Movies like The Gauntlet (1977)
The best movies like The Gauntlet (1977) are The Way of the Gun (2000), Heist (2015) and Street Kings (2008). If The Gauntlet hooked you with its drama and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDirty Harry (1971)7.5/10 from 2,906 votes
- NewestLast Hit (2026)Released 2026
The Way of the Gun (2000)
Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother of a powerful and shady man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeist (2015)
A father is without the means to pay for his daughter's medical treatment. As a last resort, he partners with a greedy co-worker to rob a casino. When things go awry they're forced to hijack a city bus.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStreet Kings (2008)
Tom Ludlow is a disillusioned L.A. Police Officer, rarely playing by the rules and haunted by the death of his wife. When evidence implicates him in the execution of a fellow officer, he is forced to go up against the cop culture he's been a part of his entire career, ultimately leading him to question the loyalties of everyone around him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rookie (1990)
Veteran cop Nick Pulovski is used to playing musical partners; many of the partners he's had in the past have died on the job, and often as a result of Nick's risky tactics. But the rookie who's been assigned to help Nick bust a carjacking ring is almost as hotheaded as he is … and when Nick gets kidnapped, his newbie partner is his only hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisHard to Kill (1990)
Mason Storm, a 'go it alone' cop, is gunned down at home. The intruders kill his wife, and think they've killed both Mason and his son too. Mason is secretly taken to a hospital where he spends several years in a coma. His son meanwhile is growing up thinking his father is dead. When Mason wakes up, everyone is in danger - himself, his son, his best friend, his nurse - but most of all those who arranged for his death
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Wish II (1982)
Paul Kersey is again a vigilante trying to find five punks who murdered his housekeeper and daughter in Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFaster (2010)
After 10 years in prison, Driver is now a free man with a single focus - hunting down the people responsible for brutally murdering his brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHavoc (2025)
When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleepless (2017)
Undercover Las Vegas police officer Vincent Downs, who has a lot of enemies, is caught in a high stakes web of corrupt cops and the mob-controlled casino underground. When a heist goes wrong, a crew of homicidal gangsters kidnap Downs’ teenage son T. In one sleepless night, Downs will have to rescue his son, evade an internal affairs investigation, and bring the kidnappers to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
An American bartender and his prostitute girlfriend go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Stop in Yuma County (2024)
While awaiting the next fuel truck at a middle-of-nowhere Arizona rest stop, a traveling young knife salesman is thrust into a high-stakes hostage situation by the arrival of two similarly stranded bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty—or cold, hard steel—to protect their bloodstained, ill-gotten fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirty Harry (1971)
When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement – is tasked with hunting down the psychopath.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCopshop (2021)
On the run from a lethal assassin, a wily con artist devises a scheme to hide out inside a small-town police station. However, when the hit man turns up at the precinct, an unsuspecting rookie cop finds herself caught in the crosshairs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCon Air (1997)
Newly-paroled former US Army ranger Cameron Poe is headed back to his wife, but must fly home aboard a prison transport flight dubbed "Jailbird" taking the “worst of the worst” prisoners, a group described as “pure predators”, to a new super-prison. Poe faces impossible odds when the transport plane is skyjacked mid-flight by the most vicious criminals in the country led by the mastermind — genius serial killer Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, and backed by black militant Diamond Dog and psychopath Billy Bedlam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClose Range (2015)
A rogue soldier turned outlaw is thrust into a relentless fight with a corrupt sheriff, his obedient deputies, and a dangerous drug cartel in order to protect his sister and her young daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSicario (2015)
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAssassins (1995)
Assassin Robert Rath arrives at a funeral to kill a prominent mobster, only to witness a rival hired gun complete the job for him -- with grisly results. Horrified by the murder of innocent bystanders, Rath decides to take one last job and then return to civilian life. But finding his way out of the world of contract killing grows ever more dangerous as Rath falls for his female target and becomes a marked man himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAssault on Precinct 13 (2005)
