Best movies like Carny

When you're young and going nowhere... the Carny looks like a good way out.

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Carny Starring Gary Busey, Jodie Foster, Robbie Robertson, Meg Foster, and more. If you liked Carny then you may also like: Violets are Blue, Virgin, The Way Way Back, Wolf Girl, No Looking Back and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

selected filters: Sort: Default

You may filter the list of movies on this page for a more refined, personalized selection of movies.

Still not sure what to watch click the recommend buttun below to get a movie recommendation selected from all the movies on this list

Know any good movies to watch like Carny 1980. With a similar plot or stoyline. Suggest it.

Violets are Blue

After fifteen years of traveling around the world, Gussie (Spacek), a famous photographer, returns to the Maryland coastal resort where she grew up. She meets her high school sweetheart Henry (Kline), now married and running the local newspaper he's inherited from his father. An awkward and tension-filled romance ensues.

Virgin

When a teenager finds herself pregnant, with no memory of having had sex, she determines that she is carrying the child of God.

The Way Way Back

Shy 14-year-old Duncan goes on summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and her boyfriend's daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park.

Wolf Girl

Tara Talbot is afflicted with the rare genetic condition hypertrichosis: she is covered head to toe in hair. She lives her life in Harley Dune's Travelling Freak Show, on display as the 'Terrifying Wolf Girl', but underneath she is just a teenage girl who longs to be normal.

No Looking Back

Charlie returns to his old town where he meets his ex-girlfriend again and tries to get her back.

Normal Adolescent Behavior

High school student Wendy has an odd relationship with her five friends: They're openly sexual with each other, swapping partners every week. But this is all thrown into turmoil when she meets Sean, a new student in school who has a crush on her. Wendy wants to be with Sean, but doesn't want to disappoint her friends, whom she has known since grade school. When she does decide to leave them, her best friend, Billie, threatens revenge.

Queen of Hearts

Eddie Luca is the youngest son in a family of Italian immigrants who has moved to London. Beginning from nowhere, they open a cafe in an Italian neighbourhood. One day their father loses the cafe, the home and his wedding ring by gambling.

Johnson Family Vacation

Nate Johnson, a Los Angeles man estranged from his wife and three children, decides to reconnect with his family by taking them with him on a road trip to Missouri for a big family reunion.

All Fall Down

Ralph and Annabell Willart are a feuding couple who are constantly bickering over their worthless, good-for-nothing son Berry-Berry. When Berry-Berry begins yet another meaningless love affair, this time with an older woman named Echo O’Brien, he really gets his parents at each others’ throats.

Follow Me, Boys!

Lem Siddons is part of a traveling band who has a dream of becoming a lawyer. Deciding to settle down, he finds a job as a stockboy in the general store of a small town. Trying to fit in, he volunteers to become scoutmaster of the newly formed Troop 1. Becoming more and more involved with the scout troop, he finds his plans to become a lawyer being put on the back burner, until he realizes that his life has been fulfilled helping the youth of the small town.

A Cool, Dry Place

Russell, a single father, balances his work as a lawyer with the care of his five-year-old son after his wife abandoned them. When she reappears creating turmoil, he must deal with his new love interest and the job opportunity of a lifetime.

Miss Firecracker

A girl from Yazoo City, Mississippi pins all her hopes on winning the local beauty pageant.

Freaks

A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

Children on Their Birthdays

Havoc is created in a small Southern community when a 12-year-old shows up, causing a couple 13-year-old friends to fall in love with her, thus possibly jeopardizing their friendship.

The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning

When mischievous teenaged cousins Bo and Luke Duke are arrested, both boys are paroled to the care of their Uncle Jesse in Hazzard, sentenced to a summer of hard work. It's not long before the Duke boys learn of Boss Hogg's plans to foreclose on Uncle Jesse's farm. Together, with help from their cousin Daisy, Bo and Luke vow to save the family's property and its storied history of producing the best moonshine in all of Hazzard.

The Fantasticks

Two rural teens sing and dance their way through a forbidden romance and a dangerous travelling carnival.

Three for the Road

A crafty political aide and his soft-spoken pal are assigned the job of delivering a senator's out-of-control teenage daughter to an institution.

Paradise

A 10-year-old boy spends a summer in the country with a childless couple and a precocious girl.

Housekeeping

In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.

Grandview, U.S.A.

