Best movies like End of the Rope

Originally called White Thunder, American producer Varick Frissell's 1931 film was inspired by his love for the Canadian Arctic Circle. Set in a beautifully black-and-white filmed Newfoundland, it is the story of a rivalry between two seal hunters that plays out on the ice floes during a hunt. Unsatisfied with the first cut, Frissell arranged for the crew to accompany an actual Newfoundland seal hunt on The SS Viking, on which an explosion of dynamite (carried regularly at the time on Arctic ships to combat ice jams) killed many members of the crew, including Frissell. The film was renamed in honor of the dead.

In September 2012, the tiny prairie town of Leith, North Dakota, sees its population of 24 grow by one. As the new resident's behavior becomes more threatening, tensions soar, and the residents desperately look for ways to expel their unwanted neighbor.

A sheep rancher's visit to the big city triggers a mischevious adventure with his teenage grandson.

Set during the Alaskan gold rush of the late 1800s. In his efforts to gain control of a small mining town, Sean McLennon is buying up every claim that becomes available, usually after the deaths of the previous owners at the hands of McLennon's 'assistants'. One of the miners targeted by McLennon, a half-Indian hunter named Hudson Saanteek, manages to escape his hired thugs and comes back into town looking to re-establish his claim and get revenge. McLennon and his men have the advantage of numbers and weapons, but Saanteek has his survival skills and knowledge of the Alaskan wilderness.

In 1877, thieves Ace Beaudry, Bronco Dawson and Bull Stanley head West together after having each been betrayed by a woman. They come across a wagon train bound for the town of Custer, where hundreds of people are gathering for a land rush in the Dakotas, which President Ulysses S. Grant has opened to settlers thanks to a treaty with the Sioux Indians. After the three rogues ride off, they spy a lone wagon with a tempting string of thoroughbreds. Before they can steal the horses, however, the wagon is attacked by a gang led by Layne Hunter, a shifty saloon owner from Custer. The trio chase off the gang, and as they are about to abscond with the horses, they find pretty Lee Carleton, whose father was killed in the attack.

Desperate, broken men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local Pastor's decision to help them has extraordinary and unexpected consequences.

Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.

Steve Grey, reporter for the Daily Star, has a habit of scooping all the other papers in town. When Henry Mander is investigated for the murder of his shady business partner, Grey is one step ahead of the police to the extent that he often dictates his story in advance of its actual occurrence. He leads the police through an 'open and shut' case resulting in Mander being tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Columnist Mary Shannon is in love with Steve but she sees him struggle greatly with his last story before Mander's execution. When she starts typing out the story from his recorded dictation, she realizes why.

Jim Bannon is back as enduring cowboy hero Red Ryder in Eagle-Lion's Roll, Thunder, Roll. As ever, Ryder's cohorts are Little Beaver and the Duchess, here played by "Little Brown Jug" and Marin Sais. This time, Ryder tries to prove that a series of cattle raids and ranch fires were not the handiwork of masked Mexican do-gooder El Conejo.

Following the loss of their son, a retired sheriff and his wife leave their Montana ranch to rescue their young grandson from the clutches of a dangerous family living off the grid in the Dakotas.

An idealistic young man is torn between a sultry Chicago nightclub owner and a Scottish South Dakotan farmgirl.

The true story of the events leading up to the infamous massacre of the Macdonalds by the Campbells in February of 1692.

A card cheat is threatened with exposure into joining a criminal enterprise that Sherlock Holmes believes is controlled by Professor Moriarity.

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

Fact-based story of the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr., son and namesake of the famed pilot, and ensuing trial of accused and convicted killer, Bruno Hauptmann.

Chautauqua manager Walter Hale and his loyal business manager struggle to keep their traveling troupe together in small town America.

Viennese surgeon Dr. Braun and his daughter Leni come to a small town in North Dakota as refugees from Hitler. When the winds of the Dust Bowl threaten the town, John Phillips leads the townsfolk in moving to greener pastures in Oregon. He falls for Leni, but she is betrothed to the man who helped her and her father escape from the Third Reich. She must decide between the two men.

A district attorney commits the perfect murder when he kills his daughter's womanizing fiancé and then tries framing the fiancé's lover.

Woodstock teen, Rosie, mourning the first anniversary of her younger sister's death discovers the mysterious man who sexploited and bullied her sister to commit suicide is back on-line trolling for new victims. After the authorities refuse to get involved she finds a darkness she never knew she had when she takes justice into her own hands.

The bitter-sweet story of young lovers caught up in a political struggle waged by farmers against the grain trade, the banks, and the railroads. Set in North Dakota during 1915-16, a largely forgotten era of American history.

"The Trials of Darryl Hunt" is a feature documentary about a brutal rape/murder case and a wrongly convicted man, Darryl Hunt, who spent nearly twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Both a social justice story and a personally driven narrative, the film chronicles this capital case from 1984 through 2004. With exclusive footage from two decades, the film frames the judicial and emotional response to a chilling crime - and the implications that reverberate from Hunt's conviction - against a backdrop of class and racial bias in the South and in the American criminal justice system.

After reading a magazine article about a case of multiple murders 50 years ago, an excited paranormal group sets out to investigate the site where the serial killers lived and where the horrifying crimes occurred. As day turns to night and evidence mounts, they encounter a situation far beyond their control and expectations.

