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Shoot the Piano Player poster

Movies that feel likeShoot the Piano Player (1960)

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.

If you loved Shoot the Piano Player, the closest films we have are Le Doulos (1962), Le Samouraï (1967) and Blast of Silence (1961). All three share Shoot the Piano Player's contemplative and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).

🍅 90% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. François Truffautcontemplativetensegrittyatmospheric
9 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If Shoot the Piano Player hit the spot, these will too

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

Both are built on the same subject: french noir

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?

Le Samouraï poster
Le Samouraï
1967 · dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
🍅 92%★ 8crime · thriller · dramaPrime VideoMax

Both are working the same pair: jazz club, neo-noir

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.

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

The same mix in both: stillness, then tension

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.

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

One thread runs through both: black and white

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

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

The same preoccupation in 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 land grit and atmosphere at once

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 1980s show

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.

Odds Against Tomorrow poster
Odds Against Tomorrow
1959 · dir. Robert Wise
🍅 88%★ 7.4crime · drama · thriller

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

An old-time crook plans a heist. When one of his two partners is found out to be a black man tensions flare.

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

Thriller with a pulse of tension, 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.

Criss Cross poster
Criss Cross
1949 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 86%★ 7.4crime · thriller

Both lean on grit more than on crime

The difference: Easier on the stillness than Shoot the Piano Player

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

Point Blank poster
Point Blank
1967 · dir. John Boorman
🍅 93%★ 7.2crime · thriller · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: organized crime

After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.

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

Common ground: black and white

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.

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

Atmospheric drama in both cases

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.

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