Movies like Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
The best movies like Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) are The Harder They Fall (1956), Baby Doll (1956) and Body and Soul (1947). If Somebody Up There Likes Me hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRocky (1976)7.8/10 from 9,081 votes
- NewestAli (2001)Released 2001
The Harder They Fall (1956)
Jobless sportswriter Eddie Willis is hired by corrupt fight promoter Nick Benko to promote his current protégé, an unknown Argentinian boxer named Toro Moreno. Although Moreno is a hulking giant, his chances for success are hampered by a powder-puff punch and a glass jaw. Exploiting Willis' reputation for integrity and standing in the boxing community, Benko arranges a series of fixed fights that propel the unsophisticated Moreno to #1 contender for the championship. The reigning champ, the sadistic Buddy Brannen, harbors resentment at the publicity Toro has been receiving and vows to viciously punish him in the ring. Eddie must now decide whether or not to tell the naive Toro the truth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBaby Doll (1956)
Archie Lee Meighan is a failing cotton gin owner who is married to Baby Doll, a 19-year old childlike beauty whose father arranged the marriage for financial reasons. As Archie awaits the arrival of Baby Doll's 20th birthday, the day that they are supposed to consummate their marriage, he faces interference from business rival Silva Vacarro, who plots to seduce Baby Doll away from Meighan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBody and Soul (1947)
Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes a boxer. As he becomes more successful the fighter becomes surrounded by shady characters, including an unethical promoter named Roberts, who tempt the man with a number of vices. Charley finds himself faced with increasingly difficult choices.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRebel Without a Cause (1955)
After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRocky V (1990)
A lifetime of taking shots has ended Rocky’s career, and a crooked accountant has left him broke. Inspired by the memory of his trainer, however, Rocky finds glory in training and takes on an up-and-coming boxer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisRequiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
After suffering a brutal defeat and being told he can no longer fight, 37-year-old, scar-ridden prizefighter Louis 'Mountain' Rivera struggles to find a new direction in life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Country Girl (1954)
An actor on the skids is given one more chance to regain his stardom, as well as his self-respect, yet his alcoholism may prevent that from happening.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
Deprived of a normal childhood by her ambitious mother, Lillian Roth becomes a star of Broadway and Hollywood before she is twenty. Shortly before her marriage to her childhood sweetheart, David Tredman, he dies and Lillian takes her first drink of many down the road of becoming an alcoholic.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Come Back, Little Sheba (1953)
A mismatched couple's marital problems come to the surface when the husband develops an interest in their pretty boarder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChampion (1949)
An unscrupulous boxer fights his way to the top, but eventually alienates all of the people who helped him on the way up.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFat City (1972)
The story of two men, a veteran boxer who is down and out, and a young man who is just starting his life and boxing career. Their fighting careers cross paths as their lives and fortunes head in opposite directions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Tarnished Angels (1957)
In the 1930s, once-great World War I pilot Roger Shumann performs as a daredevil barnstorming pilot at aerial stunt shows while his wife, LaVerne, works as a parachutist. When newspaper reporter Burke Devlin arrives to do a story on the Shumanns’ act, he quickly falls in love with the beautiful--and neglected--LaVerne.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClash by Night (1952)
An embittered woman seeks escape in marriage, only to fall for her husband’s best friend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Could Go on Singing (1963)
Jenny Bowman is a successful singer who, while on an engagement at the London Palladium, visits David Donne to see her son Matt again, spending a few glorious days with him while his father is away in Rome in an attempt to attain the family that she never had. When David returns, Matt is torn between his loyalty to his father and his affection for Jenny.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRocky (1976)
Rocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJim Thorpe – All-American (1951)
The triumph and tragedy of Native American Jim Thorpe, who, after winning both the pentathlon and decathlon in the same Olympics, is stripped of his medals on a technicality.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Ali (2001)
In 1964, a brash, new pro boxer, fresh from his Olympic gold medal victory, explodes onto the scene: Cassius Clay. Bold and outspoken, he cuts an entirely new image for African Americans in sport with his proud public self-confidence and his unapologetic belief that he is the greatest boxer of all time. Yet at the top of his game, both Ali's personal and professional lives face the ultimate test.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGolden Boy (1939)
Despite his talent as a musician, a city boy decides to become a boxer. He's successful as a fighter — much to the dismay of his father. When gangsters try to buy a piece of him, he begins to have second thoughts.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Honky Tonk (1941)
Fast-talking con-man and grifter Candy Johnson rises to be the corrupt boss of Yellow Creek, but his wife's alcoholic father tries to set things right.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Champ (1979)
Billy used to be a great boxer, but he's settled into a hardscrabble life that revolves around drinking, training horses, and the one bright spot in his existence — his young son, T.J. Although Billy has had custody of T.J. since his wife, Annie, left the family years ago, her return prompts a new struggle for the former fighter. Determined to hold on to his son, Billy gets back into the ring to try and recapture his past success.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInside Moves (1980)
After a failed suicide attempt leaves him partially crippled, Rory begins spending a lot of time at a neighborhood bar full of interesting misfits. When Jerry the bartender suddenly finds himself playing basketball for the Golden State Warriors, Rory and the rest of the bar regulars hope his success will provide a lift to their sagging spirits. Will Jerry forget his friends? What about his junkie hooker girlfriend and her pimp?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Death of a Salesman (1951)
Willy Loman, an aging, failing salesman, struggles to accept reality and his failure to achieve the American Dream.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Paradise 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: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWinning (1969)
Frank Capua is a rising star on the race circuit who dreams of winning the big one - the Indianapolis 500. But to get there he runs the risk of losing his wife Elora to his rival, Luther Erding, and strains the relationship with his stepson.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGentleman Jim (1942)
As bare-knuckled boxing enters the modern era, brash extrovert Jim Corbett uses new rules and dazzlingly innovative footwork to rise to the top of the boxing world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTyson (1995)
The story of Mike Tyson. From his early days as a 12 year old amateur with a powerful punch, to the undisputed title of "Heavyweight Champion of the World", and ultimately to his conviction for rape. The story of his turbulent life moves quickly, never focusing for long on anything in particular.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Power of One (1992)
PK, an English orphan terrorized for his family's political beliefs in Africa, turns to his only friend, a kindly world-wise prisoner, Geel Piet. Geel teaches him how to box with the motto “fight with your fists and lead with your heart”. As he grows to manhood, PK uses these words to take on the system and the injustices he sees around him - and finds that one person really can make a difference.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Somebody Up There Likes Me?
The closest matches to Somebody Up There Likes Me are The Harder They Fall (1956), Baby Doll (1956) and Body and Soul (1947). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Somebody Up There Likes Me?
People who watched Somebody Up There Likes Me most often go on to The Harder They Fall (1956), Baby Doll (1956) and Body and Soul (1947).
What is the highest-rated movie like Somebody Up There Likes Me?
Rocky (1976), rated 7.8/10 by 9,081 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Somebody Up There Likes Me?
Ali (2001) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Somebody Up There Likes Me?
Yes: The Harder They Fall (1956), Baby Doll (1956) and Body and Soul (1947).
How are movies similar to Somebody Up There Likes Me chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Somebody Up There Likes Me, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.