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Movies that feel like Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

If you loved Angels with Dirty Faces, the closest films we have are Mildred Pierce (1945), Force of Evil (1950) and The Asphalt Jungle (1950). All three share Angels with Dirty Faces' gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 5 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Criterion Channel and Brew and others, checked against today's data.

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.

πŸ… 100% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.9 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Michael Curtizgrittycontemplativeatmospheric

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If Angels with Dirty Faces hit the spot, these will too

Mildred Pierce poster
Mildred Pierce
1945 Β· dir. Michael Curtiz
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama

Michael Curtiz working the same nerve twice

A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.

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Force of Evil poster
Force of Evil
1950 Β· dir. Abraham Polonsky
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.2crime Β· drama

Two things both keep coming back to: gangster and film noir

Lawyer Joe Morse wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation. But his elder brother Leo is one of these small-time operators who wants to stay that way, preferring not to deal with the gangsters who dominate the big-time.

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The Asphalt Jungle poster
The Asphalt Jungle
1950 Β· dir. John Huston
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.8crime Β· drama

One thread runs through both: black and white

Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.

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Odd Man Out poster
Odd Man Out
1947 Β· dir. Carol Reed
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: film noir

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than Angels with Dirty Faces does

Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.

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The Set-Up poster
The Set-Up
1949 Β· dir. Robert Wise
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.8drama Β· crime

Both land grit and stillness at once

Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.

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Scarlet Street poster
Scarlet Street
1945 Β· dir. Fritz Lang
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.7drama Β· crime

Both lean on atmosphere more than on crime

Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she's really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Johnny find out that art dealers are interested in Chris's work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.

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The Big Combo poster
The Big Combo
1955 Β· dir. Joseph H. Lewis
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.3drama Β· crime

Gritty drama in both cases

Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.

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Scarface poster
Scarface
1932 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.7crime Β· action Β· drama

Common ground: gangster

The difference: Sits closer to action than Angels with Dirty Faces does

In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.

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High Sierra poster
High Sierra
1941 Β· dir. Raoul Walsh
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.5crime Β· drama Β· action

Crime built on stillness, twice over

Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.

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Out of the Past poster
Out of the Past
1947 Β· dir. Jacques Tourneur
πŸ… 87%β˜… 8crime Β· thriller

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

The difference: Missing the stillness of Angels with Dirty Faces

The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

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Criss Cross poster
Criss Cross
1949 Β· dir. Robert Siodmak
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.4crime Β· thriller

Atmospheric drama, and it commits to that

An armored-car guard must join a robbery after being caught with his ex-wife by her gangster husband.

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Blast of Silence poster
Blast of Silence
1961 Β· dir. Allen Baron
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Crime with a pulse of grit, in both cases

The difference: 23 years apart, and the 1960s show

A hired killer from Cleveland has a job to do on a second-string mob boss in New York. But a special girl from his past and a fat gun dealer with pet rats get in his way.

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In the mood for more gritty?

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The best-reviewed films that share Angels with Dirty Faces’ defining feeling.