Top 250 Movies Like The Great Runaway

A list of the best movies similar to The Great Runaway. If you liked The Great Runaway then you may also like: Youngblood, Withnail & I, Nothing Bad Can Happen, On the Nickel, Reality Bites and many more great movies featured on this list.

A miniseries about a pair of teenagers living in a slum at the fringes of Berlin. Alcoholism, prostitution, and violence are just a few of the themes of the three movies.

Youngblood

A skilled young hockey prospect hoping to attract the attention of professional scouts is pressured to show that he can fight if challenged during his stay in a Canadian minor hockey town. His on-ice activities are complicated by his relationship with the coach's daughter.

Withnail & I

Two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the country house of Withnail's flamboyantly gay uncle, Monty, they encounter the unpleasant side of the English countryside: tedium, terrifying locals and torrential rain.

Nothing Bad Can Happen

Inspired by horrifying true events, Nothing Bad Can Happen follows Tore, a young lost soul involved with an underground Christian punk movement who falls in with a dysfunctional family who test his seemingly unwavering faith.

On the Nickel

Sam, a recovering alcoholic, feels dissatisfied with his life of sobriety and goes back in search of the good times he enjoyed with his wino friends on "the Nickel" of Los Angeles' skid row.

Reality Bites

A small circle of friends suffering from post-collegiate blues must confront the hard truth about life, love and the pursuit of gainful employment. As they struggle to map out survival guides for the future, the Gen-X quartet soon begins to realize that reality isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Rollercoaster

In pursuit of fantasy, five teenagers hop the fence of a now defunct amusement park. While apparently a mindless diversion, for two of them the park is the setting for a more fatal bid at escape.

Jawbreaker

When an exclusive clique of teenage socialites accidentally murder their best friend on the morning of her birthday, the three girls responsible conspire to hide the truth.

Anna Christie

Old sailor Chris Christofferson eagerly awaits the arrival of his grown daughter Anna, whom he sent at five years old to live with relatives in Minnesota. He has not seen her since, but believes her to be a decent and respectably employed young woman. When Anna arrives, however, it is clear that she has lived a hard life in the dregs of society, and that much of spirit has been extinguished. She falls in love with a young sailor rescued at sea by her father, but dreads to reveal to him the truth of her past. Both father and young man are deluded about her background, yet Anna cannot quite bring herself to allow them to remain deluded.

Arresting Gena

A directionless teenager (Aesha Waks) becomes involved with a headstrong runaway (Summer Phoenix) and her drug-dealing brother (Sam Rockwell).

Beer League

An unemployed slacker inspires his softball teammates to improve their game to avoid getting kicked out of the local league.

Baal

Baal explores the cult of the genius, an anti-heroic figure who chooses to be a social outcast and live on the fringe of bourgeois morality.

Christiane F.

This movie portrays the drug scene in Berlin in the 70s, following tape recordings of Christiane F. 14 years old Christiane lives with her mother and little sister in a typical multi-storey apartment building in Berlin. She's fascinated by the 'Sound', a new disco with most modern equipment. Although she's legally too young, she asks a friend to take her. There she meets Detlef, who's in a clique where everybody's on drugs. Step by step she gets drawn deeper into the scene.

Slumdog Millionaire

A teenager reflects on his life after being accused of cheating on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?".

Streamers

Four young recruits about to be sent to Vietnam confront their prejudicial feelings toward one another when it's learned one of them is gay.

One Third of a Nation

The negligent owner of a tenement slum becomes romantically involved with one of the building's residents.

Hick

A pistol-packing teen meets an unstable rebel and a cocaine-snorting drifter as she hitchhikes her way out West.

Don't Hang Up

An evening of drunken prank calls becomes a nightmare for a pair of teenagers when a mysterious stranger turns their own game against them.