On New Year's Eve, inside a police station that's about to be closed for good, officer Jake Roenick must cobble together a force made up cops and criminals to save themselves from a mob looking to kill mobster Marion Bishop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan on Fire (2004)
Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she's kidnapped he's consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCollateral (2004)
Cab driver Max picks up a man who offers him $600 to drive him around. But the promise of easy money sours when Max realizes his fare is an assassin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLast Hit (2026)
A pair of criminals seeking a fresh start are intervened by their boss, who takes one of them hostage to force a final job. Vincent and Maya decide to escape their gang and settle for a peaceful life, but they are trapped into one last hit with hidden agendas, betrayals, and unexpected alliances. Last Hit is a high-stakes, action-packed thriller about redemption, betrayal, and the ultimate cost of freedom. Vincent and Maya decide to escape from their life of crime when their boss, Dante starts blurring the lines between heists and hits. During their last job they realize they've walked into a setup orchestrated by Dante himself. This trap pushed Vincent and Maya to the firm decision to walk away from the gang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Edison (2005)
In the troubled city of Edison, a young journalist, his jaded editor, and an honest investigator from the district attorney's office join forces to gather evidence against corrupt members of an elite police unit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisDante's Peak (1997)
Volcanologist Harry Dalton comes to the sleepy town of Dante's Peak to investigate the recent rumblings of the dormant volcano the burg is named for. Before long, his worst fears are realized when a massive eruption hits, and immediately, Harry, the mayor and the townspeople find themselves fighting for their lives amid a catastrophic nightmare.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this7 Seconds (2005)
When an experienced thief accidentally makes off with a Van Gogh, his partner is kidnapped by gangsters in pursuit of the painting, forcing the criminal to hatch a rescue plan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisReno 911!: Miami (2007)
A rag-tag team of Reno cops are called in to save the day after a terrorist attack disrupts a national police convention in Miami Beach during spring break. Based on the Comedy Central series.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisD.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear (2003)
Based on the known events that shook the United States for 23 days in 2002. Within 24 hours six people were killed by a sniper in Maryland County. A man and his son get overlooked in all settings where shootings occur. The police, in cooperation with the FBI follows the wrong track of a white van, while the murderers act with impunity and panic seizes the population
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Attack Force (2006)
Marshall Lawson is the commander of an elite military unit. Marshall Lawson loses his strike-team in a cold-blooded and seemingly random attack, and he takes it upon himself to investigate the attack, with the help of his girlfriend Tia and his friend Dwayne.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisEscape from L.A. (1996)
Into the 9.6-quaked Los Angeles of 2013 comes Snake Plissken. His job: wade through L.A.'s ruined landmarks to retrieve a doomsday device.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisNo Sudden Move (2021)
A group of criminals are brought together under mysterious circumstances and have to work together to uncover what's really going on when their simple job goes completely sideways.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFine Dead Girls (2002)
Iva and Marija, a young lesbian couple, rent an apartment in Zagreb, in a building that seems to provide a quiet and safe environment for their love, but over time the atmosphere in the building becomes more and more threatening. The elder landlady Olga dominates the building. Other tenants include her calm husband, her grown-up son Daniel who has a crush on Iva, the prostitute Lidija, an abused housewife, a widower keeping the corpse of his newly deceased wife, a gynecologist performing abortions in one flat of the house, and an ex-soldier who regularly plays martial music at night. After Olga finds out that Iva and Marija are lesbians, the situation escalates .
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Like The Gauntlet and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Gauntlet?
The closest matches to The Gauntlet are The Way of the Gun (2000), Heist (2015) and Street Kings (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Gauntlet?
Start with The Way of the Gun (2000), the closest match to The Gauntlet.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Gauntlet?
Dirty Harry (1971), rated 7.5/10 by 2,906 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Gauntlet?
Last Hit (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Gauntlet?
Yes: The Way of the Gun (2000), Heist (2015) and Street Kings (2008).
How are movies similar to The Gauntlet chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Gauntlet, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.