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Movies that feel like High and Low (1963)

If you loved High and Low, the closest films we have are Stray Dog (1949), The Big Sleep (1946) and The Lady from Shanghai (1947). All three share High and Low's gritty and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes8.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Akira Kurosawacontemplativegrittytensetwistyatmospheric
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If High and Low hit the spot, these will too

Stray Dog poster
Stray Dog
1949 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 100%7.8crime · drama · thriller

The same hand behind both of them: Akira Kurosawa

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

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The Big Sleep poster
The Big Sleep
1946 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 96%7.9mystery · crime · thriller

The same two preoccupations: blackmail, and film noir

The difference: None of the stillness High and Low is built on

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

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The Lady from Shanghai poster
The Lady from Shanghai
1947 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 86%7.5mystery · crime · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: film noir

A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.

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Odd Man Out poster
Odd Man Out
1947 · dir. Carol Reed
🍅 100%7.6crime · drama · thriller

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

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

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

Contemplative where it counts, gritty underneath

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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The Naked City poster
The Naked City
1948 · dir. Jules Dassin
🍅 85%7.5crime · mystery · thriller

Both land tension and twists at once

After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.

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Touch of Evil poster
Touch of Evil
1958 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 96%8crime · thriller · drama

One thread runs through both: black and white

A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.

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The Killers poster
The Killers
1946 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 97%7.7crime · mystery · thriller

Both lean on atmosphere more than on crime

Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.

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Shadow of a Doubt poster
Shadow of a Doubt
1943 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 100%7.8thriller · mystery · crime

Gritty thriller in both cases

The difference: Made in the 1940s, in a different era of the craft

In sleepy Santa Rosa, restless young Charlie’s world brightens when her sophisticated Uncle Charlie arrives for a long visit. But as his behavior grows increasingly strange, she begins to suspect that her beloved uncle may be hiding a terrible secret—and that danger has quietly entered her home.

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Killer's Kiss poster
Killer's Kiss
1955 · dir. Stanley Kubrick
🍅 83%6.5thriller · crime · drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.

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Le Samouraï poster
Le Samouraï
1967 · dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
🍅 92%8crime · thriller · drama

Common ground: police

After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts, finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him.

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Rashomon poster
Rashomon
1950 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 98%8.1crime · drama · mystery

Both are Akira Kurosawa's work, and they rhyme

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed films that share High and Low’s defining feeling.