Diary of a Lost Girl

Thymian Henning, an innocent young girl, is raped by the clerk of her father's pharmacy. She becomes pregnant, is rejected by her family, and must fend for herself in a harsh, cruel world.

Dreamcatcher

Longinotto's documentary is about Brenda Myers-Powell, who fights against sexual exploitation and supports prostitutes in Chicago. Brenda knows what she is talking about: her own story, involving teenage prostitution and a life of violence and abuse, is in stark contrast to her dauntless energy and optimism.

The F**k-It List

After a prank blows up a studious high school senior's life, he shares a list of certain things he wishes he'd done differently — and maybe still can.

Fat City

Two men, working as professional boxers, come to blows when their careers each begin to take opposite momentum.

Female Trouble

The life and times of Dawn Davenport, showing her progression from bratty schoolgirl to crazed mass murderer - all of which stems from her parents' refusal to buy her cha-cha heels for Christmas.

Girl Lost

Girl Lost tackles the issue of underage prostitution as told through the eyes of a wayward teen. Groomed by her own mother to work in the underbelly of Los Angeles, the young girl struggles to survive in this dark world.

The Golden Glove

A serial killer strikes fear in the hearts of residents of Hamburg during the early 1970s.

Gummo

Solomon and Tummler are two teenagers killing time in Xenia, Ohio, a small town that has never recovered from the tornado that ravaged the community in the 1970s.

Lean on Pete

Charley Thompson, a teenager living with his single father, gets a summer job working for horse trainer Del Montgomery. Bonding with an aging racehorse named Lean on Pete, Charley is horrified to learn he is bound for slaughter, and so he steals the horse, and the duo embark on an odyssey across the new American frontier.

Wild Child

Sixteen-year-old Poppy has everything her unlimited credit cards can buy, and a spoiled attitude to match. After a final thoughtless prank, her exasperated father ships her off to boarding school in England. There, Poppy meets her match in a stern headmistress and a class full of girls who will not tolerate her selfishness.

Summer Night

In a small town, a young, tight-knit group of friends fall in and out of love over the course of one intoxicating, music-filled summer night.

Cocoon

In the heat of a shimmering Berlin summer, Nora spends her days as a third wheel to her older sister Jule and her best friend Aylin. When Romy comes onto the scene, a friendship blossoms. Nora instantly falls for her, opening up a whole new world and unexpected summer of love.

Natasha

Natasha takes place over the course of one summer. It is the story of Mark Berman, 16, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants living in the suburbs north of Toronto. When his uncle enters into an arranged marriage with woman from Moscow, the woman arrives in Canada with her fourteen year-old daughter, Natasha. Mark, a slacker, is conscripted by his parents to take responsibility for the strange girl. He learns that, in Moscow, she’d led a troubled and promiscuous life. A secret and forbidden romance begins between the two of them that has bizarre and tragic consequences for everyone involved.

The Derby Stallion

An alcoholic former horse-trainer perceives in a fifteen-year-old boy a unique gift of horsemanship and makes it possible for the boy to conceive his dream and pursue it.

Egghead & Twinkie

Egghead & Twinkie is a feature-length coming of age comedy about coming out of the closet. The film follows a teenage girl named Twinkie as she comes out to her parents and takes off on a cross country road trip to meet her mysterious online crush, BD. She even convinces her nerdy best friend, Egghead, to come along for the ride. The only problem? Egghead is in love with Twinkie, and BD might not be everything she seems to be on the internet.

1:54

Tim, a shy 16-year-old athlete with a natural gift for running, is dealing with the loss of his mother, as well as his sexuality. After a personal video is posted to social media, Tim's private life is about to explode into the public eye.

Home Before Midnight

A successful rock lyricist becomes romantically involved with a girl he picks up hitchhiking only to learn that she is only fourteen. Her parents take action against him.

Standing Up

Based on one of the most beloved Young Adult novels of all time: Two kids are stripped naked and left together on an island in a lake - victims of a vicious summer camp prank; But rather than have to return to camp and face the humiliation, they decide to take off, on the run together. What follows is a three day odyssey of discovery and self-discovery.

