Best movies like Stars in My Crown

As the Civil War spills our nation’s blood, Capt. John Hayes (Randolph Scott) fights on a vital but little-known battlefront. He aims to ship gold to Union banks through a small Colorado town, defying Southern sympathizers who aim to stop him at any cost.

A Texan traveling across the wild West bringing the news of the world to local townspeople, agrees to help rescue a young girl who was kidnapped.

This is a story about family relationships, set in the time before and during the American Civil War. Ethan Wilkins is a poor and honest man who ministers to the human soul, while his son Jason yearns to be a doctor, helping people in the earthly realm. It is a rich story about striving for excellence, the tension of father-son rebellion, and the love of a mother that can never die.

A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.

After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to travel alone, but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him - and Wales can't bring himself to leave them unprotected.

The fictional story of an ex-football star, Johnny Dunn, who moves far from the spotlight after a family tragedy to a small, desert town he owns called Jake's Corner. This dramatic comedy is a cross between Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and "Northern Exposure" (1990). Set in the real town of Jake's Corner, Arizona, it is a rest stop for travelers making their way through the Arizona desert, but for the people who live there, it's a rest stop for life. Johnny and the eclectic ensemble that live and work in the town occupy trailers behind the Corner Store and Jake's Corner Bar. Through the years, this cast of misfits has become closer than most families - they are kin. The dynamic of the town is changed forever when Johnny's young nephew comes to live with him.

Judge Priest, a proud Confederate veteran, restores the justice in a small town in the Post-Bellum Kentucky using his common sense and his great sense of humanity.

On the last working day of Sheriff Wayne, his small town is attacked by blood thirsty ravens that eat human flesh. Meanwhile his wife Cynthia visits a farm where a Mennonite family lives to say farewell to her friend Gretchen and discloses a dark secret about the origin of the fierce ravens.

In 1862, a young Englishwoman becomes royal tutor in Siam and befriends the King.

Based on the true story of Matthew Winkler, a beloved minister who, in 2006, was found shot and killed in his Selmer, Tennessee home, his wife and young daughters missing. Authorities soon zeroed in on Matthew's wife, Mary, as the prime suspect in the murder. After her capture, the residents of Selmer were left to wonder what would drive Mary to shoot her husband in the back as he slept. They would get their answers during her trial, when what went on behind the closed doors of this seemingly perfect family was revealed for all to see.

A pastor with a shady past moves into a rural town just after the Civil War.

A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.

Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.

Fleeing religious persecution in Germany, a family seeks a new start in uncharted country - America. It is the mid-1700s and British and French forces are struggling for control over the abundant resources of this new territory. Carving out a homestead can be arduous work, but the family labors joyfully. Then the unthinkable: In a terrifying raid, Delaware warriors kidnap the two young daughters and attempt to indoctrinate them into native culture. Through their ordeal they never lose hope and "their faith becomes their freedom.

Little Women is a coming-of-age drama tracing the lives of four sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. During the American Civil War, the girls father is away serving as a minister to the troops. The family, headed by their beloved Marmee, must struggle to make ends meet, with the help of their kind and wealthy neighbor, Mr. Laurence, and his high spirited grandson Laurie.

Vera Farmiga's directorial debut, HIGHER GROUND, depicts the landscape of a tight-knit spiritual community thrown off-kilter when one of their own begins to question her faith. Inspired by screenwriter Carolyn S. Briggs' memoir This Dark World, the film tells the story of a thoughtful woman's struggles with belief, love, and trust - in human relationships as well as in God.

A story set against the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the film is based upon the tragedy which occurred in Utah in 1857. A group of settlers, traveling on wagons, was murdered by the Mormons. All together, about 140 souls of men, women and children, were taken.

A black doctor ex-convict returns to the all-white town he knows as home and discovers a deadly disease threatening the citizens. He must fight prejudice and time if he is to save the town.

On the outskirts of the Civil War, a boy is sent north by a bounty hunter gang to retrieve a wanted man.

At the beginning of the 19th century a man and his son settle in Arizona which used to be a frontier state and full of criminals at that time.

Set in the South just after the US Civil War, Laurel Sommersby is just managing to work the farm without her husband, believed killed in battle. By all accounts, Jack Sommersby was not a pleasant man, thus when he suddenly returns, Laurel has mixed emotions. It appears that Jack has changed a great deal, leading some people to believe that this is not actually Jack but an imposter. Laurel herself is unsure, but willing to take the man into her home, and perhaps later into her heart.

