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Movies that feel like Scarface (1932)

If you loved Scarface, the closest films we have are The Big Sleep (1946), High Sierra (1941) and Blast of Silence (1961). All three share Scarface's gritty and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 3 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.

πŸ… 98% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.7 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Howard Hawksgrittykineticcontemplativetenseatmospheric
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If Scarface hit the spot, these will too

The Big Sleep poster
The Big Sleep
1946 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9mystery Β· crime Β· thriller

Howard Hawks working the same nerve twice

The difference: Missing the momentum of Scarface

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

Feels alike?
High Sierra poster
High Sierra
1941 Β· dir. Raoul Walsh
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.5crime Β· drama Β· action

The same preoccupation in both: film noir

Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.

Feels alike?
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

The difference: Not nearly as kinetic as Scarface

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.

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: gangster

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.

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

Common ground: film noir

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

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

Both are built on the same subject: murder

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.

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

Both land grit and tension at once

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

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Key Largo poster
Key Largo
1948 Β· dir. John Huston
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.7crime Β· thriller

Both are built on the same subject: gangster

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.

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

The same mix in both: stillness, then atmosphere

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.

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

Gritty crime, and it commits to that

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.

Feels alike?
The Roaring Twenties poster
The Roaring Twenties
1939 Β· dir. Raoul Walsh
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama Β· thriller

One thread runs through both: prohibition era

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.

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

Contemplative drama in both cases

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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In the mood for more gritty?

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