Best movies like The Painted Hills

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.

Young Travis Coates is left to take care of the family ranch with his mother and younger brother while his father goes off on a cattle drive in the 1860s. When a yellow mongrel comes for an uninvited stay with the family, Travis reluctantly adopts the dog.

Based on the Helen Hunt Jackson novel of 1884 about a young woman of partial Native American descent, who experiences love and loss in 1800s California.

Nothing warms the heart like the story of a boy and his dog. Lonnie (Johnny Whitaker) and Text (George Spell) are two friends determined, against all odds, to turn a misfit hound into a hero. Tennessee farmer and dog trainer Harve McNeil (Earl Holliman) tells his son Lonnie that his dog, Moreover, is a good-for-nothing "biscuit eater."

When Trace Jordan's brother is murdered by members of the land-grabbing Sutton family, he vows to report this injustice to the nearest Army fort.

Set in 1845, this drama follows a group of settlers as they embark on a punishing journey along the Oregon Trail. When their guide leads them astray, the expedition is forced to contend with the unforgiving conditions of the high plain desert.

On their way to start a new life at a sheep farm in rural Virginia, the Turner family are halted by a wreck on the highway that has claimed the life of a truck driver. Spotting the trucker's now-abandoned collie on the side of the road, they take pity on the dog and adopt her. As the city family copes with the change to rural life, including a feud with a neighboring farm family who resent the city interlopers, the ever-loyal Lassie helps them adjust to their new surroundings.

A small town farmer, who happens to be very wealthy, meets and falls for an actress, but his friends warn him she's only interested in his money.

A family in financial crisis is forced to sell Lassie, their beloved dog. Hundreds of miles away from her true family, Lassie escapes and sets out on a journey home.

Hard times come for the Carraclough family and they are forced to sell their dog, Lassie, to the rich Duke of Rudling. Lassie, however, is unwilling to remain apart from young Carraclough son Joe and sets out on a long and dangerous journey to rejoin him.

Lassie is claimed from his family by a "former owner" and then braves a cross country trip to rejoin the ones that love her.

When mild-mannered teacher Billy Ray Smith (Anthony Edwards) vows to bring a student's kidnapper to justice, he needs a bit of help. Lacking any cowboy skills of his own, he signs on a speedy gunslinger (Joe Pantoliano) and a no-nonsense cowboy (Louis Gossett Jr.) to help. Now, Smith may just have a chance at capturing his man: the merciless bandit El Diablo (Robert Beltran).

Laddie (Son of Lassie) and his master are trapped in Norway during WW2 - has he inherited his mothers famous courage?

A quick-witted drifter wanders into a lawless town in the midst of a gold rush. Shocked by the prices of food and meals he reluctantly takes the job of sheriff by amazing the Mayor with his lightning quick, dead eye pistol accuracy. He makes the town council know that he is really just passing through on his way to Australia and he will pull up and leave anytime he chooses (including at the first sign of real trouble). His first day on the job he takes on the biggest, meanest ranching family and meets his klutzy love interest.

Gold mining cowboy western romantic melodrama (based on the story by Zane Grey) about a pair of cowboys who find a gold mine in "Thunder Mountain", but have no money to develop it. One of the cowboys rescues a girl on a stagecoach and her grateful father agrees to finance them. Along the way, she pretends to fall in love with one of the cowboys. Thinking he is about to be very rich, he sets out, but upon arrival, he finds that a bad man has stolen the claim and started a town. There, everyone turns on him, including the girl, but luckily, another pretty girl, a barmaid (who is secretly in love with him), sticks by him, and he ends up in a climactic shootout on the mountain where the gold is stashed.

Miraculously escaping a painful demise in the gallows, a notorious outlaw cons a crooked judge, an attractive saloon girl, and an old partner into carrying out the heist of a lifetime. As the plan gets underway, a small town sheriff makes it his personal mission to capture the outlaw and ensure that justice is served.

Bud Taylor loves Mary Stoddard but is leaving for Alaska in search of gold, leaving a police-dog pup with her that he has named "Phantom." Wade Burton is anxious to win Mary and her father's money. Later, Wade follows Bud to Alaska and attempts to claim-jump Bud's gold strike, but is foiled by Bud and "Phantom."

Young Guy Brancato and parents have to move from Elko, Nevada to Los Angeles, California, they are unable to take Guy's dog Pete. Guy is angry at his parents and even more distressed when he learns that Pete has run away from the neighbor who was tending him. But Pete has plans to travel to Los Angeles on his own.

A Rin-Tin-Tin serial presented in 12 episodes. The mysterious Wolf Man is terrorizing settlers in a western town. With the help of Rinty, young Jimmy Carter unmasks the Wolf Man and foils his evil plot.

