Best movies like They Knew What They Wanted

"I won't Do it! Joe...you and me...we can't. It'd be too awful-on account of Tony. I've got to marry Tony...just as soon as he gets well!"

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like They Knew What They Wanted Starring Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton, William Gargan, Harry Carey, and more. If you liked They Knew What They Wanted then you may also like: Waitress, Not Wanted, Of Human Bondage, Oklahoma!, Ramona 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.

While courting a young woman by mail, a rich farmer sends a photograph of his foreman instead of his own, which leads to complications when she accepts his marriage proposal.

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Waitress

Jenna is a pregnant, unhappily married waitress in the deep south. She meets a newcomer to her town and falls into an unlikely relationship as a last attempt at happiness.

Not Wanted

After a beautiful but unsophisticated girl is seduced by a worldly piano player and gives up her out-of-wedlock baby, her guilt compels her to kidnap another child.

Of Human Bondage

A young man finds himself attracted to a cold and unfeeling waitress who may ultimately destroy them both.

Oklahoma!

This joyous celebration of frontier life combines tender romance and violent passion in the Oklahoma Territory of the 1900s with a timeless score filled with unforgettable songs. Rodgers and Hammerstein's hit Broadway musical.

Ramona

Half-Indian girl brought up in a wealthy household is loved by the son of the house against his family's wishes and loves another Indian employed by the household.

Deadly Revenge

Charming LA architect Harrison, also a great cook and lover, gets engaged to Cate, a San Francisco landscape architect he meets while collaborating on a major project, after they get locked in by a malfunctioning elevator. She moves to LA for him and volunteers, while he's on mission in Tokyo, to mind his widowed mother Evelyn, still a major force in his life. However Cate gets paranoid when feeling weak and hearing rumors that his former girlfriend disappeared mysteriously years earlier, even cancels the engagement. Then the truth gets out, clearing Harrison and uncovering a lurking danger.

Fatso

Dominick has always been a big kid who loved eating. It was his favourite thing. Then his cousin dies from health complications due to an improper diet and his sister makes him promise to lose some weight. This is very hard for him, but he finds motivation when he falls in love with Lydia. He spends so much time kissing and walking around with her that he no longer eats as many unhealthy things, and he loses weight without even trying.

Strangers in the Night

In this Gothic tale, a returning WW2 vet goes looking for a small-town girl whom he knows only from letters. Its the pretext for an off-beat treatment of sexual frustration morphing into a dangerous delusion, and eventually murder.

Moon Over Miami

After losing nearly all of an inheritance to taxes, sisters Kay and Barbara Latimer, waitresses at a drive-in restaurant in Texas, scheme to find rich husbands. With the aid of their aunt Susan, the sisters take the last of their money and head to a well-known Miami resort where they soon meet two wealthy young men, Phil and Jeff, who begin a fierce rivalry for Kay, not realizing that Barbara has fallen in love with one of them.

Mansfield Park

When spirited young woman, Fanny Price is sent away to live on the great country estate of her rich cousins, she's meant to learn the ways of proper society. But while Fanny learns 'their' ways, she also enlightens them with a wit and sparkle all her own.

Feast of July

After an abandoned young woman in late 19th Century England is taken in by a rural couple with three handsome sons, tragic consequences result.

Happythankyoumoreplease

Captures a generational moment - young people on the cusp of truly growing up, tiring of their reflexive cynicism, each in their own ways struggling to connect and define what it means to love and be loved. Six New Yorkers juggle love, friendship, and the keenly challenging specter of adulthood. Sam Wexler is a struggling writer who's having a particularly bad day. When a young boy gets separated from his family on the subway, Sam makes the questionable decision to bring the child back to his apartment and thus begins a rewarding, yet complicated, friendship. Sam's life revolves around his friends — Annie, whose self-image keeps her from commitment; Charlie and Mary Catherine, a couple whose possible move to Los Angeles tests their relationship; and Mississippi, a cabaret singer who catches Sam's eye.

Mad at the Moon

A young woman on the frontier marries a meek farmer who has an annoying habit of going through a rather drastic change every full moon.

Those Three French Girls

An addled Englishman's efforts to save three young women from eviction land them all in jail and leads to other adventures and mischief.

To Each His Own

During World War I, small-town girl Josephine Norris has an illegitimate son by an itinerant pilot. After a scheme to adopt him ends up giving him to another family, she devotes her life to loving him from afar.

