Movies like The Heist (1976)
The best movies like The Heist (1976) are Convict (2014), The Valachi Papers (1972) and Bronson (2009). If The Heist hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLe Cercle Rouge (1970)7.6/10 from 773 votes
- NewestMy motherland is checkered (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishLa Civil (2021)Also in Spanish
Convict (2014)
Set in the dark and old Parramatta prison built by the original convicts our lead character Ray a war veteran finds himself serving 18 months for manslaughter after defending his fiance. He soon realizes that the prison boss has it in for him and does everything possible to break Ray even going after his fiance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Valachi Papers (1972)
When Joe Valachi has a price put on his head by Don Vito Genovese, he must take desperate steps to protect himself while in prison. An unsuccessful attempt to slit his throat puts him over the edge to break the sacred code of silence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBronson (2009)
A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCleveland Abduction (2015)
A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStranger on the Third Floor (1940)
Newspaper reporter Michael Ward plunges into a nightmare of guilt, fearing that his "evidence" has sentenced the wrong man to death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLa Civil (2021)
Cielo is a mother whose teenage daughter is kidnapped in Northern Mexico. When the authorities offer no support in the search, Cielo takes matters into her own hands and transforms from housewife into a vengeful militant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMcVicar (1980)
John McVicar was a London Bad Boy. he graduated to armed bank robbery and was Britain's "Public Enemy No. 1". He was captured and put into a high security prison. Will even the highest security prison be able to hold him? This is the true story of his life, his criminal exploits and his eventual rehabilitation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIll Manors (2012)
Ensemble film revolving around characters living in Forest Gate, London. Over the course of a few days, six inter-linking stories explore issues of drug use, prostitution and urban poverty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCoffy (1973)
After her younger sister gets involved in drugs and is severely injured by contaminated heroin, a nurse sets out on a mission of vengeance and vigilante justice, killing drug dealers, pimps, and mobsters who cross her path.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSouth Central (1992)
During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to find that his young son, Jimmie, has joined the Deuces, his old crew. Tensions rise as Bobby struggles to convince Jimmie to leave the gang that was his only family during the painful years his absent father spent behind bars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLost in the Night (2023)
A young man from a small mining town embroils himself with a wealthy family with a dubious past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Blood (2014)
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisLockdown (2000)
Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUntil Death (2007)
Anthony Stowe is a dirty cop who is hooked on heroin—and everyone hates him. After a serious accident, he is placed into an induced coma, but emerges from it a better person who wants to put things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisRedeemer (2014)
A former hit-man for a drug cartel becomes a vigilante to pay for his sins and find redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Protector (1985)
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn Hell (2003)
A man must survive a prison where hardened criminals battle to the death for the warden's entertainment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMexicali (2026)
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Corpse of Anna Fritz (2015)
Anna Fritz is a beautiful and famous actress. Suddenly her body is found in a hotel and the news of her death goes around the planet. The young, shy caretaker Pau works at the hospital where they carried the body of Anna Fritz. He and his friends decide to take pictures of the body of Anna Fritz. They decide they could make love to her and nobody would know. They are in front of Anna Fritz ... and can do with it what they want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIntuition (2020)
Police officer Pipa works on her first big case while simultaneously investigating her boss, who is suspected of murder. The prequel to "Perdida".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreeway (1996)
Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLe Cercle Rouge (1970)
When French criminal Corey gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back into the underworld, however, after a chance encounter with escaped murderer Vogel. Along with former policeman and current alcoholic Jansen, they plot an intricate jewel heist. All the while, quirky Police Commissioner Mattei, who was the one to lose custody of Vogel, is determined to find him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Life of David Gale (2003)
A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRevolver (1973)
An Italian prison official's wife is kidnapped, and the kidnappers demand that a notorious prisoner be released in order for the man to get his wife back. He gets the man released - but then kidnaps him himself, in order to ensure that the man's colleagues don't kill his wife. Enraged, the gang sets out to free their compatriot and kill the man who took him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother 48 Hrs. (1990)
For the past four years, San Francisco cop Jack Cates has been after an unidentified drug kingpin who calls himself the Ice Man. Jack finds a picture that proves that the Ice Man has put a price on the head of Reggie Hammond, who is scheduled to be released from prison on the next day.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills their lonely nights by spinning romantic fantasies drawn from memories of old movies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy motherland is checkered (2026)
In a mix of 2D animation and live action, through their voices and acting, two actresses recount the lives of imprisoned women that opposed the Russian Regime and their emotional stories of suffering and anguish.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Forbidden Territory (1934)
Britisher Sir Charles Farrington and a son, Rex Farrington, arrive in a Russian Soviet territory searching for another Farrington son, Michael,who has been thrown into prison. Valarie Perrovna is a singer who is in love with the imprisoned son and she provides the searchers with the information as to where the missing son is being held. They all go there and help Michael escape. But is their escape vehicle---a flat wagon pulled by three horses--- fast enough and sturdy enough through the snow to beat the Commmisar and his troops to the Rumanian border
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Heist and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Heist?
The closest matches to The Heist are Convict (2014), The Valachi Papers (1972) and Bronson (2009). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Heist?
Start with Convict (2014), the closest match to The Heist.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Heist?
Le Cercle Rouge (1970), rated 7.6/10 by 773 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Heist?
My motherland is checkered (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Heist?
Yes: La Civil (2021), Lost in the Night (2023) and Redeemer (2014).
How are movies similar to The Heist chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Heist, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.