Movies like East L.A. Warriors (1989)
The best movies like East L.A. Warriors (1989) are In Hell (2003), Al Capone (1959) and Jawbone (2017). If East L.A. Warriors hooked you with its action and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Godfather (1972)8.7/10 from 23,971 votes
- NewestRIZIN 46 (2024)Released 2024
In 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 action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAl Capone (1959)
In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJawbone (2017)
A former youth boxing champion, Jimmy McCabe is a man in search of hope but looking in all the wrong places. When he hits rock bottom he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: gym owner Bill corner man Eddie and promoter Joe. Back in training, years after anyone thought he was a contender, he risks his life, as he tries to stand tall and regain his place in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAssassination Games (2011)
Brazil is a contract killer, willing to take any job if the price is right. Flint left the assassin game when a ruthless drug dealer’s brutal attack left his wife in a coma. When a contract is put out on the same coldblooded drug dealer, both Brazil and Flint want him dead – one for the money, the other for revenge. With crooked Interpol agents and vicious members of the criminal underworld hot on their trail, these two assassins reluctantly join forces to quickly take out their target before they themselves are terminated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParadise Alley (1978)
Three Italian-American brothers, living in the slums of 1940's New York City, try to help each other with one's wrestling career using one brother's promotional skills and another brother's con-artist tactics to thwart a sleazy manager.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlood and Bone (2009)
In Los Angeles, an ex-con takes the underground fighting world by storm in his quest to fulfill a promise to a dead friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Substitute (1996)
When an inner-city Miami schoolteacher gets her knee broken after standing up to the school's gang leader, her mercenary combat specialist boyfriend goes undercover as a substitute teacher to take down the punk. Soon he discovers a conspiracy of criminals at work, and must reassemble his team from his last jungle raid to stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUndisputed III: Redemption (2010)
Russian inmate Boyka, now severely hobbled by the knee injury suffered at the end of Undisputed 2. No longer the feared prison fighter he was, he has declined so far that he is now good only for cleaning toilets. But when a new prison fight tournament begins - an international affair, matching the best fighters from prisons around the globe, enticing them with the promise of freedom for the winner - Boyka must reclaim his dignity and fight for his position in the tournament.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisConvict (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 action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWake of Death (2004)
Ben Archer, an ex-mob enforcer, seeks revenge against a ruthless Chinese kingpin responsible for his wife's brutal murder. When Archer joins forces with his old underworld friends, an all-out war is waged against the Chinese Triad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
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 action
SnoozefestMovies like thisAvengement (2019)
While on a prison furlough, a lowly criminal evades his guards and returns to his old stomping ground to take revenge on the people who turned him into a cold blooded killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMenace II Society (1993)
A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNever Back Down: Revolt (2021)
An amateur fighter is lured by a trafficking syndicate specializing in elite underground fighting where her brutal captor forces her to fight or face certain death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHard Target (1993)
When a woman's father goes missing, she enlists a local to aid in her search. The pair soon discover that her father has died at the hands of a wealthy sportsman who hunts homeless men as a form of recreation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNinja: Shadow of a Tear (2013)
Fight everyone and trust no one: it's the code of survival practiced by martial-arts master Casey Bowman after his life of domestic bliss is shattered by a savage act of violence. Vowing revenge, the fearless American stealthily tracks the killer from Osaka to Bangkok to Rangoon with the help of a wise and crafty sensei. His only clues: a series of victims whose necks bear the distinctive mark of strangulation by barbed wire. Fighting to avenge as well as to survive, Casey must sharpen his razor-like responses and take his battle skills to the next level, even using deep meditation to fake his own death. His target: the sinister drug lord Goro, who is flooding the streets with deadly meth cooked at his remote jungle factory. To prepare for his ultimate confrontation, Casey must finally become an invisible warrior worthy of the name Ninja. But just when his prey is cornered, an unexpected twist shows Casey that his battle is only beginning: he truly can trust no one.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
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 drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngel Town (1990)
A graduate student and martial-arts expert rents a room in a house owned by a single mother who lives there with her son. A local street gang is trying to recruit the son, but the new tenant tries to help the boy's mother keep him out of the gang. When they learn of this, they target both the mother and her new tenant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
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 action
SnoozefestMovies like thisCrank: High Voltage (2009)
Chelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGladiator (2000)
After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his devious son takes power and demotes Maximus, one of Rome's most capable generals who Marcus preferred. Eventually, Maximus is forced to become a gladiator and battle to the death against other men for the amusement of paying audiences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFurioza (2021)
A policewoman makes her ex-boyfriend an offer he can't refuse: either he infiltrates and informs on a gang of hooligans, or his brother goes to jail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Godfather (1972)
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisUFC on ESPN 25: Korean Zombie vs Ige (2021)
UFC on ESPN 25: The Korean Zombie vs. Ige was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on June 19, 2021 at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States. A featherweight bout between former UFC Featherweight Championship challenger Chan Sung Jung and Dan Ige served as the event headliner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Three friends growing up in South Central Los Angeles navigate a neighborhood plagued by violence, unemployment, and crime, each responding differently to the harsh realities of street life. As tragedy strikes close to home, their friendship, choices, and hopes for a better future are put to the ultimate test.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBloody Neighborhood (2020)
A neighborhood divided by gang violence that may prove impossible to heal unless the killing stops in this tense drama.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Super RIZIN 2 (2023)
On July 30th Super RIZIN 2 is live from Saitama Super Arena in Japan. The fight card has well over 8 matches, 3 of them are with titles on the line and will have Mikuru Asakura vs Vugar Karamov fighting for the RIZIN Featherweight Title as main event of the evening, finishing the entire lineup with a bang!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
RIZIN 43 (2023)
RIZIN 43 live from the Makomanai Sekisui Heim Arena in Sapporo, Japan. The event has been somewhat overshadowed by the colossal Rizin vs Bellator 2 event just around the corner. While not having the star power of the July’s copromotion Rizin’s inaugural venture into Hokkaido is stacked with intriguing, well matched fights that promise a bit of everything. 13 matches grace the main card with an additional 4 preliminaries, showcasing the caliber of fighters fans have come to expect.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
RIZIN 44 (2023)
RIZIN 44 live from Saitama Super Arena, Japan. The fight card has well over 11 matches and will have Juntarou Ushiku vs Kyohei Hagiwara as main event of the evening, finishing the entire lineup with a bang!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
RIZIN 46 (2024)
Featherweight champion Chihiro Suzuki's first defense will be against Masanori Kanehara from Japan!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like East L.A. Warriors?
The closest matches to East L.A. Warriors are In Hell (2003), Al Capone (1959) and Jawbone (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after East L.A. Warriors?
Start with In Hell (2003), the closest match to East L.A. Warriors.
What is the highest-rated movie like East L.A. Warriors?
The Godfather (1972), rated 8.7/10 by 23,971 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like East L.A. Warriors?
RIZIN 46 (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like East L.A. Warriors?
Yes: In Hell (2003), Al Capone (1959) and Jawbone (2017).
How are movies similar to East L.A. Warriors chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside East L.A. Warriors, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.