Movies like The Shawshank Redemption

If you like "The Shawshank Redemption" you are looking for clever, inspirational and touching movies about / with prison, prison escape, freedom, human spirit, hopes, stephen king and life themes of Drama genre shot in USA.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
 9.3
 2.9M
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min.
Story: Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
Style: clever, inspirational, touching, sentimental, twist ending, uplifting, emotional, philosophical, dramatic, serious ...
Audience: date night, teens, kids, chick flick, family friendly, adult
Plot: prison, prison escape, freedom, human spirit, hopes, stephen king, life, friendship between men, friendship, plot twist, life philosophy, adaptation, corruption, life sentence, justice, powerful ending, existentialism, wrongful imprisonment, twists and turns, happy ending, prison life, false accusation, suicide, courage, confined ...
Time: 1940s, 90s, 1950s, 2010s, year 1994, year 1965, year 1963 ...
Place: usa, america, persia, iran, pacific ocean, north america, maine ...
Keyword: buddy movie, gangsters, life lessons, educational film, reboot, watching a movie, poster, liquid, challenge, operation, change, eye candy

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to The Shawshank Redemption

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out serious, realistic, inspirational and touching films with plots about hopes, life changing, friendship, inspiration, motivation, live action and morality mostly in Drama, Biography and Crime genres. Some movies like The Shawshank Redemption: The Green Mile (1999), Forrest Gump (1994), Good Will Hunting (1997), Scent of a Woman (1992), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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 8.6
 1.4M
The Green Mile (1999)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 189 min.
Story: A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cellblock's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, ...
Style: touching, emotional, sentimental, heartbreaking, sad ...
Audience: girls' night, chick flick, date night, family friendly, adult
Plot: prison, death penalty, stephen king, death row, magic realism, supernatural, convict, false accusation, electric chair, life & death, life philosophy, psychic ...
Time: 1930s, 20th century, 90s, year 1999, year 1935
Place: usa, southern usa, louisiana, america, persia
⇓ similarity ⇓
92%
 8.8
 2.2M
Forrest Gump (1994)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min.
Story: A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events - in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. Yet, despite all the things he has attained, his one true love eludes ...
Style: inspirational, touching, feel good, sentimental, uplifting ...
Audience: date night, kids, chick flick, girls' night, family outing ...
Plot: life & death, philosophy, life philosophy, mentally challenged, destiny, love, rise to the top, human spirit, selflessness, storytelling, life, journey ...
Time: 20th century, 60s, 70s, 50s, 1950s ...
Place: usa, washington d.c., vietnam, china, alabama ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
83%
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story: While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
Style: psychological, thought provoking, dramatic, serious, surprise ending ...
Audience: date night, family friendly, teen drama, adult
Plot: mental illness, mental institution, fighting the system, human spirit, insanity, freedom, psychiatrist, unlikely friendships, psychopath, society, nurse, escaped mental patient ...
Time: 60s, 20th century, year 1975
Place: oregon, eastern europe, america, persia
⇓ similarity ⇓
83%
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min.
Story: Will Hunting has a genius-level IQ but chooses to work as a janitor at MIT. When he solves a difficult graduate-level math problem, his talents are discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau, who decides to help the misguided youth reach his potential. ...
Style: psychological, emotional, philosophical, sentimental, intellectual ...
Audience: teens, family friendly, chick flick, girls' night, date night ...
Plot: mathematics, professor, genius, prodigy, philosophy, psychology, life philosophy, life, university, psychotherapy, mentor, existentialism ...
Time: 20th century, year 1997, 90s, 2010s
Place: boston, harvard university, massachusetts, america, persia ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
78%
Movie in collections
uplifting movies
1715
emotional movies
6204
hopes movies
6497
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 156 min.
Story: Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant ...
Style: inspirational, sentimental, dramatic, realistic, touching ...
Audience: teens
Plot: friendship, blindness, mentor, blind character, thanksgiving, tango, human spirit, human nature, loneliness, coming of age, disability, preparatory school ...
Time: 20th century, 90s
Place: new york, new england, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
76%
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
Style: inspirational, emotional, sentimental, uplifting, motivational ...
Audience: family outing, chick flick, teens, family friendly
Plot: homeless, life, human spirit, life philosophy, family drama, rags to riches, success, rise to the top, single father, against the odds, life is a bitch, down on your luck ...