On the Fringe of Wild

A 2000's Romeo and Juliet in small town Ontario, where love does not win, but surviving players grow up to accept themselves as members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Hardcore

A conservative Midwest businessman ventures into the sordid underworld of pornography in search for his runaway teenage daughter who’s making porno films in the pits of Los Angeles.

Scum

Powerful, uncompromising drama about two boys' struggle for survival in the nightmare world of Britain's notorious Borstal Reformatory.

Mouth to Mouth

An aimless adolescent joins several itinerant misfits who live on the fringe of society and welcome at-risk youths into their fold.

Little Ladies of the Night

The sister of ex-pimp and current Los Angeles Police detective Lyle York was murdered working the streets a few years ago. Since his reform, he has teamed with Officer Russ Garfield to clear the streets of underage girls working in prostitution. Pretty, young runaway Hailey Atkins has been turned out. Down deep she wants to go straight but has had great difficulty escaping her pimp and doesn't even have a place to go. York and Garfield go out on a limb to try and help.

Maid in Sweden

Schoolgirl Inga goes to visit her sister in Stockholm and is shocked to find her living with her boyfriend, Casten.

Meatballs

Tripper is the head counselor at a budget summer camp called Camp Northstar. In truth, he's young at heart and only marginally more mature than the campers themselves. Tripper befriends Rudy, a loner camper who has trouble fitting in. As Tripper inspires his young charges to defeat rival Camp Mohawk in the annual Olympiad competition, Rudy plays matchmaker between Tripper and Roxanne, a female counselor at Northstar.

Streetwise

This documentary about teenagers living on the streets in Seattle began as a magazine article. The film follows nine teenagers who discuss how they live by panhandling, prostitution, and petty theft.

Too Young to Die

An abused 15 year old is charged with a murder that carries the death penalty in this fact-based story.

System Crasher

On her wild quest for love, 9-year-old Benni's untamed energy drives everyone around her to despair.

Paper Boys

A ragtag bunch of teenage door to door salesmen wreak havoc and spread the news of their coming of age in this summer before they begin their college lives. It centers around Sean, a sexually confused and drug afflicted teen who just can't seem to shake off his dysfunctional family history. Paper Boys is an adventure into the psychology of sales as a metaphor for life as these young "Glengarry Glen Ross" wannabes terrorize a suburban neighborhood near everyone!

Stateside

The film follows a rebellious teenager on leave from the Marines who falls in love with a female musician. The relationship is threatened when she develops a mental illness...

The Young Runaways

Three unhappy teenagers run away from home, only to discover living on their own isn't as idyllic as they imagined.

Runaway Daughters

Three teenagers with troubled families are unable to adjust at home and in high-school. Tempted with an easy, carefree life they soon pass from misdemeanors into serious crime - and will suffer for it. Sometimes, repentance comes too late.

The End of the Rainbow

Uwe Friessner’s first feature, At the End of the Rainbow, follows the exploits of a West Berlin teenager named Jimmi who ekes out a living through petty theft and part-time hustling, hangs out in punk clubs, and who, for reasons which this film subtly details, is thoroughly unemployable. Drawing on his own experience in trying to help a young runaway who eventually committed suicide, Friessner wrote into Jimmi’s story several older students who attempt to find work for him, and who give him shelter for a time in their commune.

Love Waits

A small town girl who has just moved to the big city is pressured by peers at school to lose her virginity.

Teenage Cocktail

Feeling confined by their small town and overbearing parents, Annie and Jules hatch a scheme of running away. The only issue is, they need the money to get there. Jules suggests the couple try webcam modeling. Although she’s nervous at first, Annie can’t argue when the money starts rolling in. But as the girls soon find out, consequences can blindside you. Sometimes violently.

