Movies like They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

If you like "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" you are looking for depressing, atmospheric and disturbing movies about / with depression, dancing, great depression, social commentary, competition, contest and survival 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.
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
 7.8
 21K
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story: Desperate characters stake their fortune on a Depression-era dance marathon.
Style: depressing, atmospheric, disturbing, bleak, talky, serious, captivating, gloomy, cynical, period piece ...
Plot: depression, dancing, great depression, social commentary, competition, contest, survival, exhaustion, mental breakdown, cynicism, culture clash, husband wife relationship, suicide, life is a bitch, ambition, contests and competitions, social decay, pregnancy, dancer, flash forward, heart attack, tragic event, down on your luck, reward, suicidal ...
Time: 1930s, 20th century, year 1969, 1920s, 30s
Place: california, usa, los angeles, pacific ocean, dallas texas, minneapolis minnesota, chicago ...
Keyword: oldies, outburst, syrian, dreams

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Most similar movies to They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, gloomy and depressing films with plots about life is a bitch, society, death, family relations, friendship, sex and suicide mostly in Drama and Crime genres. Some movies like They Shoot Horses, Don't They?: Midnight Cowboy (1969), There Will Be Blood (2007), Julia (1977), Requiem for a Dream (2000), Detachment (2011). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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 7.8
 120K
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story: A naive male prostitute and his sickly friend struggle to survive on the streets of New York City.
Style: disturbing, realistic, depressing, controversial, cult classic ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: friendship, dream, prostitution, fish out of water, gay, cripple, homosexual, gay slur, prostitute, cowboy, female nudity, sexuality ...
Time: 20th century, 60s, year 1969, 50s, 1950s
Place: new york, texas, florida, manhattan new york city, usa ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 158 min.
Story: Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview moves to oil-rich California. Using his adopted son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. ...
Style: serious, suspense, disturbing, cerebral, epic ...
Audience: adult
Plot: oil, greed, character study, ambition, capitalism, money, rise to the top, rivalry, visceral, psychopath, religion, business ...
Time: 20th century, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 19th century ...
Place: california, texas, los angeles, america, persia ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
30%
 7.1
 10K
Julia (1977)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
Style: factual, captivating, realistic, atmospheric, political ...
Plot: world war two, writers, friendship, politics, childhood, nazi, fascism, culture clash, fighting the system, adaptation, character study, playwright ...
Time: 20th century, 1930s, year 1977, year 1934, pre world war two
Place: germany, europe, vienna, london, oxford university ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story: The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
Style: psychological, disturbing, bleak, depressing, emotional ...
Audience: kids, adult
Plot: addiction, drug abuse, heroin, drug addiction, insanity, mental illness, junkie, drug, depression, dream, loneliness, drug addict ...
Time: year 2000, future, y2k, 20th century, 90s ...
Place: new york, america, britain, usa, coney island brooklyn new york city ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
Movie in collections
contest movies
630
survival movies
6883
california movies
3638
 7.7
 98K
Detachment (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long ...
Style: depressing, psychological, bleak, thought provoking, touching ...
Audience: teens
Plot: teacher, depression, suicide, teachers and students, dedicated educator, school, unhappy, social problems, life is a bitch, human relationship, teen angst, society ...
Time: 2010s, 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
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 ⇓
28%
 5.8
 221
Long Road Home (1991)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min.
Story: A drama depicting the trials of a family of share croppers.
Style: captivating, serious, realistic
Plot: family relations, labor union, life is a bitch, survival, society, farm, against the odds, family life, down on your luck, workplace situations, farm hand, great depression ...
Time: 1930s
Place: california, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
 8.0
 327K
Magnolia (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 188 min.
Story: An epic mosaic of many interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
Style: philosophical, cerebral, sincere, depressing, mind bending ...
Audience: chick flick, adult
Plot: social problems, multiple storylines, depression, human nature, child prodigy, dysfunctional family, introspection, cancer, terminal illness, loneliness, alienation, coincidence ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, year 1999, 60s, 1950s ...
Place: los angeles, california, reno nevada
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
Movie in collections
 6.7
 10K
Ironweed (1987)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min.
Story: Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. She was a singer on the radio, he a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them: she's sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery ...
Style: touching, intense, realistic, serious, sincere ...
Plot: alcohol abuse, homeless, mental illness, redemption, alcoholism, halloween, couple relations, best friend, parents and children, rich and poor, buddies, human nature ...
Time: 1900s, 1930s, year 1987, 1910s, 20th century
Place: new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
Ordinary People (1980)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story: Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having ...
