Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "former-slave"

1. Gladiator (2000)

R | 155 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

A former Roman General sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed

Votes: 1,623,942 | Gross: $187.71M

2. Django Unchained (2012)

R | 165 min | Comedy, Drama, Western

With the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi.

Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington

Votes: 1,699,257 | Gross: $162.81M

3. 12 Years a Slave (2013)

R | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History

In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.

Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt

Votes: 742,269 | Gross: $56.67M

4. Lawmen: Bass Reeves (2023)

TV-MA | 45 min | Drama, Western

About the legendary lawman Bass Reeves, one of the greatest frontier heroes and one of the first Black deputy U.S. marshals west of the Mississippi River.

Stars: David Oyelowo, Lauren E. Banks, Demi Singleton, Forrest Goodluck

Votes: 11,408

5. Hell on Wheels (2011–2016)

TV-14 | 42 min | Drama, Western

The Civil War is past, but former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon can't put it behind him. Fresh are the memories of the death of his wife, killed at the hands of Union soldiers, an act that sets him on a course of revenge.

Stars: Anson Mount, Colm Meaney, Robin McLeavy, Phil Burke

Votes: 55,850

6. Ben-Hur (1959)

G | 212 min | Adventure, Drama

After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet

Votes: 254,049 | Gross: $74.70M

7. Glory (1989)

R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History

Robert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.

Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman

Votes: 144,755 | Gross: $26.83M

8. Emancipation (2022)

R | 132 min | Action, Thriller

A runaway slave forges through the swamps of Louisiana on a tortuous journey to escape plantation owners that nearly killed him.

Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Will Smith, Ben Foster, Charmaine Bingwa, Gilbert Owuor

Votes: 27,306

9. Return to Oz (1985)

PG | 113 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.

Director: Walter Murch | Stars: Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie

Votes: 30,435

10. Harriet (I) (2019)

PG-13 | 125 min | Action, Biography, Drama

The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.

Director: Kasi Lemmons | Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn

Votes: 30,797

11. Kull the Conqueror (1997)

PG-13 | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

A barbarian warrior becomes a king when he defeats a king in armed combat and the king's heir conspire to overthrow him and reclaim the throne by resurrecting an evil sorceress.

Director: John Nicolella | Stars: Kevin Sorbo, Tia Carrere, Thomas Ian Griffith, Litefoot

Votes: 8,786 | Gross: $6.09M

12. The Message (1976)

PG | 177 min | Biography, Drama, History

This epic historical drama chronicles the life and times of Prophet Muhammad and serves as an introduction to early Islamic history.

Director: Moustapha Akkad | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Irene Papas, Michael Ansara, Johnny Sekka

Votes: 50,912

13. Song of the South (1946)

G | 94 min | Animation, Comedy, Family

The kindly story-teller Uncle Remus tells a young boy stories about trickster Br'er Rabbit, who outwits Br'er Fox and slow-witted Br'er Bear.

Directors: Harve Foster, Wilfred Jackson | Stars: Ruth Warrick, Bobby Driscoll, James Baskett, Luana Patten

Votes: 15,263 | Gross: $63.72M

14. The Book of Negroes (2015)

265 min | Drama, History, War

Kidnapped in Africa and subsequently enslaved in South Carolina, Aminata must navigate a revolution in New York, isolation in Nova Scotia, and the treacherous jungles of Sierra Leone, in an attempt to secure her freedom in the eighteenth century.

Stars: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Lyriq Bent, Ben Chaplin, Allan Hawco

Votes: 2,267

15. Surrounded (2023)

R | 100 min | Drama, Western

Former Buffalo Soldier Mo Washington travels West to lay claim on a gold mine. After her stagecoach is ambushed, Mo is tasked with holding a dangerous outlaw captive and must survive the day when the bandit's gang tries to free him.

Director: Anthony Mandler | Stars: Letitia Wright, Jamie Bell, Jeffrey Donovan, Michael Kenneth Williams

Votes: 2,110

16. The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

R | 95 min | Action

On the hunt for a fabled treasure of gold, a band of warriors, assassins, and a rogue British soldier descend upon a village in feudal China, where a humble blacksmith looks to defend himself and his fellow villagers.

Director: RZA | Stars: Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, RZA

Votes: 64,291 | Gross: $15.63M

17. Psycho Goreman (2020)

Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi

After unearthing a gem that controls an evil monster looking to destroy the Universe, a young girl and her brother use it to make him do their bidding.

Director: Steven Kostanski | Stars: Nita-Josée Hanna, Owen Myre, Matthew Ninaber, Steven Vlahos

Votes: 15,147

18. Beloved (1998)

R | 172 min | Drama, History, Horror

A slave is visited by the spirit of a mysterious young woman.

Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Yada Beener, Emil Pinnock

Votes: 9,588 | Gross: $22.85M

19. Amazing Grace (2006)

PG | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History

The idealist William Wilberforce maneuvers his way through Parliament, endeavoring to end the British transatlantic slave trade.

