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Fat City poster

Movies that feel likeFat City (1972)

The story of two men, a veteran boxer who is down and out, and a young man who is just starting his life and boxing career. Their fighting careers cross paths as their lives and fortunes head in opposite directions.

If you loved Fat City, the closest films we have are The Set-Up (1949), Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and The Asphalt Jungle (1950). All three share Fat City's contemplative and atmospheric feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A Colt is My Passport (1967).

🍅 100% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. John Hustoncontemplativeatmospheric
9 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If Fat City hit the spot, these will too

The Set-Up poster
The Set-Up
1949 · dir. Robert Wise
🍅 85%★ 7.8drama · crime

Two things both keep coming back to: transporter and sports

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Fat City does

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

Sweet Smell of Success poster
Sweet Smell of Success
1957 · dir. Alexander Mackendrick
🍅 98%★ 8dramaPrime Video

Contemplative and atmospheric in the same breath

New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.

The Asphalt Jungle poster
The Asphalt Jungle
1950 · dir. John Huston
🍅 98%★ 7.8crime · drama

John Huston directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: 22 years apart, and the 1950s show

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.

Phoenix poster
Phoenix
2014 · dir. Christian Petzold
🍅 98%★ 7.3drama

Both are built on the same subject: neo-noir

In the aftermath of WWII, German-Jewish cabaret singer Nelly has to undergo facial reconstructive surgery following her survival from Auschwitz. Without recognising Nelly, her former husband Johnny asks her to help him claim his wife’s inheritance. To see if he's betrayed her, she agrees, becoming her own doppelgänger.

The Big Combo poster
The Big Combo
1955 · dir. Joseph H. Lewis
🍅 93%★ 7.3drama · crime

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

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.

Force of Evil poster
Force of Evil
1950 · dir. Abraham Polonsky
🍅 100%★ 7.2crime · drama

Drama with a pulse of atmosphere, in both cases

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.

A Colt is My Passport poster
A Colt is My Passport
1967 · dir. Takashi Nomura
★ 7.4action · crime · drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

A gang lord hires Kamimura, a hit man, to take out a rival boss who's gotten greedy.

Night Moves poster
Night Moves
1975 · dir. Arthur Penn
🍅 78%★ 7.1thriller · crime · drama

One thread runs through both: neo-noir

Private detective and former football player Harry Moseby gets hired on to what seems a standard missing person case - a former Hollywood actress wants Moseby to find and return her daughter. Harry travels to Florida to find her, but he begins to see a connection between the runaway girl, the world of Hollywood stuntmen, and a suspicious mechanic when an unsolved murder comes to light.

Blast of Silence poster
Blast of Silence
1961 · dir. Allen Baron
🍅 83%★ 7.4crime · drama · thriller

Both run atmospheric where it counts

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.

One False Move poster
One False Move
1992 · dir. Carl Franklin
🍅 93%★ 7.1crime · drama · thriller

Both are drama through and through

Following a series of drug deals and murders, three criminals -- Fantasia, Ray Malcolm and Pluto -- travel from Los Angeles to Houston, finally arriving in a small Arkansas town to go into hiding. Two detectives from the LAPD, who are already on the case, contact the town's sheriff, Dale Dixon, to alert him of the fugitives' presence in the area. Underestimating Dixon, the criminals have no idea what they are about to face.

Detour poster
Detour
1945 · dir. Edgar G. Ulmer
🍅 98%★ 7.3drama · thrillerPrime Video

Drama in the same key

The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.

The Long Good Friday poster
The Long Good Friday
1980 · dir. John Mackenzie
🍅 97%★ 7.5crime · thriller · dramaMax

Cut from the same drama cloth

In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.

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