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Movies that feel like High Sierra (1941)

If you loved High Sierra, the closest films we have are White Heat (1949), The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and Odd Man Out (1947). All three share High Sierra's gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 6 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Criterion Channel and MUBI and others, checked against today's data.

Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.

πŸ… 92% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.5 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Raoul Walshgrittycontemplativekinetictenseatmospheric

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If High Sierra hit the spot, these will too

White Heat poster
White Heat
1949 Β· dir. Raoul Walsh
πŸ… 94%β˜… 8.1crime Β· drama Β· thriller

The same hand behind both of them: Raoul Walsh

The difference: None of the momentum High Sierra is built on

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.

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The Asphalt Jungle poster
The Asphalt Jungle
1950 Β· dir. John Huston
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.8crime Β· drama

Common ground in both: film noir and life on the run

The difference: Not nearly as kinetic as High Sierra

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.

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Odd Man Out poster
Odd Man Out
1947 Β· dir. Carol Reed
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama Β· thriller

One thread runs through both: film noir

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

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Odds Against Tomorrow poster
Odds Against Tomorrow
1959 Β· dir. Robert Wise
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Common ground: robbery

An old-time crook plans a heist. When one of his two partners is found out to be a black man tensions flare.

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The Night of the Hunter poster
The Night of the Hunter
1955 Β· dir. Charles Laughton
πŸ… 93%β˜… 8crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: prison

In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.

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Blast of Silence poster
Blast of Silence
1961 Β· dir. Allen Baron
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both land grit and stillness at once

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 1960s show

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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Scarface poster
Scarface
1932 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.7crime Β· action Β· drama

Kinetic where it counts, tense underneath

In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.

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Criss Cross poster
Criss Cross
1949 Β· dir. Robert Siodmak
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.4crime Β· thriller

Crime built on atmosphere, twice over

An armored-car guard must join a robbery after being caught with his ex-wife by her gangster husband.

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The Roaring Twenties poster
The Roaring Twenties
1939 Β· dir. Raoul Walsh
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both are Raoul Walsh's work, and they rhyme

After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

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Killer's Kiss poster
Killer's Kiss
1955 Β· dir. Stanley Kubrick
πŸ… 83%β˜… 6.5thriller Β· crime Β· drama

Gritty drama, and it commits to that

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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The Big Clock poster
The Big Clock
1948 Β· dir. John Farrow
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6crime Β· thriller

Tense thriller in both cases

George Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor, has to postpone a vacation with his wife - again - when a glamorous blonde is murdered and he is assigned by his publishing boss to find the killer. As the investigation proceeds to its conclusion, Stroud must try to disrupt his ordinarily brilliant investigative team as they increasingly build evidence that he is the killer.

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The Set-Up poster
The Set-Up
1949 Β· dir. Robert Wise
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.8drama Β· crime

Action with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

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

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In the mood for more gritty?

all gritty movies β†’

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