating of his own. But all that accomplishes is to get the killer after him.

6.7

MagicScore

Obsession

1944

Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna as they plan to get rid of her older husband.

7.5

MagicScore

Paper Moon

1973

During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.

7.9

MagicScore

Splendor in the Grass

1961

A fragile Kansas girl's unrequited and forbidden love for a handsome young man from the town's most powerful family drives her to heartbreak and madness.

7.4

MagicScore

#10

Sarah, Plain and Tall

1991

Kansas, 1910. Widowed farmer Jacob Witting finds that taking care of both his farm and two children, Anna and Caleb, is too difficult to handle alone. John takes out an ad in a newspaper for a mail-order bride, to which the "plain and tall" Sarah Wheaton answers, soon traveling from Maine to Kansas to become John's wife. Despite the love that grows between Sarah and the family, Sarah finds herself homesick, and she must ultimately choose whether or not to stay.

7.1

MagicScore

#11

Capote

2005

A biopic of writer Truman Capote and his assignment for The New Yorker to write the non-fiction book "In Cold Blood".

7.0

MagicScore

#12

Cruel Story of Youth

1960

A harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitchhiking to rob middle-class men.

6.5

MagicScore

#13

Fallen Angel

1945

An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills. Since Stella isn't interested in Eric unless he has money, the lovelorn guy comes up with a scheme to win her over, and it involves June. Before long, murder works its way into this passionate love triangle.

6.5

MagicScore

#14

The Way of the Gun

2000

Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother of a powerful and shady man.

6.3

MagicScore

#15

Moontide

1942

After a drunken night out, a longshoreman thinks he may have killed a man.

6.3

MagicScore

#16

The Learning Tree

1969

The story, set in Kansas during the 1920's, covers less than a year in the life of a black teenager, and documents the veritable deluge of events which force him into sudden manhood. The family relationships and enmities, the fears, frustrations and ambitions of the black teenager in small-town America are explored with a strong statement about human values.

6.7

MagicScore

#17

Infamous

2006

While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.

6.5

MagicScore

#18

Suspense

1946

The proprietor of an ice-skating revue promotes a peanut-vendor to a management position based on suggestions he made to improve the act of the show's star, who also happens to be the owner's wife. However, he soon begins to notice that his new manager is paying more attention to his wife than he believes is appropriate.

6.0

MagicScore

#19

Dark Command

1940

When transplanted Texan Bob Seton arrives in Lawrence, Kansas he finds much to like about the place, especially Mary McCloud, daughter of the local banker. Politics is in the air however. It's just prior to the civil war and there is already a sharp division in the Territory as to whether it will remain slave-free. When he gets the opportunity to run for marshal, Seton finds himself running against the respected local schoolteacher, William Cantrell. Not is what it seems however. While acting as the upstanding citizen in public, Cantrell is dangerously ambitious and is prepared to do anything to make his mark, and his fortune, on the Territory. When he loses the race for marshal, he forms a group of raiders who run guns into the territory and rob and terrorize settlers throughout the territory. Eventually donning Confederate uniforms, it is left to Seton and the good citizens of Lawrence to face Cantrell and his raiders in one final clash.

6.3

MagicScore

#20

King of the Ants

2004

A young drifter, struggling to makes ends meet, accepts a job to kill a prominent accountant. When he isn't paid for the hit, revenge is now his path.

5.9

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Kansas?

The top films similar to Kansas by MovieMagicScore are Picnic (6.3), The Locusts (5.7), The Petrified Forest (7.1). Each shares crime/drama/romance/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Kansas worth watching?

Kansas holds a MovieMagicScore of 5.2/10 from 21 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Kansas?

Kansas (1988) is a crime, drama, romance, thriller film directed by David Stevens, starring Matt Dillon, Andrew McCarthy, Leslie Hope.

Where can I find more recommendations like Kansas?

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

Keep exploring

Movies like Picnic Movies like The Locusts Movies like The Petrified Forest Movies like The Postman Always Rings Twice Movies like The Postman Always Rings Twice Movies like Silver Streak

About movies like Kansas

This ranked list pairs Kansas (1988), a crime and drama and romance and thriller film from David Stevens, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Matt Dillon 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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