Director: Michael Apted | Stars: Ioan Gruffudd, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Romola Garai

Votes: 25,712 | Gross: $21.21M

20. Shadrach (1998)

PG-13 | 88 min | Drama

In 1935, ninety-nine-year-old former slave Shadrach asks to be buried on the soil where he was born to slavery, and that land is owned by the large Dabney family, consisting of Vernon, ... See full summary »

Director: Susanna Styron | Stars: Martin Sheen, John Franklin Sawyer, Scott Terra, Ginnie Randall

Votes: 1,341 | Gross: $0.02M

21. Queen (1993)

TV-14 | 282 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

The son of a plantation owner has a daughter named Queen, with a slave. As Queen grows, she is faced with the struggle of trying to fit in with the troubled world around her.

Stars: Ann-Margret, Patricia Clarkson, Tim Daly, Ossie Davis

Votes: 1,722

22. Alien Nation (1989–1990)

TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi

In the near future, a human cop and his alien partner fight crime and discrimination in Los Angeles.

Stars: Gary Graham, Eric Pierpoint, Michele Scarabelli, Lauren Woodland

Votes: 5,521

23. From a Whisper to a Scream (1987)

R | 99 min | Action, Drama, Horror

In a small Tennessee town, a historian relates four horror stories to a reporter.

Director: Jeff Burr | Stars: Vincent Price, Clu Gulager, Terry Kiser, Harry Caesar

Votes: 2,993 | Gross: $1.36M

24. Cimarron (1931)

Passed | 123 min | Drama, Western

A newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century.

Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, Nance O'Neil

Votes: 6,950

25. Buck and the Preacher (1972)

GP | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.

Directors: Sidney Poitier, Joseph Sargent | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Cameron Mitchell

Votes: 2,701 | Gross: $3.03M

26. Sergeants 3 (1962)

Approved | 112 min | Comedy, Western

Three cavalry officers and a bugler work together to thwart a Native American chief intent on uniting local tribes against the white man.

Director: John Sturges | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford

Votes: 1,335

27. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974 TV Movie)

TV-PG | 110 min | Drama, History

Story of a black woman in the South who was born into slavery in the 1850s and lives to become a part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

Director: John Korty | Stars: Cicely Tyson, Eric Brown, Richard Dysart, Joel Fluellen

Votes: 2,508

28. A Southern Haunting (2023)

PG-13 | 94 min | Horror, Thriller

After receiving 40-acres, an ex-slave family battles man and myth to uncover the truth behind their land.

Directors: M.J. Anderson, T. Huff | Stars: Merle Ackelson, Robert Ackelson, Donovan Ailton, Gerald Alston

Votes: 365

29. Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (1990 TV Movie)

92 min | Adventure, Family

This is yet another telling of the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as the two try to clear their friend Jim of murder charges.

Director: Paul Krasny | Stars: Raphael Sbarge, Mitchell Anderson, Megan Follows, William Windom

Votes: 154

30. Savannah (2013)

PG-13 | 101 min | Drama, Family, History

Drama about the friendship between an Oxford-educated Southerner and a former black slave in turn-of-the-century Savannah.

Director: Annette Haywood-Carter | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jaimie Alexander, Bradley Whitford

Votes: 1,772 | Gross: $0.04M

31. Buffalo Soldiers (1997 TV Movie)

G | 100 min | Drama, History, Western

The all-black US Cavalry Troop H pursues Apache warrior Victorio while dealing with racial bigotry and myths about their designated enemies.

Director: Charles Haid | Stars: Lamont Bentley, Tom Bower, Timothy Busfield, Gabriel Casseus

Votes: 934

32. Alien Nation (1989 TV Movie)

Unrated | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi

A bigoted human policeman in the L.A. of the future and his alien partner learn to live with each other's differences while attempting to solve a drug conspiracy hidden in the subculture of... See full summary »

Director: Kenneth Johnson | Stars: Gary Graham, Eric Pierpoint, Michele Scarabelli, Lauren Woodland

Votes: 1,267

33. Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1994)

113 min | Drama, War

The movie, adapted from Allan Gurganus' 1989 book of the same name, chronicles the life of Lucy Marsden, a ninety-nine-year-old North Carolina woman who, at the age of fourteen, married a ... See full summary »

Stars: Diane Lane, Donald Sutherland, Amber Brooke, Blythe Danner

Votes: 583

34. Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive (1992 TV Movie)

TV-PG | 97 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

Said to be based on fact, the residents of new houses experience disturbing supernatural phenomena. They find out that their houses are built on land formerly used as a cemetery.

Director: John Patterson | Stars: Patty Duke, David Selby, Kiersten Warren, Blake Clark

Votes: 551

35. The Outcasts (1968–1969)

60 min | Western

A bounty hunter who was a Confederate Officer teams up with an ex-slave who was a Union Soldier during the Civil War. They are the Outcasts.

Stars: Don Murray, Otis Young, Don 'Red' Barry, Art Metrano

Votes: 182

36. Freedom Road (1979 TV Movie)

186 min | Drama

A former slave Gideon Jackson, after fighting in the civil war returns home as a free man and becomes a U.S. senator. Will he ever achieve real equality with his former white master?

