Highest-Rated Movies about 'Gold Rush'

Ride the High Country (1962), The Cowboys (1972), Bend of the River (1952), Road to Utopia (1945), How the West Was Won (1962), The Hanging Tree (1959), North to Alaska (1960), White Fang (1991) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Gold Rush movies.

#1. Ride the High Country (1962)

Storyline: Aging ex-marshal Steve Judd is hired by a bank to transport a gold shipment through dangerous territory. He hires an old partner, Gil Westrum, and his young protege Heck to assist him. Steve doesn't know, however, that Gil and Heck plan to steal the gold, with or without Steve's help. On the trail, the three get involved in a young woman's desire to escape first from her father, then from her fiance and his dangerously psychotic brothers.

Plot Keywords: miner, 1890s, brothel, brother brother relationship, carnival, domestic violence, redemption ...

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#2. The Cowboys (1972)

Storyline: When his cattle drivers abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his drivers in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage; however, neither Andersen nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.

Plot Keywords: main character dies, long underwear, based on novel, coming of age, rancher, horse riding, saved from hanging ...

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#3. Bend of the River (1952)

Storyline: Two men with questionable pasts, Glyn McLyntock and his friend Cole, lead a wagon-train load of homesteaders from Missouri to the Oregon territory. They establish a settlement outside of Portland and as winter nears, it is necessary for McLyntock and Cole to rescue and deliver food and supplies being held in Portland by corrupt officials. On the trip back to the settlement, up river and over a mountain, Cole engineers a mutiny to divert the supplies to a gold mining camp for a handsome profit.—Herman Seifer <alagain@aol.com>

Plot Keywords: gunfight, western hero, hero, saved from hanging, love triangle, knife, male female relationship ...

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#4. Road to Utopia (1945)

Storyline: At the turn of the century, Duke and Chester, two vaudeville performers, go to Alaska to make their fortune. On the ship to Skagway, they find a map to a secret gold mine, which had been stolen by McGurk and Sperry, a couple of thugs. They disguise themselves as McGurk and Sperry to get off the ship. Meanwhile, Sal Van Hoyden is in Alaska to try and recover the map; it had been her father's. She falls in with Ace Larson, who wants to steal the gold mine for himself. Duke and Chester, McGurk and Sperry, Ace and his henchmen, and Sal, chase each other all over the countryside, trying to get the map.—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>

Plot Keywords: road movie, breaking the fourth wall, mistaken identity, vaudeville, alaska, map, rug ...

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#5. How the West Was Won (1962)

Storyline: Setting off on a journey to the west in the 1830s, the Prescott family run into a man named Linus, who helps them fight off a pack of thieves. Linus then marries daughter Eve Prescott (Carroll Baker), and 30 years later goes off to fight in the Civil War with their son, with bloody results. Eve's sister, Lily, heads farther west and has adventures with a professional gambler, stretching all the way to San Francisco and into the 1880s.

Plot Keywords: imperialism, saloon, san francisco california, singing, small town, spinster, st. louis missouri ...

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#6. The Hanging Tree (1959)