Time: 80s, year 2006, 2010s, 20th century
Place: usa, san francisco, bay area, california, america
⇓ similarity ⇓
80%
 8.0
 138K
Papillon (1973)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: France, USA
Duration: 151 min.
Story: A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
Style: inspirational, psychological, grim, realistic, depressing ...
Plot: prison escape, prison, escape, life philosophy, runaway, human spirit, prisoner, escape attempt, brutality, prison break, prison life, criminal heroes ...
Time: year 1973, 1940s, 20th century, 1930s
Place: persia, latin america, atlantic ocean
⇓ similarity ⇓
84%
 8.1
 490K
The Help (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, India
Duration: 146 min.
Story: 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 ...
Style: touching, inspirational, thought provoking, uplifting, feel good ...
Audience: girls' night, chick flick, teens, kids, date night ...
Plot: racism, friendship, discrimination, civil rights, writers, women, maid, master and servant, human spirit, life is a bitch, racial segregation, racial issues ...
Time: 60s, 2010s, year 2011, 1900s, 50s ...
Place: mississippi, usa, america, africa, southern usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
87%
Movie in collections
The Intouchables (2011)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 112 min.
Story: A true story of two men who should never have met – a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.
Style: inspirational, feel good, touching, emotional, motivational ...
Audience: date night, teens, family friendly, adult
Plot: friendship, disability, friendship between men, unlikely friendships, life philosophy, disabled person, lifestyle change, human relationship, handicapped, culture clash, friends, interracial friendship ...
Time: 2010s, year 2011, 21st century
Place: france, paris france
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 8.1
 188K
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story: When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable ...
Style: realistic, atmospheric, serious, rough, intense ...
Audience: manly, adult
Plot: prison, escape, freedom, prison break, rebelliousness, death, prison escape, dignity, escape attempt, prison life, fugitive, prisoner ...
Time: 20th century, 1950s, year 1967, 60s
Place: florida, southern usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
86%
The Color Purple (1985)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min.
Story: An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing "Mister" Albert ...
Style: sentimental, uplifting, touching, inspirational, sad ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: african american, incest, sexual abuse, domestic violence, rape, life is a bitch, feminism, slavery, incest rape, abusive relationship, wife abuse, lgbtq ...
Time: edwardian era, 20th century, 1930s, year 1985, 1920s ...
Place: africa, southern usa, usa, tennessee, georgia
⇓ similarity ⇓
85%
 8.0
 543K
Rain Man (1988)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story: Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country.
Style: road movie, sincere, uplifting, touching, inspirational ...
Audience: family friendly
Plot: autism, road trip, redemption, disability, runaway, brother brother relationship, mentally challenged, siblings relations, family relations, casino, mental illness, mathematics ...
Time: 20th century, year 1988, 80s
Place: las vegas, california, ohio, cincinnati ohio, missouri ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
76%
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min.
Story: At Princeton University, John Nash struggles to make a worthwhile contribution to serve as his legacy to the world of mathematics. He finally makes a revolutionary breakthrough that will eventually earn him the Nobel Prize. After graduate school he ...
Style: psychological, touching, cerebral, dramatic, intellectual ...
Audience: teens, date night, family friendly, chick flick
Plot: mathematics, mental illness, schizophrenia, genius, paranoia, insanity, scientist, mathematician, imaginary friend, nobel prize, obsession, prodigy ...
Time: year 2001, 60s, 20th century, 1940s, 2000s ...
Place: boston, harvard university, new jersey, persia, detroit ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
69%
 8.2
 434K
Unforgiven (1992)
Genre: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story: William Munny is a retired, once-ruthless killer turned gentle widower and hog farmer. To help support his two motherless children, he accepts one last bounty-hunter mission to find the men who brutalized a prostitute. Joined by his former partner ...
Style: bleak, suspenseful, tense, realistic, suspense ...
Audience: manly, adult
Plot: old west, revenge, vengeance, cowboy, redemption, gunfight, hitman, sheriff, prostitute, small town, wild west, tough heroes ...
Time: 19th century, 20th century, 90s, 1800s, year 1992 ...
Place: wyoming, kansas, america, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Jamal Malik is an impoverished Indian teen who becomes a contestant on the Hindi version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ but, after he wins, he is suspected of cheating.
