Movies like The Sweet and the Bitter (2007)
The best movies like The Sweet and the Bitter (2007) are Belly (1998), Lucky Luciano (1973) and Each Dawn I Die (1939). If The Sweet and the Bitter 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 ratedOnce Upon a Time in America (1984)8.4/10 from 6,320 votes
- NewestNostalgia (2022)Released 2022
- In ItalianLucky Luciano (1973)Also in Italian
Belly (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 thisLucky Luciano (1973)
Lucky Luciano is one of the bosses of the Mafia. He orders the slaughter of 40 other responsibles, therefore becoming the only boss. But a few years later he is put into jail. In 1946, he got a pardon and is sent back to Sicilia. There, he begins becoming one of the chief of the Mafia. The US Army seems to refrain from interfering.
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 thisPiranhas (2019)
A gang of teenage boys stalk the streets of Naples armed with hand guns and AK-47s to do their mob bosses' bidding – until they decide to be the bosses themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisSan Babila-8 P.M. (1976)
A quartet of young neo-Fascists terrorise the Milanise locals while the Police mostly look the other way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Hundred Days in Palermo (1984)
In the late 1970s and early 80s, assassinations in Sicily get the attention of Communist deputy, Pio La Torre, who appeals to General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa to become prefect in Palermo and take on the Mafia. Dalla Chiesa approaches the job with the same focus and methods he used in hunting down the Red Brigade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
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 thisAl 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: 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 thisGangster's Paradise: Jerusalema (2008)
This South African movie tracks the rise of a once-petty criminal to the heights of the criminal underworld. After cutting his teeth on hijacking, before moving onto bigger game, an ambitious man hits a setback when most of his gang are shot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe Day of the Owl (1968)
Set in Sicily, this violent crime drama tells the tale of an Italian cop who heads to a small island town to look into the death of a construction supplier. Once there he is shocked by the influence the Mafia has over the people and even himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRun (1991)
When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
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 · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisIll Manors (2012)
Ensemble film revolving around characters living in Forest Gate, London. Over the course of a few days, six inter-linking stories explore issues of drug use, prostitution and urban poverty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisColombiana (2011)
After witnessing her parents’ murder as a child in Bogota, Cataleya Restrepo grows up to be a stone-cold assassin. She works for her uncle as a hitman by day, but her personal time is spent engaging in vigilante murders that she hopes will lead her to her ultimate target: the mobster responsible for her parents' death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNostalgia (2022)
Felice returns to his native Rione Sanità in Naples to look after his dying mother, having lived abroad for the last forty years. Here he discovers that his old friend Oreste has become a notorious crimeboss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Enforcer (1951)
After years of investigation, Assistant District Attorney Martin Ferguson has managed to build a solid case against an elusive gangster whose top lieutenant is about to testify.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRise of the Footsoldier (2007)
Carlton Leach rises from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals who rampaged their way through London and Essex in the late '80s and early '90s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiller's Crossing (1990)
Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOnce Upon a Time in America (1984)
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThings to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)
Five different criminals face imminent death after botching a job quite badly.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWe Own the Night (2007)
A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElection 2 (2006)
As election time nears, current Triad chairman Lok faces competition from his godsons. At the same time, Jimmy looks to increase his business relations with mainland China.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMurder, Inc. (1960)
Chronicles the rise and fall of the organised crime syndicate known as Murder, Incorporated, focusing on powerful boss Lepke and violent hit man Reles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
The Long Good Friday (1980)
In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUndisputed (2002)
Monroe Hutchens is the heavyweight champion of Sweetwater, a maximum security prison. He was convicted to a life sentence due to a passionate crime. Iceman Chambers is the heavyweight champion, who lost his title due to a rape conviction to ten years in Sweetwater. When these two giants collide in the same prison, they fight against each other disputing who is the real champion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohnny Gunman (1957)
Vicious Allie and laid-back Johnny G. are a couple of rival New York City gangsters who have known each other since childhood. After mob capo Lou Caddy gets busted by the authorities for tax evasion, Allie and Johnny G. find themselves caught up in a fierce territorial dispute over who will have exclusive control of the mob racket.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Sweet and the Bitter?
The closest matches to The Sweet and the Bitter are Belly (1998), Lucky Luciano (1973) and Each Dawn I Die (1939). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Sweet and the Bitter?
Start with Belly (1998), the closest match to The Sweet and the Bitter.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Sweet and the Bitter?
Once Upon a Time in America (1984), rated 8.4/10 by 6,320 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Sweet and the Bitter?
Nostalgia (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like The Sweet and the Bitter?
Yes: Lucky Luciano (1973), Piranhas (2019) and San Babila-8 P.M. (1976).
How are movies similar to The Sweet and the Bitter chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Sweet and the Bitter, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.