Movies like Young Fugitives (1938)
The best movies like Young Fugitives (1938) are Call Northside 777 (1948), The Defiant Ones (1958) and House of Bamboo (1955). If Young Fugitives 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 ratedPaper Moon (1973)7.9/10 from 892 votes
- NewestAnjaan (2014)Released 2014
Call Northside 777 (1948)
In 1932, a cop is killed and Frank Wiecek sentenced to life. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Frank's mother leads Chicago reporter P.J. McNeal to look into the case. For some time, McNeal continues to believe Frank guilty. But when he starts to change his mind, he meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Defiant Ones (1958)
Two convicts—one white, one black—escape while chained to each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHouse of Bamboo (1955)
Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wrong Man (1956)
In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisThe Roaring Twenties (1939)
After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLadies They Talk About (1933)
A moll, imprisoned after participating in a bank robbery, helps with a breakout plot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this'G' Men (1935)
James “Brick” Davis, a struggling attorney, owes his education to a mobster, but always has refused to get involved with the underworld. When a friend of his is gunned down by a notorious criminal, Brick decides to abandon the exercise of the law and join the Department of Justice to capture the murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAct of Violence (1949)
A former prisoner of war, Frank Enley is hailed as a hero in his California town. However, Frank has a shameful secret that comes back to haunt him when fellow survivor Joe Parkson emerges, intent on making Frank pay for his past deeds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlaces in the Heart (1984)
In 1935 rural Texas, recently widowed Edna Spaulding struggles to survive with two small children, a farm to run, and very little money in the bank - not to mention a deadly tornado and the unwelcome presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Edna is aided by her beautician sister, Margaret; a blind boarder, Mr. Will; and a would-be thief, Moze, who decides to teach Edna how to plant and harvest cotton.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)
Chicago February 14th 1929. Al Capone finally establishes himself as the city's boss of organised crime. In a north-side garage his hoods, dressed as policemen, surprise and mow down with machine-guns the key members of Bugs Moran's rival gang. The film traces the history of the incident, and the lives affected and in some cases ended by it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTaking Chance (2009)
Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort accompanies the body of Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps to his hometown in Wyoming.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSounder (1972)
The oldest son of a loving and strong family of black sharecroppers comes of age in the Depression-era South after his father is imprisoned for stealing food.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRide in the Whirlwind (1966)
Three cowboys, mistaken for members of an outlaw gang, are relentlessly pursued by a posse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAndersonville (1996)
This lengthy docudrama records the harrowing conditions at the Confederacy's most notorious prisoner-of-war camp. The drama unfolds through the eyes of a company of Union soldiers captured at the Battle of Cold Harbor, VA, in June 1864, and shipped to the camp in southern Georgia. A private, Josiah Day, and his sergeant try to hold their company together in the face of squalid living conditions, inhumane punishments, and a gang of predatory fellow prisoners called the Raiders.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrime Wave (1953)
Reformed parolee Steve Lacey is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter. The other two former cellmates then attempt to force him into doing a bank job.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKiss of Death (1947)
An ex-con trying to go straight must face a crazed criminal out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Colditz Story (1955)
The Germans believed that no man could escape from Colditz Castle, set as it was in the heart of the Reich, 400 miles from any neutral frontier. This film, based on Pat Reid's epic novel, tells the story of how the British, French, Dutch and Polish prisoners of war who were incarcerated in Colditz set out to prove their captors wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaper Moon (1973)
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCape Fear (1962)
Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPelle the Conqueror (1987)
In the late 19th century, two Swedish emigrants, Lasse Karlsson and his son Pelle, arrive on the Danish island of Bornholm hoping to find work on a farm and save enough money to travel to the United States of America.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Soldier's Star (2006)
A Russian guitarist was enlisted in 1984 in the Afghan war. Imprisoned, he will meet an Afghan musician and a French journalist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Anjaan (2014)
A man travels to Mumbai in search of his estranged brother, a feared figure in the criminal underworld. As he follows the trail through gang rivalries and shifting alliances, he uncovers a complex web of loyalty, deception, and violence that blurs the line between justice and revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Secret Garden (1993)
A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and forgotten. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNever Been Kissed (1999)
Josie Geller, a baby-faced junior copywriter at the Chicago Sun-Times, must pose as a student at her former high school to research contemporary teenage culture. With the help of her brother, Rob, Josie infiltrates the inner circle of the most popular clique on campus. But she hits a major snag in her investigation -- not to mention her own failed love life -- when she falls for her dreamy English teacher, Sam Coulson.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both 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 thisIn Starland (2026)
In small-town America, a solitary man drifts through life - until a group of fearless young artists crash into his world. A coming-of-middle-age story about identity, belonging, and the strange beauty of connection.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Coming SoonMovies like thisRed Road (2006)
Jackie is a CCTV operator. One day, a man shows his face on her monitor, a man she hoped never to see again. Now she has no choice and is compelled to confront him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Young Fugitives and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Young Fugitives?
The closest matches to Young Fugitives are Call Northside 777 (1948), The Defiant Ones (1958) and House of Bamboo (1955). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Young Fugitives?
Start with Call Northside 777 (1948), the closest match to Young Fugitives.
What is the highest-rated movie like Young Fugitives?
Paper Moon (1973), rated 7.9/10 by 892 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Young Fugitives?
Anjaan (2014) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Young Fugitives?
Yes: Call Northside 777 (1948), The Defiant Ones (1958) and House of Bamboo (1955).
How are movies similar to Young Fugitives chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Young Fugitives, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.