Style: depressing, realistic, compassionate, sentimental, crying ...
Audience: teens
Plot: dysfunctional family, therapy, psychiatrist, suicide attempt, depression, grief, suicide, coming of age, father son relationship, alienation, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis ...
Time: 20th century, year 1980, 70s
Place: chicago, usa, illinois, middle east, houston texas ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
 6.4
 39K
Cake (2014)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story: After having visions of a member of her support group who killed herself, a woman who also suffers with chronic pain seeks out the widower of the suicide.
Style: heartbreaking, depressing, psychological, touching, sentimental ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: drug addiction, loneliness, depression, obsession, suicide, friendship, suicide attempt, support group, character study, tragedy, mental illness, honest ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa, los angeles, california, tijuana mexico, mexico
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
 7.7
 11K
The Pawnbroker (1964)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story: A Jewish pawnbroker, a victim of Nazi persecution, loses all faith in his fellow man until he realizes too late the tragedy of his actions.
Style: depressing, realistic, emotional, bleak, heartbreaking ...
Plot: holocaust, world war two, holocaust survivor, survival, concentration camp, haunted by the past, life philosophy, redemption, flashback, nazi, against humanity, life is a bitch ...
Place: new york, usa, germany, israel, harlem ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Killer of Sheep (1978)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min.
Story: Stan works in drudgery at a slaughterhouse. His personal life is drab. Dissatisfaction and ennui keep him unresponsive to the needs of his adoring wife, and he must struggle against influences which would dishonor and endanger him and his family.
Style: independent film, realistic, sincere, serious, emotional ...
Plot: ghetto, friendship, black, dysfunctional family, lifestyle, human nature, parents and children, family life, couple relations, family problems, african american, blaxploitation ...
Time: 70s, 20th century, year 1978
Place: los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: The lives of a lawyer, an actuary, a housecleaner, a professor, and the people around them intersect as they ponder order and happiness in the face of life's cold unpredictability.
Style: philosophical, meditative, bleak, depressing, serious ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: philosophy, infidelity, adultery, destiny, false accusation, love affair, human nature, drug addiction, parents and children, life is a bitch, dishonesty, couples ...
Time: year 2001, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, greece
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
Style: road movie, realistic, serious, thought provoking, captivating ...
Plot: road trip, character study, dysfunctional family, on the road, drifter, alienation, hitchhiker, working class, piano, self discovery, pianist, bowling ...
Time: 20th century, 70s, year 1970
Place: california, usa, oregon, washington state, northern california ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 7.6
 10K
The Scrounger (1961)
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 117 min.
Story: A pimp with no other means to provide for himself finds his life spiralling out of control when his prostitute is sent to prison.
Style: neorealism, realistic, serious, disturbing, talky ...
Plot: prostitution, prostitute, poverty, unemployment, robbery, family relations, life is a bitch, italian neorealism, couple relations, dishonesty, downfall, criminal heroes ...
Time: 20th century, year 1961, 60s, post world war two, 1950s
Place: italy, rome italy, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Save the Tiger (1973)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A businessman's professional struggles begin to conflict with his personal life over the course of two days.
Style: philosophical, existential, disturbing, poignant, depressing ...
Plot: midlife crisis, self discovery, jazz, aging, hidden treasure, business, mental disorder, fashion show, world war two, factory, arson, nudity ...
Place: beverly hills, pacific ocean, los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Black Limousine (2010)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story: A ghost story set in the city of dreams (IMDb.com).
Style: realistic, serious, captivating, atmospheric, bleak ...
Plot: hollywood, artists and showbiz, introspection, down on your luck, downfall, addiction, depression, love interest, accidental death, surrealism, father daughter relationship, existentialism ...
Time: 21st century
Place: california, usa, los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Movie in collections
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7400
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Notes from Underground (1995)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story: Adapted from Dostoevsky's novella, Henry Czerny plays the narrator, Underground Man. Filled with self-hatred, he keeps a video diary where he discusses his own shortcomings and what he thinks is wrong in contemporary society. His bitterness ...
Style: existential, depressing, philosophical, independent film, realistic ...
Plot: prostitute, life is a bitch, losing-it hero, destructive relationship, unfulfillment, misfit, society, master and servant, twins, social misfits, social decay, mate swapping ...
Time: 90s
Place: california, los angeles, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 8.1
 169K
Network (1976)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story: A TV network cynically exploits a deranged ex-TV anchor's ravings and revelations about the media for their own profit.
Style: talky, political, realistic, clever, dark comedy ...
