Movies like Detour (1945)
The best movies like Detour (1945) are The Hitch-Hiker (1953), Framed (1947) and They Drive by Night (1940). If Detour hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGun Crazy (1950)7.4/10 from 323 votes
- NewestNaked Alibi (1954)Released 1954
The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Roy and Gilbert's fishing trip takes a terrifying turn when the hitchhiker they pick up turns out to be a sociopath on the run from the law. He's killed before, and he lets the two know that as soon as they're no longer useful, he'll kill again. The two friends plot an escape, but the hitchhiker's peculiar physical affliction, an eye that never closes even when he sleeps, makes it impossible for them to tell when they can make a break for it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
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: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Drive by Night (1940)
Joe and Paul Fabrini are Wildcat, or independent, truck drivers who have their own small one-truck business. The Fabrini boys constantly battle distributors, rivals and loan collectors, while trying to make a success of their transport company.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThieves' Highway (1949)
Nick Garcos comes back from his tour of duty in World War II planning to settle down with his girlfriend, Polly Faber. He learns, however, that his father was recently beaten and burglarized by mob-connected trucker Mike Figlia, and Nick resolves to get even. He partners with prostitute Rica, and together they go after Mike, all the while getting pulled further into the local crime underworld.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisToo Late for Tears (1949)
Through a fluke circumstance, a ruthless woman stumbles across a suitcase filled with $60,000, and is determined to hold onto it even if it means murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGun Crazy (1950)
Bart Tare, an ex-Army man who has a lifelong fixation with guns, meets a kindred spirit in sharpshooter Annie Starr and goes to work at a carnival alongside her. After upsetting the carnival owner who lusts after Starr, they both get fired. Soon, at Starr's behest, the couple embarks on a crime spree for cash.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Las Vegas Story (1952)
When newlyweds visit Las Vegas, the wife's shady past comes to the surface.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Side Street (1950)
A struggling young father-to-be gives in to temptation and impulsively steals an envelope of money from the office of a corrupt attorney. Instead of a few hundred dollars, it contains $30,000. When he decides to return the money, things go wrong - and that is only the beginning of his troubles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoontide (1942)
After a drunken night out, a longshoreman thinks he may have killed a man.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lady from Shanghai (1947)
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNaked Alibi (1954)
Questioned as a murder suspect, solid (but drunk) citizen Al Willis attacks his police questioners, is beaten, and swears vengeance against them. Next night, Lieut. Parks is murdered; Willis is the only suspect in the eyes of tough Chief Conroy, who pursues him doggedly despite lack of evidence. The obsessed Conroy is dismissed from the force, but continues to harass Willis, who flees to a sleazy town on the Mexican border. Of course, Conroy follows. But which is crazy, Conroy or Willis?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCriss Cross (1949)
An armored-car guard must join a robbery after being caught with his ex-wife by her gangster husband.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bribe (1949)
United States Federal agent Rigby travels to the Central American island Carlotta to investigate a stolen aircraft engines smuggling racket.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Human Desire (1954)
A Korean War vet returns to his job as a railroad engineer and becomes involved in a sordid affair with a co-worker's wife following a murder on a train.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoonrise (1948)
Stigmatized from infancy by the fate of his criminal father, a man is bruised and bullied until one night, in a fit of rage, he kills his most persistent tormentor. As the police close in around him, he makes a desperate bid for the love of the dead man’s girlfriend, a schoolteacher who sees the wounded soul behind his aggression.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Whistler (1944)
A guilt-ridden man blames himself for his wife's death and secretly pays an assassin to kill him. But then he finds out that his wife isn't dead at all. And now the assassin is on his trail, with no way to call off the hit.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
The Dark Past (1948)
A gang hold a family hostage in their own home. The leader of the escaped cons is bothered by a recurring dream that the doctor of the house may be able to analyze.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long Wait (1954)
Soon after thumbing a ride from a truck driver, Johnny McBride is badly burned and suffers from complete amnesia when the vehicle he’s riding in blows a tire and goes over an embankment in a fiery blaze. McBride later receives a tip from an acquaintance that a photo of him was placed prominently in the window of a photography studio in a town called Lyncastle, so Johnny immediately leaves for the burg in the hopes that something there will jog his memory.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Hollow Triumph (1948)
Pursued by the big-time gambler he robbed, John Muller assumes a new identity—with unfortunate results.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngels Over Broadway (1940)
Small-time businessman Charles Engle is threatened with exposure for embezzling $3,000 for his free-spending wife. Deciding on suicide, he scribbles a note, stuffs it in his pocket and goes for one last night on the town. He is pulled into a poker game by conman Bill O'Brien and singer Nina Barone, but when they discover the dropped note, they resolve to turn the tables, get Engle his $3,000 and save his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Drive a Crooked Road (1954)
A mechanic gets caught up with the mob when he falls for a gangster's girlfriend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
The Sniper (1952)
Eddie Miller struggles with his hatred of women, he's especially bothered by seeing women with their lovers. He starts a killing spree as a sniper by shooting women from far distances. In an attempt to get caught, he writes an anonymous letter to the police begging them to stop him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou Only Live Once (1937)
Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham and baby. While escaping prison after being sentenced to death, Taylor becomes a real murderer, condemning himself and Joan to a life of crime and death on the road.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCity That Never Sleeps (1953)
Chicago cop Johnny Kelly, dissatisfied with his job and marriage, would like to run away with his stripper girlfriend Angel Face, but keeps getting cold feet. During one crowded night, Angel Face decides she's had enough vacillation, and crooked lawyer Biddel has an illegal mission for Johnny that could put him in a financial position to act. But other, conflicting schemes are also in progress...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Sound of Fury (1950)
A family man – desperate for a job – latches onto a friend who encourages him into being a criminal.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFallen Angel (1945)
An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills. Since Stella isn't interested in Eric unless he has money, the lovelorn guy comes up with a scheme to win her over, and it involves June. Before long, murder works its way into this passionate love triangle.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRide the Pink Horse (1947)
A con man tries to blackmail a Mexican gangster.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Dark Mirror (1946)
A sister and her disturbed twin are implicated in a murder and a police detective must figure out which one's the killer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThey Won't Believe Me (1947)
On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Detour?
The closest matches to Detour are The Hitch-Hiker (1953), Framed (1947) and They Drive by Night (1940). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Detour?
People who watched Detour most often go on to The Hitch-Hiker (1953), Framed (1947) and They Drive by Night (1940).
What is the highest-rated movie like Detour?
Gun Crazy (1950), rated 7.4/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Detour?
Naked Alibi (1954) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Detour?
Yes: The Hitch-Hiker (1953), Framed (1947) and They Drive by Night (1940).
How are movies similar to Detour chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Detour, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.