Highest-Rated Movies about 'Homelessness', Sort by Popularity

On the Bowery (1956), Rosie (2018), The Caretaker (1964), L'Enfant (2005), Warrior of Light (2001), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Salaam Bombay! (1988), Tokyo Godfathers (2003) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Homelessness movies.

#17. Emperor of the North (1973)

Storyline: It is during the great depression in the US, and the land is full of people who are now homeless. Those people, commonly called "hobos", are truly hated by Shack (Borgnine), a sadistical railway conductor who swore that no hobo will ride his train for free. Well, no-one but "A" Number One (Lee Marvin), who is ready to put his life at stake to become a local legend - as the first person who survived the trip on Shack's notorious train.—Brian Peterson calyooper@email.com

Plot Keywords: hobo, conductor, police officer, tense, spirited, railway, railyard ...

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#19. The Saint of Fort Washington (1993)

Storyline: Matthew, a young schizophrenic, finds himself out on the street when a slumlord tears down his apartment building. Soon, he finds himself in even more dire straits, when he is threatened by Little Leroy, a thug who is one of the tough denizens of the Fort Washington Shelter for Men. He reaches out to Jerry, a streetwise combat veteran, who takes Matthew under his wing as a son. The relationship between these two men grows as they attempt to conquer the numbing isolation of homelessness.—Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>

Plot Keywords: homeless person, mentally impaired person, bully, friend, veteran, gritty, emotional ...

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#20. Sidewalk Stories (1989)

Storyline: Nearly silent comedy filmed in black and white follows a street artist (Charles Lane), who rescues a baby after her father was murdered. The artist then sets off to find the mother, but has to first learn how to care for the child. Ultimately he ends up in a horse drawn chase of the murderers.—John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>

Plot Keywords: artist, beautiful woman, young girl, mother, father, street performer, amusing ...

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#21. The Panic in Needle Park (1971)

Storyline: This movie is a stark portrayal of life among a group of heroin addicts who hang out in "Needle Park" in New York City. Played against this setting is a low-key love story between Bobby, a young addict and small-time hustler, and Helen, a homeless girl who finds in her relationship with Bobby the stability she craves. She becomes addicted too, and life goes downhill for them both as their addiction deepens, eventually leading to a series of betrayals. But, in spite of it all, the relationship between Bobby and Helen endures.

Plot Keywords: junkie, girlfriend, brother, police officer, hustler, dark, disturbing ...

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#22. Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933)

Storyline: Bumper (Al Jolson) is a vagabond leader of a strange group of tatterdemalions and eccentrics who hang around New York's Central Park. Among his followers are Egghead (Harry Langdon), Sunday (Chester Conklin), Acorn (Edgar Conner) , The General (Victor Potel), Orlando (Tammany Young) and Apple Mary (Louise Carver). Bumper's idol is Mayor Hastings (Frank Morgan), whose life he once saved and frequently has lunch at the Park Casino. Bumper is always on hand to open the door of the Mayor's Rolls Royce, and the Mayor makes it a point to linger a moment at the entrance and listen to the whimsical Bumper's philosophy and ideas abut life. Through his contact with the Mayor, Bumper is able to "fix" things when the other vagabonds get in trouble. The Mayor cannot fathom why Bumper, an unusually bright fellow, is content to spend his life in the park, doing nothing. The Mayor, for all his power and popularity, is unhappy. He's in love ----and madly jealous. He believes his sweetheart June Marcher (Madge Bellamy) is "two-timing" him. At lunch he slips a $1,000 in her purse. She loses it and the Mayor accuses her of giving it to another man. Bumper find the purse and takes it to the address in the purse and is met there by the exiting Mayor. He does not see nor know June. Later,The grief-stricken June attempts suicide by jumping from a bridge and is rescued by Bumper, but has lost her memory. He takes her to the tenement home of the Sundays, and asks the Mayor to get him a job, as he has a new interest, known to him as Angel, in his life. He spends his money making Angel happy and she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, the Mayor, despondent over not being able to locate the missing June, goes on a drinking binge and is found asleep in the park by Bumper's friends, who take him hoe and notify Bumper. While Bumper is trying to sober him up, Hastings begins talking to a photograph. Bumper discovers the woman in the photograph is that of Angel, and that the girl of his dreams is the Mayor's sweetheart. Bumper takes his friend to the Sunday family tenement and the sight of the Mayor and his voice as he clasps her in his arms restores June's memory. She pleads to be taken away from "this awful place". All she remembers is walking in the park at night. Bumper is a stranger to her. The Mayor takes her away, out of Bumper's life. Bumper returns to the park and his former life.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: hobo, friend, woman, mayor, charming, offbeat, lighthearted ...

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#23. The Good Heart (2009)

Storyline: After a suicide attempt, Lucas, a young homeless man in New York City, is taken in by Jacques, the gruff owner of a small bar. Jacques is on his fifth or sixth heart attack, and he wants Lucas to run the bar after he dies. Jacques has many rules: don't be friendly, don't serve walk-ins, no food or flowers or candles, put the cash in the freezer every night. Lucas, on the other hand, has a good heart: he gives his money away, he talks to customers, and, when April, a young French woman who has washed out of flight-attendant school, enters the bar chilled to the bone, Lucas takes her in. If Jacques won't tolerate April, what will Lucas do?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: bar owner, homeless person, nurse, psychiatrist, patient, roommate, amusing ...

