Movies like The Border (1982)
The best movies like The Border (1982) are Cisco Pike (1972), Straight Time (1978) and Cop Land (1997). If The Border 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 Departed (2006)8.2/10 from 16,897 votes
- NewestClean Hands (2026)Released 2026
Cisco Pike (1972)
A down on his luck former drug dealer is forced by a corrupt LAPD policeman to sell 100 kilos of confiscated marijuana in one weekend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisStraight Time (1978)
After being released on parole, a burglar attempts to go straight, get a regular job, and just go by the rules. He soon finds himself back in jail at the hands of a power-hungry parole officer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCop Land (1997)
Freddy Heflin is the sheriff of a place everyone calls “Cop Land” — a small and seemingly peaceful town populated by the big city police officers he’s long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place behind the town’s peaceful facade. And when Freddy uncovers a massive, deadly conspiracy among these local residents, he is forced to take action and make a dangerous choice between protecting his idols and upholding the law.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
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: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrince of the City (1981)
New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice eliminate corruption in the police department, as long as he will not have to turn in any close friends. In doing so, Ciello uncovers a conspiracy within the force to smuggle drugs to street informants.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSerpico (1973)
New York cop Frank Serpico blows the whistle on the rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRio Babilonia (1982)
A public relations man is invited to guide an American millionaire during his stay in Rio de Janeiro. He gets involved in the most bizarre situations, from orgiastic mega-parties to confrontations with the police, meetings with drug dealers and movie stars, facing corruption and even murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
The Long Goodbye (1973)
In 1970s Hollywood, Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRush (1991)
Undercover cop Jim Raynor is a seasoned veteran. His partner, Kristen Cates, is lacking in experience, but he thinks she's tough enough to work his next case with him: a deep cover assignment to bring down the notoriously hard-to-capture drug lord Gaines. While their relationship turns romantic during the assignment, they also turn into junkies, and will have to battle their own addictions if they want to bring down Gaines once and for all.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to keep the money for herself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDesierto (2015)
A group of Mexican emigrants attempts to cross the Mexican-US border. What begins as a hopeful journey becomes a harrowing, bloody and primal fight for survival when a deranged, rifle-toting vigilante and his loyal Belgian Malinois dog chase the group of unarmed men and women through the treacherous borderland. In the harsh, unforgiving desert terrain, the odds are stacked firmly against them as they discover there’s nowhere to hide from the unrelenting, merciless killer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Blue (2002)
Set during the Rodney King riots, a robbery homicide investigation triggers a series of events that will cause a corrupt LAPD officer to question his tactics.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrozen River (2008)
A financially strapped mother joins a Mohawk woman to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Departed (2006)
To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the underworld, not realizing the syndicate has done likewise. While an undercover cop curries favor with the mob kingpin, a career criminal rises through the police ranks. But both sides soon discover there's a mole among them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies 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: Fans watch both · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlbino Alligator (1997)
While escaping from a foiled robbery attempt, three thieves find themselves surrounded by police at a New Orleans bar--only they're not the people the police are searching for.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMiller's Crossing (1990)
Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDillinger (1973)
After a shoot-out kills five FBI agents in Kansas City the Bureau target John Dillinger as one of the men to hunt down. Waiting for him to break Federal law they sort out several other mobsters, while Dillinger's bank robbing exploits make him something of a folk hero. Escaping from jail he finds Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson have joined the gang and pretty soon he is Public Enemy Number One. Now the G-men really are after him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlow (2001)
The story of how George Jung, together with the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar, established the billion-dollar cocaine empire in the United States in the 1970s.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mule (2018)
Earl Stone, a man in his eighties, is broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business when he is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but, unbeknownst to Earl, he's just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. He does so well that his cargo increases exponentially, and Earl hit the radar of hard-charging DEA agent Colin Bates.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
Terrence McDonagh is a New Orleans Police sergeant, who receives a medal and a promotion to lieutenant for heroism during Hurricane Katrina. Due to his heroic act, McDonagh injures his back and becomes addicted to prescription pain medication. He then finds himself involved with a drug dealer who is suspected of murdering a family of African immigrants.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTraffic (2000)
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Infiltrator (2016)
A U.S Customs official uncovers a massive money laundering scheme involving Pablo Escobar.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarlito's Way (1993)
Free after years in prison, Carlito Brigante intends to give up his criminal ways, but it's not long before the ex-con is sucked back into the New York City underworld.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClean Hands (2026)
Based on a true story, a veteran narcotics officer turned recovery advocate and his daughter, who struggles with addiction, confront the American drug crisis from opposing sides of the law while navigating their complicated family bond.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Bordertown (2007)
American corporations are using the North American Free Trade Agreement by opening large maquiladoras right across the United States–Mexico border. The maquiladoras hire mostly Mexican women to work long hours for little money in order to produce mass quantity products. Lauren Adrian, an impassioned American news reporter for the Chicago Sentinel wants to be assigned to the Iraq front-lines to cover the war. Instead, her editor George Morgan assigns her to investigate a series of slayings involving young maquiladora factory women in a Mexican bordertown.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ruby in the Smoke (2006)
Sally Lockhart has struck a man dead with just three words, sent to her in a message from her father just before he drowned in the South China Seas. But unfortunately, Sally has no idea what the words The Seven Blessings mean. Before long, she is drawn into a mystery filled with opium, secrets from her own past and, at the heart of it all, the Ruby of Agrapur.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Eduart (2006)
Based on true events, a young man raised in a cruel and oppressive family environment, leaves Albania with the dream of becoming a rock star and living a better life. His reckless character and his youth passions lead him to commit a murder in Athens. Chased by everyone, even by his own self, he is imprisoned under the harshest conditions. With the help of a German doctor, he learns to feel sympathy for others and guilt for his crime. His deep remorse will lead him from darkness to light.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
When brash Texas border officer Mike Norton wrongfully kills and buries the friend and ranch hand of Pete Perkins, the latter is reminded of a promise he made to bury his friend, Melquiades Estrada, in his Mexican home town. He kidnaps Norton and exhumes Estrada's corpse, and the odd caravan sets out on horseback for Mexico.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Border?
The closest matches to The Border are Cisco Pike (1972), Straight Time (1978) and Cop Land (1997). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Border?
People who watched The Border most often go on to Cisco Pike (1972), Straight Time (1978) and Cop Land (1997).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Border?
The Departed (2006), rated 8.2/10 by 16,897 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Border?
Clean Hands (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Border?
Yes: Cisco Pike (1972), Straight Time (1978) and Cop Land (1997).
How are movies similar to The Border chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Border, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.