Movies like Dragnet (1954)
The best movies like Dragnet (1954) are Call Northside 777 (1948), The FBI Story (1959) and The Tall Target (1951). If Dragnet 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 ratedSherlock: The Abominable Bride (2016)7.8/10 from 2,392 votes
- NewestOscar Shaw (2026)Released 2026
Call Northside 777 (1948)
In 1932, a cop is killed and Frank Wiecek sentenced to life. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Frank's mother leads Chicago reporter P.J. McNeal to look into the case. For some time, McNeal continues to believe Frank guilty. But when he starts to change his mind, he meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe FBI Story (1959)
A dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tall Target (1951)
A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during a train ride headed for Washington in 1861.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHomicide: The Movie (2000)
Retired police lieutenant Al Giardello is running for mayor when he is suddenly shot at a press conference. All of the detectives, past and present, clamor for an opportunity to help find the shooter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Each 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 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 thisMurder in Three Acts (1986)
In Acapulco, Hercule Poirot attends a dinner party in which one of the guests clutches his throat and suddenly dies. The causes seem to be natural until another party with most of the same guests produces another corpse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Interview (1998)
A duel between a suspected murderer and a detective pressed by people who want results. But whose skin is really wanted?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead End (1937)
The lives of a young man and woman, an infamous gangster and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisWhere the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
A police detective's violent nature keeps him from being a good cop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTime Without Pity (1957)
Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec’s father, David Graham, a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in from Canada to visit his son on death row. David then goes on a quest to try and clear his son’s name while battling “the bottle.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFootsteps in the Fog (1955)
A Victorian-era murder mystery about a parlour maid who discovers that her employer may have killed his first wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 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 thisSherlock: The Abominable Bride (2016)
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in 1890s London in this holiday special.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mirror Crack'd (1980)
Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both 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 thisThe Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)
A veteran homicide detective who has witnessed his socialite girlfriend kill her husband sees his inexperienced brother assigned to the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOscar Shaw (2026)
After retiring from the police force, a relentless detective haunted by the tragic loss of his closest friend sets out on a perilous quest for vengeance, seeking redemption and fighting to restore justice to the streets he once swore to protect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFramed for Murder: A Fixer Upper Mystery (2017)
In the small resort town of Lighthouse Cove, everyone knows that the best man for the job is a woman. And that woman is Shannon Hughes, owner of a construction company and an expert in Victorian home restoration and renovation. Through her renovations she will find clues to uncover the house’s secret past and in turn become an unlikely sleuth to help crack these unsolved mysteries
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBy the Gun (2014)
A rising Boston gangster endangers those around him when he starts to make moves without the knowledge of his boss.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGigli (2003)
Gigli is ordered to kidnap the psychologically challenged younger brother of a powerful federal prosecutor. When plans go awry, Gigli's boss sends in Ricki, a gorgeous free-spirited female gangster who has her own set of orders to assist with the kidnapping. But Gigli begins falling for the decidedly unavailable Ricki, which could be a hazard to his occupation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisScarface (1932)
In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVirtual Reality (2001)
A fifteen year old girl Senka, comes from a wealthy family whose parents enroll in an elite school where she meets a drug dealer with whom he falls in love, and so it has hitherto completely unknown world. Senka is a young and inexperienced girl who, unwittingly, in his new world, the world of drug addiction and pulled his best friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Camorra (1972)
The fast career of a young Neapolitan among contraband, gambling dens, bribes and illegality. He will upgrade its rank till the maximum level of the "Family".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Suicide Kings (1997)
Carlo, a former mobster, is abducted by five privileged young men desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Carlo plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own had a hand in the crime.
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 Dragnet?
The closest matches to Dragnet are Call Northside 777 (1948), The FBI Story (1959) and The Tall Target (1951). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Dragnet?
People who watched Dragnet most often go on to Call Northside 777 (1948), The FBI Story (1959) and The Tall Target (1951).
What is the highest-rated movie like Dragnet?
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (2016), rated 7.8/10 by 2,392 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Dragnet?
Oscar Shaw (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Dragnet?
Yes: Call Northside 777 (1948), The FBI Story (1959) and The Tall Target (1951).
How are movies similar to Dragnet chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Dragnet, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.