Movies like Young Donovan's Kid (1931)
The best movies like Young Donovan's Kid (1931) are Bad Lieutenant (1992), True Confessions (1981) and The Valachi Papers (1972). If Young Donovan's Kid 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 ratedM (1931)8.1/10 from 2,600 votes
- NewestThe Alto Knights (2025)Released 2025
Bad Lieutenant (1992)
While investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective, with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrue Confessions (1981)
A cop clashes with his priest brother while investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Valachi Papers (1972)
When Joe Valachi has a price put on his head by Don Vito Genovese, he must take desperate steps to protect himself while in prison. An unsuccessful attempt to slit his throat puts him over the edge to break the sacred code of silence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNew Jack City (1991)
A gangster, Nino, is in the Cash Money Brothers, making a million dollars every week selling crack. A cop, Scotty, discovers that the only way to infiltrate the gang is to become a dealer himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCapone (1975)
Young Al Capone catches the eye of Johnny Torrio, a criminal visiting New York from Chicago. Torrio invites Capone to move to Illinois to help run his Prohibition-era alcohol sales operation. Capone rises through the ranks of Torrio's gang and eventually takes over. On top, he works to consolidate his power by eliminating his enemies, fixing elections to his advantage and getting rich. In his spare time, Capone courts the principled Iris Crawford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAngels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Gangster (2007)
Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRapid Fire (1992)
College student Jake Lo is pursued by smugglers, mobsters and crooked federal agents after he witnesses a murder by a Mafia kingpin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrince of the City (1981)
New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice eliminate corruption in the police department, as long as he will not have to turn in any close friends. In doing so, Ciello uncovers a conspiracy within the force to smuggle drugs to street informants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
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 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 thisCry of the City (1948)
Petty crook and cop-killer Martin Rome, in bad shape from wounds in the hospital prison ward, still refuses to help slimy lawyer Niles clear his client by confessing to another crime. Police Lt. Candella must check Niles' allegation; a friend of the Rome family, he walks a tightrope between sentiment and cynicism. When Martin fears Candella will implicate his girlfriend Teena, he'll do anything to protect her. How many others will he drag down to disaster with him?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWe Die Young (2019)
Lucas, a 14-year-old boy inducted into the gang life in Washington D.C., is determined that his 10-year-old brother won't follow the same path. When an Afghanistan war veteran comes into the neighborhood, an opportunity arises.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Believer (1989)
Eddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has followed Eddie's great cases and now wants to learn at his feet. With Roger's idealistic prodding, Eddie reluctantly takes on a case of a young Korean man who, according to his mother, has been in jail for eight years for a murder he didn't commit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Alto Knights (2025)
Two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, vie for control of the city's streets. Once the best of friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals place them on a deadly collision course that will reshape the Mafia (and America) forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMobsters (1991)
The story of a group of friends in turn of the century New York, from their early days as street hoods to their rise in the world of organized crime...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKing of New York (1990)
A former drug lord returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York's poor and lower classes in this stylish and ultra violent modern twist on Robin Hood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClose Range (2015)
A rogue soldier turned outlaw is thrust into a relentless fight with a corrupt sheriff, his obedient deputies, and a dangerous drug cartel in order to protect his sister and her young daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack and Blue (2019)
Rookie cop Alicia West, an Army veteran, inadvertently captures the murder of a young drug dealer on her body cam. After realizing that the murder was committed by corrupt cops, she teams up with the one person from her community who is willing to help her as she tries to escape both the criminals out for revenge and the police who are desperate to destroy the incriminating footage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Enforcer (1951)
After years of investigation, Assistant District Attorney Martin Ferguson has managed to build a solid case against an elusive gangster whose top lieutenant is about to testify.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisM (1931)
In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisAmerican Psycho (2000)
A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSweet Sixteen (2002)
Determined to have a normal family life once his mother gets out of prison, a Scottish teenager from a tough background sets out to raise the money for a home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTouch of Evil (1958)
A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTraffic (2000)
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPusher (1996)
A drug pusher grows increasingly desperate after a botched deal leaves him with a large debt to a ruthless drug lord.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTraining Day (2001)
On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWe Own the Night (2007)
A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Good Deed (2002)
While doing a friend a favor and searching for a runaway teenager, a police detective stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Young Donovan's Kid?
The closest matches to Young Donovan's Kid are Bad Lieutenant (1992), True Confessions (1981) and The Valachi Papers (1972). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Young Donovan's Kid?
Start with Bad Lieutenant (1992), the closest match to Young Donovan's Kid.
What is the highest-rated movie like Young Donovan's Kid?
M (1931), rated 8.1/10 by 2,600 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Young Donovan's Kid?
The Alto Knights (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Young Donovan's Kid?
Yes: Bad Lieutenant (1992), True Confessions (1981) and The Valachi Papers (1972).
How are movies similar to Young Donovan's Kid chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Young Donovan's Kid, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.