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Movies that feel like Rififi (1955)

If you loved Rififi, the closest films we have are Le Cercle Rouge (1970), The Killing (1956) and Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). All three share Rififi's gritty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

Out of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo offers him, until he discovers that his old girlfriend Mado has become the lover of local gangster Pierre Grutter during Tony's absence. Expanding a minor smash-and-grab into a full-scale jewel heist, Tony and his crew appear to get away clean, but their actions after the job is completed threaten the lives of everyone involved.

πŸ… 92% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 8.1 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Jules Dassingrittytensecontemplativeplayful

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If Rififi hit the spot, these will too

Le Cercle Rouge poster
Le Cercle Rouge
1970 Β· dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Paris shapes both of them

When French criminal Corey gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back into the underworld, however, after a chance encounter with escaped murderer Vogel. Along with former policeman and current alcoholic Jansen, they plot an intricate jewel heist. All the while, quirky Police Commissioner Mattei, who was the one to lose custody of Vogel, is determined to find him.

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The Killing poster
The Killing
1956 Β· dir. Stanley Kubrick
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9crime Β· thriller Β· drama

One thread runs through both: heist

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

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Big Deal on Madonna Street poster
Big Deal on Madonna Street
1958 Β· dir. Mario Monicelli
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.9comedy Β· crime

Common ground: burglary

The difference: Missing the tension of Rififi

Best friends Peppe and Mario are thieves, but they're not very good at it. Still, Peppe thinks that he's finally devised a master heist that will make them rich. With the help of some fellow criminals, he plans to dig a tunnel from a rented apartment to the pawnshop next door, where they can rob the safe. But his plan is far from foolproof, and the fact that no one in the group has any experience digging tunnels proves to be the least of their problems.

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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: heist

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

Gritty where it counts, tense underneath

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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Sabotage poster
Sabotage
1937 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7drama Β· thriller Β· crime

The same preoccupation in both: black and white

The difference: None of the play Rififi is built on

Karl Anton Verloc and his wife own a small cinema in a quiet London suburb where they live seemingly happily. But Mrs. Verloc does not know that her husband has a secret that will affect their relationship and threaten her teenage brother's life.

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

Both are built on the same subject: 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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The Roaring Twenties poster
The Roaring Twenties
1939 Β· dir. Raoul Walsh
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Contemplative crime in both cases

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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Blackmail poster
Blackmail
1929 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 88%β˜… 6.9drama Β· thriller Β· crime

Gritty thriller, and it commits to that

The difference: Made in the 1920s, in a different era of the craft

London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.

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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

Drama with a pulse of tension, in both cases

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

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Charley Varrick poster
Charley Varrick
1973 Β· dir. Don Siegel
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.5crime Β· thriller Β· drama

Both lean on stillness more than on crime

Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.

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The Friends of Eddie Coyle poster
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
1973 Β· dir. Peter Yates
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Thriller built on grit, twice over

An aging hood is about to go back to prison. Hoping to escape his fate, he supplies information on stolen guns to the feds, while simultaneously supplying arms to his bank robbing chums.

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