Best movies like Hell's Crater

A formula brawling-buddies western where one goes bad and then returns to the fold. Pete Menlo owns some gold claims in Nevada where he is joined by his old friend Andy Martin. Crooked mine-owner Bannon wants to merge their interests so they can create a monopoly but is turned down. Pete is interested in "Nevada" Wray, daughter of mine-owner "Jackpot" Wray, but she has eyes only for Andy. The rejected Pete joins forces with Bannon and they learn that, because of location, "Jackpot" Wray may be the owner of all the gold in the respective veins. Bannon and his men try to get rid of Andy.

Ex-lumberjack Brad Collins (Dennis Morgan) and mining engineer Grady Mathews (William Talman) find uranium in the Colorado badlands. While Grady guards the claim, Brad goes to register it in town, where he meets and marries Jean Williams (Patricia Medina.) Returning to the claim, Brad learns that Jean was once Grady's fiancee. Grady, as one would expect, is somewhat put out and leaves the mine in Brad's hands, while he hooks up with a confidence man and engineers a scheme to break the back of Brad's somewhat rapidly-created mining empire.

Adam Larey becomes a fugitive from justice when he escapes after being blamed for a crime he did not commit. He wanders into the desert wastelands and joins an outlaw gang who prey on gold prospectors. Years later, he meets his wife and her gold-prospecting father as they have come there seeking their fortune, and not knowing the danger of the treacherous desert wastes, the poisoned-water holes and the outlaw bands of marauders who roam the desert in search of the gold found by others. He comes to their aid and, eventually, manges to clear his name of the false charge against him.

A perpetual dreamer talks his wife into moving with him from their home in Australia to South Africa, where he hopes to discover gold and finally become wealthy.

Tracy Powell, an Indiana farmer, gets the gold fever and heads for Stockton, California in 1849. There, he abandons his first partner, Bert Killian, and teams up with Sam Wilkins, a claim jumper employed by Willis Haver. Six years later, Powell returns to Indiana and his sweetheart, Julie. They marry and he tries farming again but, on the night their son is born, he takes off again searching for gold. This time he heads for the hills with an inveterate prospector, Jimmo McCann. A decade later, the two are still hunting for their big strike when McCann is killed in an accident. Powell returns home with news of a big strike but the deserted Julie will have nothing to do with him. His friend Killian will not believe him but Haver, now a banker gives him a small loan and then beats him out of his claim. Many years pass before he comes home, now sixty-years-old, and this time, his wife and son open their home to him. But he vows to go prospecting come next spring.

The "badmen" of the title in this average western from Monogram are Waller, a greedy express agent and Banker Jensen, who conspire to separate Bob Bannon from the gold found on his property. Bob's brother Jim and his two pals Whip Wilson and Texas arrive too late to save Bob from the bad guys. Hoping to flush out the killer, Whip arranges to auction off the property.

Helen Roberts, who's on probation, goes back to work as a waitress at Torre's Fish Palace, a San Francisco waterfront dive. The customers are low characters trying to make time with Helen and ex-rum runners trying to make a dishonest dollar. Some of the latter, including Helen's unwelcome suitor Martin Rhodes, are after a mysterious, valuable hidden "cargo"; when violence erupts, Helen finds herself innocently involved, and is soon on the run from both cops and crooks.

Sam and George strike gold in Alaska. George sends Sam to Seattle to bring George's fiancé back to Alaska. Sam finds she is already married, and returns instead with Angel. Sam, after trying to get George and Angel together, finally romances Angel, who, in the meantime, is busy fighting off the advances of George's younger brother, Billy.

A rancher who has staked a claim during the California gold rush goes after the gang of murderous claim-jumpers who have stolen his claim and murdered his wife.

Bud Watkins loses his ranch and savings to gambling house proprietor "Gentlemen Jim" Slade. The Cocopah Kid, a notorious bandit, lures away Betsy Burke, Bud's sweetheart and the daughter of the local sheriff.

A prospector is looking for a lost gold mine and finds aid in his search through the efforts of his friend, Stormcloud, whom he has aided in the past. Stormcloud gives the prospector's son a map leading to the mine in repayment for his past kindness. When a claim jumper learns about the map, he targets the prospector and his son in order to get the treasure.

