Movies like The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner: 20 to watch next
If you loved The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) — a drama film directed by Tony Richardson — these 20 movies are the closest matches.
The first picks are what fans of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner most often go on to watch; the rest share its genres and themes like prison, sports and rebel. 7 of them are streaming in India right now — each entry shows where.
Where to watch The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner →·Get picks for your whole taste →
- 1
Rebel Without a Cause 1955★ 7.5
Shares: Drama
After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 2
Gridiron Gang 2006★ 7.1
Shares: Drama
Under the leadership of their counselor, teenagers at a juvenile detention center gain self-esteem by playing football together. Based on a true story.
Stream in India on Sony Liv, Sonyliv Amazon Channel
- 3
The Mustang 2019★ 6.9
Shares: Drama
While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an especially feisty horse.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 4
The Unforgivable 2021★ 7.4
Shares: Drama
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Stream in India on Netflix
- 5
Cadence 1990★ 6.7
Shares: Drama
As punishment for drunken, rebellious behavior, a young white soldier is thrown into a stockade populated entirely by black inmates. But instead of falling victim to racial hatred, the soldier joins forces with his fellow prisoners and rises up against the insanely tyrannical and bigoted prison warden.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 6
Cool Hand Luke 1967★ 7.7
Shares: Drama
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 7
Foxcatcher 2014★ 6.7
Shares: Drama
The greatest Olympic Wrestling Champion brother team joins Team Foxcatcher led by multimillionaire sponsor John E. du Pont as they train for the 1988 games in Seoul - a union that leads to unlikely circumstances.
Stream in India on VI movies and tv
- 8
Kiss of the Spider Woman 1985★ 7.0
Shares: Drama
The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills their lonely nights by spinning romantic fantasies drawn from memories of old movies.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 9
Imperial Dreams 2014★ 6.5
Shares: Drama
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 10
Killer: A Journal of Murder 1996★ 5.9
Shares: Drama
Carl Panzram is sent to Leavenworth Prison for burglary. While there, he is brutally beaten by a guard. Neophyte guard Henry Lesser feels sympathy for Panzram, befriends him, and gets him to write his life story. Lesser learns that Panzram's past is much more violent than he thought, but also that he's capable of being a much better person than the rest of the prison staff believes - or so Lesser thinks.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 11
Beast 2026★ 7.5
Shares: Drama
MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal champion Xavier Grau.
Stream in India on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, JioHotstar
- 12
All Day and a Night 2020★ 6.3
Shares: Drama
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Stream in India on Netflix
- 13
Bronson 2009★ 6.9
Shares: Drama
A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 14
Siberian Education 2013★ 6.8
Shares: Drama
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against this backdrop two best friends, Kolyma and Gagarin, gradually become fierce enemies as they find themselves on opposite sides of the strict code of honour of the ‘honest criminal’ brotherhood.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 15
Above the Rim 1994★ 7.1
Shares: Drama
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 16
The Smashing Machine 2025★ 6.4
Shares: Drama
In the late 1990s, up-and-coming mixed martial artist Mark Kerr aspires to become the greatest fighter in the world. However, he must also battle his opioid dependence and a volatile relationship with his girlfriend Dawn.
Stream in India on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
- 17
The Cut 2025★ 5.9
Shares: Drama
A retired boxer intends to return to the ring for one last shot at the title, but first he must make the weight. Holed up in a room in Las Vegas with an unscrupulous trainer, he embarks on an intensive and illegal weight-cutting program.
Stream in India on Lionsgate Play, Lionsgate Play Apple TV Channel, Lionsgate Play Amazon Channel
- 18
Coldwater 2013★ 6.4
Shares: Drama
A teenage boy is sent to a juvenile reform facility in the wilderness. As we learn about the tragic events that sent him there, his struggle becomes one for survival with the inmates, counselors, and the retired war colonel in charge.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 19
Hardball 2001★ 6.5
Shares: Drama
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now
- 20
Farming 2018★ 6.2
Shares: Drama
Based on the writer/director's childhood, FARMING tells the story of a young Nigerian boy, 'farmed out' by his parents to a white British family in the hope of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of a white skinhead gang.
Not on subscription streaming in India right now