20 best movies like Dangerous Minds (1995)

List of the best movies like Dangerous Minds (1995): The Principal, To Write Love on Her Arms, Selena, Gimme Shelter, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Resurrecting the Champ, Jumpin' at the Boneyard, Rocket Science, The Crucible, In the Gloaming.

Tags: movies similar to Dangerous Minds (1995) - full list

Markimdb: 6.3
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:49

Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genrefantasy, drama, music, biography
CountryUSA
Duration01:42

The story follows 19-year-old Renee who has always loved fairy tales: the idea of a princess, a hero and a happily ever after. But Renee’s life is that of a darker tale: she’s a young woman battling addiction, depression and self-injury. In a creative blend of artistic fantasy balanced with harsh reality, the movie follows Renee on her courageous journey towards recovery.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genredrama, music, biography
CountryUSA
Duration02:07

In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez, who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama
CountryUSA

After running away from her abusive mother, a streetwise teen seeks refuge with her father, but he rejects her when he learns that she's pregnant.

Markimdb: 8
Genremelodrama, drama
CountryUSA
Duration02:09

In Brooklyn circa 1900, the Nolans manage to enjoy life on pennies despite great poverty and Papa's alcoholism. We come to know these people well through big and little troubles: Aunt Sissy's scandalous succession of "husbands"; the removal of the one tree visible from their tenement; and young Francie's desire to transfer to a better school...if irresponsible Papa can get his act together.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genredrama, biography, sport
CountryUSA
Duration01:52

Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.

Markimdb: 6
Genredrama
CountryUSA
Duration01:47

Manny tries to get his crack addict brother, Danny, to clean up.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:41

Hal, a 15-year-old high-school student with a minor yet socially alienating (and painful) disability: he stutters uncontrollably. Determined to work through the problem, Hal opts for an extreme route he joins the school debating team, which sends him on a headfirst plunge into breakneck speech competitions and offers a much-needed boost toward correcting the problem.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genredrama, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:04

Based upon the play "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller (who wrote the screen adaptation), the Salem witch trials in 1692 plunge the Massachusetts Bay colony into chaos.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genredrama
CountryUSA

Danny, dying of Aids, returns home for his last months. Always close to his mother, they share moments of openness that tend to shut out Danny's father and his sister.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genredrama
CountryBulgaria, Sweden

Two estranged brothers are brought together when they have opposite roles in a racist beating: while Georgi who's recently joined a neo-nazi group participates in the violence, Hristo witnesses and rescues a Turkish family. Only by reuniting will the two brothers be able to assess what they really want from life.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genredrama
CountryUSA
Duration01:42

Dr. Matthew Clark is the head of a state institution for intellectually disabled children. Jean Hansen, a former music teacher anxious to give her life some meaning, joins the staff of the hospital. Jean, who tries to shelter the children with her love, suspiciously regards Clark's stern training methods. She becomes emotionally involved with 12-year-old Reuben Widdicombe, who has been abandoned by his divorced parents.

Markimdb: 5.9
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:51

Instead of adhering to the norms of their South Central neighborhood, a group of skater boys opt to bus into Hollywood and Beverly Hills, where they attract local rich girls - and plenty of trouble with the police, jealous boyfriends, and nervous parents.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genrethriller, drama, detective
CountryDenmark, United Kingdom

The psychological thriller "Murk" tells the story of Jacob, who is investigating into the circumstances surrounding his sister's death on her wedding night.

Markimdb: 7.6
Genredrama, biography, sport
CountryUSA
Duration02:09

    Oversized African-American, Michael Oher, the teen from across the tracks and a broken home, has nowhere to sleep at age 16. Taken in by an affluent Memphis couple, Michael embarks on a remarkable rise to play for the NFL.

    Markimdb: 6.9
    Genredrama, music, biography
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:48

    Biographical story of the rise from nowhere of singer Ritchie Valens whose life was cut short by a plane crash.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genremelodrama, drama
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:38

    A gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while traveling across town to perform landscaping work for the city's wealthy landowners.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genredrama, military
    CountryIsrael, Germany, France

    Salma Zidane, a widow, lives simply from her grove of lemon trees in the West Bank's occupied territory. The Israeli defence minister and his wife move next door, forcing the Secret Service to order the trees' removal for security. The stoic Salma seeks assistance from the Palestinian Authority, Israeli army, and a young attorney, Ziad Daud, who takes the case. In this allegory, does David stand a chance against Goliath?

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genredrama
    CountryDenmark, Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, United Kingdom, USA

    Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.

    Markimdb: 5.9
    Genrecomedy, drama, family
    CountryUSA

    The tale of a ten-year-old boy in a Catholic school who, following the death of his beloved grandfather, embarks on a quest to discover the meaning of life.

    Markimdb: 6.9
    Genredrama
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:46

    When David Greene receives a football scholarship to a prestigious prep school in the 1950s, he feels pressure to hide the fact that he is Jewish from his classmates and teachers, fearing that they may be anti-Semitic. He quickly becomes the big man on campus thanks to his football skills, but when his Jewish background is discovered, his worst fears are realized and his friends turn on him with violent threats and public ridicule.

    Markimdb: 7.4
    Genredrama, biography, sport
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:50

      A track coach in a small California town transforms a team of athletes into championship contenders.

      Markimdb: 7.1
      Genredrama, sport
      CountryAustralia, France, USA
      Duration02:07

      PK, an English orphan terrorized for his family's political beliefs in Africa, turns to his only friend, a kindly world-wise prisoner, Geel Piet. Geel teaches him how to box with the motto “fight with your fists and lead with your heart”. As he grows to manhood, PK uses these words to take on the system and the injustices he sees around him - and finds that one person really can make a difference.