After Southern belle Elizabeth Lloyd runs off to marry Yankee Jack Sherman, her father, a former Confederate colonel during the Civil War, vows to never speak to her again. Several years pass and Elizabeth returns to her home town with her husband and young daughter. The little girl charms her crusty grandfather and tries to patch things up between him and her mother.

Composed of intimate and unencumbered moments of people in a community, this film is constructed in a form that allows the viewer an emotive impression of the Historic South - trumpeting the beauty of life and consequences of the social construction of race, while simultaneously a testament to dreaming.

The governor of Texas sends a cowboy to keep the peace between ranchers and a land baron.

When Bob Hart, a widowed police detective trying to raise a rebellious teenage daughter, inherits a Montana horse ranch, he jumps at the opportunity to leave Los Angeles for the open range. Soon after arriving, Bob accepts the position as county sheriff and discovers that the seemingly bucolic countryside is far from tranquil. His problems include wolves who attack his stock, ruthless developers trying to take over the town and a female veterinarian with a chip on her shoulder, while trying to build a new home.

John Henry returns to his hometown in hopes of repairing his relationship with his estranged father, but a local gang is terrorizing the town. John Henry is the only one who can stop them, however he has abandoned both his gun and reputation as a fearless quick-draw killer.

Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.

A rancher, his shady bride and his one-armed brother fight amid carpetbaggers in Texas.

In the town of Martin, Tennessee, Chip Hines, a precocious six year old, has only known life with his two dads, Cody and Joey. And a good life it is. When Cody dies suddenly in a car accident, Joey and Chip struggle to find their footing again. Just as they begin to, Cody's will reveals that he named his sister as Chip's guardian. The years of Joey's acceptance into the family unravel as Chip is taken away from him. In his now solitary home life, Joey searches for a solution. The law is not on his side, but friends are. Armed with their comfort and inspired by memories of Cody, Joey finds a path to peace with the family and closer to his son.

After starring in "The Sacketts", Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott team up again but this time as Mac and Dal Traven, in a movie based on a classic Louis L'Amour novel. They are brothers, who meet up at the end of the Civil War fighting on opposite sides. They go home only to find their family in dire need and their sisters and brother kidnapped by ruthless raiders. They set out to rescue their family.

Centers on Missy's adopted daughter Belinda Tyler as she follows her dream. Belinda wants to be a doctor, but this time period does not look kindly on women with careers, especially one in the medical field. But Belinda is a strong-minded woman and deeply wants a career as a doctor. She manages to prove her abilities while assisting the local doctor and caring for an old woman who recently experienced a stroke. Belinda nurses her back to health and helps her regain the use of her arm again. Belinda also meets the nephew of their deceased neighbor. Drew comes to town to get his uncle's farm in shape to sell. After that he intends on returning to New York to join his father's law practice. He has no desire to stay in this small, unsophisticated town. But after meeting Belinda he has second thoughts. Belinda also feels something for Drew, but she is conflicted because she wants to be a doctor...

Clark Davis struggles to maintain his land and support his family during a long drought. With a bank loan to repay, his wife, Ellen, takes a job in town as a seamstress, but soon becomes ill with scarlet fever. Devastated to lose his beloved wife, Clark and his young daughter Missie turn to his parents Irene and Lloyd for support. Clark must find a way to save his farm and survive Ellen's death without losing the person he loves most: his daughter.

Told in flashback from the perspective of Megan, the storyline unfolds when her commitment to faith and family is renewed after reading the blog of Julie Locke, the online journal that Julie kept after her 13 months old Dax was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

Although Dave (LeVar Burton) and his family are poor sharecroppers in the Deep South in the 1930s, this 15-year-old's problem is shared by teenagers today: he stands with one foot in adulthood and the other in childhood. "Almos' A Man", yet still treated like a child, he struggles for an identity. There's one thing, one symbol of manhood, Dave thinks, that could guarantee him instant respect: a gun.

Loosely based on a '50's movie of the same name, it tells the story of two young orphan boys who travel by themselves from the Old country to join their father's family in Canada. There they encounter their stern disciplinarian grandfather who has alienated himself from some of his neighbors. There is particularly no love lost between the grandfather and his Dutch neighbors, who he generalizes as being responsible for his son's death in the Boor War. A side product of this animosity is that it is keeping apart the boy's aunt and her Dutch doctor suitor. The two boys change everything though when they find a young baby on the beach...