Life in the small town of Grandview, Illinois is one that is just like any other city or town. Tim Pearson, soon to be graduating high school wants to go to Florida to study oceanography. He meets Michelle "Mike" Cody and is attracted to her. She runs the local Demolition Derby place. Ernie "Slam" Webster is one of the drivers in the derby whose wife is cheating on him and wants to later on be with Mike. Tim falls for Mike and a big love triangle is about to happen.

Cherrybomb

Cherry Bomb follows teenagers Luke, Malachy, and Michelle as they embark on a wild weekend of drink, drugs, shop-lifting and stealing cars. But what starts out as a game turns deadly serious when the three discover that they can't get off the wild ride they've set in motion.

Fast Girl

Racing is in Alex Johnstone's blood. It was her father s life and it ultimately caused his death so her uncle Bill, who runs the local speedway, is determined not to lose his niece the way he lost his brother. But Alex is determined to prove to Bill, to the world, and especially to herself that she has what it takes to be the best in a traditionally male-dominated sport. And when she meets up with handsome professional racecar driver Darryl Sands, the emotional stakes are raised even higher. Will Alex crash and burn or can she carry on her dad s legacy and make her dreams come true?

The Gypsy Moths

Three skydivers and their travelling thrill show barnstorm through a small midwestern town one Fourth of July weekend.

Hideous Kinky

In 1972, disenchanted about the dreary conventions of English life, 25-year-old Julia heads for Morocco with her daughters, six-year-old Lucy and precocious eight-year-old Bea.

Howling VI: The Freaks

A villainous carnival owner traps a young werewolf to include in his growing menagerie of inhuman exhibits.

The Invisible Circus

After learning that her sister, Faith, has committed suicide in Portugal, Phoebe, an 18-year-old hippie, decides to uproot from her San Francisco home to travel to Europe. Phoebe hopes to discover and experience the life that led to her sister's death by retracing her footsteps, which eventually leads to Wolf -- Faith's boyfriend. However, as Phoebe's journey continues, a series of visions of Faith pushes her mind to the brink.

Post Grad

Ryden Malby has a master plan. Graduate college, get a great job, hang out with her best friend and find the perfect guy. But her plan spins hilariously out of control when she’s forced to move back home with her eccentric family.

Don't Let Me Drown

In a post-September 11th world overflowing with fear and hate, two Latino teens discover that sometimes the only thing that can keep them from drowning is love.

Speedway Junky

A naive drifter runs away from his army father in hopes of making it on the car racing circuit. In Las Vegas, he meets a young scam artist, who develops a crush on him. He is then introduced to a whole gang led by a young hustler. The racer-to-be then gets a lesson in the wild side, getting involved in one situation after another.

Sophie & Sheba

Growing up at a zoo, young ballet dancer Sophie always loved animals - but none as much as her pet elephant Sheba. When her parents are forced to sell Sheba to a travelling circus, Sophie has no choice but to runaway and join him on the road to get him back.

Firecracker

A tale of murder in small-town Kansas. When Jimmy is lured away from his abusive family by a traveling sideshow carnival, he encounters Sandra, one of the main attractions. The happiness they find together causes them to confront the darkness in their lives

Bright Angel

In Montana, naive teenager George longs to escape from his broken home before his dysfunctional parents push him over the edge. When George meets pretty drifter Lucy, she easily convinces him and his friend Claude to join her on a road trip to Montana in hopes of breaking her brother out of jail.

Hatley High

The Canadian teen comedy Hatley High sends up high school sports rituals by placing a most unlikely competitive game at the center of its story: that of chess. Tommy (Nicholas Wright) is a new arrival in his parents' hometown of Hatley, whose mother recently died. He discovers, after the fact, that his mom was once a chess pro and thus a legend in the community. Tommy's chess-fixated peers accept him almost instantly, inferring that he must have inherited his dear mother's skills, but in time Tommy carves out a niche for himself independently of his mom's legacy, and strikes up an enduring romance with Hyacinthe (Rachelle Lefevre) a "chess cheerleader." Two fictional British filmmakers "frame" the tale by filming it for a documentary that they are producing, and thus provide witty, ongoing narration.

The Devil's Carnival

Sinners are invited to a theme park where they endure the repetition of their transgressions. What chances do a conniving kleptomaniac, a gullible teenager, and an obsessed father stand when facing their own moral failings? Lucifer and his colorful cast of singing carnies invite you to grab a ticket to The Devil’s Carnival to find out!

Whatever

A New Jersey teen faces her impending adulthood, dreaming of a life as a successful New York artist. But when she gets caught up in the carefree sport of pre-AIDS sex and drugs, her future becomes less certain.

