Movies like Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
The best movies like Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) are Sharky's Machine (1981), Adulthood (2008) and Drive (2011). If Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai 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 ratedJohn Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)7.7/10 from 8,531 votes
- NewestPonyboi (2025)Released 2025
Sharky's Machine (1981)
Police officer Tom Sharky gets busted back to working vice, where he happens upon a scandalous conspiracy involving a local politician. Sharky's new 'machine' gathers evidence while Sharky falls in love with a woman he has never met.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdulthood (2008)
After serving six years for killing his schoolmate, a young man learns that someone is out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDrive (2011)
Driver is a skilled Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. Though he projects an icy exterior, lately he's been warming up to a pretty neighbor named Irene and her young son, Benicio. When Irene's husband gets out of jail, he enlists Driver's help in a million-dollar heist. The job goes horribly wrong, and Driver must risk his life to protect Irene and Benicio from the vengeful masterminds behind the robbery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBelly (1998)
Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long Good Friday (1980)
In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPaid in Full (2002)
Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch, goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky breaks and solid interpersonal skills, Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Of course, unfaithful employees and/or rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisCass (2008)
The incredible true story of how an orphaned Jamaican baby, adopted by an elderly white couple and brought up in an all white area of London, became one of the most feared and respected men in Britain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Iceman (2012)
The true story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer and family man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Charlie (2023)
When his aging mob boss is whacked, Charlie Swift, a loyal friend and hired gun, will stop at nothing to destroy the upcoming crew that took him out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalvable (2025)
When a battered boxer past his prime finds his dreams and his relationships on the ropes, he falls back in with a dangerous crowd and has to take the biggest swing of his life to reclaim his hope and his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRun All Night (2015)
Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon has seen better days. Longtime best friend of a mob boss, Jimmy is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. But when Jimmy’s estranged son becomes a target, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago. Now, with nowhere safe to turn, Jimmy has just one night to figure out exactly where his loyalties lie and to see if he can finally make things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Killer (2023)
After a fateful miss, an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn't personal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder by Contract (1958)
Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer. His next target, a woman, is the most difficult.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnleashed (2005)
Raised as a slave, Danny is used to fighting for his survival. In fact, his "master," Bart, thinks of him as a pet and goes as far as leashing him with a collar so they can make money in fight clubs, where Danny is the main contender. When Bart's crew is in a car accident, Danny escapes and meets a blind, kindhearted piano tuner who takes him in and uses music to free the fighter's long-buried heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Killers (1964)
A hit man and his partner try to find out why their latest victim, a former race-car driver, did not try to get away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe French Connection (1971)
Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJohn Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
With the price on his head ever increasing, John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Jackal (1997)
Hired by a powerful member of the Russian mafia to avenge an FBI sting that left his brother dead, a psychopathic hitman known only as The Jackal proves an elusive target for the people charged with the task of bringing him down: a deputy FBI director, a Russian MVK Major, and a jailed IRA terrorist who can recognize him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Evil That Men Do (1984)
A former assassin (Charles Bronson) comes out of retirement to avenge the brutal murder of his friend at the hands of a sadistic torturer (Joseph Maher) employed by an oppressive foreign dictatorship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisMiddle Men (2009)
Chronicles Jack Harris, one of the pioneers of internet commerce, as he wrestles with his morals and struggles not to drown in a sea of conmen, mobsters, drug addicts, and pornstars.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMidnight (TBA)
An egotistical young man must face consequences after his dark past makes a resurgence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Sugar Hill (1994)
In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner and brother to lead a straight life with his girlfriend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisFight for Your Life (1977)
A minister dispenses justice on three convicts who take his family hostage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisNew Jersey Drive (1995)
Jason and Midget are two young, black teenagers living in Newark, New Jersey, the unofficial car theft capital of the world. Their favourite pastime is that of everybody in their neighbourhood: stealing cars and joyriding. The trouble starts when they steal a police car and the cops launch a violent offensive that involves beating and even shooting suspects.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStripped Naked (2009)
When exotic dancer Cassie happens upon a drug deal gone bad, she steals the money and the drugs thinking she now has the funds to make her dream of moving to Paris come true. But waiting three days to get her passport proves tougher than she thought when everyone she knows from her ex-boyfriend, to her drug addict boss, to her lesbian lover, to the rightful owner of the money decides to get in on the action.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Righteous Kill (2008)
Two veteran New York City detectives work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisVendetta (TBA)
After the sudden and violent death of his father, Frankie questions how far he's willing to go for retribution and the consequences that come with it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Ponyboi (2025)
Unfolding over the course of Valentine’s Day in New Jersey, a young intersex sex worker must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways, forcing him to confront his past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Men of War (1994)
Nick Gunar is a burnt-out, jaded and hard-up former mercenary who is having a difficult time adjusting to civilian life. At the end of his rope, he is hired by the Nitro Mine Corporation to strong-arm the natives of a South China Sea island into giving up their rights to its valuable mineral resources. Nick loathes the thought of another mission, but this seemingly easy job will earn him enough money to get back with his estranged family. He recruits some of his former mercenary buddies to help him with the job. The island people refuse to give up their land and Nick decides to help them fight the greedy corporation that hired him. As greed and treachery begin to unravel, Nick's band of mercenaries choose sides.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai?
The closest matches to Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai are Sharky's Machine (1981), Adulthood (2008) and Drive (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai?
Start with Sharky's Machine (1981), the closest match to Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai?
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), rated 7.7/10 by 8,531 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai?
Ponyboi (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai?
Yes: Sharky's Machine (1981), Adulthood (2008) and Drive (2011).
How are movies similar to Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.