Movies like Law of the Underworld (1938)
The best movies like Law of the Underworld (1938) are Each Dawn I Die (1939), They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) and The Asphalt Jungle (1950). If Law of the Underworld 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 ratedThe Asphalt Jungle (1950)7.5/10 from 562 votes
- NewestStreet Boss (2009)Released 2009
Each Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlunder Road (1957)
A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead End (1937)
The lives of a young man and woman, an infamous gangster and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLittle Caesar (1931)
A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Penalty (1920)
Blizzard, deranged from a childhood operation in which both his legs were needlessly amputated after an accident, becomes a vicious criminal, and eventually mob leader of the San Francisco underworld.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this5 Against the House (1955)
Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Damned Don't Cry (1950)
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRedemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004)
Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence resolutions which earned him multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was executed by lethal injection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Web (1947)
A brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Interview (1998)
A duel between a suspected murderer and a detective pressed by people who want results. But whose skin is really wanted?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWitness to Murder (1954)
A woman fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder while looking out her bedroom window.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTime Without Pity (1957)
Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec’s father, David Graham, a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in from Canada to visit his son on death row. David then goes on a quest to try and clear his son’s name while battling “the bottle.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCigarettes & Coffee (1993)
At a desert diner, the lives of five strangers become linked through a single twenty-dollar bill. Shot for $20,000 and starring Philip Baker Hall, the short premiered at Sundance and later inspired Anderson’s debut feature Hard Eight (1996).
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFramed (1947)
Truck driver Mike Lambert is a down-and-out mining engineer searching for a job. When his rig breaks down in a small town, he happens upon a venomous seductress. When her boyfriend robs a bank, they intend to frame Lambert.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young Savages (1961)
A district attorney investigates the racially charged case of three teenagers accused of the murder of a blind Puerto Rican boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Glass Key (1942)
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blue Gardenia (1953)
Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhile the City Sleeps (1956)
Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed "The Lipstick Killer".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA History of Violence (2005)
An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuicide Kings (1997)
Carlo, a former mobster, is abducted by five privileged young men desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Carlo plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own had a hand in the crime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiracles: The Canton Godfather (1989)
A country boy becomes the head of a gang through the purchase of some lucky roses from an old lady. He and a singer at the gang's nightclub try to do a good deed for the old lady when her daughter comes to visit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrother Orchid (1940)
When retired racket boss John Sarto tries to reclaim his place and former friends try to kill him, he finds solace in a monastery and reinvents himself as a pious monk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwo Seconds (1932)
A condemned murderer, in the process of being executed, relives the events that led to his being sentenced to die in the electric chair. Told in flashback, we witness a sleazy dancehall girl dupe a high rise riveter into marriage so she can live off of him. But when he loses his job and his marbles, she ends up supporting him with money from her side man--and misses no opportunity to rub it in his face that she's now supporting him in his emasculated state. As the animosity grows and things get more and more unbearable, he is eventually driven to desperate measures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Mickey One (1965)
A former comic is on the run from the mob.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisStreet Boss (2009)
Based on the true story of how the FBI brought down one of Detroit's most notorious mobsters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Deadly Encounter (1982)
A veteran pilot finds himself knee-deep in trouble when his ex-girlfriend shows up at his doorstep in a terrible state. She knows the whereabouts of an immense fortune, and the Mafia is hot on her trail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Hombres sin alma (1951)
Final installment in Juan Orol's Percal trilogy. In this film, Malena is freed from prison by a gangster but a rival mobster will make things impossible for them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Back in Action (1994)
Two men have different motivations but the same goal when they team up and mount an assault on a powerful drug gang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Law of the Underworld?
The closest matches to Law of the Underworld are Each Dawn I Die (1939), They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) and The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Law of the Underworld?
Start with Each Dawn I Die (1939), the closest match to Law of the Underworld.
What is the highest-rated movie like Law of the Underworld?
The Asphalt Jungle (1950), rated 7.5/10 by 562 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Law of the Underworld?
Street Boss (2009) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Law of the Underworld?
Yes: Each Dawn I Die (1939), They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) and The Asphalt Jungle (1950).
How are movies similar to Law of the Underworld chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Law of the Underworld, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.