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#24. American Heart (1992)

Storyline: On the day he is released from the state penitentiary on parole after serving five years for robbery, Jack Kelson is tracked down by his now fourteen year old son, Nick Kelson, who wants to be with his father. Jack, in turn, wants nothing to do with Nick, both in having enough to contend with in getting his life on track for himself, and knowing that his own life has been one big failure, he determined for Nick not to get caught up in that cycle. Regardless as Nick cannot be dissuaded, the pair try to eke out a life together living in a rundown residential hotel in a low income neighborhood in Seattle, with the pipe dream of moving to the land of opportunity of frontier Alaska. While Jack goes to work for a commercial window washing business - one of the lies he telling Nick being he has a job as a construction supervisor - and strikes a relationship with Charlotte, a cab driver who wrote to him in prison, Nick has his first case of puppy love for Molly, a teen prostitute who lives with her adolescent brother Roy and stripper/prostitute mother Diane in a unit in the same building, leading to Nick being ensconced within a group of street youth to which Molly belongs. As the going gets tough, it may be easy for Jack to fall into old routines and Nick to follow in Jack's past footsteps, especially as Jack's old criminal associate Ray, who learned everything he knows from Jack, comes around trying to pull one or both into the life.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: ex-convict, teenager, father, son, criminal, gritty, bleak ...

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#25. Ironweed (1987)

Storyline: Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. She was a singer on the radio, he a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them: she's sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped; visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. That night, out drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. Next day, Fran visits his wife and children and meets a grandson. He could stay, but decides it's not for him. Helen gets their things out of storage and finds a hotel. Amidst their mistakes and dereliction, the film explores their code of fairness and loyalty.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: baseball player, singer, wife, homeless person, bleak, witty, powerful ...

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#26. The Lady in the Van (2015)

Storyline: This movie tells the true story of Alan Bennett's (Alex Jennings') strained friendship with Miss Mary Shepherd (Dame Maggie Smith), an eccentric homeless woman who Bennett befriended in the 1970s before allowing her temporarily to park her Bedford van in the driveway of his Camden house. She stayed there for fifteen years. As the story develops, Bennett learns that Miss Shepherd is really Margaret Fairchild (died 1989), a former gifted pupil of pianist Alfred Cortot. She had played Chopin in a promenade concert, tried to become a nun, was committed to an institution by her brother, escaped, had an accident when her van was hit by a motorcyclist for which she believed herself to blame, and thereafter lived in fear of arrest.

Plot Keywords: playwright, homeless person, amusing, hysterical, positive, inspiring, london ...

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#27. Oliver & Company (1988)

Storyline: Inspired by Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist". A homeless kitten named Oliver, roams the streets of New York, where he is taken in by a gang of homeless mutts who survive by stealing from others. During one of these criminal acts, Oliver meets a wealthy young girl named Jenny Foxworth. This meeting will forever change his life.

Plot Keywords: cat, dog, rich girl, criminal, loan shark, butler, thrilling ...

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#28. With Honors (1994)

Storyline: Monty is a student, and when his computer crashes, he's left with only a single paper copy of his thesis. Frightened of losing it, he immediately rushes out to photocopy it, only to stumble and drop it down a grate. Searching the basement of the building, he discovers that it has been found by Simon, a squatter. Simon makes a deal with Monty: for every day's accomodation and food that Monty gives him, he will give a page of the thesis in return.

Plot Keywords: graduate student, homeless person, friend, roommate, professor, touching, emotional ...

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#29. God Bless the Child (1988)

Storyline: Unemployed, abandoned by her husband and kicked out of her apartment after not being able to pay her rent, newly single mother Theresa Johnson (Mare Winningham) finds herself homeless and raising her daughter, Hillary (Grace Johnston), on the streets. Discouraged by consistently overcrowded shelters and shocking violence, Johnson appeals to social worker Calvin Reed (Dorian Harewood). With Reed's help, Johnson struggles to ensure a decent quality of life for the daughter she loves so much.

Plot Keywords: mother, daughter, homeless person, social worker, husband, powerful, moving ...

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#30. Superman vs. the Elite (2012)

Storyline: 'Superheroes' will introduce us to several of the country's most famous masked heroes including, Mr. Xtreme, a 33-year-old security guard officer by day, but a goon's worst nightmare by night. We'll follow Mr. Xtreme on his nightly patrols through the streets of San Diego, as he tries to stop evildoers and protect the innocent. We'll also meet the New York Initiative, a fantastic foursome of real life superheroes living together that tackle crime fighting, one Brooklyn borough at a time. Lead by Zimmer, we'll watch as they take to the streets and try to lure criminals out of hiding with their controversial Bait-Patrols. With over 300 registered superheroes in the United States, we'll definitively uncover the 'Real-Life Superhero' cultural phenomenon and discover what inspired these everyday citizens to take the law in to their own hands as they try to make the world a better and safer place for all.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: superman, lois lane, villain, hero, patriotic, playful, confident ...

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