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Movies that feel like The Wrong Man (1956)

If you loved The Wrong Man, the closest films we have are Sabotage (1937), Pickpocket (1959) and Blackmail (1929). All three share The Wrong Man's gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 10 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.

In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.

πŸ… 93% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.4 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Alfred Hitchcockgrittycontemplative
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If The Wrong Man hit the spot, these will too

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

Alfred Hitchcock working the same nerve twice

The difference: Sits closer to thriller than The Wrong Man does

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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Pickpocket poster
Pickpocket
1959 Β· dir. Robert Bresson
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.5crime Β· drama

The same preoccupation in both: black and white

Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.

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

Alfred Hitchcock directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: 27 years apart, and the 1920s show

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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Straight Time poster
Straight Time
1978 Β· dir. Ulu Grosbard
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama

One thread runs through both: robbery

After being released on parole, a burglar attempts to go straight, get a regular job, and just go by the rules. He soon finds himself back in jail at the hands of a power-hungry parole officer.

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Blue Collar poster
Blue Collar
1978 Β· dir. Paul Schrader
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.5drama Β· crime

Both are built on the same subject: robbery

Fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass, and coupled with financial hardships on each man's end, three auto assembly line workers hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters.

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Hang 'em High poster
Hang 'em High
1968 Β· dir. Ted Post
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7western Β· drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: falsely accused

Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.

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Giant poster
Giant
1956 Β· dir. George Stevens
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.6drama Β· western

Both land grit and stillness at once

Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.

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Rope poster
Rope
1948 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.9thriller Β· crime Β· drama

Crime with a pulse of grit, in both cases

Two young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.

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She Wore a Yellow Ribbon poster
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
1949 Β· dir. John Ford
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.2drama Β· western

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

On the eve of retirement, Captain Nathan Brittles takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled.

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Jamaica Inn poster
Jamaica Inn
1939 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 54%β˜… 6.3crime Β· adventure

Common ground: black and white

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

In early 19th-century Cornwall, young Mary Yellan travels to live with her aunt and uncle at the remote Jamaica Inn, where she discovers the inn is a front for a violent gang of wreckers who lure ships to their doom along the coast. As she becomes entangled in their crimes, Mary must fight to survive and uncover the truth behind the terror that haunts the moors.

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

Crime built on grit, twice over

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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Pixote poster
Pixote
1980 Β· dir. HΓ©ctor Babenco
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

10-year-old Pixote endures torture, degradation, and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of its members are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old trans hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape and they start to make their living by a life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Wrong Man’s defining feeling.