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Gangs of New York poster

Movies that feel likeGangs of New York (2002)

In early 1860s New York, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon is released from prison and returns to the Five Points, seeking revenge against his father's killer, William Cutting, a powerful anti-immigrant gang leader. He knows that revenge can only be attained by infiltrating Cutting's inner circle. Vallon's journey becomes a fight for personal survival and to find a place for the Irish people.

If you loved Gangs of New York, the closest films we have are Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), The Irishman (2019) and Casino (1995). All three share Gangs of New York's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Serpico (1973).

🍅 72% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Martin Scorsesecontemplativeepicgritty
7 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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If Gangs of New York hit the spot, these will too

Killers of the Flower Moon poster
Killers of the Flower Moon
2023 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 93%★ 7.5crime · history · dramaApple TV+

Martin Scorsese directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Made in the 2020s, in a different era of the craft

When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one—until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.

The Irishman poster
The Irishman
2019 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 95%★ 7.8crime · drama · historyNetflix

The same hand behind both of them: Martin Scorsese

Pennsylvania, 1956. Frank Sheeran, a war veteran of Irish origin who works as a truck driver, accidentally meets mobster Russell Bufalino. Once Frank becomes his trusted man, Bufalino sends him to Chicago with the task of helping Jimmy Hoffa, a powerful union leader related to organized crime, with whom Frank will maintain a close friendship for nearly twenty years.

Casino poster
Casino
1995 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 79%★ 8.2crime · dramaPrime Video

The same mix in both: stillness, then grit

The difference: Takes it somewhere less epic than Gangs of New York does

In Las Vegas, two best friends--a casino executive and a Mafia enforcer--compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.

GoodFellas poster
GoodFellas
1990 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 93%★ 8.7drama · crime

Common ground in both: gangster and irish-american

The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.

Black Mass poster
Black Mass
2015 · dir. Scott Cooper
🍅 74%★ 6.8drama · crime · history

Common ground: gangster

The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.

Silence poster
Silence
2016 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 83%★ 7.2drama · historyRent or buy

Drama built on scale, twice over

In the 17th century, two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor, who is rumored to have committed apostasy, and to propagate Catholicism.

J. Edgar poster
J. Edgar
2011 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 44%★ 6.5drama · crime · history

Contemplative history, and it commits to that

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

As the face of law enforcement in the United States for almost 50 years, J. Edgar Hoover was feared and admired, reviled and revered. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career, and his life.

Richard Jewell poster
Richard Jewell
2019 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 77%★ 7.5drama · history · crime

Both lean on scale more than on crime

Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.

Just Mercy poster
Just Mercy
2019 · dir. Destin Daniel Cretton
🍅 85%★ 7.6drama · crime · history

Drama with a pulse of grit, in both cases

The powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Bryan fights tirelessly for Walter with the system stacked against them.

House of Gucci poster
House of Gucci
2021 · dir. Ridley Scott
🍅 62%★ 6.6drama · crime · historyPrime VideoHulu

Contemplative history in both cases

When Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately… murder.

Spotlight poster
Spotlight
2015 · dir. Tom McCarthy
🍅 97%★ 8.1drama · history

Epic crime in both cases

The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

Serpico poster
Serpico
1973 · dir. Sidney Lumet
🍅 93%★ 7.7crime · drama · history

Drama built on grit, twice over

New York cop Frank Serpico blows the whistle on the rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.

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The best-reviewed films that share Gangs of New York’s defining feeling.