Highest-Rated Movies about 'Small-town Life', Sort by Popularity

God's Country (1985), Lazybones (1925), Walking Across Egypt (1999), Salem's Lot (1979), The Day After (1983), The Fugitive (1947), My Afternoons with Margueritte (2010), Dogville (2003) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Small-town Life movies.

#1. God's Country (1985)

Storyline: Acclaimed director Louis Malle's documentary examines the small Minnesota farming town of Glencoe at two separate times. In 1979, Malle profiles the town's sleepy, sometimes charming way of life and the citizens' less-than-refined values. When Malle and his crew return six years later, they encounter a town seized by economic woe. Farms are shutting down, citizens are angry with President Ronald Reagan, and an American way of life may be gone for good.

Plot Keywords: farmer, bride, groom, attorney, old man, old woman, profound ...

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#2. Lazybones (1925)

Storyline: "Lazybones" Steve (Buck Jones) is fawned over by his girlfriend, Agnes (Jane Novak) and doting mother. But, when he saves Agnes' sister from a suicide attempt, this loafer suddenly finds himself raising her secret newborn daughter, Kit. His easy life turns hard when the town assumes she's his illegitimate child. Steve is called to fight in World War I, and when he returns Kit is no longer a picked-on kid but a beautiful woman (Madge Bellamy). Then his love becomes not quite so paternal.

Plot Keywords: man, mother, adopted daughter, troubled woman, girlfriend, mother-in-law, mushy ...

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#3. Walking Across Egypt (1999)

Storyline: An elderly Southern widow, Mattie Rigsbee (Ellen Burstyn), begrudgingly starts to acknowledge that she can't live on her own. When Mattie becomes friends with the town dogcatcher, Lamar Benfield (Mark Hamill), she is also introduced to his orphaned nephew, Wesley (Jonathan Taylor Thomas). Although Wesley has been in trouble with the law and incarcerated for auto theft, Mattie sees potential in the boy and tries to point him in the right direction by allowing him to live with her.

Plot Keywords: elderly woman, teen boy, uncle, widow, delinquent, reverend, emotional ...

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#4. Salem's Lot (1979)

Storyline: Based on the Stephen King novel, Ben Mears (David Soul) has returned to his hometown of Salem's Lot to write a book about the supposedly haunted Marsten House that resides on a hill overlooking the small town. His project is curtailed, however, when he finds out that someone has bought the long-empty property. But when people around the Marsten House start dying mysteriously, Mears discovers that the owner of the mansion is actually a vampire who is turning them into an army of undead slaves.

Plot Keywords: vampire, writer, teenager, doctor, priest, love interest, dark ...

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#6. The Fugitive (1947)

Storyline: In a Latin American country where the government has outlawed public religious displays, the last priest (Henry Fonda) in a village seeks refuge in a church, disguised as a peasant. Discovered by an Indian woman, Maria (Dolores del Río), the priest agrees to baptize her children and other poor people in the village. The priest's efforts to escape the military police are constantly upset by the desperate religious demands of the local people, and a beggar intent on turning him in.

Plot Keywords: priest, peasant, criminal, police chief, police officer, informant, dark ...

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#8. Dogville (2003)

Storyline: Late one night, a beautiful and well-dressed young woman, Grace (Nicole Kidman), arrives in the mountainous old mining town of Dogville as a fugitive; following the sound of gunshots in the distance which have been heard by Tom (Paul Bettany), the self-appointed moral spokesman for the town. Persuaded by Tom, the town agree to hide Grace, and in return she freely helps the locals. However, when the Sheriff from a neighbouring town posts a Missing notice, advertising a reward for revealing her whereabouts, the townsfolk require a better deal from Grace, in return for their silence; and when the Sheriff returns some weeks later with a Wanted poster, even though the citizens know her to be innocent of the false charges against her, the town's sense of goodness takes a sinister turn and the price of Grace's freedom becomes a workload and treatment akin to that of a slave. But Grace has a deadly secret that the townsfolk will eventually encounter.

Plot Keywords: outcast, shopkeeper, wife, writer, child, profound, dark ...

