Movies like Frank Serpico (2017)
The best movies like Frank Serpico (2017) are The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo (2025), The Seven Five (2015) and I Am Evidence (2017). If Frank Serpico hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Thin Blue Line (1988)7.7/10 from 432 votes
- NewestCover-Up (2025)Released 2025
The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo (2025)
A two-year investigation uncovers a scandal behind the making of one of the most recognized photographs of the 20th century. Five decades of secrets are unraveled in the search for justice for a man known only as "the stringer."
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Seven Five (2015)
Meet the dirtiest cop in NYC history. Michael Dowd stole money and dealt drugs while patrolling the streets of '80s Brooklyn.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Am Evidence (2017)
The modern criminal justice system is hindered by the fact that countless rape kits remain untested in police evidence storage facilities across the United States. Only eight states currently have laws requiring mandatory testing of rape kits.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
What Happened in Vegas (2017)
Ramsey Denison investigates a terrifying pattern of police corruption and discovers that behind the shimmering surface of Las Vegas lies a police department with individuals willing to go to any lengths to cover up crimes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Gilbert (2017)
The life and career of one of comedy's most inimitable modern voices, Mr. Gilbert Gottfried.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thin Blue Line (1988)
One night in November 1976, after his car breaks down on a road outside Dallas, Randall Dale Adams accepts a ride from teenager David Harris. Harris is driving a stolen vehicle and, later that night, when Dallas police officer Robert Wood pulls the car over to check its headlights, he is shot and killed. A jury believes Adams is the killer, but stylized reenactments and interviews with key figures, conflicting testimonies and evidence are presented to argue that Adams was framed by a corrupt justice system, ultimately leading to his exoneration.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCocaine Cowboys (2006)
In the 1980s, ruthless Colombian cocaine barons invaded Miami with a brand of violence unseen in this country since Prohibition-era Chicago - and it put the city on the map. "Cocaine Cowboys" is the true story of how Miami became the drug, murder and cash capital of the United States, told by the people who made it all happen.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHondros (2018)
HONDROS follows the life and career of famous war photographer Chris Hondros by exploring the poignant and often surprising stories behind this award-winning photojournalist's best-known photos. Driven by a commitment to bear witness to the wars of our time after the events of 9/11, Chris was among the first in a new generation of war photographers since Vietnam. HONDROS explores the complexities inherent in covering more than a decade of conflict, while trying to maintain a normal life. It also examines the unknowable calculus involved in making split-second life and death decisions -- before, during and after his photos were made. Chris was killed in Libya in 2011, but he left a lasting impact on his profession that is still felt today.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS (2017)
A look at the current state of Syria amidst war and chaos in 2017, featuring stories of survival and observations by political experts from around the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers (2025)
Aileen Wuornos remains a rarity: a female serial killer. From childhood abuse to death-row revelations, this documentary revisits her life and crimes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCover-Up (2025)
He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKilling Escobar (2021)
The untold story of the attempted assassination of Pablo Escobar, while at the height of his powers, by a small team of elite mercenaries.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Menendez Brothers (2024)
Serving life in prison for murdering their parents, Lyle and Erik Menendez speak out in this documentary explaining the shocking crime and ensuing trials.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIncendiary: The Willingham Case (2011)
In 1991, Cameron Todd Willingham's three daughters died in a Corsicana, Texas house fire. Tried and convicted for their arson murders, Willingham was executed in February 2004 despite overwhelming expert criticism of the prosecution's arson evidence. Today, Willingham's name has become a call for reform in the field of forensics and a rallying cry for the anti-death penalty movement; yet he remains an indisputable "monster" in the eyes of Texas Governor Rick Perry, who ignored the science that could have saved Willingham's life. Equal parts murder mystery, forensic investigation and political drama, INCENDIARY documents the haunted legacy of a prosecution built on "folklore."
