Movies like Ambush (1939)
The best movies like Ambush (1939) are The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Plunder Road (1957) and Each Dawn I Die (1939). If Ambush hooked you with its drama and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDog Day Afternoon (1975)7.9/10 from 3,568 votes
- NewestAurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022)Released 2022
The 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 thisPlunder Road (1957)
A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.
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 thisLittle Caesar (1931)
A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like this5 Against the House (1955)
Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFramed (1947)
Truck driver Mike Lambert is a down-and-out mining engineer searching for a job. When his rig breaks down in a small town, he happens upon a venomous seductress. When her boyfriend robs a bank, they intend to frame Lambert.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark City (1950)
War hero Danny Haley fleeces out-of-town dupes in a rigged poker game. He and his pals see Arthur Winant as an easy mark, but they've reckoned without Winant's homicidal brother, who wants revenge after Arthur commits suicide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKid Galahad (1962)
After completing military service, Walter Gulick takes a job as a sparring partner at a gym, the owner of which sees potential in Walter as a professional fighter—and takes him under his wing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOdd Man Out (1947)
Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022)
A murder investigation is reignited in a house that is considered haunted by the Lawrenceton locals and where years ago Aurora and Sally, as teenagers, discovered a body.
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 thisMiss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors (1992)
At the insistence of Ruth Van Rydock, an old schoolfriend who is convinced that there is something wrong, Miss Marple agrees to visit 'Stonygates', the country house of Ruth's sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Damned Don't Cry (1950)
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Kiss Before Dying (1956)
A college student tries to get rich quick by wooing two wealthy sisters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPitfall (1948)
An insurance man wishing for a more exciting life becomes wrapped up in the affairs of an imprisoned embezzler, his model girlfriend, and a violent private investigator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Glass Key (1942)
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blue Gardenia (1953)
Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisCellular (2004)
A young man receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from an older woman. She claims to have been kidnapped – and the kidnappers have targeted her husband and child next.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Fish (2005)
Set in the Little Saigon district outside of Sydney, a woman trying to escape her past becomes embroiled in a drug deal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisSugar & Spice (2001)
When Jack and Diane find themselves in an unexpected adult situation, the A-Squad comes to their rescue. In order to help their friend Diane, the A-Squad goes where no cheerleader has gone before: taking on a little after-school project known as bank robbery. But the A-Squad does things their way -- with sugar and spice -- forever changing their friendship, their future and the nation's notion of teen spirit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Madness (1932)
Socially-conscious banker Thomas Dickson faces a crisis when his protégé is wrongly accused of robbing the bank, gossip of the robbery starts a bank run, and evidence suggests Dickson's wife had an affair... all in the same day.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Cadillac (1995)
A runaway teenage girl and a drifter rob a bank, hit the road to elude the Texas Rangers and find love on the run.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
No Good Deed (2002)
While doing a friend a favor and searching for a runaway teenager, a police detective stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBreakdown (1997)
On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker ― who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot For, or Against (Quite the Contrary) (2003)
"Ni Pour, Ni Contre" tracks the fall of a young TV camerawoman, Caty, after she becomes involved with a group of petty criminals and their enigmatic leader, Jean. The gang lives hand-to-mouth until the day Jean plans a daring bank robbery. Although other gang members feel out of their league, Jean persuades them to take part and Caty finds herself in a hellish world of betrayal, violence and murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDog Day Afternoon (1975)
Based on the true story of would-be Brooklyn bank robbers John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile. Sonny and Sal attempt a bank heist which quickly turns sour and escalates into a hostage situation and stand-off with the police. As Sonny's motives for the robbery are slowly revealed and things become more complicated, the heist turns into a media circus.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStander (2003)
The life and career of Andre Stander, a South African police officer turned bank robber.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ambush?
The closest matches to Ambush are The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Plunder Road (1957) and Each Dawn I Die (1939). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ambush?
Start with The Asphalt Jungle (1950), the closest match to Ambush.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ambush?
Dog Day Afternoon (1975), rated 7.9/10 by 3,568 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ambush?
Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Ambush?
Yes: The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Plunder Road (1957) and Each Dawn I Die (1939).
How are movies similar to Ambush chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ambush, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.