Movies like Dance with a Stranger (1985)
The best movies like Dance with a Stranger (1985) are The United States of Leland (2003), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) and True Believer (1989). If Dance with a Stranger 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 ratedNight and the City (1950)7.5/10 from 301 votes
- NewestDown the Arm of God (2026)Released 2026
The United States of Leland (2003)
A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDevil in a Blue Dress (1995)
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
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 thisA Thousand and One (2023)
Struggling but unapologetically living on her own terms, Inez is moving from shelter to shelter in mid-1990s New York City. With her 6-year-old son Terry in foster care and unable to leave him again, she kidnaps him so they can build their life together. As the years go by, their family grows and Terry becomes a smart yet quiet teenager, but the secret that has defined their lives threatens to destroy the home they have so improbably built.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinged Creatures (2009)
A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an experimental medical procedure on his wife, while a gambler believes he's on a lucky streak. A waitress begins engaging in promiscuous sex, and a young girl whose father is among the dead gains unexpected fame.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisVillain (1971)
In 1970s London, Scotland Yard orchestrates the downfall of mob boss Vic Dakin after he crosses the line by blackmailing Members of Parliament.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies 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 · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNight and the City (1950)
Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRob the Mob (2014)
The true-life story of a crazy-in-love Queens couple who robbed a series of mafia social clubs and got away with it… for a while… until they stumble upon a score bigger than they ever planned and become targets of both the mob and the FBI.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Places (2015)
A woman who survived the brutal killing of her family as a child is forced to confront the events of that day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBeyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
A newspaper publisher, wanting to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence, talks his possible son-in-law Tom into a hoax in an attempt to expose ineptitude of the city's hard-line district attorney. The plan is to have Tom plant clues leading to his arrest for killing a female nightclub dancer. Once Tom is found guilty, he is to reveal the setup and humiliate the DA.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLondon Boulevard (2010)
A parolee falls for a reclusive movie star while trying to evade a ruthless gangster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisMammal (2016)
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the escalation of her ex-husband's grieving rage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCareful What You Wish For (2015)
A guy gets more than he bargained for after entering into an affair with the wife of an investment banker. Soon, a suspicious death and substantial life insurance policy embroil him in a scandal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnder Suspicion (1991)
In the late 1950s, British police officer Tony Aaron resigns from the force after sleeping with Hazel, wife of the man whose house he was supposed to guard. In his new job as a fake private investigator, he helps couples get divorces by photographing Hazel having "affairs" with the husband. When she is murdered during a job, Tony begins having an affair with the dead man's mistress, Angeline, while trying to prove his innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisLuckiest Girl Alive (2022)
A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGunpowder Milkshake (2021)
To protect an 8-year-old girl, a dangerous assassin reunites with her mother and her lethal associates to take down a ruthless crime syndicate and its army of henchmen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Postcard Killings (2020)
After suffering a personal tragedy, and desperate for justice, Jacob Kanon, a veteran New York City police detective, embarks on the search for a twisted killer who is leaving a bloody trail of elaborate murders across Europe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRollin' with the Nines (2006)
Too Fine and his friends Finny, Pushy and Rage hope to set up a successful urban underground garage...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Last Hit (2026)
A pair of criminals seeking a fresh start are intervened by their boss, who takes one of them hostage to force a final job. Vincent and Maya decide to escape their gang and settle for a peaceful life, but they are trapped into one last hit with hidden agendas, betrayals, and unexpected alliances. Last Hit is a high-stakes, action-packed thriller about redemption, betrayal, and the ultimate cost of freedom. Vincent and Maya decide to escape from their life of crime when their boss, Dante starts blurring the lines between heists and hits. During their last job they realize they've walked into a setup orchestrated by Dante himself. This trap pushed Vincent and Maya to the firm decision to walk away from the gang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Black Bud (2021)
Sanya, a rebellious contemporary girl but a poet at heart, escapes her strict orthodox father's house in search of a new life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
The Return (2006)
Joanna Mills has a successful career but feels her personal life is spinning out of control. She has few friends, an estranged father, and a crazy ex-boyfriend who is stalking her. Joanna begins having terrifying visions of a woman's murder, and it seems that she is the killer's next target. Determined to solve the mystery and escape her apparent fate, Joanna follows her visions to the victim's hometown and finds that some secrets just do not stay buried.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Sudden Move (2021)
A group of criminals are brought together under mysterious circumstances and have to work together to uncover what's really going on when their simple job goes completely sideways.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWorth (2021)
Kenneth Feinberg, a powerful D.C. lawyer appointed Special Master of the 9/11 Fund, fights off the cynicism, bureaucracy, and politics associated with administering government funds and, in doing so, discovers what life is worth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDown the Arm of God (2026)
A young pastor goes through a harsh winter in a small Texas town, where his mission to help the homeless is faced with resistance by his congregation, exposing deep-seated prejudice and systemic failures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Autumn Milk (1989)
With the death of her mother, eight-year-old Anna ends her childhood: From now on, she has to look after the nine-member family. Deprivation-rich years, which also find no end when Anna marries: Her husband Albert must be a soldier in the Second World War, and the pregnant Anna has to work hard in the farm and care sick relatives. Lonely and exposed to the harassment of the tyrannical mother-in-law, she waits for Albert, with no certainty that he will ever return.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Casualties of War (1989)
During the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Night (2019)
A young couple's last hours together before a trip that will separate them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Dance with a Stranger and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Dance with a Stranger?
The closest matches to Dance with a Stranger are The United States of Leland (2003), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) and True Believer (1989). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Dance with a Stranger?
Start with The United States of Leland (2003), the closest match to Dance with a Stranger.
What is the highest-rated movie like Dance with a Stranger?
Night and the City (1950), rated 7.5/10 by 301 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Dance with a Stranger?
Down the Arm of God (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Dance with a Stranger?
Yes: The United States of Leland (2003), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) and True Believer (1989).
How are movies similar to Dance with a Stranger chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Dance with a Stranger, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.