An orphan boy on his way to live with his uncle picks up a stray dog, and the two become fast friends. However, the uncle doesn't want the dog, and when chickens are found dead, the uncle accuses the dog of killing them. The boy decides that it's time he and the dog hit the road so they run away, and meet up with an elderly man who also ran away from a home where he believed he wasn't wanted either.

An abused beagle runs away from his owner. On the road, he meets young Marty Preston and follows him home. The boy immediately forms a bond with the dog and names him Shiloh. His stern father won't let him keep the dog because it belongs to Judd Travers, a local hunter. After Shiloh is mistreated again, he runs away and returns to Marty. Knowing his father will once again make him bring Shiloh back to Judd, he makes a home for the dog in an old shed up the hill from the Prestons' house and hides him from his family. His secret is soon discovered when a stray attacks the dog one night and he must turn to his father for help.

Director Robert K. Weiss gives a good accounting of himself in his first feature-length effort Amongst Friends. The film is set in an affluent Long Island neighborhood, the home of boyhood chums Patrick McGaw, Steve Parlavecchio, and Joseph Lindsey. With too much time on their hands, the kids turn to crime for "kicks". Events snowball into a climactic life-or-death drug deal, which threatens to end in disaster when one of the boys capriciously pulls a double cross. Barely released in 1993, Amongst Friends will probably get more play in future years thanks to the presence in the cast of Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino.

After an accident during a routine trip to Venus, a spaceship has only enough oxygen left for three people... out of five on board.

Steve Sinclair is a world a world-weary former gunslinger, now living as a peaceful farmer. Things go wrong when his wild younger brother Tony arrives on the scene with his new bride Joan Blake.

Lawmen, drifters, and hired guns converge at a Northern California ranch believing its Chinese owners possess stolen gold. When two drifters hear rumors that a Chinese railroad worker has escaped with gold and now owns a remote ranch in the wilds of Northern California, the desperate men set a plan in motion to steal the gold for themselves. Saul, the youngest of the drifters, hopes to win the affections of Zhen and his beautiful wife, Kun Hua. Saul hires on as a farmhand, while his partner Bill lurks in the shadows and waits for the opportunity to strike. However, waves of worse men arrive seeking the stolen fortune, setting in motion a deadly multi-sided face-off of bluffs, gambles, and betrayals. Heathens & Thieves is a western crime drama set in an American era when the riches associated with the 1849 Gold Rush, the fallout of the Civil War, and the impact of Chinese immigration were fresh in people's minds.

When Shiloh's abusive previous owner, Judd Travers, tries to retake Shiloh again, Ray tries to find a way to end the rivalry and open up the hidden kindness within the town drunk.

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.

Gil Kyle finds himself caught up in the politics and unrest of the American Civil War and soon gets himself framed for a murder. His only alibi is Candace Bronson, who is aiding the Confederate cause and has left the territory to deliver a vital message about a Yankee gold shipment. So he sets off in pursuit, running into desperados, government agents, and guerrilla fighters, who are more interested in profit than ideals. Written by Alfred Jingle

Five men ride into the eerie town of Yellow Rock, hoping to rescue a family member and his lost boy. The leader, Max Dietrich, hires Mountain Man, Tom Hanner, to guide them into the Black Paw Tribe territory for the search.

The French Foreign Legion is the setting for this episodic adventure yarn. Victor Jory plays a Legion doctor falsely accused of murdering his commander over the love of Loretta Young. Jory escapes prosecution by heading for parts unknown, but when a deadly illness strikes his old fort, he returns to aid his comrades. He is arrested, but clears himself of the murder charge and ends up with Young. Devil's in Love is distinguished by the surprise appearance of Bela Lugosi, who shows up unbilled as a relentless prosecuting attorney in the courtroom scenes.

Bill's separated from his litter, making friends with the wild creatures until he's found and adopted by young Kathie. An accident separates him from her, and he's drafted into K-9 duty in the trenches until battle fatigue takes its toll and he turns vicious. And even though he finds his way back home, he may be condemned as a killer.

Documentary about canine superstar Lassie, combining film clips, still photographs, home movies, archival footage and on-camera interviews with many figures involved with the Lassie films or television series.

The Stratton kids, Samantha and Chip, and their grandmother, Ada, drive to visit their Uncle Stuart. Grandma collapses and dies in a strange town, leaving the kids and Lassie on their own.

A phantom-like gunman is murdering the hands at the Circle T Ranch and the Range Busters are recruited by its owner to stop the "phantom". Only, the ranch owner is killed before they can arrive. First film in the Range Buster series.

Jonathan Drake, while attending his brother's funeral, is shocked to find the head of the deceased is missing. When his brother's skull shows up later in a locked cabinet, Drake realizes an ancient curse placed upon his grandfather by a tribe of South American Jivaro Indians is still in effect and that he himself is the probable next victim.