The true history of a collection of some 500 films dating from 1910s to 1920s, which were lost for over 50 years until being discovered buried in a sub-arctic swimming pool deep in the Yukon Territory, in Dawson City, located about 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

Ernest, a lovable loser who works as a summer camp handyman and dreams of becoming a guidance counselor, must find a way to inspire a group of juvenile delinquents while stopping a shady strip mining company from closing the camp as well.

Porky and Beans are prospectors during the Gold Rush, but when a villain steals Porky's bag of loot Beans races to get it back so he can marry Porky's daughter Little Kitty.

A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.

A hound dog drives to the hills to dig for gold. However, a gas station hound explains that, in 1849, there was a major gold rush in the hills at the first sight of gold, and he didn't have any success digging, mining, or panning any gold. When a horseman reports a sign of gold, the station hound trades his gas station for the other hound's car and equipment.

A gold mine in Arizona, that was formerly losing a lot of money, suddenly turns into a veritable money-making machine. However, the owner, instead of being happy about his now profitable business, insists to Charlie that something is fishy and that someone is out to murder him. Charlie and his "crew" travel to the mine, pretending to be tourists staying at a nearby dude ranch so as not to arouse suspicion, and discover that the owner may well be right--it looks like the mine is being used as a cover for criminal activities, and that someone is indeed out to murder him.

A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnapping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boom town. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining.

When honest ship captain Roy Glennister gets swindled out of his mine claim, he turns to saloon singer Cherry Malotte for assistance in his battle with no-good town kingpin Alexander McNamara.

A tough, womanizing high-stakes gambler known only as Tennessee has an uneasy relationship with Duchess, madam of a thinly-disguised bordello, and no other friends at all. But he's saved from murder by a lonesome cowpoke ('My friends call me Cowpoke'), in town to meet his fiancée Goldie on the steamboat. When she arrives, there's a mysterious undercurrent between Goldie and Tennessee, whose newfound friendship with Cowpoke is destined to be severely tried...

Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin, both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled prospector named Howard and decide to join with him in search of gold in the wilds of central Mexico. Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding gold, but bandits, the elements, and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster.

A couple of youngish adventurers go into the wilderness of British Columbia in search of a lost colleague. Their plane crashes and they find themselves at the mercy of a crazed old Scottish miner, who has lived in isolation for many decades searching the mountain caves for a chamber of long lost gold. He is prepared to do anything - including murder - to keep his gold for himself.

A mining engineer, who is shunned by his peers for his unorthodox beliefs concerning the whereabouts of large uranium deposits, joins forces with a girl and her father to search for the mineral. When the father is hurt in an accident, daughter and engineer continue the project, aided by a Native American guide. Unbeknownst to the group, a reputable citizen of the town, really of low moral value, is shadowing them, his intention to jump their claim.

Bill Harvey discovers a lost mine, rich with gold. Geraldine "Jerry" Howard has the claim to it left her by her father. Bill tells her that the death of the claimant, her father, makes a claim void. Infuriated, she goes to John Kenton, a crooked lawyer, for aid. Kenton sees an opportunity for wealth if he marries Geraldine, but Bill tells her that Kenton is only after her money. She gets more infuriated. While Bill and a posse are raiding an immoral cabaret, Kenton raids the Paradise freight depot to steal the money. The depot catches fire and Kenton shoots his henchman to save himself. The town and Geraldine think Kenton is a hero. It is up to Bill to prove otherwise.

A dramatic recreation of the Johnstown Flood of 1889.

Maisie becomes attached to a dirt-poor farmer and his family as they try to make ends meet joining hundreds of others digging for gold in a previously panned-out ghost town.

Colonel Ferris, a wealthy farmer in northern California, is strongly opposed to hydraulic mining, a new method developed during the gold rush of the 1870's, which is flooding the area's prosperous farmlands. Despite Ferris' political stance, Jared Whitney, a mining engineer from the East, becomes friends with the colonel's son Lance and falls in love with his daughter Serena. Family tensions deepen when the colonel's brother Ralph gives up farming to go to San Francisco to work for his wife Rosanna's father, Harrison McCooey, a leader in the mining venture. When Lance follows Ralph, the colonel, focusing his anger on Jared, forbids him to see Serena.

