Movies like Woodpeckers (2017)
The best movies like Woodpeckers (2017) are Brute Force (1947), Bad Boys (1983) and Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954). If Woodpeckers 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 ratedThe Shawshank Redemption (1994)8.7/10 from 31,828 votes
- NewestA Father's Miracle (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishPrison 77 (2022)Also in Spanish
Brute Force (1947)
Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBad Boys (1983)
Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRiot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Unforgivable (2021)
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisConvict (2014)
Set in the dark and old Parramatta prison built by the original convicts our lead character Ray a war veteran finds himself serving 18 months for manslaughter after defending his fiance. He soon realizes that the prison boss has it in for him and does everything possible to break Ray even going after his fiance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFelon (2008)
A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBronson (2009)
A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAbove the Rim (1994)
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Me (1992)
During his 18 years in Folsom Prison, street-gang leader Santana rules over all the drug-and-murder activities behind bars. Upon his release, Santana goes back to his old neighborhood, intending to lead a peaceful, crime-free life. But his old gang buddies force him back into his old habits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMade in Britain (1983)
16-year-old skinhead Trevor has no regard for authority, and would rather spend his time stealing cars than sitting in the detention centre to which he is sent. Social worker Harry Parker tries his best, but Trevor is only interested when there's something in it for him. The centre authorities try to conform Trevor to the norms of society, but he takes no notice, and would rather speak in a torrent of four-letter words and racial abuse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSouth of Heaven (2021)
Convicted felon Jimmy gets early parole after serving twelve years for armed robbery. Upon his release, he vows to give Annie, his childhood love, now dying from cancer, the best last year of her life – unfortunately it’s not that simple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrison 77 (2022)
Modelo Prison. Barcelona, 1977. A young accountant, awaiting trial for embezzlement with a possible 20 years sentence, joins a group of prisoners demanding amnesty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Father's Miracle (2025)
After being falsely accused of a terrible crime, Hector, a man with a neurological disability, goes to a secret prison. His goodness conquers the prisoners, who plan to prove their innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisO.G. (2018)
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisKiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills their lonely nights by spinning romantic fantasies drawn from memories of old movies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe System (2022)
When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mustang (2019)
While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an especially feisty horse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye (2019)
Seville, Spain. Juan Santos, a convicted petty criminal, gets out of jail for a day to celebrate with Triana, his wife, the first communion of their daughter Estrella.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAriel (1988)
A Finnish man goes to the city to find a job after the mine where he worked is closed and his father commits suicide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Longest Yard (1974)
A football player-turned-convict organizes a team of inmates to play against a team of prison guards. His dilemma is that the warden asks him to throw the game in return for an early release, but he is also concerned about the inmates' lack of self-esteem.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRevolver (1973)
An Italian prison official's wife is kidnapped, and the kidnappers demand that a notorious prisoner be released in order for the man to get his wife back. He gets the man released - but then kidnaps him himself, in order to ensure that the man's colleagues don't kill his wife. Enraged, the gang sets out to free their compatriot and kill the man who took him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGhost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
A Black hitman who models after the samurai of old finds himself targeted for death by the mob.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sugarland Express (1974)
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tribe (2014)
Deaf-mute Sergey enters a specialized boarding school for the deaf. In navigating through the school's hierarchy, he encounters a corrupt underbelly of criminality, known as The Tribe. By participating in several robberies, he gets propelled higher into the organization, when he meets one of the Chief’s concubines Anya, and unwittingly breaks all the unwritten rules of the group."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of Mind, Out of Sight (2014)
Four-time Emmy winner John Kastner was granted unprecedented access to the Brockville facility for 18 months, allowing 46 patients and 75 staff to share their experiences with stunning frankness. The result is two remarkable documentaries: the first, NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, premiered at Hot Docs in the spring of 2013 and follows the story of a violent patient released into the community. The second film, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, returns to the Brockville Mental Health Centre to profile four patients, two men and two women, as they struggle to gain control over their lives so they can return to a society that often fears and demonizes them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Revolutionary Road (2008)
A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThis Sweet Sickness (1977)
Industrious accountant David Martinaud claims to be visiting his parents every weekend, but it's merely a cover for the labor-intensive refurbishing of his country cottage. The reason for David's secrecy is that his childhood crush, Lise, lives nearby, and, although she's married, he still believes they'll get together. His devotion to the idea borders on mania, and, when Lise's husband is accidentally killed, he quickly spirals out of control.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Shall We Dance? (2004)
A bored estate lawyer spots a beautiful woman in the window of a ballroom dance studio. He secretly starts taking dancing lessons to be near her, and then over time discovers how much he loves dancing. His wife, meanwhile, has hired a private detective to find out why he has started coming home late smelling of perfume.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Woodpeckers?
The closest matches to Woodpeckers are Brute Force (1947), Bad Boys (1983) and Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Woodpeckers?
Start with Brute Force (1947), the closest match to Woodpeckers.
What is the highest-rated movie like Woodpeckers?
The Shawshank Redemption (1994), rated 8.7/10 by 31,828 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Woodpeckers?
A Father's Miracle (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Woodpeckers?
Yes: Prison 77 (2022), A Father's Miracle (2025) and Goodbye (2019).
How are movies similar to Woodpeckers chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Woodpeckers, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.