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#9. Sling Blade (1996)

Storyline: A partially handicapped man named Karl is released from a mental hospital, about 20 years after murdering his mother and another person. Karl is often questioned if he will ever kill again, and he shrugs in response saying there is no reason to. Now out of the mental institution, Karl settles in his old, small hometown, occupying himself by fixing motors. After meeting a young boy named Frank, who befriends him, Karl is invited to stay at Frank's house with his mother Linda, who views Karl as a strange but kind and generous man. However, Linda's abusive boyfriend, Doyle, sees things differently in the way rules ought to be run- normally insulting Linda's homosexual friend Vaughan as well as Karl's disabilities, and having wild parties with his friends. As Karl's relationship with Frank grows, he is watchful of Doyle's cruel actions.

Plot Keywords: mentally challenged, young boy, mother, boyfriend, father, somber, powerful ...

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#10. The Last Picture Show (1971)

Storyline: In tiny Anarene, Texas, in the lull between World War Two and the Korean Conflict, Sonny and Duane are best friends. Enduring that awkward period of life between boyhood and manhood, the two pass their time the best way they know how -- with the movie house, football, and girls. Jacy is Duane's steady, wanted by every boy in school, and she knows it. Her daddy is rich and her mom is good looking and loose. It's the general consensus that whoever wins Jacy's heart will be set for life. But Anarene is dying a quiet death as folks head for the big cities to make their livings and raise their kids. The boys are torn between a future somewhere out there beyond the borders of town or making do with their inheritance of a run-down pool hall and a decrepit movie house -- the legacy of their friend and mentor, Sam the Lion. As high school graduation approaches, they learn some difficult lessons about love, loneliness, and jealousy. Then folks stop attending the second-run features at the movie...

Plot Keywords: student, mistress, coach, mother, waitress, small-business owner, bleak ...

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#12. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Storyline: Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life - including playing the tuba in the town band. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow picks up his tuba and moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone from the greedy opera committee to the sensationist daily newspaper. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. Babe is a hot-shot reporter who figures the best way to get close to Deeds is to pose as a damsel in distress. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.

Plot Keywords: heir, reporter, lawyer, amusing, charming, spirited, new york city ...

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#13. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Storyline: In a castle high on top of a hill lives an inventor's greatest creation - Edward, a near-complete person. The creator died before he could finish Edward's hands; instead, he is left with metal scissors for hands. Since then, he has lived alone, until a kind lady called Peg discovers him and welcomes him into her home. At first, everyone welcomes him into the community, but soon things begin to take a change for the worse.

Plot Keywords: scientist, mother, teen girl, bully, neighbor, creative, dreamy ...

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#14. Amarcord (1973)

Storyline: One year in a small northern Italian coastal town in the late 1930s is presented. The slightly off-kilter cast of characters are affected by time and location, the social mores dictated largely by Catholicism and the national fervor surrounding Il Duce aka Benito Mussolini and Fascism. The stories loosely center on a mid-teen named Titta and his household including his adolescent brother, his ever supportive mother who is always defending him against his father, his freeloading maternal Uncle Lallo, and his paternal grandfather who slyly has eyes and hands for the household maid. Other townsfolk include: Gradisca, the town beauty, who can probably have any man she wants, but generally has no one as most think she out of their league; Volpina, the prostitute; Giudizio, the historian; a blind accordionist; and an extremely buxom tobacconist. The several vignettes presented include: the town bonfire in celebration of spring; life at Titta's school with his classmates and teachers; ...

Plot Keywords: son, father, mother, amusing, cheeky, dreamy, spirited ...

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#15. Harvey (1950)

Storyline: The classic stage hit gets the Hollywood treatment in the story of Elwood P. Dowd who makes friends with a spirit taking the form of a human-sized rabbit named Harvey that only he sees (and a few privileged others on occasion also.) After his sister tries to commit him to a mental institution, a comedy of errors ensues. Elwood and Harvey become the catalysts for a family mending its wounds and for romance blossoming in unexpected places.

Plot Keywords: alcoholic, sister, doctor, manager, daughter, judge, winsome ...

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