Movies like The Big Knife (1955)
The best movies like The Big Knife (1955) are Pitfall (1948), The Web (1947) and Force of Evil (1950). If The Big Knife 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 ratedMildred Pierce (1945)7.6/10 from 471 votes
- NewestCade & Eugene's Platonic Love Story (2017)Released 2017
Pitfall (1948)
An insurance man wishing for a more exciting life becomes wrapped up in the affairs of an imprisoned embezzler, his model girlfriend, and a violent private investigator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Web (1947)
A brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisForce of Evil (1950)
Lawyer Joe Morse wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation. But his elder brother Leo is one of these small-time operators who wants to stay that way, preferring not to deal with the gangsters who dominate the big-time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Combo (1955)
Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJohnny O'Clock (1947)
When an employee at an illegal gambling den dies suspiciously, her sister, Nancy, looks into the situation and falls for Johnny O'Clock, a suave partner in the underground casino. Selfish and non-committal by nature, Johnny slowly begins to return Nancy's affection and decides to run away with her, but conflict within his business threatens their plans. As Johnny tries to distance himself from the casino, his shady past comes back to haunt him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Man of Her Own (1950)
A penniless pregnant woman adopts the identity of a rich woman killed in a train crash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dark Corner (1946)
Ex-con turned private investigator Bradford Galt suspects someone is following him and maybe even trying to kill him. With the assistance of his spunky secretary, Kathleen Stewart, he dives deep into a mystery in search of answers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Set-Up (1949)
Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPrivate Hell 36 (1954)
In New York City, a bank robbery of $300,000 goes unsolved for a year, until some of the marked bills are found in a Los Angeles drugstore theft. Police detectives Cal Bruner and Jack Farnham investigate and are led from the drugstore to a nightclub, where singer Lilli is another recipient of a stolen bill. With Lilli's help, the partners track down the remaining money, but both Lilli and Jack are dismayed when Cal decides he wants to keep part of it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
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 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 thisAn Inspector Calls (1954)
An upper-crust family dinner is interrupted by a police inspector who brings news that a girl known to everyone present has died in suspicious circumstances. It seems that any or all of them could have had a hand in her death. But who is the mysterious Inspector and what can he want of them?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVictim (1961)
In early 1960s London, barrister Melville Farr is on the path to success. With his practice winning cases and a loving marriage to his wife, Laura, Farr's professional and personal life are nearly idyllic. However, when blackmailers link Farr to a young gay man, everything Farr's worked for is threatened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGlengarry Glen Ross (1992)
An examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office. Unscrupulous salesmen try to hawk dubious real estate to suckers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlackmail (1929)
London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMildred Pierce (1945)
A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNightfall (1956)
An innocent man turns fugitive as he reconstructs events that implicate him for a murder and robbery he did not commit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhile the City Sleeps (1956)
Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed "The Lipstick Killer".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRide the Pink Horse (1947)
A con man tries to blackmail a Mexican gangster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Shanghai Gesture (1941)
A gambling queen uses blackmail to stop a British financier from closing her Chinese clip joint.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhispering Footsteps (1943)
An Ohio bank clerk's life becomes a nightmare when his descriptions is a fit of a maniac killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Angels Over Broadway (1940)
Small-time businessman Charles Engle is threatened with exposure for embezzling $3,000 for his free-spending wife. Deciding on suicide, he scribbles a note, stuffs it in his pocket and goes for one last night on the town. He is pulled into a poker game by conman Bill O'Brien and singer Nina Barone, but when they discover the dropped note, they resolve to turn the tables, get Engle his $3,000 and save his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Cade & Eugene's Platonic Love Story (2017)
Hungover and struggling to recall the events of the Christmas party they attended, two best friends are called into the police station for questioning. One worries of what could happen to them whilst the other ignores his friend's anxieties in pursuit of love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Beware, My Lovely (1952)
A psychopath on the run takes a job as a handyman at the house of a lonely widow.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPortland Exposé (1957)
The owner of a tavern is pressured by the local mob to go into business with them, and figures it's better all around if he does that rather than cause trouble. However, when he starts to see what kind of place his nice little neighborhood bar is turning into, and when one of the mob's goons tries to rape his daughter, he decides to fight them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
The Dark Past (1948)
A gang hold a family hostage in their own home. The leader of the escaped cons is bothered by a recurring dream that the doctor of the house may be able to analyze.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrangers in the Night (1944)
In this Gothic tale, a returning WW2 vet goes looking for a small-town girl whom he knows only from letters. It’s the pretext for an off-beat treatment of sexual frustration morphing into a dangerous delusion, and eventually murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Panique (1947)
Proud, eccentric, and antisocial, Monsieur Hire has always kept to himself. But after a woman turns up dead in the Paris suburb where he lives, he feels drawn to a pretty young newcomer to town and discovers that his neighbors are only too ready to suspect the worst of him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Call (1931)
The Secret Call is adapted from The Woman, a play by William C. DeMille (brother of Cecil B.) Peggy Shannon plays Wanda Kelly, the daughter of a disgraced politician. Reduced to working as a switchboard operator, Wanda is privy to the many secrets and indiscretions of the clients of a big-city hotel. She also finds romance in the form of handsome Tom Blake (Richard Arlen). The huge cast of characters comes in handy for the film's multitude of subplots, none of which ever get their wires crossed. Peggy Shannon acquits herself nicely in her first major role, but by the end of the decade her career was in decline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Big Knife?
The closest matches to The Big Knife are Pitfall (1948), The Web (1947) and Force of Evil (1950). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Big Knife?
Start with Pitfall (1948), the closest match to The Big Knife.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Big Knife?
Mildred Pierce (1945), rated 7.6/10 by 471 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Big Knife?
Cade & Eugene's Platonic Love Story (2017) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Big Knife?
Yes: Pitfall (1948), The Web (1947) and Force of Evil (1950).
How are movies similar to The Big Knife chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Big Knife, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.