The coastal California community of Rock Haven is the perfect place for cute eighteen-year-old Brady and his loving mother to begin a fresh start. Their mission: to spread the word of the Lord. But while roaming the beach one day, Brady meets Clifford, a young man who is the complete opposite of him: outgoing and athletic as well as incredibly handsome. Their initial encounter stirs up feelings of homo desire that Brady has been suppressing. Once Clifford makes it clear that their attraction is mutual, Brady's conflicting feelings of religious obligation and natural impulse go into overdrive, and the two young men must navigate their confusion, lust and beliefs in order to come to a mutual understanding.

The story of community in the Deep South that is forced to deal with the struggles of ignorance, hypocrisy and oppression.

Missie three years later: being a single mother after her husband Willie was shot during a poker scuffle. She and Maddy move back in with her parents Clark and Marty. She finds a new home, and finds a new teaching position that she settles right into, but Missie has lost all faith in herself, until a chance encounter at her father's church where she adopts homeless orphan Belinda Marshall.

Bat Masterson cleans up Liberal, Kansas.

A bible-guided Victorian orphan befriends a bootblack in a strange town.

A group of five Confederate mercenaries led by Sergeant Will Hansen must choose sides carefully in a small village where they find themselves trapped in the middle of a rebellion. The group is torn as to whether they should honor the powerful military dictator who forces them to spy for him or help the local village fight for its independence. Follow Sergeant Hansen and his men as they make a decision that could cost them their lives.

Shortly after the Civil War, Kansas homesteaders are harrassed by Confederate marauders.

The early years of the great missionary Hudson Taylor are portrayed in this drama. The movie details his work in China and the trails he endured. Hudson Taylor is an inpiration to all as a man of true faith in the living God.

The ghost of a recently deceased family patriarch tries to help his surviving relatives, in part by preventing a marriage that he knows will go wrong.

Towards the end of the American Civil War, a rebel captain flees to Colorado to join a band of Southern mercenaries. He drags an innocent gold prospecting couple into trouble when the husband is accused of a murder he committed.

Set in a rustic English village in the mid 19th century, Under The Greenwood Tree tells the story of a poor young man who falls for a middle-class schoolteacher and attempts to win her over.

Kennedy Blaine, a Californian girl, inherits a ranch in the small town of Valentine in Nebraska. Before she sells the property, she decides to spend the summer in her house and learn more about her family.

Pollyanna Whittier goes to live with her wealthy but bitter aunt after the tragic death of her father. Pollyanna shares a game her father taught her -- the 'Glad Game' -- in which everyone can find a silver lining in even the darkest cloud, and her sunny nature, good humor and determination to look on the bright side of life prove to have an astonishing effect on those around her. With the help of her orphaned friend, Jimmy Bean, she casts her spell on the grumpiest townsfolk of Beldingsville -- including the cynical shut-in Mrs. Snow, the morose millionaire Mr. Pendleton and the enigmatic Dr. Chilton. And Pollyanna masterminds the romance between her Aunt's maid, Nancy, and the handyman, Tim. It is only Aunt Polly, who cannot bring herself to embrace Pollyanna's innocence and joy. But all is not straightforward in Pollyanna's war against pessimism, since she must overcome a personal tragedy that threatens to banish "glad" from her vocabulary forever.

Belinda Simpson is now a doctor in a small Missouri town where an unknown plague is spreading fear and resentment amoung the townspeople. One local resident thinks the illness was spread from the town orphanage and wants to see it shut down. Belinda struggles to make sense of the disease and God's plan for the beleaguered town.

Ex-confederate officer Clay Fletcher jumps at the chance to reunite with his once lady-friend, Susan Jeffers, when his father, Judge Fletcher, sends him on an errand to El Paso, Texas to get the signature of Susan's father, Judge Jeffers, on a legal document. Once there he finds the judge has become a drunk and a laughing stock, doing the bidding of local magnate Bert Donner and his running dog, Sheriff La Farge. Just as Clay starts straightening out the town's problems, events occur which force him to abandon the legal system and instead adopt the murderous tactics of a vigilante.