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Scarface poster

Movies that feel likeScarface (1932)

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.

If you loved Scarface, the closest films we have are High Sierra (1941), The Big Sleep (1946) and Odd Man Out (1947). All three share Scarface's gritty and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Blast of Silence (1961).

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If Scarface hit the spot, these will too

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

The same preoccupation in both: film noir

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

The Big Sleep poster
The Big Sleep
1946 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9mystery Β· crime Β· thriller

Howard Hawks working the same nerve twice

The difference: Easier on the momentum than Scarface

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

Odd Man Out poster
Odd Man Out
1947 Β· dir. Carol Reed
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama Β· thrillerMax

Common ground: film noir

The difference: Trades the momentum of Scarface for an angle of its own

Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.

Blast of Silence poster
Blast of Silence
1961 Β· dir. Allen Baron
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama Β· thriller

One thread runs through both: murder

The difference: Made in the 1960s, in a different era of the craft

A hired killer from Cleveland has a job to do on a second-string mob boss in New York. But a special girl from his past and a fat gun dealer with pet rats get in his way.

Angels with Dirty Faces poster
Angels with Dirty Faces
1938 Β· dir. Michael Curtiz
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.8crime Β· drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: gangster

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.

The Big Clock poster
The Big Clock
1948 Β· dir. John Farrow
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6crime Β· thriller

Both are built on the same subject: murder

George Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor, has to postpone a vacation with his wife - again - when a glamorous blonde is murdered and he is assigned by his publishing boss to find the killer. As the investigation proceeds to its conclusion, Stroud must try to disrupt his ordinarily brilliant investigative team as they increasingly build evidence that he is the killer.

Out of the Past poster
Out of the Past
1947 Β· dir. Jacques Tourneur
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.9crime Β· thriller

The same preoccupation in both: gangster

The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

Key Largo poster
Key Largo
1948 Β· dir. John Huston
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.7crime Β· thriller

The same mix in both: grit, then tension

A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up - and holds at gunpoint hotel owner James Temple, his widowed daughter-in-law Nora, and ex-GI Frank McCloud.

Criss Cross poster
Criss Cross
1949 Β· dir. Robert Siodmak
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.4crime Β· thriller

Atmospheric crime in both cases

An armored-car guard must join a robbery after being caught with his ex-wife by her gangster husband.

Killer's Kiss poster
Killer's Kiss
1955 Β· dir. Stanley Kubrick
πŸ… 83%β˜… 6.5thriller Β· crime Β· dramaPrime Video

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.

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

Thriller built on grit, twice over

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.

M poster
M
1931 Β· dir. Fritz Lang
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8.3drama Β· thriller Β· crimeMax

Action with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.

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