Director: Ján Kadár | Stars: Muhammad Ali, Kris Kristofferson, Ron O'Neal, Edward Herrmann

Votes: 207

37. Convicts (1991)

PG | 93 min | Drama, Western

Horton Foote's story of a teen-aged boy in the Depression who finds work on an eccentric's sugar plantation and learns life's surprising lessons from the team of convicts who also work there.

Director: Peter Masterson | Stars: Robert Duvall, Lukas Haas, James Earl Jones, Starletta DuPois

Votes: 733

38. Ghost Fever (1986)

PG | 86 min | Comedy, Horror

Two policeman are sent on a routine assignment to serve an eviction notice. It becomes anything but run-of-the-mill when they become involved in the ghostly happenings.

Director: Lee Madden | Stars: Sherman Hemsley, Luis Avalos, Jennifer Rhodes, Deborah Benson

Votes: 422

39. Master of Dragonard Hill (1987)

R | 93 min | Adventure, Drama

Abdee, the formerly enslaved Scottish nobleman living on the lush 18th century colonial Caribbean island of St. Joseph's, is framed for murder and forced to lead a new rebellion.

Director: Gérard Kikoïne | Stars: Oliver Reed, Eartha Kitt, Herbert Lom, Kimber Sissons

Votes: 360

40. Romola (1924)

Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, History

In Renaissance Florence, Tito, a no-good young man pretending to be a scholar, wins the admiration of a blind man who has long looked for someone to finish his scholarly work. He has a ... See full summary »

Director: Henry King | Stars: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, William Powell, Ronald Colman

Votes: 250 | Gross: $0.50M

41. In Search of Bass Reeves (2024)

105 min | Western

Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves was one of the preeminent gunfighters of the Old West. We explore his life from captive slave to legendary lawman, through the antebellum South to the Civil War and the hostile plains of Indian Territory.

Director: Dana Celeste Robinson | Stars: TJ Trueh, Mark Boardman, Art Burton, David Kennedy

42. Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (2003)

75 min | Documentary

When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years later, the memories of some 2,000 slave-era survivors were transcribed and preserved by the ... See full summary »

Directors: Ed Bell, Thomas Lennon | Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett, Michael Boatman, Roscoe Lee Browne

Votes: 250

43. Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts (2019)

75 min | Documentary

An inventive feature documentary capturing the vivid life of Bill Traylor, who in his late 80s, living homeless on the street in the thriving segregated black neighborhood of Montgomery, ... See full summary »

Director: Jeffrey Wolf | Stars: Russell G. Jones, Jason Samuels Smith, Greg Tate, Sharon Washington

Votes: 29

44. Old Natchez on the Mississippi (1939)

9 min | Documentary, Short, Music

This Traveltalks short focuses on the city's preservation of the architecture, apparel, and customs of the antebellum South.

Stars: James A. FitzPatrick, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Mose, Uncle Ned

Votes: 50

45. FFF: Live '08 (2008 Music Video)

36 min | Music

Add a Plot

Director: Florian Kuenemann | Stars: Ld Ambroise, Stanley Micky, Darlingo Salah, Pendragon Amadeus Simon Skigin

46. The Big Valley (1965–1969)
Episode: The Buffalo Man (1967)

TV-PG | 60 min | Western

Convict labor is used at the ranch during harvest time. The men are treated sadistically by their guard, especially an ex-slave who served in a special unit during the Civil War.

Director: Joe Mazzuca | Stars: Richard Long, Peter Breck, Lee Majors, Linda Evans

Votes: 89

47. Fantasy Island (1977–1984)
Episode: The Mermaid/The Victim (1979)

TV-G | 60 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Julie Brett disregards Roarke's warnings and dates her dream man Michael Duvall, only to wind up as a sex slave; and college professor Harold DeHaven, hoping to make a significant scientific discovery, meets up with a mermaid.

Director: Earl Bellamy | Stars: Ricardo Montalban, Hervé Villechaize, James Darren, Yvonne De Carlo

Votes: 97

48. Gunsmoke (1955–1975)
Episode: The Good Samaritans (1969)

TV-PG | 60 min | Western

A group of former slaves on their way to Oregon are temporarily halted to repair a broken wheel. They find Matt on the prairie, wounded by two outlaws trying to prevent his reaching Dodge City, and hide him until he can recover.

Director: Bernard McEveety | Stars: Milburn Stone, Amanda Blake, Ken Curtis, James Arness

Votes: 176

49. The Magnificent Seven (1998–2000)
Episode: Ghosts of the Confederacy (1998)

TV-14 | 90 min | Action, Western

A Seminole tribe under attack by ragtag Confederates hire seven gunfighters to defend their village.

Director: Geoff Murphy | Stars: Michael Biehn, Eric Close, Andrew Kavovit, Dale Midkiff

Votes: 128

50. The Outer Limits (1995–2002)
Episode: Promised Land (1998)

TV-PG | 45 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

On a future Earth, a group of alien settlers and group of escaped human slaves battle the environment and each other. As the casualties pile up, can they set aside their misunderstandings and learn to co-exist?

Director: Neill Fearnley | Stars: Caroline Goodall, Joseph Kell, Susan Hogan, Rene Auberjonois

Votes: 239