Style: touching, uplifting, realistic, motivational, feel good ...
Audience: date night, teens, chick flick, teen drama, adult
Plot: poverty, childhood, rags to riches, destiny, orphan, society, against the odds, life is a bitch, love, street life, cheating, ambition ...
Time: year 2008, 2000s, 20th century, 90s, year 2005 ...
Place: india, mumbai india, asia, britain, taj mahal
⇓ similarity ⇓
68%
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Genre: Action, Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story: Escape from Alcatraz tells the story of the only three men ever to escape from the infamous maximum security prison at Alcatraz. In 29 years, the seemingly impenetrable federal penitentiary, which housed Al Capone and "Birdman" Robert ...
Style: suspense, atmospheric, suspenseful, realistic, exciting ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, prison escape, alcatraz, escape, island, prison life, freedom, prison warden, harassment, jail, convict, prison guard ...
Time: 20th century, 60s, year 1979, year 1960, year 1962 ...
Place: san francisco, bay area, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
83%
 8.2
 1.2M
The Truman Show (1998)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story: Truman Burbank is the star of "The Truman Show", a 24-hour-a-day "reality" TV show that broadcasts every aspect of his life -- live and in color -- without his knowledge. His entire life has been an unending soap opera for ...
Style: philosophical, thought provoking, psychological, surreal, touching ...
Audience: teens, family outing, teen drama
Plot: self discovery, simulated reality, alternate reality, freedom, video surveillance, small town, fictional reality show, hidden camera, utopia, dystopia, paranoia, god complex ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1998, future
Place: florida, persia, america, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
The Sunset Limited (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: Based on the play of the same name by Pulitzer Prize Winner Cormac McCarthy, this searing two-character drama mixes humor and pathos while examining the relationship between strangers who are brought together by desperate circumstances. Set in a New ...
Style: philosophical, talky, minimal cast, thought provoking, psychological ...
Plot: atheism, atheist, psychology, religion, suicide attempt, dialogue, faith, bible, suffering, suicide, multiple storylines, alone in the world ...
Time: year 2011, 21st century
Place: usa, new york
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
friendship movies
18934
dramatic movies
4757
plot twist movies
2175
suspense movies
20963
 7.8
 157K
Awakenings (1990)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story: Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, ...
Style: inspirational, motivational, sentimental, sincere, uplifting ...
Audience: teen drama
Plot: mental illness, mental institution, hospital, illness, doctors and patients, medical, psychiatry, fighting illness, hopes, medicine, disability, patient ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, 1930s, 60s, year 1969
Place: america, new york, usa, bronx new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
80%
 8.8
 2.3M
Fight Club (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 139 min.
Story: A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the ...
Style: surprise ending, psychological, twist ending, cerebral, philosophical ...
Audience: manly, boys' night, chick flick, girls' night, adult
Plot: twists and turns, psychology, fight, plot twist, schizophrenia, self destructing, insanity, fighting the system, split personality, losing-it hero, against the rules, nihilism ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, year 1999, year 2013
Place: delaware, america, los angeles, iran, seattle ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
61%
 7.2
 85K
Papillon (2017)
Genre: Adventure, Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Czech Republic, Spain
Duration: 133 min.
Story: Henri "Papillon" Charrière is convicted in Paris for a murder he did not commit. Sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, he becomes obsessed with escaping. After planning and executing a series of treacherous ...
Style: suspense, factual, psychological, art house, homoerotic ...
Audience: adult
Plot: prison, prison escape, island prison, friendship, life sentence, escape, thief, solitary, survival, wrongful conviction, human spirit, jungle ...
Time: year 2017, year 1931, 1930s, year 1969, year 1970 ...
Place: south america, colombia, france, venezuela, paris france
⇓ similarity ⇓
81%
 7.7
 46K
The Verdict (1982)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story: Frank Galvin is a down-on-his luck lawyer, reduced to drinking and ambulance chasing. Former associate Mickey Morrissey reminds him of his obligations in a medical malpractice suit that he himself served to Galvin on a silver platter: all parties ...
Style: suspense, tense, atmospheric, intense, thought provoking ...
Plot: courtroom, courtroom drama, redemption, lawyer, court, legal action, character study, fighting the system, legal, alcoholic, trial, law ...
