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Movies that feel like Mean Streets (1973)

If you loved Mean Streets, the closest films we have are Once Upon a Time in America (1984), GoodFellas (1990) and Casino (1995). All three share Mean Streets's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 10 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Philo, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel and YouTube TV and others, checked against today's data.

A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.

πŸ… 92% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.2 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Martin Scorsesecontemplativegrittyromantic

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If Mean Streets hit the spot, these will too

Once Upon a Time in America poster
Once Upon a Time in America
1984 Β· dir. Sergio Leone
πŸ… 86%β˜… 8.3drama Β· crime

Gangster sits at the heart of each

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

Feels alike?
GoodFellas poster
GoodFellas
1990 Β· dir. Martin Scorsese
πŸ… 93%β˜… 8.7drama Β· crime

Martin Scorsese working the same nerve twice

The difference: Missing the romance of Mean Streets

The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.

Feels alike?
Casino poster
Casino
1995 Β· dir. Martin Scorsese
πŸ… 79%β˜… 8.2crime Β· drama

Martin Scorsese directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: A 1990s film, from a different era of filmmaking

In Las Vegas, two best friends--a casino executive and a Mafia enforcer--compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.

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Taxi Driver poster
Taxi Driver
1976 Β· dir. Martin Scorsese
πŸ… 89%β˜… 8.2crime Β· drama

Contemplative and gritty in the same breath

Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.

Feels alike?
The Godfather Part II poster
The Godfather Part II
1974 Β· dir. Francis Ford Coppola
πŸ… 96%β˜… 9drama Β· crime

The same preoccupation in both: italian american

In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.

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Straight Time poster
Straight Time
1978 Β· dir. Ulu Grosbard
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

After being released on parole, a burglar attempts to go straight, get a regular job, and just go by the rules. He soon finds himself back in jail at the hands of a power-hungry parole officer.

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Blue Collar poster
Blue Collar
1978 Β· dir. Paul Schrader
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.5drama Β· crime

Gritty crime in both cases

Fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass, and coupled with financial hardships on each man's end, three auto assembly line workers hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters.

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Pickpocket poster
Pickpocket
1959 Β· dir. Robert Bresson
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.5crime Β· drama

Both trade on stillness more than on being drama

Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.

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The Godfather poster
The Godfather
1972 Β· dir. Francis Ford Coppola
πŸ… 97%β˜… 9.2drama Β· crime

Both keep circling back to gangster

Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.

Feels alike?
Blood Simple poster
Blood Simple
1985 Β· dir. Joel Coen
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.5crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Money is the engine of both

The difference: Leans thriller where Mean Streets does not

The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.

Feels alike?
Blow poster
Blow
2001 Β· dir. Ted Demme
πŸ… 56%β˜… 7.5crime Β· drama

Gritty crime, and it commits to that

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

The story of how George Jung, together with the MedellΓ­n Cartel led by Pablo Escobar, established the billion-dollar cocaine empire in the United States in the 1970s.

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Elevator to the Gallows poster
Elevator to the Gallows
1958 Β· dir. Louis Malle
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both built around secret love

A self-assured businessman murders his employer, husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Mean Streets's defining feeling.