Movies Like The Great Santini

If you liked The Great Santini (1979), a drama movie directed by Lewis John Carlino, 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
Dad (1989)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the…
2
Dangerous Minds (1995)
★ 7/10Also drama
Former Marine Louanne Johnson lands a gig teaching in a pilot program for bright but underachieving teens at a notorious inner-city high school. After having a terrible first day, she decides she must throw decorum to…
3
East of Eden (1955)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother for the love of their father. Cal is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war…
4
Bravetown (2015)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
After an accidental drug overdose, a talented teenage DJ goes to live with his estranged father in a small Army town, where he gets to the bottom of his own pain and learns empathy for others.
5
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
★ 7/10Also drama
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
6
Of Mice and Men (1939)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
An intellectually disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.
7
The Fabelmans (2022)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him…
8
What Maisie Knew (2013)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new…
9
A Few Good Men (1992)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col…
10
High Crimes (2002)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
A female attorney learns that her husband is really a marine officer who has been AWOL for fifteen years and accused of murdering fifteen civilians in El Salvador. Believing her husband when he tells her that he's…
11
Testament (1983)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in…
12
Chasing Mavericks (2012)
★ 7/10Also drama
Surfer Jay Moriarity sets out to ride the Northern California break known as Mavericks.
13
Eye of the Needle (1981)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of vital information about D-Day, takes refuge on Storm Island, an…
14
Military Wives (2020)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Inspired by global phenomenon of military wives choirs, the story celebrates a band of misfit women who form a choir on a military base. As unexpected bonds of friendship flourish, music and laughter transform their…
15
Speak (2004)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
Freshman high-school student Melinda has refused to speak ever since she called the cops on a popular summer party. With her old friends snubbing her for being a rat, and her parents too busy to notice her troubles…
16
Giant Little Ones (2019)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.
17
Boyhood (2014)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his…
18
Radio Flyer (1992)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
A father reminisces about his childhood when he and his younger brother moved to a new town with their mother, her new husband and their dog, Shane. When the younger brother is subjected to physical abuse at the hands…
19
Fences (2016)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
In 1950s Pittsburgh, a frustrated African-American father struggles with the constraints of poverty, racism, and his own inner demons as he tries to raise a family.
20
I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
A man living in the towering shadow of his aging father finds it difficult to start a new chapter in his life by marrying his girlfriend and moving to California.