The Third Sex

Klaus is a young man in post-war Berlin. He is drawn to his friend Manfred and, under the encouragement of their acquaintance, Dr. Winkler, explore the underground world of gay clubs and electronic music. His family begins to learn of his other life and do everything they can to set him straight.

Nordsee ist Mordsee

14-year old Uwe lives in s suburban Hamburg housing estate. Besides trouble, the boy has not much to expect from his parents. To get his hands on some money, he prizes open vending machines, and to let out his frustration he beats up "wogs". Among them is Dschingis, his nemesis. But one day, the rivals make peace. They become friends because they realize that they have the same problems and are driven by the same dreams and hopes.

Dirty Girl

When Danielle is banished to special education because of her misbehavior, she joins Clarke on a road trip to discover themselves.

Blast

Four high school friends believe the local myth that developer Swenson killed a kid for trespassing years earlier and got away with it. When one of the four friends disappears, the remaining three believe Swenson killed their friend and they take revenge. When their friend then shows up alive they must deal with the consequences of crossing the harsh line that separates fantasy from reality.

Palm Trees and Power Lines

A disconnected teenage girl enters a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.

Where the Day Takes You

King is a young man, but he's already a veteran of life on the streets of Los Angeles. The de facto leader of a group of teenage runaways, King acts as a mentor to troubled kids such as gay hustler Little J and junkie Greg. When Heather, a beautiful girl from Chicago, starts hanging out with King and his crew, it changes the dynamic of the gang. However, it seems as though nothing will alter their dangerous lifestyle.

Jet Boy

A coming-of-age story of a reluctant 13-year-old hustler named Nathan who will do whatever it takes to feel loved.

Teenage Tramp

Wayward and uninhibited young runaway Kim has fallen in with a bad crowd. Kim decides to flee said crowd and goes to the west coast to reunite herself with her uptight and neurotic estranged older sister Hilary so she can collect some of the inheritance left behind by their deceased parents. However, evil drug dealer Maury and his flock follow Kim to Hilary's house.

Cruel Passion

Justine is a nubile young virgin cast out of a French orphanage and thrust into a depraved world of prostitution, predatory lesbians, a fugitive murderess, bondage, branding, and one supremely sadistic monk. It's a twisted tale of strange desires, perverse pleasures and the ultimate corruption of innocence as told by the Marquis de Sade.

Boston Kickout

School leaver Phil moves with his father from inner-city London to the satellite Hertfordshire New Town of Stevenage, where they are promised a brighter future...but all Phil finds there is a bleak, cultural wilderness; a world of unemployment, violence, alcoholism and drug abuse in 90s Britain

Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street

The film follows a simple structure, and shows the drug-related degradation of five youths (Jake, Tracey, Jessica, Alice, Oreo) during the course of three years. The film depicts drug-related crimes and diseases: prostitution, male prostitution, AIDS, and lethal overdoses.

The Nightmare

After a massive party one evening, 17-year-old Tina begins experiencing nightmares in which she is haunted by an unusual creature.

Schoolgirl Report Part 2: What Keeps Parents Awake at Night

After the big success of the first part the film-makers apparently felt pressured to launch a new "investigation" and gather new material. Therefore, Friedrich von Thun again ventures out into the streets, this time of Berlin, to ask schoolgirls about their sexual experiences. The invinted guests talk about (allegedly) true events. Schoolgirls that seduce their teachers, runaway girls that have been robbed and who have to prostitute themselves or innocent girls that have been drugged and raped...

Skate Kitchen

Camille's life as a lonely suburban teenager changes dramatically when she befriends a group of girl skateboarders. As she journeys deeper into this raw New York City subculture, she begins to understand the true meaning of friendship as well as her inner self.

My Name Was Bette: The Life and Death of an Alcoholic

A documentary about women's alcoholism chronicles the progression of the disease in Bette VandenAkker - a nurse, wife, and mother - who died in the fall of 2007.

