Movies that feel likeGun Crazy (1950)

Name: Gun Crazy
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Genre: crime, romance, drama
Released: 1950

Bart Tare, an ex-Army man who has a lifelong fixation with guns, meets a kindred spirit in sharpshooter Annie Starr and goes to work at a carnival alongside her. After upsetting the carnival owner who lusts after Starr, they both get fired. Soon, at Starr's behest, the couple embarks on a crime spree for cash.

If you loved Gun Crazy, the closest films we have are The Big Combo (1955), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and Leave Her to Heaven (1945). All three share Gun Crazy's contemplative and atmospheric feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Pale Flower (1964).

🍅 91% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.6 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Joseph H. Lewisgritty romantic tender contemplative atmospheric

7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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See it on the Mood Map

If Gun Crazy hit the spot, these will too

The Big Combo

1955 · dir. Joseph H. Lewis

🍅 93%★ 7.3drama · crime

Joseph H. Lewis directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Trades the romance of Gun Crazy for an angle of its own

Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

1946 · dir. Tay Garnett

🍅 90%★ 7.4drama · romance · crime

Both keep coming back to the same thing: film noir

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than Gun Crazy does

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

Leave Her to Heaven

1945 · dir. John M. Stahl

🍅 85%★ 7.6drama · thriller · romance

Common ground: film noir

The difference: Sits closer to thriller than Gun Crazy does

A socialite marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her.

Force of Evil

1950 · dir. Abraham Polonsky

🍅 100%★ 7.2crime · drama

The same mix in both: grit, then stillness

Lawyer Joe Morse wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation. But his elder brother Leo is one of these small-time operators who wants to stay that way, preferring not to deal with the gangsters who dominate the big-time.

The Set-Up

1949 · dir. Robert Wise

🍅 85%★ 7.8drama · crime

Crime built on atmosphere, twice over

Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.

Gilda

1946 · dir. Charles Vidor

🍅 90%★ 7.6romance · drama · thriller

Romantic and tender in the same breath

A gambler discovers an old flame while in Argentina, but she's married to his new boss.

Pale Flower

1964 · dir. Masahiro Shinoda

🍅 92%★ 7.7crime · romance

Gritty romance in both cases

A recently released gangster has to cope with the recent shifts of power between gangs, while taking care of a thrill-seeking young woman, who got in bad company while gambling.

Port of Shadows

1938 · dir. Marcel Carné

🍅 97%★ 7.7romance · drama · crime

Romantic drama, and it commits to that

Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean, an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news.

Scarlet Street

1945 · dir. Fritz Lang

🍅 100%★ 7.7drama · crimePrime Video

Crime with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she's really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Johnny find out that art dealers are interested in Chris's work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.

Mildred Pierce

1945 · dir. Michael Curtiz

🍅 88%★ 7.9crime · drama

Both lean on atmosphere more than on drama

A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.

Angels with Dirty Faces

1938 · dir. Michael Curtiz

🍅 100%★ 7.8crime · drama

Romance with a pulse of grit, in both cases

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.