A Home of Our Own

The story is located in Los Angeles in the sixties. An energetic widow, Frances Lacey, with her six children try to make a dream of theirs come true: to have a home of their own. Therefore they leave Los Angeles and head for the countryside, while facing all kinds of difficulties during their journey.

Higher Education

A naive young man from the countryside moves to the big city to study art. Soon he has some strange experiences: His roommate turns out to be the bodyguard-protected son of a mafia boss, his fellow student is desperate to initiate him into love, and his attractive art professor also seems to have it in for him.

Sideshow

While visiting a traveling carnival full of human freaks, high school students nearly join as permanent members.

She Freak

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.

The Dynamiter

All fourteen-year-old Robbie Hendrick ever wanted was a family. Yet as another Mississippi summer begins, his wayward mother has run off again fearing a breakdown and he's left to burn the days caring for his half brother, Fess. As the deep days and nights pass without her return and with older brother Lucas dangerously in their lives again, Robbie must face the fact that his dream of a family may only be a dream and he might just lose the only family he's ever had: Fess.

Milwaukee, Minnesota

Having lived his entire life under the watchful eye of his overbearing mother, Albert must fend for himself when an unidentified automobile suddenly kills her. Free for the first time, Albert quickly responds to the bait dangling in front of him, putting his aggressors against one another in a race for his trust. Using his skills that make him a gifted fisherman, Albert turns the tables on his seemingly doomed fate, capturing the heart of the woman most eager to deceive him, and fooling the man most intent on destroying him.

Mo

Every kid wants to be cool and fit in - life's a blast even when you're different. When Mo's reflection is revealed, he sees a body that doesn't quite resemble any of his peers. Here, he tells the tale of his youth, growing up on the south shore of Long Island, New York

Splinterheads

SPLINTERHEADS introduces Thomas Middleditch as Justin Frost, a twenty-something slacker whose “thing” is that he has no “thing” at all. When a small-time carnival rolls into town, he meets Galaxy (Rachael Taylor), a gorgeous con artist, or “splinterhead,” who has more “things” going for her than anyone he has ever met.

Norman

A teenager pretends to be dying from cancer as a way to cope with the realities of his daily existence and his father's terminal illness.

All She Wants for Christmas

Forest City depends entirely on the Aikens Christmas decoration factory. Local economics graduate Judith 'Noelle' Dunn returned there to finish her thesis by analyzing the plant. A freak near-accident matches her with adventurous drifter Justin Allen, whom she gets a menial job in the factory. Alas the late founder discretely footed systematical losses. His haughty granddaughter Ashley Aikens arrives to check if the firm can be made profitable. Noelle is jealous when Ashley keeps contacting Justin, who swears only to have eyes for her. It turns out he is key to more secrets, but will they work for good or bad?

Carnivals

Filmed across the eastern half of North America in the 1970's, CARNIVALS is an homage to Speedy, Yak-Yak, Obie, Lobster Boy, and all the other carnies who lived and worked on Amusements of America. Theirs was a world within a world, traveling through the chaos of post-Viet Nam America as a community of freaks, strippers, clowns and bosses. To them, there world was sane; it was the rest of America that was crazy. In an era when Viet Nam madness was still tearing at the country the carnival was their refuge, their home.

Rufus

Rufus is a shy and lonely boy determined to make a new start. Sure he has some quirks. So what if he likes the taste of blood? It's not like he's addicted. When a cunning vampire hunter slips into town searching for the fountain of youth, Rufus fears his darkest secret is about to be revealed.

Picnic

The son of the richest man in town wants to marry the town's beauty queen, but she meets a more interesting stranger who just got off the train.

Just a Dream

Film crew arrives in a small town in Nevada desert. Ends up changing the life of a 12-year-old kid and a friend of his, a movie lover.

Freakshow

In a modern retelling of Tod Browning's "Freaks" (1932), "Freakshow" tells the story of a group of criminals who chose to hide out by working security at a traveling circus. At first, they plot with an insider to steal the ticket sales, but the wily Lucy has bigger plans. She convinces the gang to let her seduce and marry the aging circus owner, Lon, in order to secure the entire circus fortune after he "suffers an accident". "People die all the time," Lucy says. The freaks are on to their scheme, however, and when the youngest of them is caught by the ruthless gang, they show no mercy to ensure her silence. When the circus folk find the child's remains, they swear vengeance, and no one is safe from their fury--least of all, the wily Lucy.

More custom members lists

Sort results by:

X close
Default
Clear filters
...