Taylor Sheridan wrote and directed this icy crime thriller about a U.S. Fish and Wildlife tracker who helps an FBI agent investigate a young woman’s death on the Wind River Reservation. If you like the darker, more procedural side of the Yellowstone world, this is one of the closest movie matches—and yes, Gil Birmingham is in it, which only makes the connection stronger.
Two brothers in West Texas rob banks to save their family land, while a Texas Ranger follows close behind. It’s one of Taylor Sheridan’s best (and earliest!) scripts and it has that same sense of people making desperate choices because the world has already squeezed them too hard.
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as grandparents trying to rescue their grandson from a dangerous family? That alone should be enough to get Yellowstone fans interested. Let Him Go starts a bit more gently, but don’t be fooled!
This isn’t a ranch family drama, but it absolutely belongs on the list. A man finds money in the Texas desert after a drug deal goes wrong and the violence that follows has the same kind of dread that hangs over the best Dutton Ranch conflicts.
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
A sheriff in a Texas border town finds human remains and starts digging into a case people would rather leave alone. The pace is slower, but that’s part of the point—because it feels like everybody knows more than they’re saying. (Sound familiar?!)
A teenage girl hires a U.S. Marshal to help track down her father’s killer, but she’s not interested in being treated like a child while doing it. The Coen brothers’ version has plenty of dry humor, but the revenge story underneath is dead serious. Mattie Ross would last about five minutes around Beth Dutton before they either became best friends or ruined someone’s life together!
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
There are no Dutton-style shootouts here, so don’t go in expecting that. The Power of the Dog is all tension inside the house, with Benedict Cumberbatch as a rancher who knows exactly how to make everyone around him miserable. It’s a good pick if the Beth-and-Beulah mind games are part of what keeps you watching.
Legends of the Fall is much more sweeping and romantic than Dutton Ranch, but come on: a Montana ranch family, impossible love, brothers who cannot stop hurting each other. It belongs here!
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Lawless trades ranch land for bootlegging country, but the family-business pressure feels very familiar. Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, and Jason Clarke play brothers running moonshine during Prohibition, and Guy Pearce shows up to pretty much give ‘em nothing but trouble.
This one flips the Bonnie and Clyde story away from the outlaws and toward the men hunting them. Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson play former Texas Rangers who are brought back for one more job.
Kelly O’Sullivan is the senior editor for The Pioneer Woman and manages the website’s social channels, in addition to overseeing content strategy and news.
Watch Next
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