      Markimdb: 6.3
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:36

      Four young people navigate the suburban wonderland of metro-Detroit looking for love and adventure on the last weekend of summer.

      Markimdb: 6.7
      Genredrama, crime, music, biography
      CountryUSA
      Duration02:02

      NOTORIOUS is the story of Christopher Wallace. Through raw talent and sheer determination, Wallace transforms himself from Brooklyn street hustler (once selling crack to pregnant women) to one of the greatest rappers of all time; THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. Follow his meteoric rise to fame and his refusal to succumb to expectations - redefining our notion of "The American Dream."

      Markimdb: 6.3
      Genrefantasy, drama, military
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:35

      Hannah Stern, an American-born Jewish adolescent, is uninterested in the culture, faith and customs of her relatives; however, Hannah begins to revaluate her heritage when she has a supernatural experience that transports her back to a Nazi death camp in 1941. There, she meets a young girl named Rivkah, a fellow captive in the camp. As Rivkah and Hannah struggle to survive in the face of daily atrocities, they form an unbreakable bond.

      Markimdb: 6.6
      Genredrama, family, biography, sport
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:55

      A young coach turns a losing high school football program around to go undefeated for 12 consecutive seasons.

      Markimdb: 6.6
      Genrecomedy, drama, sport
      CountryUnited Kingdom, France
      Duration01:46

      Jimmy Grimble is a shy Manchester school boy. At school he is constantly being bullied by the other kids, and at home he has to face his mother's new boyfriend. However, through football, and some special boots, he manages to gain the confidence to succeed and leads his school football team towards the final of the local schools cup.

      Markimdb: 7.6
      Genredrama, family
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:35

      Inspired by a true story, “Beyond the Blackboard” is about a 24-year-old first-time teacher who makes a difference in the lives of the homeless children she teaches in a shelter’s makeshift classroom. Set in 1987 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this movie tells the story a brand-new teacher and Mom who is given a tougher than expected teaching job and winds up teaching homeless children in a school that is housed in a room and called, literally, The School with No Name. She has some personal prejudicial hurdles to cross before she is able to be a true teacher for these children and of course there are hurdles like the lack of books and supplies.

      Markimdb: 8
      Genredrama
      CountryIndia, USA, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong
      Duration02:35

        Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from the Borivali section of Mumbai, has Asperger's syndrome. He marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities at LAX who treat him as a terrorist because of his condition and his race.

        Markimdb: 7.2
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA

        Set in the landscape of a rural southern town, "George Washington" is a stunning portrait of how a group of young kids come to grips with a hard world of choices and consequences. During an innocent game in an abandoned amusement park, a member of the group dies. Narrated by one of the children, the film follows the kids as they struggle to balance their own ambitions and relationships against a tragic lie.

        Markimdb: 6.5
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA, Germany
        Duration02:05

        School nurse Alice Goodwin lives with her husband and two daughters on a dairy farm in a small Wisconsin community. After an accident on her property involving a friend's child, the town turns against her and Alice finds herself fighting charges of child abuse.

        Markimdb: 6.9
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA

        Life of a King is the true story of one man's mission to give inner city kids of Washington DC something he never had - a future. After being incarcerated for eighteen years, Eugene Brown established the Big Chair Chess Club to get kids off the streets and working towards lives they never believed they were capable of. This is his inspirational story.

        Markimdb: 7.3
        Genredrama, biography
        CountryUSA, Republic of Ireland
        Duration02:14

        Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find the situation there even worse. Prejudice against Frankie's Northern Irish father makes his search for employment in the Republic difficult despite his having fought for the IRA, and when he does find money, he spends the money on drink.

        Markimdb: 7.4
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:48

        When principal Joe Clark takes over decaying Eastside High School, he's faced with students wearing gang colors and graffiti-covered walls. Determined to do anything he must to turn the school around, he expels suspected drug dealers, padlocks doors and demands effort and results from students, staff and parents. Autocratic to a fault, this real-life educator put it all on the lin

        Markimdb: 7.3
        Genredrama, biography
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:55

        In 1957, a son and mother flee the East and an abusive boyfriend to find a new life, and end up in Seattle, where the mother meets a polite garage mechanic. The boy continually gets into trouble by hanging out with the wrong crowd. The mom marries the mechanic, but they soon find out that he's an abusive and unreasoning alcoholic, and they struggle to maintain hope in an impossible situation as the boy grows up with plans to escape the small town by any means possible. Based on a true story by Tobias Wolff.

        Markimdb: 6.6
        Genrethriller, drama
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:54

        After surviving a stabbing by a student, teacher Trevor Garfield moves from New York to Los Angeles. There, he resumes teaching as a substitute teacher. The education system, where violent bullies control the classrooms and the administration is afraid of lawsuits, slowly drives Garfield mad.

        Markimdb: 6.2
        Genredrama, sport
        CountryUSA

        A teenager overcomes odds to run a 4-minute mile race.

        Markimdb: 6.7
        Genredrama
        CountryUSA

        In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.

        Markimdb: 5.8
        Genremelodrama, drama, biography
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:36

        Tod Lubitch is born with a deficient immune system. As such, he must spend the rest of his life in a completely sterile environment. His room is completely hermetically sealed against bacteria and virus, his food is specially prepared, and his only human contact comes in the form of gloved hands. The movie follows his life into a teenager.

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