Defining Moments

A touching story of eight very different people who are at a crossroads in life and must make decisions that will forever change who they are. Jack must decide to spend the rest of his life with his girlfriend Terri. Marina must reconnect with her aging father. Laurel must embrace her new pregnancy and come to terms with her father’s early Alzheimer's. And Dave must learn why life is worth living.

The People I've Slept With

The People I've Slept With - a promiscuous woman who finds herself with an unplanned pregnancy and needs to figure out who the baby daddy is...NOW. Angela Yang loves sex. She loves it so much she needs to make baseball cards of her lovers to help her remember where she's been. She doesn't think twice about her lifestyle until she finds out that she's pregnant. Her gay best friend, Gabriel Lugo tells her to "take care of it," but her conservative sister, Juliet persuades Angela to get married to the baby's father and lead a "normal" life like her. Angela listens to her sister, chooses to keep the baby, and goes on a quest to find the identity of the father by any means necessary.

Claudelle Inglish

A young daughter of poor farmers is forced by her mother to ditch her young boyfriend in order to marry an old rich neighbor but the girl rebels by becoming the town's harlot.

Street of Women

An architect has an affair with a woman who inspires him. Her brother is in love with the architect's daughter. The complicated entanglement leads to misunderstanding and dissolution, but ultimately love.

The Married Virgin

In order to save her wealthy father from disgrace and a possible prison sentence, a daughter agrees to marry the gigolo who's been blackmailing him...

Having You

Jack has finally managed to propose to his infertile girlfriend when his life is turned upside down by the arrival of an old one-night stand that introduces him to his seven year old son.

Race You to the Bottom

Nathan and Maggie are in the throes of a passionate affair. They're young, good-looking, and both have boyfriends. When Nathan is assigned to write a travel article on romantic hot-spots in Napa Valley, these unconventional lovers test the limits of the sensuality and fantasy that bond them.

It Rained All Night the Day I Left

A tough rich female ranch owner in Africa wants to cut off the water supply to the locals, since she holds them responsible for the murder of her husband. She hires two charming gunrunners as help, but they suspect her shady competitor.

Love on the Vines

When overworked lawyer Diana’s (Margo Harshman) uncle, Hugh, passes away she’s called back to his vineyard to settle his estate. Hugh has left half of his Golden Range Winery & Vineyard to Diana and half to Seth (Steve Talley), his right hand man and Diana’s ex-boyfriend. Hugh’s final request is that the two work the next harvest together, set to begin in a few weeks. Neither is happy at the arrangement but they begrudgingly agree. Furthermore, neighboring competitor Grant Garritson (Jack Wagner) threatens to drive a wedge into Diana and Seth’s already shaky relationship. They have a short window to figure it all out so that they both get what they ultimately want.

Once More, My Darling

An actor is recalled to active duty with the Army's C.I.D. to find the thief who stole historical jewels in occupied Germany and the trail leads to the boyfriend of a young debutante from Bel Air.

Romance of the Redwoods

June Martin is a dishwasher in a California logging camp boarding house. Steve Blake fights Jed Malone for her and loses, thus casting suspicion on himself when Malone dies under cloudy circumstances.

There Goes the Groom

After striking it rich in Alaskan gold, a young man returns to marry his fiancé only to be snubbed. Her sister, however, is worth considering, until he learns about her gold-digging family.

Permission

A woman on the brink of a marriage proposal is told by a friend that she should date other men before spending the rest of her life with her boyfriend.

Merry Kissmas

Unwinding her relationship from a controlling choreographer, Kayla happens to take an elevator ride with lonesome caterer “Dustin”. The lift stalls, and spontaneously, magical kisses follow. Soon the choreographer makes nice, and Dustin retreats. Kayla becomes confused as to which man to love.

The Wedding Fix

Reeling from a break-up, professional over-planner Gwen pitches in to help put the finishing touches on her best friend’s wedding. But when she's teamed up with best man Josh, a free-spirited nature guide, she finds that pulling together this wedding might not be as easy as she thought.

Maisie

Wisecracking showgirl Maisie Ravier finds herself trapped in a Wyoming town when her new employer closes the show prematurely. She meets ranch foreman Charles "Slim" Martin when he accuses her of lifting his wallet and ends up being hired as a maid for ranch owners Cliff and Sybil, who are attempting to mend their rocky marriage after Sybil's infidelity with a cowboy.

The Man in Possession

A deeply in debt heiress tries to land a rich man while a collector from the Sheriff's office is guarding the assets in her house.

The Secret Hour

An Elderly fruit grower sends a photo of his foreman, not himself, to a waitress he wishes to marry. She falls in love with the foreman.

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