Movies like Mad Dawg (2004)
The best movies like Mad Dawg (2004) are Boyz n the Hood (1991), Gangster Squad (2013) and The Outfit (2022). If Mad Dawg hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBound by Honor (1993)8.2/10 from 1,672 votes
- NewestWrooklyn Zoo (2024)Released 2024
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGangster Squad (2013)
Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and — if he has his way — every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop… except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara and Jerry Wooters who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Outfit (2022)
Leonard is an English tailor who used to craft suits on London’s world-famous Savile Row. After a personal tragedy, he’s ended up in Chicago, operating a small tailor shop in a rough part of town where he makes beautiful clothes for the only people around who can afford them: a family of vicious gangsters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bikeriders (2024)
After a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGloria (1980)
When a young boy's family is killed by the mob, their tough neighbor Gloria becomes his reluctant guardian. In possession of a book that the gangsters want, the pair go on the run in New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wanderers (1979)
The streets of the Bronx are owned by '60s youth gangs where the joy and pain of adolescence is lived. Philip Kaufman tells his take on the novel by Richard Price about the history of the Italian-American gang ‘The Wanderers.’
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Many Saints of Newark (2021)
Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark, N.J., history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters start to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, whose influence over his nephew will help shape the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss, Tony Soprano.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBound by Honor (1993)
Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known as the "Vatos Locos", and the story focuses on how a violent crime and the influence of narcotics alter their lives. Miklo is incarcerated and sent to San Quentin, where he makes a "home" for himself. Cruz becomes an exceptional artist, but a heroin addiction overcomes him with tragic results. Paco becomes a cop and an enemy to his "carnal", Miklo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShaft (1971)
Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwitchblade Sisters (1975)
The leader of an inner city girl gang is challenged when a new girl moves into the neighborhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCapone (1975)
Young Al Capone catches the eye of Johnny Torrio, a criminal visiting New York from Chicago. Torrio invites Capone to move to Illinois to help run his Prohibition-era alcohol sales operation. Capone rises through the ranks of Torrio's gang and eventually takes over. On top, he works to consolidate his power by eliminating his enemies, fixing elections to his advantage and getting rich. In his spare time, Capone courts the principled Iris Crawford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaid in Full (2002)
Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch, goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky breaks and solid interpersonal skills, Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Of course, unfaithful employees and/or rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrips and Bloods: Made in America (2009)
With a first-person look at the notorious Crips and Bloods, this film examines the conditions that have lead to decades of devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWe Still Kill the Old Way (2014)
A group of aging London gangsters go on a vigilante killing spree when one of their number is murdered by a street gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClean (2022)
Tormented by a past life, garbage man Clean attempts a life of quiet redemption. But when his good intentions mark him a target of a local crime boss, Clean is forced to reconcile with the violence of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Warriors (1979)
Prominent gang leader Cyrus calls a meeting of New York's gangs to set aside their turf wars and take over the city. At the meeting, a rival leader kills Cyrus, but a Coney Island gang called the Warriors is wrongly blamed for Cyrus' death. Before you know it, the cops and every gangbanger in town is hot on the Warriors' trail.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBilly Bathgate (1991)
In the year 1935, a teen named Billy Bathgate finds first love while becoming the protégé of fledgling gangster Dutch Schultz.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMacbeth (2015)
Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl Can't Help It (1956)
A down-and-out gangster hires a down-on-his-luck agent to make his girlfriend a recording star within six weeks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Newton Boys (1998)
The story of the Newton gang, the most successful bank robbers in history, owing to their good planning and minimal violence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAuf Scheisser schiesst man nicht (1969)
A group of outlaw-style thugs lives on a house boat. They recruit a new member, a girl. Because she steals money from their boss they decide to flee, but they need to make money first.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Al 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: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Eye for an Eye (1981)
Sean Kane is forced to resign from the San Francisco Police Department's Narcotics Division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered. He decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
A man recognizes the thief who had previously robbed him as one of the men involved in an unrelated mob shootout.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlood Relative (2017)
After a botched robbery, a local crime syndicate sends a rookie enforcer to take care of a loose end. When the hit goes sideways and his civilian girlfriend ends up missing, her brother, Rodd, a mild-mannered guidance counselor, conducts an exhaustive search through the city to find her. With the support of a martial artist instructor, Bruce, the pair consistently becomes overwhelmed by a violent outfit of criminals looking to silence them. However, Rodd has a mysterious and dangerous past of his own, and with the help of his friend, they formulate a plan to take on the organization in this nail-biting action thriller.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Wrooklyn Zoo (2024)
Eighteen-year-old Kosa is the best skater in Wrocław. He has a beautiful girlfriend, great friends, an adored grandfather and a clear plan for the future - he wants to win a prestigious skateboarding competition with a lot of money at stake and a trip to Los Angeles. Everything changes dramatically when, during a carefree vacation, Kosa meets Zora - a magnetic Romani girl, with whom magic and a passionate feeling that he has never experienced before enters the boy's life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Yuva (2004)
An accident on a bridge ties together three young men from different social classes, sparking a course of events that will forever alter their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Mad Dawg?
The closest matches to Mad Dawg are Boyz n the Hood (1991), Gangster Squad (2013) and The Outfit (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Mad Dawg?
Start with Boyz n the Hood (1991), the closest match to Mad Dawg.
What is the highest-rated movie like Mad Dawg?
Bound by Honor (1993), rated 8.2/10 by 1,672 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Mad Dawg?
Wrooklyn Zoo (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Mad Dawg?
Yes: Boyz n the Hood (1991), Gangster Squad (2013) and The Outfit (2022).
How are movies similar to Mad Dawg chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Mad Dawg, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.