Movies like Homeboy (1988)
The best movies like Homeboy (1988) are Ali (2001), Hands of Stone (2016) and Jawbone (2017). If Homeboy hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRaging Bull (1980)7.9/10 from 4,977 votes
- NewestBeast (2026)Released 2026
Ali (2001)
In 1964, a brash, new pro boxer, fresh from his Olympic gold medal victory, explodes onto the scene: Cassius Clay. Bold and outspoken, he cuts an entirely new image for African Americans in sport with his proud public self-confidence and his unapologetic belief that he is the greatest boxer of all time. Yet at the top of his game, both Ali's personal and professional lives face the ultimate test.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJawbone (2017)
A former youth boxing champion, Jimmy McCabe is a man in search of hope but looking in all the wrong places. When he hits rock bottom he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: gym owner Bill corner man Eddie and promoter Joe. Back in training, years after anyone thought he was a contender, he risks his life, as he tries to stand tall and regain his place in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJungleland (2020)
Stanley manages his boxer brother Lion but when a devastating loss in the ring leaves the pair in debt, an opportunity to recoup the cash leads to a series of misadventures that threaten to break the bond between them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cut (2025)
A retired boxer intends to return to the ring for one last shot at the title, but first he must make the weight. Holed up in a room in Las Vegas with an unscrupulous trainer, he embarks on an intensive and illegal weight-cutting program.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRaging Bull (1980)
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSalvable (2025)
When a battered boxer past his prime finds his dreams and his relationships on the ropes, he falls back in with a dangerous crowd and has to take the biggest swing of his life to reclaim his hope and his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChuck (2017)
A drama inspired by the life of heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirlfight (2000)
Diana Guzman, a troubled Brooklyn teenager, decides to channel her aggression by training to become a boxer, all while keeping it a secret from her father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher (2022)
At the turn of the 19th century, Pugilism was the sport of kings and a gifted young boxer fought his way to becoming champion of England.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
The true story of Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- iconoclast, opportunist, and outspoken atheist -- from her controversial rise to her untimely demise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeast (2026)
MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal champion Xavier Grau.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTwentyFourSeven (1998)
In a typical English working-class town, the juveniles have nothing more to do than hang around in gangs. One day, Alan Darcy, a highly motivated man with the same kind of youth experience, starts trying to get the young people off the street and into doing something they can believe in: Boxing. Darcy opens a boxing club, aiming to bring the rival gangs together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmbattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPimp (2018)
An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmateur (2018)
14-year-old basketball phenom Terron Forte has to navigate the under-the-table world of amateur athletics when he is recruited to an elite NCAA prep school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Survivor (2022)
Harry Haft is a boxer who fought fellow prisoners in the concentration camps to survive. Haunted by the memories and his guilt, he attempts to use high-profile fights against boxing legends like Rocky Marciano as a way to find his first love again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Harder They Fall (1956)
Jobless sportswriter Eddie Willis is hired by corrupt fight promoter Nick Benko to promote his current protégé, an unknown Argentinian boxer named Toro Moreno. Although Moreno is a hulking giant, his chances for success are hampered by a powder-puff punch and a glass jaw. Exploiting Willis' reputation for integrity and standing in the boxing community, Benko arranges a series of fixed fights that propel the unsophisticated Moreno to #1 contender for the championship. The reigning champ, the sadistic Buddy Brannen, harbors resentment at the publicity Toro has been receiving and vows to viciously punish him in the ring. Eddie must now decide whether or not to tell the naive Toro the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNever Back Down: No Surrender (2016)
Picking up after the events of Never Back Down 2, former MMA champion Case Walker is on the comeback trail to become champion once again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Carpetbaggers (1964)
Jonas Cord is a disagreeable young tycoon who's building planes, directing films, and catting around on the corporate make in 1930s Hollywood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJudgment Night (1993)
Four young friends, while taking a shortcut en route to a local boxing match, witness a brutal murder which leaves them running for their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRing of Passion (1978)
Fact-based drama about the two Joe Louis-Max Schmeling heavyweight fights and the way both boxers unwillingly became symbols of political ideologies just prior to World War II.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Crows (1969)
A flat broke aging boxer, living on the verge of existence, teams up with the equally desperate people in the city's suburbia to steal, cheat, and even kill for the money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Flashback (1997)
A boxer tries to recover from the memories he brought back from war.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Come Empty-handed (2019)
Rocky is a talented boxer, but is forced to quit boxing for being an asylum seeker. Rocky starts a new life when his coach tries to build him a career and life while staying afloat in Hong Kong. Helping with moving and volunteer work, he gets to know other tenants like Raja and Bitto and hears about their life stories. He realises that they have nothing left but he still has boxing - and that calling has never stopped.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ed Wood (1994)
The mostly true story of the legendary "worst director of all time", who, with the help of his strange friends, filmed countless B-movies without ever becoming famous or successful.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGod's Ears (2008)
Noah Connelly is a boxer with a tireless opponent: Autism. But when he meets a dancer named Alexia, the two discover together that the toughest fight may be not be of the body, but of the heart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
They Made Me a Criminal (1939)
A boxer flees, believing he has committed a murder while he was drunk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChampion (1949)
An unscrupulous boxer fights his way to the top, but eventually alienates all of the people who helped him on the way up.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSunset Park (2017)
Gino Sarcione, a boxer, is forced to take his fight outside the ring into the back alleys of Sunset Park to stand up for what's right and protect those he loves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Homeboy?
The closest matches to Homeboy are Ali (2001), Hands of Stone (2016) and Jawbone (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Homeboy?
Start with Ali (2001), the closest match to Homeboy.
What is the highest-rated movie like Homeboy?
Raging Bull (1980), rated 7.9/10 by 4,977 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Homeboy?
Beast (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Homeboy?
Yes: Ali (2001), Hands of Stone (2016) and Jawbone (2017).
How are movies similar to Homeboy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Homeboy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.