A judge who had taken part in the gold rush of 1849 hires an acting troupe to recreate the experience in this rather fanciful silent Western. The make-believe turns serious when a real gold mine is discovered nearby and a local girl is kidnapped by a nasty gambler.

A young cowhand befriends a disreputable gambler and pulls him out of some trouble. Hoping to square things with his new friend, the gambler seeks to warn him about the cowhand's fiancée, about whom the gambler knows some unsavory details.

Elam "Burning Daylight" Harnish is a prospector who makes a million dollars in the Dawson, Alaska gold rush and loses the million dollars in Dawson. He journeys to San Francisco, makes three million dollars and loses it in San Francisco. He returns to Alaska and eventually finds his treasure.

"Wicked" Lily Bishop joins a wagon train to California, led by Michael Fabian and Johnny Trumbo, but news of the Gold Rush scatters the train. When Johnny and Michael finally arrive, Lily is rich from her saloon and storekeeper (former slaver) Pharaoh Coffin is bleeding the miners dry. But worse troubles are ahead: California is inching toward statehood, and certain people want to make it their private empire.

A returning Korean War vet becomes embroiled in a fight over possession of a tungsten mine.

Rosie Nell, a woman of disreputable dance halls in early lawless California, is wrongly charged with the murder of one of her fellow entertainers. Because her daughter, who knows nothing of her mother's station in life, is to return the next day from her school in the east, Rosie is granted three days of grace to be spent in company with her daughter at a nearby cabin. The three days begin happily enough, thanks to the serenades of heroic bandit Alvarez and the poetry of romantic Randolph. But Bagley, the dance hall manager, has seen the daughter and has determined to make her his own.

Dorothy Harlan, a vaudeville artist, joins her fiancé, Cameron Stewart, in the Klondike during the early days of the gold rush. Dance hall owner "Silk" McDonald, who wants her for himself, tricks Dorothy into believing that Cameron has been unfaithful, and Dorothy begins dancing in Silk's establishment.

Elam Harnish, known as "Burning Daylight," is a leader among the men of Circle City, Alaska in the days before the gold rush. Nell, a dance hall girl, loves Harnish, though he has never offered her anything but friendship. Harnish's hunch that the big strike is coming soon proves true, and he throws himself into the frenzy of activity that follows, staking claims and eventually accumulating eleven million dollars. Harnish leaves Alaska for San Francisco without knowing that Nell has killed herself because of his departure. -From TCM.com Database, powered by the AFI.

During the California Gold Rush, two down-on-their-luck vaudevillians attempt to become wealthy by bringing a girlie show to an all-male western mining town.

Renowned as the richest gold strike in North American mining history, the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) set off a stampede of over 100,000 people on a colossal journey from Alaska to the gold fields of Canada's Yukon Territory. Filled with the frontier spirit, prospectors came and gave rise to what was one of the largest cities in Canada at that time - Dawson City. The boomtown, which became known as "the Paris of the North", earned the reputation as a place where lives could be revolutionized. Brought to life with excerpts from the celebrated book The Klondike Stampede - published in 1900 by Harper's Weekly correspondent Tappan Adney - and featuring interviews with award-winning author Charlotte Gray, and historians Terrence Cole and Michael Gates, The Klondike Gold Rush is an incredible story of determination, luck, fortune, and loss. In the end, it isn't all about the gold, but rather the journey to the Klondike itself.

Spectacular account of the infamous Eureka Stockade, and the events leading up to it.

Clark Davis adventurous dreams of seeing the world are put into jeopardy after he and a friend start a fight which damages a local cafe. Through a plea deal with the Sheriff and café owner Millie, Clark works off his sentence as a farmhand for the Barlow sisters, Ellen and Cassie. Older sister Ellen doesnt understand Cassies friendly nature with Clark; she agreed to the Sheriffs offer only because the farm has become too much to maintain alone. Clark is slowing winning Ellen over, but suddenly suffers a traumatic head injury in a fall. After Ellen nurses him back to health, her former fiancé returns to win her back. Will Clark travel on or stay behind where love begins?

