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Movies that feel like The Roaring Twenties (1939)

If you loved The Roaring Twenties, the closest films we have are White Heat (1949), High Sierra (1941) and The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973). All three share The Roaring Twenties' gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 6 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

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.

πŸ… 100% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.9 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Raoul Walshgrittycontemplativetense

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If The Roaring Twenties hit the spot, these will too

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

Raoul Walsh working the same nerve twice

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

Raoul Walsh directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Leans harder into action than The Roaring Twenties does

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

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The Friends of Eddie Coyle poster
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
1973 Β· dir. Peter Yates
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Common ground: gangster

The difference: Made in the 1970s, in a different era of the craft

An aging hood is about to go back to prison. Hoping to escape his fate, he supplies information on stolen guns to the feds, while simultaneously supplying arms to his bank robbing chums.

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Sabotage poster
Sabotage
1937 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7drama Β· thriller Β· crime

The same mix in both: grit, then stillness

Karl Anton Verloc and his wife own a small cinema in a quiet London suburb where they live seemingly happily. But Mrs. Verloc does not know that her husband has a secret that will affect their relationship and threaten her teenage brother's life.

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Blackmail poster
Blackmail
1929 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 88%β˜… 6.9drama Β· thriller Β· crime

Both lean on tension more than on crime

London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.

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The Hit poster
The Hit
1984 Β· dir. Stephen Frears
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7drama Β· thriller Β· crime

Both are built on the same subject: gangster

Ten years after ratting on his old mobster friends in exchange for personal immunity, two hit men drive a hardened criminal to Paris for his execution. However, while on the way, whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.

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Miller's Crossing poster
Miller's Crossing
1990 Β· dir. Joel Coen
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.7drama Β· thriller Β· crime

Both keep coming back to the same thing: prohibition era

Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.

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

Thriller built on grit, twice over

The difference: Missing the stillness of The Roaring Twenties

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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The Public Enemy poster
The Public Enemy
1931 Β· dir. William A. Wellman
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.

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Scarface poster
Scarface
1932 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.7crime Β· action Β· drama

The same preoccupation in both: prohibition era

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.

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Charley Varrick poster
Charley Varrick
1973 Β· dir. Don Siegel
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.5crime Β· thriller Β· drama

Crime with a pulse of tension, in both cases

Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.

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Neighboring Sounds poster
Neighboring Sounds
2012 Β· dir. Kleber MendonΓ§a Filho
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.1thriller Β· drama Β· crime

Gritty drama in both cases

An independent private security firm arrives at a middle-class neighborhood in Recife, Brazil.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Roaring Twenties’ defining feeling.