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Movies that feel like The French Connection (1971)

If you loved The French Connection, the closest films we have are Blow Out (1981), Marathon Man (1976) and Donnie Brasco (1997). All three share The French Connection's gritty and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 8 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Paramount Plus Premium and others, checked against today's data.

Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

πŸ… 97% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.7 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. William Friedkinkineticgrittytenseparanoid
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If The French Connection hit the spot, these will too

Blow Out poster
Blow Out
1981 Β· dir. Brian De Palma
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4crime Β· mystery Β· thriller

Common ground: paranoia

The difference: Missing the momentum of The French Connection

While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terry stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally from the car, but the other passenger is already dead β€” a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead.

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Marathon Man poster
Marathon Man
1976 Β· dir. John Schlesinger
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.4thriller Β· crime Β· drama

New York City shapes both of them

The difference: Not nearly as kinetic as The French Connection

A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.

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Donnie Brasco poster
Donnie Brasco
1997 Β· dir. Mike Newell
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.7crime Β· drama Β· thriller

The same preoccupation in both: gangster

The difference: Sits closer to drama than The French Connection does

An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.

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Dirty Harry poster
Dirty Harry
1971 Β· dir. Don Siegel
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.7action Β· crime Β· thriller

The same mix in both: momentum, then grit

When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement – is tasked with hunting down the psychopath.

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Bullitt poster
Bullitt
1968 Β· dir. Peter Yates
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.4action Β· crime Β· thriller

Action with a pulse of tension, in both cases

Senator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal's hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt. When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses. This thriller includes one of the most famous car chases ever filmed.

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The Parallax View poster
The Parallax View
1974 Β· dir. Alan J. Pakula
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.1crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both lean on paranoia more than on crime

An ambitious reporter gets in trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.

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To Live and Die in L.A. poster
To Live and Die in L.A.
1985 Β· dir. William Friedkin
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.3crime Β· thriller Β· action

Both are William Friedkin's work, and they rhyme

When his longtime partner on the force is killed, reckless U.S. Secret Service agent Richard Chance vows revenge, setting out to nab dangerous counterfeit artist Eric Masters.

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Branded to Kill poster
Branded to Kill
1967 Β· dir. Seijun Suzuki
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.2thriller Β· crime Β· action

Kinetic thriller in both cases

After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.

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Assault on Precinct 13 poster
Assault on Precinct 13
1976 Β· dir. John Carpenter
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.3thriller Β· action Β· crime

Gritty action, and it commits to that

A highway patrol officer, two criminals, and a station secretary form an unlikely alliance to defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.

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Caliber 9 poster
Caliber 9
1972 Β· dir. Fernando Di Leo
β˜… 7.4crime Β· thriller

Both are built on the same subject: gangster

Just out of prison, ex-con Ugo Piazza meets his former employer, a psychopathic gangster Rocco who enjoys sick violence and torture. Both the gangsters and the police believe Ugo has hidden $300,000 that should have gone to an American drug syndicate boss.

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RocknRolla poster
RocknRolla
2008 Β· dir. Guy Ritchie
πŸ… 60%β˜… 7.2action Β· crime Β· thriller

One thread runs through both: drug dealer

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

When a Russian mobster sets up a real estate scam that generates millions of pounds, various members of London's criminal underworld pursue their share of the fortune. Various shady characters, including Mr One-Two, Stella the accountant, and Johnny Quid, a druggie rock-star, try to claim their slice.

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Chinatown poster
Chinatown
1974 Β· dir. Roman Polanski
πŸ… 98%β˜… 8.1crime Β· mystery Β· thriller

Crime built on tension, twice over

Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.

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