Movies like El preso No. 9 (1981)
The best movies like El preso No. 9 (1981) are Romance & Cigarettes (2006), The Drama (2026) and Crossing Over (2009). If El preso No. 9 hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Proposal (2009)7.2/10 from 7,902 votes
- NewestThe Drama (2026)Released 2026
Romance & Cigarettes (2006)
Ironworker Nick lives with his wife, Kitty, and three daughters. When he meets a significantly younger woman, Tula, he starts an affair with her, much to the chagrin of his wife, and his life is thrown into upheaval. Kitty kicks Nick out of the house, and he is forced to make some difficult decisions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Drama (2026)
A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrossing Over (2009)
Immigrants from around the world enter Los Angeles every day, with hopeful visions of a better life, but little notion of what that life may cost. Their desperate scenarios test the humanity of immigration enforcement officers. In Crossing Over, writer-director Wayne Kramer explores the allure of the American dream, and the reality that immigrants find – and create -- in 21st century L.A.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Proposal (2009)
When she learns she's in danger of losing her visa status and being deported, overbearing book editor Margaret Tate forces her put-upon assistant, Andrew Paxton, to marry her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStrangers When We Meet (1960)
A suburban architect loves his wife but is bored with his marriage and with his work, so he takes up with the neglected, married beauty who lives down the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnfaithful (2002)
A New York suburban couple's marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous fling.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBorn in East L.A. (1987)
Rudy, an American of Hispanic descent, whose south-of-the-border looks show him no mercy during an immigration raid in a migrant worker factory. As his luck goes, he is caught with neither money nor his ID and is deported to Mexico - without speaking a word of Spanish!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisDuplex (2003)
When a young couple buys their dream home, they have no idea what the sweet little old lady upstairs is going to put them through!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe's Funny That Way (2015)
On the set of a playwright's new project, a love triangle forms between his wife, her ex-lover, and the call girl-turned-actress cast in the production.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisOriginal Sin (2001)
A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this...And Justice for All (1979)
An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is forced to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial under the threat of being disbarred.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe One I Love (2014)
Ethan and Sophie are a married couple on the brink of separation when, at the urging of their therapist, they decide to salvage their relationship by escaping to a beautiful vacation house for the weekend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Guy Thing (2003)
Paul Morse is a good guy. When his friends throw him a wild bachelor party, he just wants to keep his conscience clean -- which is why he's shocked when he wakes up in bed with a beautiful girl named Becky and can't remember the night before. Desperate to keep his fiancée, Karen, from finding out what may or may not be the truth, he tells her a teensy lie. Soon his lies are spiraling out of control and his life is a series of comical misunderstandings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisAddicted (2014)
A gallerist risks her family and flourishing career when she enters into an affair with a talented painter and slowly loses control of her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisButterfly on a Wheel (2007)
A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMay December (2023)
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBody Heat (1981)
During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpanglish (2004)
Mexican immigrant and single mother Flor Moreno finds housekeeping work with Deborah and John Clasky, a well-off couple with two children of their own. When Flor admits she can't handle the schedule because of her daughter, Cristina, Deborah decides they should move into the Clasky home. Cultures clash and tensions run high as Flor and the Claskys struggle to share space while raising their children on their own, and very different, terms.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSame Time, Next Year (1978)
A man and woman meet by chance at a romantic inn over dinner and, although both are happily married to others, they find themselves in the same bed the next morning questioning how this could have happened. They agree to meet on the same weekend each year—in the same hotel room—and the years pass each has some personal crisis that the other helps them through, often without both of them understanding what is going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIntolerable Cruelty (2003)
A revenge-seeking gold digger marries a womanizing Beverly Hills lawyer with the intention of making a killing in the divorce.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like El preso No. 9 and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like El preso No. 9?
The closest matches to El preso No. 9 are Romance & Cigarettes (2006), The Drama (2026) and Crossing Over (2009). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after El preso No. 9?
Start with Romance & Cigarettes (2006), the closest match to El preso No. 9.
What is the highest-rated movie like El preso No. 9?
The Proposal (2009), rated 7.2/10 by 7,902 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like El preso No. 9?
The Drama (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like El preso No. 9?
Yes: Romance & Cigarettes (2006), The Drama (2026) and Crossing Over (2009).
How are movies similar to El preso No. 9 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside El preso No. 9, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.



















