feelsalike.com

Movies that feel like The Maltese Falcon (1941)

If you loved The Maltese Falcon, the closest films we have are The Big Sleep (1946), The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and Key Largo (1948). All three share The Maltese Falcon's gritty and atmospheric feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 5 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Criterion Channel and Darkroom and others, checked against today's data.

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

πŸ… 99% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.9 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. John Hustontwistygrittytensemelancholyromanticatmospheric
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If The Maltese Falcon 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

The same two preoccupations: detective, and film noir

The difference: None of the melancholy The Maltese Falcon is built on

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

John Huston directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Missing the twists of The Maltese Falcon

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

The same hand behind both of them: John Huston

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?
Shadow of a Doubt poster
Shadow of a Doubt
1943 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.8thriller Β· mystery Β· crime

The same preoccupation in both: murder

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 secretβ€”and that danger has quietly entered her home.

Feels alike?
Stray Dog poster
Stray Dog
1949 Β· dir. Akira Kurosawa
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.8crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: black and white

The difference: Leans harder into drama than The Maltese Falcon does

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.

Feels alike?
The Naked City poster
The Naked City
1948 Β· dir. Jules Dassin
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.5crime Β· mystery Β· thriller

Common ground: film noir

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

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The Killers poster
The Killers
1946 Β· dir. Robert Siodmak
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.7crime Β· mystery Β· thriller

Both are built on the same subject: murder

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 Lady from Shanghai poster
The Lady from Shanghai
1947 Β· dir. Orson Welles
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.5mystery Β· crime Β· thriller

The same city underneath both: San Francisco

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

Feels alike?
Laura poster
Laura
1944 Β· dir. Otto Preminger
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.9drama Β· mystery

One thread runs through both: whodunit

A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: detective

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?
Dark Passage poster
Dark Passage
1947 Β· dir. Delmer Daves
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.5thriller Β· mystery

Twisty and tense in the same breath

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

Feels alike?
Double Indemnity poster
Double Indemnity
1944 Β· dir. Billy Wilder
πŸ… 97%β˜… 8.3crime Β· thriller

A 1940s answer to the same itch

An insurance representative is seduced by a dissatisfied housewife into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, a claims investigator.

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In the mood for more twisty?

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