Lucy

A young teenage single mother (Maggi) struggling to raise her baby daughter (Lucy) finds the weight of responsibility bearing down on her shoulders. Maggy was forced to grow up before her time. Thankfully for Maggi, her mother is always willing to help though Maggy still lives at home with her mother, it's obvious that she longs to gain some independendence. Meeting Gordon at a local club, who is a few years older, makes a living and has his own apartment. One night, after a heated argument with her mother, Maggi makes the decision to move in with Gordon. Though the pair subsequently make a sincere attempt to be good parents.and do what's best for Lucy, they soon find that taking on the responsibilities of adulthood aren't so easy when you've barely moved past childhood yourself.

Prinzessinnenbad

A film about three teenagers - Klara, Mina and Tanutscha - from the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. The trio have known each other since Kindergarten and have plenty in common. The three 15-year-olds are the best of friends; they are spending the summer at Prinzenbad, a large open-air swimming pool at the heart of the district where they live. They're feeling pretty grown up, and are convinced they've now left their childhood behind.

Die Anruferin

A lonely woman's prank phone call leads to an unexpected friendship with a grieving widow.

Go Ask Alice

A 14-year-old girl in late 1960's America is inadvertently sucked into an odyssey of sex and drugs. She eventually seeks help.

Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway

15-year-old Dawn runs away from what she feels is an intolerable home life. In the big city, she ends up turning to prostitution when she is unable to get a job due to her age. She meets Alexander, a young male hustler who takes her in, but when she starts working for a pimp, Alexander becomes a target.

Summer in Berlin

When you read the title ‘Summer on the Balcony’ you probably think it will be a light Berlin summer comedy but it’s not. This film is an intimate study of two women friends who come to each other because of troubles with everyday life and with men and thus try to enjoy a life based on their ideas.

Bleed American

A bold portrait of misguided youth as they learn the cruelties of life in the American Midwest.

Girl in Trouble

Bored farmer's daughter sets out to make it in the big city. She gets mixed up with freaks, perverts and degenerates and winds up a stripper in New Orleans.

The Passenger

While searching for a condo in Berlin for his father, Nick meets Philipp, a young talented photographer and a gorgeous actress named Lilli. There is instant chemistry and both are easily seduced by Nick's charms. Lilli and Philipp begin to explore their relationship with the sexy visitor, succumbing to their passionate affections for him which intensifies their volatile emotional and physical bonds. But what Philipp and Lilli don't realize is that they are being lured into Nick's manipulative..and deadly, love game.

Orpheus' Song

Two best friends from Berlin win a trip to Greece. On their excursion, they get lost on an island. They wander in the woods until they find an abandoned village where they encounter a mysterious creature, who calls himself Hercules. They spend the night together in a cave and dream a mystical dream. On the next day, nothing between the two will be like it was before.

Manta, Manta

A not so clever guy called Bertie with a Opel Manta (a low budget European sports-coupe from the '80s) gets competition in a street race from a guy with a fast Mercedes, and another slick guy with a Ferrari tries to get his hands on Bertie's girlfriend.

Love Steaks

Clemens works as a masseur, Lara as a cook, but their clientele is the same: the guests of a luxury hotel. As sparks begin to fly between the two, his sensitivity clashes with her more fiery temperament—opposites attract, but harmony is nowhere in sight.

Berlin, Berlin

Lolle's love life in Berlin is as complicated as ever. After the story with Sven, her second cousin, was over, she got together with her best friend Hart and the two are about to get married. That is, if Sven doesn't ruin things.

I Often Think of Piroschka

Andreas, a young German student comes to Hungary on an exchange programme. In the Hungarian village he falls in love with the stationmaster's daughter Piroschka and spends much of his time with her. They have an enchanting summer until Andreas gets an invitation to join another young woman at a nearby resort. Piroschka is jealous and follows him there, causing trouble. It takes a long time for Andreas and Piroschka to even talk to each other again. When Andreas has to leave Hungary at the end of his holiday, he is determined to return some day.

