Movies Like Ode to Billy Joe
If you liked Ode to Billy Joe (1976), a drama and romance movie directed by Max Baer Jr., 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

Girls Like Girls (2026)
★ 7.4/10Also romance and dramaAfter her mother's passing, 17-year-old Coley navigates new feelings of intimacy with Sonya in rural Oregon, where both girls must overcome their mutual uncertainties and self-doubt to embrace their connection.
- 2

Charlie St. Cloud (2010)
★ 7/10Also drama and romanceAccomplished sailor Charlie St. Cloud has the adoration of his mother Claire and his little brother Sam, as well as a college scholarship that will lead him far from his sleepy Pacific Northwest hometown. But his…
- 3

Women in Love (1969)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and romanceGrowing up in the sheltered confines of a 1920s English coal-mining community, free-spirited sisters Gudrun and Ursula explore erotic love with a wealthy playboy and a philosophical educator, with cataclysmic results…
- 4

The Color Purple (2023)
★ 7/10Also dramaA decades-spanning tale of love and resilience and of one woman's journey to independence. Celie faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of…
- 5

Life in a Year (2020)
★ 8.2/10Also drama and romanceA 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is dying, so he sets out to give her an entire life, in the last year she has left.
- 6

Love Everlasting (2016)
★ 7.4/10Also romance and dramaBridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
- 7

The Help (2011)
★ 8.2/10Also dramaAibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers…
- 8

The Great Gatsby (2013)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and romanceNick Carraway arrives in New York in 1922, an era of loose morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick encounters the mysterious millionaire Gatsby and his bewitching cousin Daisy…
- 9

Mud (2013)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaTwo teenage boys find a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi River and help him reunite with his lover and escape an avenging family and their armed posse.
- 10

Departure (2016)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and romanceAn English mother and her teenage son spend a week preparing the sale of their remote holiday house in the South of France. Fifteen-year-old Elliot struggles with his dawning sexuality and an increasing alienation from…
- 11

Boy Erased (2018)
★ 7/10Also dramaJared, the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, is outed to his parents at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a gay conversion therapy program – or be permanently exiled and shunned by his…
- 12

Five Dances (2013)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and romanceA gifted young dancer arrives in New York City and joins the downtown contemporary dance world. With talent to burn, he soon must choose between his responsibility to his broken family in the Midwest, and forging a…
- 13

The Object of My Affection (1998)
★ 5.8/10Also drama and romanceA pregnant New York social worker begins to develop romantic feelings for her gay best friend, and decides she'd rather raise her child with him, much to the dismay of her overbearing boyfriend.
- 14

The Notebook (2004)
★ 7.9/10Also romance and dramaAn epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World War II, and is…
- 15

Turtles All the Way Down (2024)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and romance17-year-old Aza Holmes tries be a good daughter, a good friend, and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts that she cannot control. When she reconnects with Davis, her…
- 16

Interiors (1978)
★ 6.8/10Also dramaWhen Eve, an interior designer, is deserted by her husband of many years, Arthur, the emotionally glacial relationships of the three grown-up daughters are laid bare. Twisted by jealousy, insecurity and resentment…
- 17

Not Easily Broken (2009)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and romanceA car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
- 18

Ruth & Boaz (2025)
★ 7.4/10Also romance and dramaA talented singer leaves the Atlanta music scene and starts over in small-town Tennessee, where she finds love and new purpose but can't escape the past.
- 19

The Hours (2002)
★ 7.2/10Also dramaThe story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together…
- 20

The Best of Me (2014)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and romanceA pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.