Movies Like Makers of Melody

If you liked Makers of Melody (1929), a movie directed by S. Jay Kaufman, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
The Wanderers (1979)
★ 7/10
The streets of the Bronx are owned by '60s youth gangs where the joy and pain of adolescence is lived. Philip Kaufman tells his take on the novel by Richard Price about the history of the Italian-American gang ‘The…
2
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
★ 7.3/10
Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer, Jonathan Shields, as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer, James Lee Bartlow; a star…
3
American Reunion (2012)
★ 6.4/10
The characters we met a little more than a decade ago return to East Great Falls for their high school reunion. In one long-overdue weekend, they will discover what has changed, who hasn’t, and that time and distance…
4
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
★ 6.6/10
Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the…
5
American Graffiti (1973)
★ 7.1/10
A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.
6
29th Street (1991)
★ 6.9/10
After winning $6.2 million in the 1976 New York State Lottery, he is arrested for throwing rocks at a church. He then tells his story at the police station.
7
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)
★ 6/10
The story of best friends Barb and Star, who leave their small midwestern town for the first time to go on vacation in Vista Del Mar, Florida, where they soon find themselves tangled up in adventure, love, and a…
8
The Bikeriders (2024)
★ 6.7/10
After a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his…
9
Pretty Persuasion (2005)
★ 5.8/10
A 15-year-old girl incites chaos among her friends and a media frenzy when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment.
10
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
★ 7.3/10
Life's questions are 'answered' in a series of outrageous vignettes, beginning with a staid London insurance company which transforms before our eyes into a pirate ship. Then there's the National Health doctors who try…
11
No Hard Feelings (2023)
★ 6.7/10
On the brink of losing her childhood home, Maddie discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for someone to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son, Percy, before he leaves for college. To…
12
42 Up (1999)
★ 7.6/10
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
13
The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel (2026)
★ 7.3/10
Explore the formative years of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the profound influence of original bandmate Hillel Slovak.
14
The Sparks Brothers (2021)
★ 7.4/10
Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron & Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band’s favorite band.
15
Now and Then (1995)
★ 6.9/10
Waxing nostalgic about the bittersweet passage from childhood to puberty, four childhood girlfriends — Teeny, Chrissy, Samantha and Roberta — recall the magical summer of 1970. During their walk down memory lane, they…
16
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
★ 7.1/10
Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone…
17
House Party (1990)
★ 6.4/10
Young Kid has been invited to a party at his friend Play's house. But after a fight at school, Kid's father grounds him. None the less, Kid sneaks out when his father falls asleep. But Kid doesn't know that three of…
18
Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025)
★ 7.4/10
The individual journeys of the four members of the band, as they move through the music scene of the 1960s, playing small clubs throughout Britain and performing some of the biggest hits of the era, until their meeting…
19
42 (2013)
★ 7.2/10
In 1947, Jackie Robinson becomes the first Black man to play in Major League Baseball facing unabashed racism from the public, the press and other players.
20
The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes (2022)
★ 6.3/10
This documentary explores the mystery surrounding the death of movie icon Marilyn Monroe through previously unheard interviews with her inner circle.