Best movies like Ode to Billy Joe
What the song didn't tell you, the movie will.
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Ode to Billy Joe Starring Robby Benson, Glynnis O'Connor, Joan Hotchkis, Terrance Goodman, and more. If you liked Ode to Billy Joe then you may also like: Very Good Girls, Virgin, Watercolors, Wild Tigers I Have Known, The Wise Kids 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.
Set in sultry 1950s Mississippi, two teenagers grapple with surging hormones and the enticing promise of love, unknowing of the tragedy that looms ahead.
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
Watercolors
Carter, a troubled teen stays with a friend of his dads and starts flirting with her son Danny. After the weekend school returns, however Carter a school jock tells Danny he does not want to be seen with him at school. Their relationship grows outside school hours though & soon enough Danny falls in love with Carter & after Danny is attacked romance ensures, but can it last.
Wild Tigers I Have Known
A lyrical telling of the coming of age of a 13-year-old boy who learns to cope with his new found sexuality and his unrequited love for the cool kid in school.
The Wise Kids
A vivid, dynamic Southern coming-of-age drama, takes place in the transitional space between high school and college, when life seems to be all questions and no answers, and the future is scarily wide open. Set in and around a Charleston, SC Baptist church, weaving through this ensemble piece are three main characters - Brea, an introspective pastor's daughter experiencing debilitating doubt, the hyperactive Laura, Brea's best friend and a devout believer, and Tim, the open-hearted son of a single father, confronting his homosexuality for the first time. Tensions and buried feelings abound, as colleges are chosen and adults behave badly, as Brea, Laura and Tim attempt to hang onto what they have, all the while yearning to break free.
On The Downlow
Isaac and Angel are two young Latinos involved in a south side Chicago gang. They have a secret in a world where secrets are forbidden.
Our Sons
When James admits to his mother that he is gay it strains her liberal attitude. A San Diego businesswoman, Audrey believes she is a modern, open-minded mother, but the news sends her reeling. However, the real shock comes when James asks her to travel to Arkansas and inform his lover's estranged mom, Luanne, that her son has AIDS. As Audrey and Luanne learn to put aside their prejudice toward each other, they soon discover how to share their thoughts, hopes and fears for their sons.
The Bay Boy
A Roman Catholic teenage boy in Glace Bay, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia during the 1930s faces various growing-up problems: Should be become a priest? What should he do about the murder he witnessed, committed by a local cop and upstanding parishioner? And how far should he go with his girl friend, who happens to be the murderer's daughter?
Beautiful Thing
Set during a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, three teenagers edge towards adulthood.
This Property Is Condemned
Owen Legate, a railroad official, comes to Dodson, Mississippi to shut down the local railway - the town's main income. But Owen unexpectedly finds love with Dodson's flirt and main attraction, Alva Starr.
Get Real
Steven spends his school days longing for all-star athlete John. But John has a gorgeous girlfriend, and Steven is still in the closet about being gay. The only one who knows the teenager's secret is his friend Linda. After a curious run-in with John in a public restroom, Steven starts to wonder if the jock is straight after all. When they start a romance, it threatens to expose the truth about both of them.
1918
It's 1918, the height of United States involvement in World War I - Liberty Bonds are sold, German immigrants are suspected as traitors or saboteurs, young men everywhere succumb to the patriotism and propaganda and enlist. In a small Texas town, Horace Robedaux feels the pressure - he doesn't want to leave his young wife Elizabeth and their young child Jenny - but Elizabeth's can't-do-anything-right little brother is constantly talking about the war, and Elizabeth's stern father, who opposed the marriage initially, now has plans to take care of his daughter and the child so Horace can fight for his country. But the influenza epidemic sweeping the town (and the nation) may change everyone's plans.
The Twilight of the Golds
When Suzanne Stein has a genetic analysis done on her unborn child, she discovers that although she has a healthy baby, the child will most likely be born gay, like her brother, David. She must decide whether to keep the child, or to have an abortion. Her family enters a crisis about love and acceptance as she makes this difficult choice.
The Last Song
A drama centered on a rebellious girl who is sent to a Southern beach town for the summer to stay with her father. Through their mutual love of music, the estranged duo learn to reconnect.
Splendor in the Grass
A fragile Kansas girl's unrequited and forbidden love for a handsome young man from the town's most powerful family drives her to heartbreak and madness.
