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Movies that feel like High Plains Drifter (1973)

If you loved High Plains Drifter, the closest films we have are Changeling (2008), Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). All three share High Plains Drifter's gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 8 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 gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.

πŸ… 91% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.4 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Clint Eastwoodgrittycontemplativetwisty
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If High Plains Drifter hit the spot, these will too

Changeling poster
Changeling
2008 Β· dir. Clint Eastwood
πŸ… 61%β˜… 7.7crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Clint Eastwood working the same nerve twice

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption.

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Anatomy of a Murder poster
Anatomy of a Murder
1959 Β· dir. Otto Preminger
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8crime Β· drama Β· mystery

The same mix in both: grit, then stillness

The difference: Sits closer to crime than High Plains Drifter does

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance poster
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962 Β· dir. John Ford
πŸ… 95%β˜… 8.1western

The same two preoccupations: gunslinger, and showdown

The difference: Not nearly as contemplative as High Plains Drifter

Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance. As the territory's safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.

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After Dark, My Sweet poster
After Dark, My Sweet
1990 Β· dir. James Foley
πŸ… 80%β˜… 6.5crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Drama built on twists, twice over

Three desperados try to kidnap a wealthy child in hope of turning their lives around.

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And Then There Were None poster
And Then There Were None
1945 Β· dir. RenΓ© Clair
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.3crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Gritty mystery, and it commits to that

The difference: 28 years apart, and the 1940s show

Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island and while they are waiting for the mysterious host to appear, a recording levels serious accusations at each of the guests. Soon they start being murdered, one by one. As the survivors try to keep their wits, they reach a disturbing conclusion: one of them must be the killer.

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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

Western with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

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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12 poster
12
2007 Β· dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
πŸ… 76%β˜… 7.5crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Both lean on twists more than on drama

A loose remake of β€œ12 Angry Men”, β€œ12” is set in contemporary Moscow where 12 very different men must unanimously decide the fate of a young Chechen accused of murdering his step-father, a Russian army officer. Consigned to a makeshift jury room in a school gymnasium, one by one each man takes center stage to confront, connect, and confess while the accused awaits a verdict and revisits his heartbreaking journey through war in flashbacks.

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Brick poster
Brick
2006 Β· dir. Rian Johnson
πŸ… 79%β˜… 7.1drama Β· mystery Β· crime

Gritty mystery in both cases

A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.

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Rashomon poster
Rashomon
1950 Β· dir. Akira Kurosawa
πŸ… 98%β˜… 8.1crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Western built on stillness, twice over

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

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Mother poster
Mother
2009 Β· dir. Bong Joon Ho
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.7crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Drama with a pulse of twists, in both cases

A mother lives quietly with her son. One day, a girl is brutally killed, and the boy is charged with the murder. Now, it's his mother's mission to prove him innocent.

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The Third Murder poster
The Third Murder
2017 Β· dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
πŸ… 87%β˜… 6.7drama Β· mystery Β· crime

Mystery in the same key

A lawyer tasked with defending a robbery-and-murder suspect begins developing doubts about what truly happened.

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Hang 'em High poster
Hang 'em High
1968 Β· dir. Ted Post
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7western Β· drama

Both know what they want from western

Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.

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In the mood for more gritty?

all gritty movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share High Plains Drifter’s defining feeling.