Storyline: In 1873, on the Gold Trail, Montana, the mysterious and controlling Dr. Joseph Frail arrives in the small town of Skull Creek with miners in a gold rush. Dr. Frail buys a cabin on the top of a hill and he sees the smalltime thief Rune wounded and chased by a mob that wants to hang him. Dr. Frail helps and heals Rune; but in return, he demands that the young man becomes his bond servant. The alcoholic healer and preacher George Grubb tells to the locals that Dr. Frail, who is an excellent gambler and gunfighter, is a devil and has a mysterious past but nobody gives attention to his words. Soon the stagecoach is robbed by thieves that kill the passengers but the coachman survives and three days later he reaches Skull Creek. He tells that the horses had speed down the hill with a young woman inside the stagecoach. The men organize a pursuit and the rude Frenchy Plante finds the Swedish Elizabeth Mahler burnt and blind. Dr. Frail and Rune take care of her and they learn that Elizabeth and her father, who was killed in the heist, had come to America to settle down. When Elizabeth is healed, she falls in an unrequited love with Dr. Frail and she decides to stay in Skull Creek to seek gold with Rune. They form a partnership with Frenchy and Dr. Frail secretly finances them to begin their business with The Lucky Lady Mine. When Elizabeth learns that Dr. Frail is helping her, she is upset that he is trying to control them and she promises to pay her debt to him someday. During a heavy rain, a tree falls down at the mine and the trio of partners finds a fortune in gold underground. Frenchy takes some gold to town to buy drinks with the locals and when he is drunk, he takes actions that will affect the lives of the locals and Skull Creek, mostly of Dr. Frail, Elizabeth and Rune.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Plot Keywords: doctor, based on novel, frontier, 1870s, gold rush, bullet, posse ...

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#7. North to Alaska (1960)

Storyline: Sam and George strike gold in Alaska. George sends Sam to Seattle to bring George's fiancée back to Alaska. Sam finds she is already married, and returns instead with Angel. Sam, after trying to get George and Angel together, finally romances Angel, who, in the meantime, is busy fighting off the advances of George's younger brother, Billy. Frankie is a con man trying to steal the partners' gold claim.

Plot Keywords: pistol, goat, lumberjack, pianist, painter, scam, jealousy ...

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#8. White Fang (1991)

Storyline: Jack London's immortal tale of courage and survival comes to life amid the breathtaking beauty of the great Alaskan frontier. Ethan Hawke stars as a young man trying to fulfill his father's dying wish to find gold in the treacherous Yukon valley. His incredible Journey begins when he meets a veteran gold miner who guides young Jack to his father's claim. Along the way, Jack discovers a kindred spirit who will change his life forever a magnificent wolf-dog named White Fang. From the taming of a wolf, to the taming of the wild, he must find the courage to conquer his fears and become a man in this outdoor adventure.

Plot Keywords: based on novel, toothbrush, trap, wolf, bad guy, cabin, dog bite ...

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#10. Paint Your Wagon (1969)

Storyline: A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnaping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boomtown. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining.

Plot Keywords: polyamory, marriage, band, singer, song, dancer, dancing ...

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#11. Honky Tonk (1941)

Storyline: "Candy" Johnson, a great crook of the Wild West, decides to find a town where he could become a big boss. To achieve this, he will need to conceal his true identity and not only pretend to be an honest man, but lead the struggle against the corrupt sheriff. No one in town realizes that the anti-corruption hero is just a greater crook himself. And there is only one person who is stronger than Johnson - a girl he is in love with.—Alexey (Moscow)

Plot Keywords: regret, hustler, poker player, poker game, lynch mob, funeral, gambler ...

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#12. Desire Under the Elms (1958)

Storyline: Ephraim Cabot is an old man of amazing vitality who loves his New England farm with a greedy passion. Hating him, and sharing his greed, are the sons of two wives Cabot has overworked into early graves. Most bitter is Eben, whose mother had owned most of the farm, and who feels who should be sole heir. When the old man brings home a new wife, Anna, she becomes a fierce contender to inherit the farm. Two of the sons leave when Eben gives them the fare in return for their shares of the farm. Meanwhile, Anna tries to cause some sparks by rubbing up against Eben.—Ray Hamel <hamel@primate.wisc.edu>

Plot Keywords: rural setting, connecticut, based on play, hidden money, gold rush, brother brother relationship, infanticide ...

