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Chinatown poster

Movies that feel likeChinatown (1974)

Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.

If you loved Chinatown, the closest films we have are Blow Out (1981), Three Days of the Condor (1975) and The Tenant (1976). All three share Chinatown's twisty and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Cutter's Way (1981).

πŸ… 98% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 8.1 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Roman Polanskigrittytwistytenseparanoid
10 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max Β· Amazon Prime Video Β· Paramount Plus Premium

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If Chinatown hit the spot, these will too

Blow Out poster
Blow Out
1981 Β· dir. Brian De Palma
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4crime Β· mystery Β· thrillerPrime Video

Common ground in both: conspiracy and whodunit

While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terry stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally from the car, but the other passenger is already dead β€” a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead.

Three Days of the Condor poster
Three Days of the Condor
1975 Β· dir. Sydney Pollack
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4thriller Β· mystery

Both keep coming back to the same thing: conspiracy

The difference: Trades the grit of Chinatown for an angle of its own

When bookish CIA researcher Joe Turner finds all his co-workers dead, he, together with a woman he has kidnapped, must work together to outwit those responsible until he determines who he can really trust.

The Tenant poster
The Tenant
1976 Β· dir. Roman Polanski
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.5thriller Β· mystery Β· drama

Roman Polanski working the same nerve twice

The difference: Easier on the grit than Chinatown

A quiet and inconspicuous man rents an apartment in Paris where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.

The Man Who Knew Too Much poster
The Man Who Knew Too Much
1956 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.4thriller Β· mystery Β· drama

Both are built on the same subject: whodunit

The difference: Leans harder into drama than Chinatown does

An American doctor and his wife, a former singing star, witness a murder while vacationing in Morocco, and are drawn into a twisting plot of international intrigue when their young son is kidnapped.

Cutter's Way poster
Cutter's Way
1981 Β· dir. Ivan Passer
πŸ… 92%β˜… 6.8drama Β· mystery Β· thriller

Gritty and twisty in the same breath

Alex Cutter is a boozy, belligerent and deeply cynical Vietnam veteran whose encounter with a landmine during the war has left him minus an eye, a leg and an arm. When his drifter playboy friend Richard Bone is falsely accused of murder, Cutter sets out for revenge in his own inimitable style.

The Lady Vanishes poster
The Lady Vanishes
1938 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.7mystery Β· thrillerMax

Both land tension and paranoia at once

The difference: 36 years apart, and the 1930s show

On a train headed for England a group of travelers is delayed by an avalanche. Holed up in a hotel in a fictional European country, young Iris befriends elderly Miss Froy. When the train resumes, Iris suffers a bout of unconsciousness and wakes to find the old woman has disappeared. The other passengers ominously deny Miss Froy ever existed, so Iris begins to investigate with another traveler and, as the pair sleuth, romantic sparks fly.

Gone Baby Gone poster
Gone Baby Gone
2007 Β· dir. Ben Affleck
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama Β· mysteryParamount+

Crime built on grit, twice over

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasonsβ€”they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.

L.A. Confidential poster
L.A. Confidential
1997 Β· dir. Curtis Hanson
πŸ… 99%β˜… 8.2crime Β· mystery Β· thrillerPrime Video

Common ground: femme fatale

Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.

The French Connection poster
The French Connection
1971 Β· dir. William Friedkin
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.7action Β· crime Β· thriller

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

The Parallax View poster
The Parallax View
1974 Β· dir. Alan J. Pakula
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.1crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Paranoid mystery in both cases

An ambitious reporter gets in trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.

The Conversation poster
The Conversation
1974 Β· dir. Francis Ford Coppola
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.7crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Crime with a pulse of twists, in both cases

A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.

In the Heat of the Night poster
In the Heat of the Night
1967 Β· dir. Norman Jewison
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Both lean on grit more than on mystery

African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.

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The best-reviewed films that share Chinatown’s defining feeling.