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Dirty Harry poster

Movies that feel likeDirty Harry (1971)

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.

If you loved Dirty Harry, the closest films we have are Bullitt (1968), Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and In the Line of Duty 4 (1989). All three share Dirty Harry's kinetic and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Branded to Kill (1967).

🍅 89% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Don Siegelkineticgrittytense
7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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See it on the Mood Map

If Dirty Harry hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Magnum Force (1973)

Bullitt poster
Bullitt
1968 · dir. Peter Yates
🍅 98%★ 7.4action · crime · thriller

Both are working the same pair: police, the chase

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.

Assault on Precinct 13 poster
Assault on Precinct 13
1976 · dir. John Carpenter
🍅 94%★ 7.3thriller · action · crimePrime Video

Two things both keep coming back to: ambush and psychopath

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.

In the Line of Duty 4 poster
In the Line of Duty 4
1989 · dir. Yuen Woo-ping
★ 7.1action · crime · thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: detective

Two detectives who are up to their necks in trouble and in each other's face, as they try to shut down a drug-trafficking scheme that could be connected with international ties to organized crime. But in the midst of their investigation, innocent immigrant dock worker Luk Wan-Ting gets caught up in the mix when he witnesses the murder of an intelligence operative and is framed for the crime.

The Street Fighter poster
The Street Fighter
1974 · dir. Shigehiro Ozawa
★ 6.9action · crime · thriller

Common ground in both: ransom and kidnapping

The difference: Sits closer to drama than Dirty Harry does

Takuma Tsurugi takes on the government, the police, the mafia and an international ring of kidnappers who aim to dispossess a beautiful young heiress of her millions.

Police Story 2 poster
Police Story 2
1988 · dir. Jackie Chan
🍅 84%★ 7action · crime · thrillerMax

Common ground: the investigation

The Hong Kong super-cop must stop a group of blackmailing bombers at the same time that the villains of the first Police Story are out for revenge.

Branded to Kill poster
Branded to Kill
1967 · dir. Seijun Suzuki
🍅 100%★ 7.2thriller · crime · action

Both land momentum and grit at once

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

Hard Boiled poster
Hard Boiled
1992 · dir. John Woo
🍅 92%★ 7.7action · thriller · crimeRent or buy

Action built on tension, twice over

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 1990s show

A cop who loses his partner in a shoot-out with gun smugglers goes on a mission to catch them. In order to get closer to the leaders of the ring he joins forces with an undercover cop who's working as a gangster hitman. They use all means of excessive force to find them.

Gone in 60 Seconds poster
Gone in 60 Seconds
1974 · dir. H.B. Halicki
🍅 43%★ 6.3action · crime · thriller

One thread runs through both: police

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Insurance investigator Maindrian Pace and his team lead double-lives as unstoppable car thieves. When a South American drug lord pays Pace to steal 48 cars for him, all but one, a 1973 Ford Mustang, are in the bag. As Pace prepares to rip-off the fastback, codenamed "Eleanor", in Long Beach, he is unaware that his boss has tipped off the police after a business dispute.

Lethal Weapon poster
Lethal Weapon
1987 · dir. Richard Donner
🍅 82%★ 7.6action · thriller · crime

Both lean on momentum more than on crime

A veteran cop and an unstable detective become partners who must put their differences aside in order to bring down a heroin-smuggling ring run by ex-Special Forces.

The Boondock Saints poster
The Boondock Saints
1999 · dir. Troy Duffy
🍅 26%★ 7.6action · thriller · crimePrime VideoHulu

Both are built on the same subject: detective

Tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston, Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner and Murphy are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their own brand of zealous vigilante justice. As they hunt down and kill one notorious gangster after another, they become controversial folk heroes in the community. But Paul Smecker, an eccentric FBI agent, is fast closing in on their blood-soaked trail.

Hard Target poster
Hard Target
1993 · dir. John Woo
🍅 63%★ 6.2action · thriller · crimePrime Video

The same preoccupation in both: psychopath

When a woman's father goes missing, she enlists a local to aid in her search. The pair soon discover that her father has died at the hands of a wealthy sportsman who hunts homeless men as a form of recreation.

Con Air poster
Con Air
1997 · dir. Simon West
🍅 59%★ 6.9action · thriller · crime

Both keep coming back to the same thing: ambush

Newly-paroled former US Army ranger Cameron Poe is headed back to his wife, but must fly home aboard a prison transport flight dubbed "Jailbird" taking the “worst of the worst” prisoners, a group described as “pure predators”, to a new super-prison. Poe faces impossible odds when the transport plane is skyjacked mid-flight by the most vicious criminals in the country led by the mastermind — genius serial killer Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, and backed by black militant Diamond Dog and psychopath Billy Bedlam.

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