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#13. Fighting Thru (1930)

Storyline: Miner Dan Barton (Ken Maynard) and his partner George Malden, known as "Tennessee", have hit a strike on their claim, and Dan returns to their cabin to find that Malden has departed to meet his sister, Alice (Jeanette Loff), who is arriving on the stage from Tennessee to join her brother. Dan knows that Malden has a weakness for drink, gambling and girls and follows him to town, where he finds him playing cards with gamblers Fox Tyson (Charles King) and saloon owner Ace Brady (William Thorne) who, with the aid of bar girl Queenie (Carmelita Geraghty), are well on their way to cheating him out of his share of the claim. Dan puts the stop to that, but Malden is killed by Tyson and Dan is framed for the killing. He escapes and saves Alice from a stagecoach disaster, and takes her to his and Malden's cabin, but doesn't let her know he is wanted for the death of her brother. But Ace and Tyson quickly inform her, and are well on their way to getting all of the Barton/Malden gold mine. The two songs are "Wait for the Wagon" and "Oh, Susanna." Other than being filmed under the working title of "California in 1878", which was also the title of Jack Natteford's original story,and then getting sold to TV in 1949 and having the title changed, there are no other alternative titles on this film. Two alternative spellings are shown by some sources---fighting for fightin' and through for thru---but those are typos created by two different trade paper reviewers in 1930.Accuracy regarding B-western titles was not a sticky point with the trade papers of the day.There are several versions of this story, including a Maynard remake called "Fargo Express" and Reliable Pictures used the story for Bob Steele's "The Pal from Texas."—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: independent film, horse billed above the title, grindhouse film, betrayal, prospector, jail break, white horse ...

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#14. Badlands of Dakota (1941)

Storyline: Bob Holliday (Broderick Crawford), owner of the Bella Union saloon in Deadwood, sends his younger brother, Jim Holliday (Robert Stack), to St. Louis, Missouri to escort back Anne Grayson (Ann Rutherford), Bob's childhood sweetheart. On the riverboat journey back to Deadwood, Jim and Anne fall in love and are married by the riverboat captain. Whe Bob learns of this he is outraged and goes on a drunken binge and is beat up by the ruthless Jack McCall (Lon Chaney, Jr.) and is saved by a teamster called and known only as Jane (Frances Farmer). She loves Bob and has thought she and Bob would get married. Bitter Bob joins McCall's renegades who, disguised as Indians, rob the stagecoach gold shipments , aided by information supplied by Ransome (Bradley Page), the local agent for the stagecoach line. To end the lawlessness, leading citizens of the town decide to hire a town marshal. When Wild Bill Hickok, turns down the job, Bob suggests that the unqualified Jim be given the job. Bob thinks that Jim will be humiliated and possibly killed, so he can marry Jim's widow. With timely interference by Hickok, Jim arrests McCall but he escapes. And Jane makes an unsuccessful attempt to stop Bob riding with the renegades. Jim has a plan to capture the outlaws by having a posse follow the stagecoach, but it goes awry but Jim finds a watch-fob belonging to Bob. The latter claims he lost it when McCall beat him up. Jim buys his exclamation. Meanwhile McCall murders Hickok and Jim is going after him but is stopped when Jane warns the town that, based on smoke signals, it is about to be attacked by the Sioux. Jim sends stagecoach driver, Hurricane Harry (Fuzzy Knight), to bring General Custer (Addison Richards) and his 7th Cavalry troopers. The Sioux attack and set fire to the town, while Bob and McCall and the gang members, disguised as Indians and under cover of the attack, plan to rob the bank.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: uncle niece relationship, outlaw, gang, death, romantic rivalry, u.s. cavalry, st. louis missouri ...

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#15. The Stolen (2016)

Storyline: Charlotte Lockton, a wealthy, upper class, English immigrant, chooses to forgo all of her home luxuries to find her kidnapped baby son. She navigates her way through the unruly and wild world of the gold rush in 1860's New Zealand, finding unlikely friendship amongst the hustlers, whores, Maori Warriors and Chinese Miners. But in the end, she must face the man who took the boy - and become the woman she never thought she'd be.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: blonde, blood on face, wagon, hitting a woman, loss of family, pretty woman, hit in the head ...

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