Geography Club
A coming-of-age movie that tells a story unfolding in every high school around the country -- a story of kids hiding their true identities in plain sight, even as they feverishly pursue their hearts' desires.
The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love
An adventurous love story between two young women of different social and economic backgrounds who find themselves going through all the typical struggles of a new romance.
La Mission
Growing up in the Mission district of San Francisco, Che Rivera has always had to be tough to survive. He's a powerful man respected throughout the Mission barrio for his masculinity and his strength, as well as for his hobby building beautiful lowrider cars. A reformed inmate and recovering alcoholic, Che has worked hard to redeem his life and do right by his pride and joy: his only son, Jes, whom he has raised on his own after the death of his wife. Che's path to redemption is tested, however, when he discovers Jes is gay. To survive his neighborhood, Che has always lived with his fists. To survive as a complete man, he'll have to embrace a side of himself he's never shown.
Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story
Marc Hall, a young man living in Quebec, registers his prom date as per his Catholic school's rules. He is denied his request, because his prom date is a boy. Marc Hall is an openly gay teenager in a very conservative Catholic school. This film documents his struggles (legal, emotional, ethical and personal) to be himself and to live his life the way he deems best. With the help of friends, family and supporters, "Cinderfella" makes it to the ball, With his Prince Charming.
Steel Magnolias
In an updated contemporary version of the beloved stage play and 1989 film, "Steel Magnolias" chronicles the lives and friendship of six women in Louisiana. Supporting each other through their triumphs and tragedies, they congregate at Truvy’s beauty shop to ponder the mysteries of life and death, husbands and children - and hair and nails - all the important topics that truly unite and celebrate women.
Catfish in Black Bean Sauce
An African American couple (Winfield and Alice) adopt two orphans from a Vietnamese refugee camp. After twenty-two years, the children are reunited with their birth mother, bringing deeply submerged resentments and misconceptions to the surface and forcing the characters to reexamine their identity and relationships in both comical and poignant situations.
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.
The Sex of the Stars
A 12-year-old girl faces a father she hardly remembers after his transition into a woman.
Some Things That Stay
A coming-of-age story of a teenage girl from a liberal upbringing who moves to a conservative baptist community in rural 1950s America.
An Angel Named Billy
Mark Anderson, a recent stroke victim who is frail and weak. Also, his best friend Thomas, a classic over the hill drag queen desperate for love and happiness. Mark and Thomas have a master plan, to find Mark's son, James Anderson the love of his life once and for all.
Dance 'Til Dawn
It's prom night and the kids of Hoover High will be having a night they will never forget. Popular girl Shelley ditches her prom and ends up spending the night with unpopular Dan; Popular guy Kevin goes out with nerdy Angela because he heard she was easy; Patrice continues to blame her boyfriend Roger for everything that doesn't go the way she wants it to.
The Truth About Jane
Jane, a high school teenager, tries to deal with the discovery that she is a lesbian after developing an intense friendship with another girl who makes her discover her true sexuality, which is only the start of Jane's troubles when Jane's unaccepting mother, Janice, struggles with her surprising revelation of brought forth by her only daughter.
Losing Chase
An intimate and turbulent relationship develops between Chase, a woman recovering from a nervous breakdown and Elizabeth, the caretaker employed to look after her.
Candles on Bay Street
DeeDee returns to her hometown with her 11 year old son, Trooper, 13 years after she ran off with her boyfriend. Her childhood best friend, Sam, is now married and he and his wife, Lydia, are the town's veterinarians. Lydia is a little wary about DeeDee after Sam tells her that they were best friends growing up and DeeDee was his first crush. But DeeDee and Trooper find their way into many hearts of the townspeople with their sweet helpfulness and friendships. DeeDee sets up a candle making business in town square and invites many of the ladies of the town to weekly candle making parties, and through these parties she and Lydia become good friends. One evening after dinner with Lydia and Sam, DeeDee tells Sam she's very sick and she doesn't have much longer to live and she needs his help to find a good family in town to adopt Trooper. Sam later tells Lydia everything and they decide to adopt Trooper themselves if/when something happens to DeeDee.