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Cartel Land (2015)
In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," shepherds a citizen uprising against the Knights Templar, the violent drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona's Altar Valley—a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley—Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to halt Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across our border.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2018)
The life and career of the hailed Hollywood movie star and underappreciated genius inventor, Hedy Lamarr.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWest of Memphis (2012)
The documentary tells the hitherto unknown story behind an extraordinary and desperate fight to bring the truth to light. Told and made by those who lived it, the filmmakers' unprecedented access to the inner workings of the defense allows the film to show the investigation, research, and appeals process in a way that has never been seen before; revealing shocking and disturbing new information about a case that still haunts the American South.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisManhunt: The Inside Story of the Hunt for Bin Laden (2013)
An espionage tale from inside the CIA's long conflict against Al Qaeda, as revealed by the remarkable women and men whose secret war against Osama bin Laden started nearly a decade before most of us even knew his name.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Detroit Under S.T.R.E.S.S. (2018)
In 1971, the Detroit Police Department begins operating one of the most controversial decoy police units ever created, after one year of operating, Detroit becomes the city with the highest police-civilian fatal shootings as well as the city with the highest police officer deaths.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Witness (2015)
A brother's journey to unravel the truth about the mythic death and little known life of Kitty Genovese, who was reportedly murdered in front of 38 witnesses and has become the face of urban apathy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fog of War (2003)
Former corporate whiz kid Robert McNamara was the controversial Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, during the height of the Vietnam War. Augmented by archival footage and cabinet conversation recordings, Errol Morris gives the conflicted McNamara a platform on which he attempts to confront his and the U.S. government's actions in Southeast Asia in light of the horrors of modern warfare, the end of ideology and the punitive judgment of history.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSins of My Father (2009)
Nicolas Entel's searing documentary tells the story of Pablo Escobar -- Colombian drug kingpin, murderer and family man -- through the eyes of his son Sebastian as well as the sons of two of Escobar's most prominent victims. Sebastian shares stories of living in luxury and on the lam, but more significantly, he attempts to end the cycle of bloody retribution and make peace with two of the men his father so deeply wronged.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Icarus (2017)
While investigating the furtive world of illegal doping in sports, director Bryan Fogel connects with renegade Russian scientist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov—a pillar of his country's "anti-doping" program. Over dozens of Skype calls, urine samples, and badly administered hormone injections, Fogel and Rodchenkov grow closer despite shocking allegations that place Rodchenkov at the center of Russia's state-sponsored Olympic doping program.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Cheshire Murders (2013)
In the early-morning hours of July 23, 2007, in Cheshire, Conn., ex-convicts Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky broke into the family home of William Petit, his wife, Jennifer, and their daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17. Dr. Petit was beaten and tied to a pole in the basement. The three women were bound in their bedrooms while the men ransacked the house. The brutal ordeal continued throughout the morning, ending with rape, arson and a horrific triple homicide.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShadow Billionaire (2009)
DHL Founder and billionaire Larry Hillblom seemed to have vanished into thin air when he failed to return from a routine flight in his vintage Seabee over the Pacific. After his disappearance, a dark side of Larry emerged. Even before he was officially declared dead, bar girls throughout Southeast Asia came forward claiming to have had children by Larry and seeking a piece of his vast fortune. BILLIONAIRE unravels the secretive and scandalous life of this enigmatic and reclusive tycoon. The battle over his estate took on epic proportions, pitting impoverished, teenage prostitutes against Larry's former business associates and several of the largest law firms in the world. In the end it is a David and Goliath story, as a surprising hero emerges to untangle the web and discover the startling truth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010)
An in-depth look at the rapid rise and dramatic fall of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFugitive: The Curious Case of Carlos Ghosn (2022)
From his rise as a business mogul to his plummet into international notoriety, this true crime documentary examines the bizarre story of Carlos Ghosn.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Our Godfather (2019)
The story of how Sicilian Mafia boss Tommaso Buscetta (1928-2000), the Godfather of Two Worlds, revealed, starting in 1984, the deepest secrets of the organization, thus helping to convict the hundreds of mafiosi who were tried in the trial held in Palermo between 1986 and 1987.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife of Crime: 1984-2020 (2021)
An intimate documentary that looks at the vicious cycles of drug addiction and street crime in one of the roughest parts of New Jersey.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Mumbai Mafia: Police vs the Underworld (2023)
In 1990s Mumbai, a crime boss and his network wield unchecked power over the city — until the rise of "encounter cops," who brazenly kill their targets.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Frank Serpico?
The closest matches to Frank Serpico are The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo (2025), The Seven Five (2015) and I Am Evidence (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Frank Serpico?
People who watched Frank Serpico most often go on to The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo (2025), The Seven Five (2015) and I Am Evidence (2017).
What is the highest-rated movie like Frank Serpico?
The Thin Blue Line (1988), rated 7.7/10 by 432 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Frank Serpico?
Cover-Up (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Frank Serpico?
Yes: The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo (2025), The Seven Five (2015) and I Am Evidence (2017).
How are movies similar to Frank Serpico chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Frank Serpico, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.