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Movies that feel like Key Largo (1948)

If you loved Key Largo, the closest films we have are The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The Narrow Margin (1952) and Out of the Past (1947). All three share Key Largo's gritty and atmospheric 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.

A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up - and holds at gunpoint hotel owner James Temple, his widowed daughter-in-law Nora, and ex-GI Frank McCloud.

πŸ… 97% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.7 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. John Hustongrittytenseatmospheric

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If Key Largo hit the spot, these will too

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

The same hand behind both of them: John Huston

The difference: Not nearly as tense as Key Largo

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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The Narrow Margin poster
The Narrow Margin
1952 Β· dir. Richard Fleischer
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6thriller Β· crime

Common ground in both: widow and film noir

A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's widow on a train journey from Chicago to Los Angeles.

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Out of the Past poster
Out of the Past
1947 Β· dir. Jacques Tourneur
πŸ… 87%β˜… 8crime Β· thriller

The same preoccupation in both: gangster

The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

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

Both are built on the same subject: film noir

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

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

Gritty and tense in the same breath

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

Atmospheric crime in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into drama than Key Largo does

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

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The Stranger poster
The Stranger
1946 Β· dir. Orson Welles
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.3thriller Β· crime

Both lean on grit more than on thriller

An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.

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Touch of Evil poster
Touch of Evil
1958 Β· dir. Orson Welles
πŸ… 96%β˜… 8crime Β· thriller Β· drama

One thread runs through both: hotel

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 Big Heat poster
The Big Heat
1953 Β· dir. Fritz Lang
πŸ… 95%β˜… 7.9crime Β· thriller

Common ground: death

After the suspicious suicide of a fellow cop, tough homicide detective Dave Bannion takes the law into his own hands when he sets out to smash a vicious crime syndicate.

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: gangster

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

Crime built on tension, twice over

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

Atmospheric thriller, 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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In the mood for more gritty?

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The best-reviewed films that share Key Largo’s defining feeling.