Moving and important American Drama films
by gkaran555 | created - 07 Nov 2015 | updated - 4 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Personal Best (1982)
R | 128 min | Drama, Sport
The intertwined lives and loves of three highly ranked athletes striving for the national team; Chris bounces between the beds of male coach Terry and her female friend, competitor, and role model Tory.
Director: Robert Towne | Stars: Mariel Hemingway, Scott Glenn, Patrice Donnelly, Kenny Moore
Votes: 3,211 | Gross: $5.67M
2. Monster's Ball (2001)
R | 111 min | Drama, Romance
After a family tragedy, a racist prison guard re-examines his attitudes while falling in love with the African-American wife of the last prisoner he executed.
Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Taylor Simpson, Gabrielle Witcher
Votes: 94,055 | Gross: $31.27M
3. The Unbelievable Truth (1989)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A man returns to his home town after serving a prison sentence for homicide, and finds that the details of the crime have been forgotten and replaced with local legends and rumors.
Director: Hal Hartley | Stars: Adrienne Shelly, Robert John Burke, Chris Cooke, Julia McNeal
Votes: 6,284 | Gross: $0.55M
4. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama
A pharmacy-robbing dope fiend and his crew pop pills and evade the law.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James Le Gros, Heather Graham
Votes: 40,605 | Gross: $4.73M
5. The Prime Gig (2000)
R | 98 min | Drama
A telesales con man finds the ultimate racket, but starting an affair with the girlfriend of his guru-like boss might be the wrong call.
Director: Gregory Mosher | Stars: Vince Vaughn, Julia Ormond, Ed Harris, Rory Cochrane
Votes: 2,310
6. In the Company of Men (1997)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
Two business executives--one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest--set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life.
Director: Neil LaBute | Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, Stacy Edwards, Michael Martin
Votes: 14,284 | Gross: $2.86M
7. In the Bedroom (2001)
R | 131 min | Crime, Drama
A New England couple's college-aged son dates an older woman who has two small children and an unwelcome ex-husband.
Director: Todd Field | Stars: Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei
Votes: 42,422 | Gross: $35.93M
8. They All Laughed (1981)
PG | 115 min | Comedy, Romance
A madcap private-eye caper about a team of detectives who are following, and are being followed by, a group of beautiful women.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, Patti Hansen, John Ritter
Votes: 3,009
9. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
PG | 112 min | Drama, Romance
A recently widowed woman is on the road with her precocious young son, determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Mia Bendixsen, Alfred Lutter III
Votes: 27,457 | Gross: $18.60M
10. Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
R | 100 min | Drama
A sexually repressed woman's husband is having an affair with her sister. The arrival of a visitor with a rather unusual fetish changes everything.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo
Votes: 59,428 | Gross: $24.74M
11. Safe (1995)
R | 119 min | Drama
An affluent and unexceptional homemaker in the suburbs develops multiple chemical sensitivity.
Director: Todd Haynes | Stars: Julianne Moore, Xander Berkeley, Dean Norris, Julie Burgess
Votes: 17,230 | Gross: $0.51M
12. Beautiful Girls (1996)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A piano player at a crossroads in his life returns home to his friends and their own problems with life and love.
Director: Ted Demme | Stars: Matt Dillon, Timothy Hutton, Noah Emmerich, Annabeth Gish
Votes: 34,716 | Gross: $10.60M
13. Touch Me (1997)
107 min | Drama, Romance
Bridgette is an actress teaching aerobics, and she falls in love with idle playboy Adam, who runs his father's gym. One day she finds out that one of her ex-lovers died of AIDS and, ... See full summary »
Director: H. Gordon Boos | Stars: Amanda Peet, Michael Vartan, Peter Facinelli, Kari Wuhrer
Votes: 475
14. The Straight Story (1999)
G | 112 min | Biography, Drama
An old man makes a long journey by lawnmower to mend his relationship with an ill brother.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Jane Galloway Heitz, Joseph A. Carpenter
Votes: 97,420 | Gross: $6.20M
15. Five Easy Pieces (1970)
R | 98 min | Drama
A dropout from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
Director: Bob Rafelson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg
Votes: 40,518 | Gross: $19.40M
16. 9½ Weeks (1986)
R | 117 min | Drama, Romance
A woman becomes involved with a man she barely knows. Complications develop during their sexual escapades.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, Margaret Whitton, David Margulies
Votes: 43,793 | Gross: $6.73M
17. Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
R | 89 min | Comedy, Drama
A New Yorker's life is thrown into a tailspin when his younger cousin surprise-visits him, starting a strange, unpredictable adventure.
Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: John Lurie, Eszter Balint, Richard Edson, Cecillia Stark
Votes: 40,645 | Gross: $2.44M
18. Paris, Texas (1984)
R | 145 min | Drama
Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Sam Berry
Votes: 118,802 | Gross: $2.18M
19. Ordinary People (1980)
R | 124 min | Drama
The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father and the guilt-ridden younger son.
Director: Robert Redford | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton
Votes: 56,661 | Gross: $54.80M
20. Buffalo '66 (1998)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After being released from prison, Billy is set to visit his parents with his wife, whom he does not actually have. This provokes Billy to act out, as he kidnaps a girl and forces her to act as his wife for the visit.
Director: Vincent Gallo | Stars: Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Rourke
Votes: 60,217 | Gross: $2.38M
21. Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
R | 111 min | Drama, Romance
Ben Sanderson, a Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his alcoholism, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
Director: Mike Figgis | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis
Votes: 134,596 | Gross: $32.03M
22. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
R | 134 min | Drama, Romance
Ennis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid
Votes: 382,059 | Gross: $83.04M
23. Regarding Henry (1991)
PG-13 | 108 min | Drama, Romance
After being shot, a lawyer loses his memory and must relearn speech and mobility, but he has a loving family to support him.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Harrison Ford, Annette Bening, Michael Haley, Stanley Swerdlow
Votes: 34,359 | Gross: $43.00M
24. Days of Heaven (1978)
PG | 94 min | Drama, Romance
A hot-tempered farm laborer convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz
Votes: 62,725
25. You Can Count on Me (2000)
R | 111 min | Drama
A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely seen younger brother returns to town.
Director: Kenneth Lonergan | Stars: Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, Amy Ryan, Michael Countryman
Votes: 31,412 | Gross: $9.18M
26. Husbands (1970)
PG-13 | 154 min | Comedy, Drama
After the death of a common friend, three married men leave their lives together, seeking pleasure and freedom and ultimately leaving for London.
Director: John Cassavetes | Stars: Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Jenny Runacre
Votes: 7,333 | Gross: $0.78M
27. Winter's Bone (2010)
R | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.
Director: Debra Granik | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Garret Dillahunt, Isaiah Stone
Votes: 150,519 | Gross: $6.53M
28. Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
R | 102 min | Drama
While drag-racing through the American Southwest in a Chevrolet 150, a driver and his mechanic cross paths with an enigmatic hitchhiker and the tall-tale-spinning driver of a GTO.
Director: Monte Hellman | Stars: James Taylor, Warren Oates, Laurie Bird, Dennis Wilson
Votes: 13,417
29. Manhattan (1979)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway, Michael Murphy
Votes: 147,203 | Gross: $45.70M
30. Tender Mercies (1983)
PG | 92 min | Drama, Music
A broken-down, middle-aged country singer gets a new wife, reaches out to his long-lost daughter, and tries to put his troubled life back together.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Wilford Brimley
Votes: 12,011 | Gross: $8.44M
31. The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
PG | 110 min | Drama
Follows the lives of heroin addicts who frequent "Needle Park" in New York City.
Director: Jerry Schatzberg | Stars: Al Pacino, Kitty Winn, Alan Vint, Richard Bright
Votes: 20,195
32. Perfect (1985)
R | 115 min | Drama, Romance
A female aerobics instructor meets a male reporter doing a story on health clubs, but it isn't love at first sight.
Director: James Bridges | Stars: John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ramey Ellis, Alma Beltran
Votes: 5,982 | Gross: $12.92M
33. Girlfriends (1978)
PG | 88 min | Comedy, Drama
A photographer and her girlfriend are roommates. She is stuck with small-change shooting jobs and dreams of success. When her roommate decides to get married and leave, she feels hurt and has to learn how to deal with living alone.
Director: Claudia Weill | Stars: Melanie Mayron, Eli Wallach, Adam Cohen, Anita Skinner
Votes: 3,083
34. In the Soup (1992)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama
New Yorker Adolpho Rollo is your classic head-movie auteur. In his mind, he's creating deathless classics of the screen. Back in the real world, he can't pay the rent on the downtown flophouse he calls home.
Director: Alexandre Rockwell | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Seymour Cassel, Jennifer Beals, Pat Moya
Votes: 4,369 | Gross: $0.26M
35. Chan Is Missing (1982)
Not Rated | 76 min | Drama, Mystery
Two cab drivers search San Francisco's Chinatown for the mysterious Chan, who disappeared with their $4000.
Director: Wayne Wang | Stars: Wood Moy, Marc Hayashi, Laureen Chew, Peter Wang
Votes: 1,853
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