Movies like Prison Breaker (1936)
The best movies like Prison Breaker (1936) are White Heat (1949), Spartan (2004) and The Unforgivable (2021). If Prison Breaker 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 ratedWhite Heat (1949)7.7/10 from 570 votes
- NewestIn Cold Light (2026)Released 2026
White Heat (1949)
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpartan (2004)
U.S. government agent Scott is assigned to rescue the daughter of a high-ranking government official. As willing as he is to bend the rules to get things done, though, Scott is shocked to find that others are willing to go even further to protect a political career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unforgivable (2021)
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Valachi Papers (1972)
When Joe Valachi has a price put on his head by Don Vito Genovese, he must take desperate steps to protect himself while in prison. An unsuccessful attempt to slit his throat puts him over the edge to break the sacred code of silence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEach Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCry of the City (1948)
Petty crook and cop-killer Martin Rome, in bad shape from wounds in the hospital prison ward, still refuses to help slimy lawyer Niles clear his client by confessing to another crime. Police Lt. Candella must check Niles' allegation; a friend of the Rome family, he walks a tightrope between sentiment and cynicism. When Martin fears Candella will implicate his girlfriend Teena, he'll do anything to protect her. How many others will he drag down to disaster with him?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSiberian Education (2013)
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against this backdrop two best friends, Kolyma and Gagarin, gradually become fierce enemies as they find themselves on opposite sides of the strict code of honour of the ‘honest criminal’ brotherhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelly (1998)
Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Score to Settle (2019)
A former mob enforcer who is released from prison after serving 22 years for a crime he didn't commit sets out on a path for revenge against the people who wronged him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTrue Believer (1989)
Eddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has followed Eddie's great cases and now wants to learn at his feet. With Roger's idealistic prodding, Eddie reluctantly takes on a case of a young Korean man who, according to his mother, has been in jail for eight years for a murder he didn't commit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Locksmith (2023)
A thief fresh out of prison, tries to work his way back into the life of his daughter and ex-fiancé. Determined, he is forced to use the skills he has as a gifted locksmith. Things take a tumultuous turn after an unexpected disappearance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisIt Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
During a rainy Sunday afternoon, an escaped prisoner tries to hide out at the home of his ex-fiance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Forger (2014)
A former child art prodigy and second generation petty thief arranges to buy his way out of prison to spend time with his ailing son, only to be forced to alter his plans and commit one more job for the man who financed his release.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDown Terrace (2010)
After serving jail time for a mysterious crime, Bill and Karl get out of jail and become preoccupied with figuring out who turned them in to the police. On top of that, the "family business" is on the rocks, and the motley crew of criminals who operate out of Down Terrace aren't feeling terribly trusting of one another. It might look like an ordinary house, but at Down Terrace, the walls are closing in..
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Cold Light (2026)
Fresh out of prison, Ava's attempt to reclaim her drug operation collapses when she witnesses a brutal crime, forcing her to flee into a nightmarish underworld where allies are scarce and enemies multiply by the minute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisSnitch (2013)
Construction company owner John Matthews learns that his estranged son, Jason, has been arrested for drug trafficking. Facing an unjust prison sentence for a first time offender courtesy of mandatory minimum sentence laws, Jason has nothing to offer for leniency in good conscience. Desperately, John convinces the DEA and the opportunistic DA Joanne Keeghan to let him go undercover to help make arrests big enough to free his son in return. With the unwitting help of an ex-con employee, John enters the narcotics underworld where every move could be his last in an operation that will demand all his resources, wits and courage to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deadly Affair (1967)
Charles Dobbs is a British secret agent investigating the apparent suicide of Foreign Office official Samuel Fennan. Dobbs suspects that Fennan's wife, Elsa, a survivor of a Nazi Germany extermination camp, might have some clues, but other officials want Dobbs to drop the case. So Dobbs hires a retiring inspector, Mendel, to quietly make inquiries. Dobbs isn't at all sure as there are a number of anomalies that simply can't be explained away. Dobbs is also having trouble at home with his errant wife, whom he very much loves, having frequent affairs. He's also pleased to see an old friend, Dieter Frey, who he recruited after the war. With the assistance of a colleague and a retired policeman, Dobbs tries to piece together just who is the spy and who in fact assassinated Fennan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrison Break: The Final Break (2009)
Michael and Sara wed, but the happiness is short-lived when the Feds apprehend her for the murder of Michael's mother, Christina. Once a hit is ordered on Sara, the team reunite to break out the increasingly vulnerable target.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe System (2022)
When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnderworld (1927)
Boisterous gangster kingpin Bull Weed rehabilitates his former lawyer from his alcoholic haze, but complications arise when he falls for Weed's girlfriend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like this20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
Brash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLadies They Talk About (1933)
A moll, imprisoned after participating in a bank robbery, helps with a breakout plot.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFish: A Boy in a Man's Prison (2012)
A 17 year old boy is sent to an adult prison for robbing a Fotomat with a toy gun. He thinks he's going to a minimum security camp where they send non-violent, first-time offenders, but the prison psychologist rattles his world by informing him that he's going inside (inside the walls of a maximum security prison). Shot in the Hampton's, (at the Sag Harbor historic jail) this film is a short adaptation from the award winning book, Fish: A Memoir of A Boy in a Man's Prison.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Down Time (2001)
Slim Williams, a small-time dealer, is poised to make his big score with his partner Paulie. But the easy deal becomes a nightmare when Slim is caught in deadly police sting and ends up in a maximum-security penitentiary. Sold out by his partner, Slim is forced to learn the rules of survival behind bars - forget what you know. Inside these walls, there are no laws.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Lonely are the Brave (1962)
A fiercely independent cowboy arranges to have himself locked up in jail in order to then escape with an old friend who has been sentenced to the penitentiary.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Big Doll House (1971)
Female prisoners in a Philippine jail are being subjected to sadistic torture. Five of the women, along with the help of two men, plot an escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJibril (2019)
The love story between Maryam and Gabriel starts by coincidence but feels like a match made in heaven. It also marks an emotional tide change in Maryam´s life in Berlin as a single mom of three daughters. Only one crucial thing stands between her, Gabriel and a “happily ever after” – prison bars. Nevertheless, the love Maryam feels empowers her not only to live in the moment, but to be true to herself when Gabriel suddenly starts to show a different side to his character.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Mustang (2019)
While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an especially feisty horse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTurned Out: Sexual Assault Behind Bars (2004)
A look beyond the shock and inhumanity of prison rape to the intricate social hierarchy that keeps it alive. A filmmaker goes deep inside Alabama's infamous Limestone penitentiary to uncover the long-term causes and consequences of prison rape. With a startling lack of inhibition, five inmates reveal the workings of an elaborate inner society.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Prison Breaker?
The closest matches to Prison Breaker are White Heat (1949), Spartan (2004) and The Unforgivable (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Prison Breaker?
Start with White Heat (1949), the closest match to Prison Breaker.
What is the highest-rated movie like Prison Breaker?
White Heat (1949), rated 7.7/10 by 570 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Prison Breaker?
In Cold Light (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Prison Breaker?
Yes: White Heat (1949), Spartan (2004) and The Unforgivable (2021).
How are movies similar to Prison Breaker chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Prison Breaker, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.