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Movies that feel like Mildred Pierce (1945)

If you loved Mildred Pierce, the closest films we have are Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Scarlet Street (1945) and The Asphalt Jungle (1950). All three share Mildred Pierce'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.

A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.

πŸ… 88% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.9 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Michael Curtizgrittycontemplativeatmospheric

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If Mildred Pierce hit the spot, these will too

Angels with Dirty Faces poster
Angels with Dirty Faces
1938 Β· dir. Michael Curtiz
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama

Michael Curtiz working the same nerve twice

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.

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Scarlet Street poster
Scarlet Street
1945 Β· dir. Fritz Lang
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.7drama Β· crime

The same two preoccupations: film noir, and murder

Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she's really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Johnny find out that art dealers are interested in Chris's work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.

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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: black and white

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: film noir

The difference: Sits closer to thriller than Mildred Pierce does

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

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

Gritty and contemplative in the same breath

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

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Force of Evil poster
Force of Evil
1950 Β· dir. Abraham Polonsky
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.2crime Β· drama

Both lean on atmosphere more than on crime

Lawyer Joe Morse wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation. But his elder brother Leo is one of these small-time operators who wants to stay that way, preferring not to deal with the gangsters who dominate the big-time.

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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

One thread runs through both: murder

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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The Big Combo poster
The Big Combo
1955 Β· dir. Joseph H. Lewis
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.3drama Β· crime

Gritty drama, and it commits to that

Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.

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The Postman Always Rings Twice poster
The Postman Always Rings Twice
1946 Β· dir. Tay Garnett
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.4drama Β· romance Β· crime

Both are built on the same subject: infidelity

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

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

Atmospheric crime in both cases

The difference: None of the stillness Mildred Pierce is built on

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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Stray Dog poster
Stray Dog
1949 Β· dir. Akira Kurosawa
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.8crime Β· drama Β· thriller

The same preoccupation in both: black and white

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

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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

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

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 best-reviewed films that share Mildred Pierce’s defining feeling.