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Thief poster

Movies that feel likeThief (1981)

Frank is an expert professional safecracker, specialized in high-profile diamond heists. He plans to use his ill-gotten income to retire from crime and build a nice life for himself complete with a home, wife and kids. To accelerate the process, he signs on with a top gangster for a big score.

If you loved Thief, the closest films we have are Charley Varrick (1973), 21 Grams (2003) and Cool Hand Luke (1967). All three share Thief's gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Get Carter (1971).

🍅 80% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Michael Manngrittytensecontemplativemelancholy
7 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Thief hit the spot, these will too

Charley Varrick poster
Charley Varrick
1973 · dir. Don Siegel
🍅 82%★ 7.5crime · thriller · drama

The same mix in both: grit, then tension

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.

21 Grams poster
21 Grams
2003 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 80%★ 7.6drama · crime · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: grief

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

Paul Rivers, an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English émigré; Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife and mother of two girls; and Jack Jordan, a born-again ex-con, are brought together by a terrible accident that changes their lives.

Cool Hand Luke poster
Cool Hand Luke
1967 · dir. Stuart Rosenberg
🍅 100%★ 8drama · crime

One thread runs through both: grief

The difference: Takes it somewhere less tense than Thief does

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

Elevator to the Gallows poster
Elevator to the Gallows
1958 · dir. Louis Malle
🍅 93%★ 7.9crime · drama · thrillerMax

Contemplative where it counts, melancholy underneath

A self-assured businessman murders his employer, husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.

Frailty poster
Frailty
2002 · dir. Bill Paxton
🍅 76%★ 7.2drama · thriller · crime

Both lean on grit more than on crime

A mysterious man arrives at the offices of an FBI agent and recounts his childhood: how his religious fanatic father received visions telling him to kill people who were in fact "demons."

Lilya 4-ever poster
Lilya 4-ever
2002 · dir. Lukas Moodysson
🍅 84%★ 7.8drama · crime

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

In a struggling post-Soviet community, Lilya a teenage girl is abandoned when her mother moves to the United States with her boyfriend. Facing neglect and poverty, she meets Andrei, who offers her a job in Sweden, giving her hope for a better life — and a journey that will change everything.

Hard Candy poster
Hard Candy
2006 · dir. David Slade
🍅 67%★ 7drama · thriller

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

Hayley’s a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff’s a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff’s place. Jeff thinks it’s his lucky night. He’s in for a surprise.

Side Effects poster
Side Effects
2013 · dir. Steven Soderbergh
🍅 82%★ 7thriller · crime · dramaPrime VideoParamount+

Melancholy crime in both cases

A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison.

Get Carter poster
Get Carter
1971 · dir. Mike Hodges
🍅 85%★ 7.3crime · thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: gangster

Jack Carter is a small-time hood working in London. When word reaches him of his brother's death, he travels to Newcastle to attend the funeral. Refusing to accept the police report of suicide, Carter seeks out his brother’s friends and acquaintances to learn who murdered his sibling and why.

You Were Never Really Here poster
You Were Never Really Here
2017 · dir. Lynne Ramsay
🍅 89%★ 6.7crime · drama · thrillerPrime Video

Thriller built on grit, twice over

A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered—leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.

The Devil All the Time poster
The Devil All the Time
2020 · dir. Antonio Campos
🍅 65%★ 7.1crime · drama · thrillerNetflix

Both lean on tension more than on drama

In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighboring backwoods, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.

The Celebration poster
The Celebration
1998 · dir. Thomas Vinterberg
🍅 91%★ 8drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

The family of a wealthy businessman gather to celebrate his 60th birthday. During the course of the party, his eldest son presents a speech that reveals a devastating secret that turns the night into a battle of truth and denial.

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