Pioneers in Ingolstadt

Berta, a naive young maid, searches for love when the army engineers come to town to build a bridge.

Glamour Dolls

This is the story of two male prostitutes who want to become professional actors and how they struggle to get into show business.

Floating!

A bride-to-be ends up on a rafting trip and meets a surprising guest: the sperm donor she's planning to use. Back in Berlin, her fiancée is visited by an ex.

Yung

This film follows four young girls into the vibrant, hedonistic subculture of Berlin. Janaina, 17, earns money by making Internet pornography. Her best friend, Emmy, 18, finds the whole city intoxicating, without realizing that she's getting deeper and deeper into a cycle of addiction. Joy muses about love when she doesn't happen to be selling drugs. And Abbie, 16, dreams of escaping to Los Angeles.

Girl Lost: A Hollywood Story

Interweaving stories of four different women involved in the sex industry offers a glimpse into the dark underbelly of Los Angeles and the taboo lifestyle of a sex worker. A teen runaway, single mother and two career escorts interconnect through their own personal journeys filled with loss, betrayal and the struggle to survive. Written by anonymous

You & I

Summer in Berlin. Jonas is planning a trip through the little known area of the Uckermark in preparation for a photography project. He invites his best friend, Phillip, to come along. When they pick up a hitchhiker named Boris, the friendship of the two starts to fray. Maybe three’s a crowd after all? By the end of the summer, things between Jonas and Phillip won’t ever be the same again.

My Skinny Sister

Just as Stella enters the exciting world of adolescence she discovers that her big sister and role model Katja is hiding an eating disorder. The disease slowly tears the family apart. A story about jealousy, love and betrayal told with warmth, depth and laughter - on and off the ice.

Forty Deuce

A young hustler tries to get drug money by selling a boy to a middle-aged man; his plans are disrupted when the kid dies.

Oi! Warning

A young man gets caught up in a conflict between his friends, a skinhead and a gay anarchist.

Verlierer

The director Bernd Schadewald shows the brutal everyday life of the low class generation in the 80s, where two youth gangs fight in a war. The "Sharks" and "Council" defend their territories with their lives. Violence, hatred and brutality are commonplace soundtracked by thrash metal music. As the conflict grows, it comes to the final battle: a man-versus-man duel for Richy (Ralf Richter), the leader of the "Sharks".

Behind Me

The twenty-something Betty comes to a remote small town and strikes a friendship with the fourteen-year old local girl Lea, who is fascinated by her new friend's tales of partying and living in the fast lane in the big city. Betty has ulterior motives for befriending the young girl, however.

Street Kid

Axel is 14 years old, male prostitute, living in Düsseldorf. His mother drinks and her friends abuses him. He is sent to a bar to pick up customers. There he meets Karl-Heinz, and a loving relationship begins.

The Last Years of Childhood

A juvenile offender is handed over to authorities at age 13 and placed in an institution in this somber social drama. Martin is a petty thief who enjoys stealing and looks up to his older brother. When he is informed that his brother has died, Martin runs away from the reform school. He passes through various institutions and is labeled as incorrigible because of his refusal to comply with the rules of society. A dedicated child psychologist tries to save Martin when he entertains thoughts of suicide.

Run Swinger Run!

She started out for fun - then she found she could make money. The startling story of a girl who would do anything with anybody at anytime.

Boys Briefs 2

The long-awaited sequel to Boys Briefs, the successful compilation of six outstanding short films about gay first love. Hosted by DANNY ROBERTS, star of MTV's THE REAL WORLD NEW ORLEANS. Films included are: Doors Cut Down [En malas compañías] (2000); Chicken (2001); Back Room (1999); Breakfast [Frühstück] (2002); Touch (2001); and Take-Out (2000)

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