Time: 20th century, year 1982, 80s
Place: boston, massachusetts, usa, new york, new york state
⇓ similarity ⇓
80%
 8.1
 655K
Into the Wild (2007)
Genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 148 min.
Story: The true story of top student and athlete, Christopher McCandless, who after graduating from Emory University in 1992, abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness.
Style: road movie, philosophical, melancholic, inspirational, reflective ...
Audience: teens, date night, teen drama, adult
Plot: road trip, wilderness, survival, self discovery, freedom, journey, solitude, life philosophy, isolation, travel, lifestyle change, beautiful scenery ...
Time: 2000s, year 2007, 20th century, year 1990, year 1991 ...
Place: alaska, los angeles, america, astoria oregon, seattle ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
69%
Movie in collections
The Spitfire Grill (1996)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: Percy, upon being released from prison, goes to the small town of Gillead, to find a place where she can start over again. She is taken in by Hannah, to help out at her place, the Spitfire Grill. Percy brings change to the small town, stirring ...
Style: christian film, sentimental, emotional, touching, serious ...
Audience: family outing
Plot: small town, friendship, bittersweet, self discovery, restaurant, solitude, hospital, storytelling, death, food, christian, abortion ...
Time: year 1996, 90s
Place: maine, vermont, usa, new england, ohio ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 8.3
 197K
Incendies (2010)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, War
Country: Canada, France
Duration: 131 min.
Story: A mother's last wishes send twins Jeanne and Simon on a journey to Middle East in search of their tangled roots. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's acclaimed play, Incendies tells the powerful and moving tale of two young adults' voyage to ...
Style: disturbing, psychological, heartbreaking, bleak, emotional ...
Audience: adult
Plot: prison, rape, civil war, incest, last will and testament, torture, pregnant from rape, unwanted pregnancy, unknown father, incest rape, twin brother and sister, psychology ...
Time: 2010s, year 2010, y2k, 70s, year 1970 ...
Place: middle east, lebanon, quebec, nebraska, montreal
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live.
Style: psychological, heartbreaking, compassionate, depressing, dramatic ...
Audience: chick flick, teens, adult
Plot: aids, transsexual, fighting the system, hiv, transgender, human spirit, life is a bitch, drug, casual sex, treatment, gay slur, hiv positive ...
Time: year 2013, 80s, 2010s, 2000s, 20th century ...
Place: texas, usa, america, midwest, nebraska ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.9
 663K
Life of Pi (2012)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA, Taiwan, UK, Canada, India, France
Duration: 127 min.
Story: The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
Style: philosophical, motivational, visually appealing, scenic, touching ...
Audience: kids, family outing, girls' night, chick flick, date night ...
Plot: survival, ocean, animal, human animal relationship, life & death, stranded, survivor, beautiful scenery, lost at sea, hopes, storm at sea, journey ...
Time: year 2012, 2010s, 70s
Place: india, pacific ocean, america, montreal, toronto ontario canada ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
American History X (1998)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story: Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two thugs who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader ...
Style: dramatic, serious, cerebral, rough, tense ...
Audience: boys' night, date night, teens, teen drama
Plot: skinhead, prison, racism, gang, neo nazi, racial slur, nazism, character change, juvenile delinquency, rape, african american, racial prejudice ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, year 1998
Place: los angeles, usa, california, america, north america ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
Schindler's List (1993)
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 195 min.
Story: The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
Style: touching, emotional, heartbreaking, realistic, thought provoking ...
Audience: date night, chick flick, adult
Plot: holocaust, world war two, genocide, nazi, war, wartime, storytelling, concentration camp, brutality, nazism, against humanity, survival ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century, year 1993, 90s, ancient times ...
Place: poland, germany, persia, iran, europe ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 8.3
 575K
Prison Break (2005)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 44 min.
TV show
Story: Due to a political conspiracy, an innocent man is sent to death row and his only hope is his brother, who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison in order to break the both of them out, from the inside out.
Style: exciting, tense, suspenseful, serious, realistic ...
Audience: boys' night, teens
Plot: prison, fugitives, escape, prison life, conspiracy, determination, confined, fbi, scheme, brother, self sacrifice, siblings relations ...
Time: 2010s, 2000s, 21st century
Place: chicago, california, texas, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
71%
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