Beyond Hell's Gate Pass is territory controlled by a man who calls himself King Carter; he uses a variety of schemes to prevent the railroad from being built, for fear it will finish his control of (what he considers) his land.

Gold miner Edd Denmeade loves Lucy Watson, the sister of the official mining claim recorder. Denmeade suspects Watson of killing his father, who after a poker game was shot by a gambler "who shuffles with one hand." The real murderer, Sam Spralls, has convinced Watson that he killed Denmeade and threatens to expose him unless Watson assigns him all the gold claims. Spralls assembles a band of killers to jump the claims when Watson complies. Eventually, Denmeade learns the identity of the killer when he sees Spralls shuffle a deck of cards. He forms a vigilante party and rids the community of Spralls and his gang.

A hard-working prospector enters the town of Bakeoven to stake his claim, only to have his rights stolen and his face on "Wanted" posters. He plans reprisal.

California's gold discovery in 1848 draws a "tide of empire" to the area, which becomes ripe for bandits.

A would-be prospector becomes involved in a plot to deceive an old prospector of his cache, but falls in love with his daughter instead.

Montana Rivers finally escapes her father who had forced her to wear men's clothing and help in robbing and cheating. She is taken in by friendly Indians and stays at their camp. Later, Akkomi, chief of the tribe, asks his friend Dan Overton to take the girl as it is not good for her to remain in the camp. Dan provides for "Tana" and falls in love with her but, because of her past, she keeps him at a distance. Jim Harris comes by and recognizes Tana as the boy robber, but when he attempts to blacken her past, Dan gives him a beating which paralyzes him. Jim then stays on with Dan, who regrets his hastiness. Eventually Tana's father appears and demands that Tana go away with him. She refuses but also does not tell Dan of this trouble.

Buck Brady is the son of a prospector whose valuable claim was stolen when Buck was a child. Brady grows up with revenge on his mind and retaliates by holding up the mine's payroll messengers. Until, that is, he falls in love with Janet, the new owner.

William S. Hart directs and stars in a film that is a typical Western of the era. He plays Jim, a prospector who lands in the town of Broken Hope, and the name pretty much describes its inhabitants. Jim meets and falls in love with Jennie (Margery Wilson), whose father (Walt Whitman) is gravely ill. Jim rounds up a reluctant doctor from another town to tend to the old man, but he dies anyway. The doctor, however, gains Jennie's trust and she runs off with him. Only then does he tell her he's already married. She leaves immediately, but is too proud to go home so she finds work as a dance hall girl at Tacoma Jake's saloon. Jim, meanwhile, finds gold near Broken Hope, which raises its inhabitants' attitudes considerably. But the bad element is still there, and Jim is chasing after a group of kidnappers when he enters Tacoma Jake's saloon and sees Jennie. Jim not only overcomes the bad guys, he gets the girl, too.

During the California gold rush, four unsuccessful miners assume that a woman prospector will give in without a fight, so they jump the claim of Kate Kenner and take her gold away from her. Afterward, although she is Sheriff Dan Deering's sweetheart, Kate decides to take the law into her own hands.

Gold miner Jim Golden is in love with Miss Dot, the local postmistress, but he has a reputation for being somewhat lazy and shiftless. One day he finds a baby that had been abandoned by local Indians, adopts it, and begins to work his claim again. Parky, a local thief and swindler, finds out that Jim has finally struck gold, and schemes to trick Jim out of his claim and kidnap Miss Dot while he's at it.

Young Sandra De Hault arrives by ship in Sacramento, California, during the 1849 Gold Rush. While on board she adopted three children whose mother had died during the voyage. While in Sacramento she is saved from the attentions of a violent drunk by Stanton Holliday, an agent for eastern banker John Grey. They fall for each other, but Sandra believes that the daughter of Halliday's boss is in love with him, and not wanting to hurt his career she leaves town.