Angels Crest
The small working-class town of Angels Crest is a tight-knit community resting quietly in one of the vast and stunningly beautiful valleys of the Rocky Mountains. Ethan, one of the town's residents, is a young father but not much more than a kid himself. He has no choice but to look after his three-year-old son Nate, since mom Cindy is an alcoholic. But one snowy day, Ethan's good intentions are thwarted by a moment of thoughtlessness, resulting in tragedy. A local prosecutor haunted by his past goes after Ethan, and the ensuing confusion and casting of blame begins to tear the town apart.
Boys Life 2
Compilation of four short films, "Must Be the Music", "Nunzio's Second Cousin", "Alkali, Iowa", and "The Dadshuttle", of gay interest.
The Event
An intense relationship drama that takes the form of a mystery, The Event centers around a series of unexplained deaths that occur among the gay community in New York's fashionable Chelsea district. Nick, a district attorney investigating the most recent case, a suspicious apparent suicide, and her interviews with friends and family of the deceased trigger extensive and intricately interwoven flashbacks that reveal surprising facts about the man's life and death.
How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer
Three generations of women in a Mexican American family experience sexual awakenings over the course of a summer.
Maggie and Annie
Annie has it all in life. A wonderful husband and a darling little girl. All is going well until she goes to a softball practice and meets Maggie. Maggie -- cute, athletic, and openly gay -- touches feeling deep down inside Annie that she has no idea existed. Maggie also is attracted to Annie but vows to her friends that she will not make a move on her because of her wonderful family. As the friendship gets closer and as they struggle to stay apart, all hell breaks loose. A night of dancing and drinking puts Annie in the arms of Maggie. The love affair begins and reaches a point where there may be no way back.
What Girls Learn
Two teenage girls must come to terms with their stepfather when their mother is struck by illness.
Elliot Loves
Two stages of a Dominican-American's life; first as a boy trying to bond with his young mother, then a 21-year-old looking for love in New York City.
Latin Boys Go to Hell
A cute, openly gay latin boy's hormones go into overdrive when his hunky cousin Angel arrives for an extended stay. The two explore the young and sometimes dangerous gay scene in the city's Latin neighborhood, with surprising outcomes.
Expecting Amish
Expecting Amish tells the story of 18-year-old Hannah Yoder, who is ready to join the Amish Church and marry her boyfriend Samuel. But things change when she goes to Hollywood and gets a glimpse of the world beyond.
Due East
Mary Faith Rapple, a bright high school senior, has never been part of the "in crowd." She teaches a night class, cares for her widowed father and pretty much keeps to herself. When a fellow loner moves to Due East, she finds herself in a relationship for the first time, leading to a small town scandal that changes her life forever.
Ordinary Sinner
Three college students, two guys and a girl, encounter bigotry and violence in a small town, and solve the murder of a gay friend.
Arizona Sky
Jake and Kyle are two boys who grew up together in rural Arizona. They are best friends, and they begin to take their relationship to the next level when Jake's father moves him and his family away to California. Jake and Kyle can never forget their strong emotional bond, and Jake, overworked and unattached, goes back to his hometown for the first time in 15 years to see Kyle and renew their special friendship.
Crackie
Life on the Rock never seemed easy, but for Mitsy it is especially rough. The teenager has been abandoned by her mother, a particularly unfit parent prone to both the bottle and the sex trade. She is left to be brought up by her mercurial grandmother Bride, who is well-meaning but oppressively suffocating. Mitsy's dreams for the future hinge on her desire to be a hairdresser, but her current emotional well-being revolves around a wee dog named Sparky, an unwanted canine misfit to whom she becomes hopelessly attached. After Bride agrees to let Mitsy take the dog in as a pet, the teen tries desperately to create a happy, safe place for Sparky to thrive.
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.
Parallel Sons
Seth is a youth with artistic leanings, a fascination with Black pop culture, and a dead-end life in an Adirondack village. He's alternatively sensitive and brutal with Kristen, who wants a sexual relationship that he explosively rejects. Late one night, as he's closing the cafe where he works, a young Black man attempts to rob him at gun point but faints from illness. Seth takes the man, Knowledge, an escapee from a nearby prison, to a family cabin where he nurses him and they begin a tentative friendship. When the sheriff learns of Seth's harboring a fugitive, a confrontation looms. Relationships between fathers and their children dominate the subplots.
Very Good Girls
Two New York City girls make a pact to lose their virginity during their first summer out of high school. When they both fall for the same street artist, the friends find their connection tested for the first time.