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The Wrong Man poster

Movies that feel likeThe Wrong Man (1956)

In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.

If you loved The Wrong Man, the closest films we have are Sabotage (1936), Pickpocket (1959) and Blackmail (1929). All three share The Wrong Man'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 Blue Collar (1978).

πŸ… 93% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.4 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Alfred Hitchcockgrittycontemplative
6 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max Β· Amazon Prime Video Β· Criterion Channel

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If The Wrong Man hit the spot, these will too

Sabotage poster
Sabotage
1936 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7drama Β· thriller Β· crimeMax

Both are Alfred Hitchcock's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than The Wrong Man does

Karl Anton Verloc and his wife own a small cinema in a quiet London suburb where they live seemingly happily. But Mrs. Verloc does not know that her husband has a secret that will affect their relationship and threaten her teenage brother's life.

Pickpocket poster
Pickpocket
1959 Β· dir. Robert Bresson
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.5crime Β· drama

The same preoccupation in both: black and white

Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.

Blackmail poster
Blackmail
1929 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 88%β˜… 6.9drama Β· thriller Β· crimePrime Video

Alfred Hitchcock directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: 27 years apart, and the 1920s show

London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.

The Young and the Damned poster
The Young and the Damned
1950 Β· dir. Luis BuΓ±uel
πŸ… 91%β˜… 8.2drama Β· crime

One thread runs through both: black and white

A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent life in the infamous slums of Mexico City; among them Pedro, whose morality is gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others.

Fort Apache poster
Fort Apache
1948 Β· dir. John Ford
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.4western

Gritty crime in both cases

The difference: Easier on the stillness than The Wrong Man

Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant, obsessed with military form and ultimately self-destructive, he attempts to destroy the Apache chief Cochise after luring him across the border from Mexico, against the advice of his subordinates.

Little Caesar poster
Little Caesar
1931 Β· dir. Mervyn LeRoy
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.2drama Β· crime

Common ground: robbery

A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?

Jamaica Inn poster
Jamaica Inn
1939 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 54%β˜… 6.3crime Β· adventure

Drama built on grit, twice over

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

In early 19th-century Cornwall, young Mary Yellan travels to live with her aunt and uncle at the remote Jamaica Inn, where she discovers the inn is a front for a violent gang of wreckers who lure ships to their doom along the coast. As she becomes entangled in their crimes, Mary must fight to survive and uncover the truth behind the terror that haunts the moors.

Straight Time poster
Straight Time
1978 Β· dir. Ulu Grosbard
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: robbery

After being released on parole, a burglar attempts to go straight, get a regular job, and just go by the rules. He soon finds himself back in jail at the hands of a power-hungry parole officer.

Blue Collar poster
Blue Collar
1978 Β· dir. Paul Schrader
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.5drama Β· crime

Both lean on stillness more than on crime

Fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass, and coupled with financial hardships on each man's end, three auto assembly line workers hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters.

Rope poster
Rope
1948 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.9thriller Β· crime Β· drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Two young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.

Giant poster
Giant
1956 Β· dir. George Stevens
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.6drama Β· western

Gritty drama, and it commits to that

Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.

The Ox-Bow Incident poster
The Ox-Bow Incident
1943 Β· dir. William A. Wellman
πŸ… 90%β˜… 8western

A 1940s cousin in spirit

A posse discovers a trio of men they suspect of murder and cow theft and are split between handing them over to the law or lynching them on the spot.

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