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Le Samouraï poster

Movies that feel likeLe Samouraï (1967)

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.

If you loved Le Samouraï, the closest films we have are Le Doulos (1962), Shoot the Piano Player (1960) and Blast of Silence (1961). All three share Le Samouraï's gritty and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Narrow Margin (1952).

🍅 92% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jean-Pierre Melvillegrittytensecontemplativeatmospheric
9 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If Le Samouraï hit the spot, these will too

Le Doulos poster
Le Doulos
1962 · dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
🍅 96%★ 7.7drama · thriller · crime

Jean-Pierre Melville directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

Enigmatic gangster Silien may or may not be responsible for informing on Faugel, who was just released from prison and is already involved in what should be a simple heist. By the end of this brutal, twisting, and multilayered policier, who will be left to trust?

Shoot the Piano Player poster
Shoot the Piano Player
1960 · dir. François Truffaut
🍅 90%★ 7.4drama · thriller · crimeMax

Both are working the same pair: jazz club, french noir

Charlie is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard and Chico, surface and ask for Charlie's help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena, a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters arrive, looking for his brothers.

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: hitman

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.

Night Moves poster
Night Moves
1975 · dir. Arthur Penn
🍅 78%★ 7.1thriller · crime · drama

One thread runs through both: neo-noir

Private detective and former football player Harry Moseby gets hired on to what seems a standard missing person case - a former Hollywood actress wants Moseby to find and return her daughter. Harry travels to Florida to find her, but he begins to see a connection between the runaway girl, the world of Hollywood stuntmen, and a suspicious mechanic when an unsolved murder comes to light.

The Long Good Friday poster
The Long Good Friday
1980 · dir. John Mackenzie
🍅 97%★ 7.5crime · thriller · dramaMax

Both are built on the same subject: neo-noir

In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.

Touch of Evil poster
Touch of Evil
1958 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 96%★ 7.9crime · thriller · dramaPrime Video

Both land grit and tension at once

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.

The Night of the Hunter poster
The Night of the Hunter
1955 · dir. Charles Laughton
🍅 93%★ 7.9crime · drama · thriller

The same mix in both: stillness, then atmosphere

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

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

Gritty crime, 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.

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

Thriller with a pulse of tension, in both cases

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

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

One False Move poster
One False Move
1992 · dir. Carl Franklin
🍅 93%★ 7.1crime · drama · thriller

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

Following a series of drug deals and murders, three criminals -- Fantasia, Ray Malcolm and Pluto -- travel from Los Angeles to Houston, finally arriving in a small Arkansas town to go into hiding. Two detectives from the LAPD, who are already on the case, contact the town's sheriff, Dale Dixon, to alert him of the fugitives' presence in the area. Underestimating Dixon, the criminals have no idea what they are about to face.

Body Heat poster
Body Heat
1981 · dir. Lawrence Kasdan
🍅 96%★ 7.4thriller · crime

Atmospheric crime in both cases

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Le Samouraï does

During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.

The Narrow Margin poster
The Narrow Margin
1952 · dir. Richard Fleischer
🍅 100%★ 7.6thriller · crime

Common ground: hitman

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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The best-reviewed films that share Le Samouraï’s defining feeling.