feelsalike.com

Movies that feel like Stray Dog (1949)

If you loved Stray Dog, the closest films we have are High and Low (1963), Odd Man Out (1947) and The Naked City (1948). All three share Stray Dog's gritty and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 4 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Criterion Channel and Artiflix and others, checked against today's data.

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.

🍅 100% Rotten Tomatoes7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Akira Kurosawagrittycontemplativetensetwistyatmospheric
See it on the map

When is Stray Dog streaming? →

If Stray Dog hit the spot, these will too

High and Low poster
High and Low
1963 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 97%8.4drama · crime · thriller

The same hand behind both of them: Akira Kurosawa

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

Feels alike?
Odd Man Out poster
Odd Man Out
1947 · dir. Carol Reed
🍅 100%7.6crime · drama · thriller

Both are working the same pair: film noir, black and white

The difference: Not nearly as twisty as Stray Dog

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

Feels alike?
The Naked City poster
The Naked City
1948 · dir. Jules Dassin
🍅 85%7.5crime · mystery · thriller

One thread runs through both: film noir

After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.

Feels alike?
The Killers poster
The Killers
1946 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 97%7.7crime · mystery · thriller

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.

Feels alike?
The Big Sleep poster
The Big Sleep
1946 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 96%7.9mystery · crime · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: detective

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?
The Lady from Shanghai poster
The Lady from Shanghai
1947 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 86%7.5mystery · crime · thriller

Both land grit and stillness at once

A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.

Feels alike?
Shadow of a Doubt poster
Shadow of a Doubt
1943 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 100%7.8thriller · mystery · crime

Common ground: detective

In sleepy Santa Rosa, restless young Charlie’s world brightens when her sophisticated Uncle Charlie arrives for a long visit. But as his behavior grows increasingly strange, she begins to suspect that her beloved uncle may be hiding a terrible secret—and that danger has quietly entered her home.

Feels alike?
Out of the Past poster
Out of the Past
1947 · dir. Jacques Tourneur
🍅 87%8crime · thriller

Tense where it counts, atmospheric underneath

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 Asphalt Jungle poster
The Asphalt Jungle
1950 · dir. John Huston
🍅 98%7.8crime · drama

Crime with a pulse of grit, in both cases

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.

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

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

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?
Dark Passage poster
Dark Passage
1947 · dir. Delmer Daves
🍅 90%7.5thriller · mystery

Both lean on twists more than on thriller

A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try and prove his innocence.

Feels alike?
Criss Cross poster
Criss Cross
1949 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 86%7.4crime · thriller

Tense mystery in both cases

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

Feels alike?

In the mood for more gritty?

all gritty movies →

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