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The Stranger poster

Movies that feel likeThe Stranger (1946)

An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.

If you loved The Stranger, the closest films we have are Touch of Evil (1958), The Big Clock (1948) and The Lady from Shanghai (1947). All three share The Stranger's tense and gritty 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).

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Orson Wellestensegrittyatmospheric
5 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If The Stranger hit the spot, these will too

Touch of Evil poster
Touch of Evil
1958 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 96%★ 7.9crime · thriller · dramaPrime Video

The same hand behind both of them: Orson Welles

The difference: Sits closer to drama than The Stranger does

A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.

The Big Clock poster
The Big Clock
1948 · dir. John Farrow
🍅 100%★ 7.6crime · thriller

Both are working the same pair: clock, film noir

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.

The Lady from Shanghai poster
The Lady from Shanghai
1947 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 86%★ 7.5mystery · crime · thriller

Orson Welles directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Leans harder into mystery than The Stranger does

A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.

Out of the Past poster
Out of the Past
1947 · dir. Jacques Tourneur
🍅 87%★ 7.9crime · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: black and white

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.

Criss Cross poster
Criss Cross
1949 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 86%★ 7.4crime · thriller

One thread runs through both: film noir

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

Odd Man Out poster
Odd Man Out
1947 · dir. Carol Reed
🍅 100%★ 7.6crime · drama · thrillerMax

Both keep coming back to the same thing: black and white

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

Key Largo poster
Key Largo
1948 · dir. John Huston
🍅 97%★ 7.7crime · thriller

Tense where it counts, gritty underneath

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.

The Narrow Margin poster
The Narrow Margin
1952 · dir. Richard Fleischer
🍅 100%★ 7.6thriller · crime

Atmospheric thriller, and it commits to that

A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's widow on a train journey from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Killer's Kiss poster
Killer's Kiss
1955 · dir. Stanley Kubrick
🍅 83%★ 6.5thriller · crime · dramaPrime Video

Tense crime in both cases

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.

Blast of Silence poster
Blast of Silence
1961 · dir. Allen Baron
🍅 83%★ 7.4crime · drama · thriller

Thriller built on grit, twice over

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.

Double Indemnity poster
Double Indemnity
1944 · dir. Billy Wilder
🍅 97%★ 8.3crime · thriller

Crime with a pulse of atmosphere, in both cases

An insurance representative is seduced by a dissatisfied housewife into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, a claims investigator.

Shoot the Piano Player poster
Shoot the Piano Player
1960 · dir. François Truffaut
🍅 90%★ 7.4drama · thriller · crimeMax

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

Charlie is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard and Chico, surface and ask for Charlie's help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena, a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters arrive, looking for his brothers.

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