The true story of the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978. The case of assassin Dan White has become known as the "Twinkie defense" after his sentence was reduced from first-degree murder to voluntary manslaughter. White served five years in prison and committed suicide in 1985.

Blood may be thicker than water, but when RCMP officer Michelle Kenidi’s brother becomes a suspect in a deadly case of arson, only one thing matters – the truth. As the evidence against her brother continues to mount, Michelle tries to defend him – but gradually realizes that he has been lying to her. Torn between her sense of duty and her loyalty to her brother, she must trust her instincts to find out what Peter has been hiding – no matter what the cost.

A mixture of documentary footage and re-enactment scenes, some filmed on the actual locations, of the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders committed by the gang known as the Manson Family. Features music by Charles Manson.

The Dark Days of Demetrius is the sixth full length feature from Denver auteur filmmaker Dakota Ray. The film is a disturbing, lo-fi horror film revolving around the exploits of Demetrius (Dakota Ray), an elusive, narcissistic, serial killer who has gained stardom from live streaming the murders of his victims online, with the press dubbing him as "The Live Stream Killer". Conflict arises when Demetrius conducts an anonymous interview with corrupt news reporter Clive. To the dismay of Demetrius, Clive fabricates the interview and begins framing Demetrius for murders that he did not commit. As the body count rises, the viewer is taken on a cinematic decent into evil, violence, death. narcissism, and corruption.

Directed by Norman Dawn. With Arthur Jasmine, Marcia Manon, Laska Winter, Charles Reisner.

This is the incredible survival story that riveted the nation. Thirteen-year-old Jayme Closs, kidnapped from her home in Wisconsin, after watching her mother and father murdered before her eyes. After 88 days in captivity, which began in October 2018, Jayme managed to break free, run for help, and was ultimately rescued.

Not long after the Civil War, Texas cattle ranchers realize they have a problem--the Union Pacific railroad is bypassing their state and make it near impossible to get their cattle to market. Many ranchers are being forced to sell their land, and crooked state treasure Marvin Fletcher buys up the land at pennies on the dollar. However, Laguna del Sol Ranch owner Taisie Lockhart and her ranch hands are holding out. Cowboy Dan McMasters returns to the ranch and tries to rekindle his romance with Taisie, but she rejects him because he fought for the North during the war. But what she doesn't know is that Dan is on an undercover mission from the President to investigate Fletcher, and in order to do that he has to pretend to be sympathetic to Fletcher and goes to work for him, angering Taisie even more. Complications ensue.

Up-and-coming Universal leading man Robert Stack made his western-movie debut in Badlands of Dakota. Set in the Dakotas during the days of the Great Gold Boom, the story finds brothers Jim and Bob Holliday (Stack and Broderick Crawford) dukeing it out over the affections of pretty Anne Grayson (Ann Rutherford). While all this is going on, Wild Bill Hickok (Richard Dix) does his best to neutralize the local criminal element-and to fend off the romantic overtures of boisterous Calamity Jane (Frances Farmer).

Wild Bill Hickock (William Elliott), aka The Peaceable Man, meters out justice in the tough town of Deadwood in this highly fictional western from Columbia. Unlike the historic character, Elliott's gunfighter survives his encounter with the South Dakota hellhole, where he arrives to aid beleaguered livery stable owner Clint Wilson (Richard Fiske) and his sister, Madge (Dorothy Fay), in their battle against self-appointed town czar "Flash" Kirby (Arthur Loft). But before he gets that far, there is a little matter of proving Kirby guilty of wrongdoing and to achieve that, Wild Bill earns the enmity of both the Wilsons.

A man framed for a series of Wells' Fargo stage robberies and a comical sheriff's deputy join forces to uncover the real robbers, unaware that a U.S. Marshal assigned to the case and the Mayor of the town which is at the center of the robberies, are the leaders of the gang.

Someone – or something – is stalking the woods of Lynx River, a small isolated town in the unforgiving wilderness. When a geologist on the verge of a major diamond find is murdered, Corporal Michelle Kenidi and her partner Constable James Harper suspect a hotheaded entrepreneur who’d been double-crossed by diamond hunters. But then the town nurse disappears under chilling circumstances and the two cops find themselves tracking a phantom. Through endless miles of rough terrain, their search leads to a startling discovery: the unknown stalker’s real target is Michelle. Now the madman is playing a deadly game with people as bait. And when the two finally meet, it’s a showdown that will leave only one of them standing.

A look at the infamous "Scottsboro Boys" case that occurred in Alabama in 1931, in which nine young black men were arrested, tried and quickly convicted in the rape of two white women, despite overwhelming evidence that showed their accusers had falsely accused them and the fact that one of the women later admitted that no rape had in fact occurred (although both had had sexual relations with their boyfriends on the day prior to the "rape"). The case was one of the first that shined a spotlight on what many called the "legal lynchings" that occurred in the South whenever blacks were accused of crimes, especially against whites and most especially against white women.

This film recounts the murder of Vincent Chin, an automotive engineer mistaken as Japanese who was slain by an assembly line worker who blamed him for the competition by the Japanese auto makers that were threatening his job. It then recounts how that murderer escaped justice in the court system. Restored by the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, in association with the Museum of Chinese in America. Restoration funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, with additional support provided by Todd Phillips.