Plot: media, journalism, satire, television, media manipulation, social commentary, media satire, corruption, adultery, business, older man younger woman relationship, workplace ...
Time: 70s, year 1976, 20th century
Place: usa, new york, middle east, california, los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Oslo, August 31st (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: Norway, Denmark, Sweden
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Anders is a recovering drug addict in an Oslo rehab clinic. On the 30th August, he is given a day’s leave to attend a job interview in the city centre.
Style: depressing, touching, gloomy, melancholic, heartbreaking ...
Plot: suicide attempt, drug addict, suicide, addiction, loneliness, depression, drug addiction, complex characters, old friend, job interview, unlikely friendships, life is a bitch ...
Time: 2010s, year 2011, 21st century
Place: oslo norway, scandinavia
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 6.7
 7K
Nine Lives (2005)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 115 min.
Story: Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life.
Style: emotional, intense, talky, serious, touching ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: dysfunctional family, pregnancy, friendship, abortion, family relations, multiple storylines, couples, family problems, love and romance, human nature, couple relations, love affair ...
Time: year 2005
Place: los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 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 ⇓
25%
Movie in collections
 7.1
 101
Redland (2009)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: As a family struggles to survive in rural isolation during the Great Depression, their daughter's secret affair begins a journey into the unknown.
Style: atmospheric, serious, rough, disturbing, mystic ...
Plot: life is a bitch, family life, love affair, survival, love and romance, family problems, pregnancy, isolation, parents and children, dysfunctional family, prohibition era, family in crisis ...
Time: 1930s
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Duration: 126 min.
Story: It's about a five member family. The father is a conservative and traditional person who directs the family. The mother is at home, she tries to hold together the family, while Mr. Bridge works as a lawyer. The children have just grown up, and ...
Style: talky, melancholic, realistic, sentimental, family saga ...
Plot: lawyer, culture clash, family problems, human nature, society, introspection, parents and children, cancan dance, family relations, dysfunctional family, sorority, bittersweet ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century, 1930s
Place: usa, missouri, kansas city, kansas, cleveland ohio ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 6.1
 11K
The Brave (1997)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story: A down-on-his-luck American Indian recently released from jail is offered the chance to "star" as the victim of a snuff film, the resulting pay of which could greatly help his poverty stricken family.
Style: realistic, serious, disturbing, suspenseful, suspense ...
Audience: date night
Plot: family relations, life is a bitch, injustice, social decay, misfit, unemployment, alcohol abuse, gang, society, male female relationship, self sacrifice, violence ...
Time: 90s
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
The United States of Leland (2003)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story: A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the ...
Style: depressing, psychological, bleak, emotional, serious ...
Audience: teens, teen drama
Plot: prison, murder, teacher, coming of age, dysfunctional family, writers, prison life, family relations, unlikely friendships, investigation, parents and children, family problems ...
Time: year 2003, 21st century
Place: new york, los angeles, italy, paris france, california ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min.
Story: Behrani, an Iranian immigrant buys a California bungalow, thinking he can fix it up, sell it again, and make enough money to send his son to college. However, the house is the legal property of former drug addict Kathy. After losing the house in an ...
Style: bad ending, depressing, emotional, psychological, bleak ...
Plot: life is a bitch, depression, tragedy, eviction, immigrant, justice, tragic event, suicide, american dream, character study, complex characters, dysfunctional family ...
Time: year 2003, 70s, 20th century, 21st century
Place: san francisco, persia, bay area, usa, california
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Under the Volcano (1984)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 112 min.
Story: Against a background of war breaking out in Europe and the Mexican fiesta Day of Death, we are taken through one day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin, a British consul living in alcoholic disrepair and obscurity in a small southern Mexican town in ...
Style: atmospheric, depressing, psychological, realistic, serious ...
Plot: alcoholic, alcoholism, depression, dysfunctional family, addiction, greed, introspection, human nature, crumbling marriage, estrangement, couples, one day ...
Time: 1930s, year 1984, 20th century
Place: mexico, latin america
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 7.5
 963
The Dollmaker (1984)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min.
Story: Jane Fonda gives an Emmy-winning performance as Gertie Nevels, a pioneer woman and the mother of five from the Kentucky hills who is forced to uproot her children to follow her husband Clovis (Levon Helm) to Detroit when he finds work during World ...
Style: serious, realistic, touching, sentimental, emotional ...
Plot: puppet, strong female presence, world war two, bittersweet, imaginary character, family relations, family problems, society, lifestyle, hopes, life is a bitch, dealing with death ...
Time: 1940s, year 1944
Place: kentucky, detroit, usa, michigan
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
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