Movies like The Violent and the Damned (1962)
The best movies like The Violent and the Damned (1962) are Nowhere to Run (1993), She Made Them Do It (2012) and Maze (2017). If The Violent and the Damned hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Shawshank Redemption (1994)8.7/10 from 31,826 votes
- NewestThe Unforgivable (2021)Released 2021
Nowhere to Run (1993)
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe Made Them Do It (2012)
"She Made Them Do It" follows the twisted life of Sarah Pender, a charismatic, intelligent young woman who would become one of the country’s most sought after fugitives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMaze (2017)
Inspired by the true events of the infamous 1983 prison breakout of 38 IRA prisoners from HMP Maze, which was to become the biggest prison escape in Europe since World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisRunaway Train (1985)
A hardened convict and a younger prisoner escape from a brutal prison in the middle of winter only to find themselves on an out-of-control train with a female railway worker while being pursued by the vengeful head of security.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Chase (1966)
The escape of Bubber Reeves from prison affects the inhabitants of a small Southern town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAgainst the Wall (1994)
In 1971, a warden at Attica Penitentiary is caught up in a hostage crisis when inmates take over the prison to demand better living conditions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCahill: United States Marshal (1973)
J.D. Cahill is the toughest U.S. Marshal they've got, just the sound of his name makes bad guys stop in their tracks, so when his two young boy's want to get his attention they decide to rob a bank. They end up getting more than they bargained for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Perfect World (1993)
A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Defiant Ones (1958)
Two convicts—one white, one black—escape while chained to each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIt Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
During a rainy Sunday afternoon, an escaped prisoner tries to hide out at the home of his ex-fiance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrute Force (1947)
Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRiot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Unforgivable (2021)
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhite Heat (1949)
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mustang (2019)
While participating in a rehabilitation program training wild mustangs, a convict at first struggles to connect with the horses and his fellow inmates, but he learns to confront his violent past as he soothes an especially feisty horse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTraitor (2008)
When straight arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer Samir Horn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO.G. (2018)
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Colditz Story (1955)
The Germans believed that no man could escape from Colditz Castle, set as it was in the heart of the Reich, 400 miles from any neutral frontier. This film, based on Pat Reid's epic novel, tells the story of how the British, French, Dutch and Polish prisoners of war who were incarcerated in Colditz set out to prove their captors wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLa Strada (1954)
When Gelsomina, a naïve young woman, is purchased from her impoverished mother by brutish circus strongman Zampanò to be his wife and partner, she loyally endures her husband's coldness and abuse as they travel the Italian countryside performing together. Soon Zampanò must deal with his jealousy and conflicted feelings about Gelsomina when she finds a kindred spirit in Il Matto, the carefree circus fool, and contemplates leaving Zampanò.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBrute (1997)
Shipped off to a Romanian orphanage to finish his sentence, a British criminal finds romance but also discovers corruption inside the facility.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The King of Comedy (1982)
Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJohnny Handsome (1989)
A career criminal who has been deformed since birth is given a new face by a kindly doctor and paroled from prison. It appears that he has gone straight, but he is really planning his revenge on the man who killed his mentor and sent him to prison.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalvador (Puig Antich) (2006)
The story of Salvador Puig Antich, one of the last political prisoners to be executed under Franco's Fascist State in 1974.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMalcolm X (1992)
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Edge of Heaven (2007)
The lives of six German-Turkish immigrants are drawn together by circumstance: An old man and a prostitute forging a partnership, a young scholar reconciling his past, two young women falling in love, and a mother putting the shattered pieces of her life back together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Insurrection (2021)
Set in a dystopian America where all people who aren't straight, white, Christian and cis gender are kept track of by the government with bar codes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisUndisputed (2002)
Monroe Hutchens is the heavyweight champion of Sweetwater, a maximum security prison. He was convicted to a life sentence due to a passionate crime. Iceman Chambers is the heavyweight champion, who lost his title due to a rape conviction to ten years in Sweetwater. When these two giants collide in the same prison, they fight against each other disputing who is the real champion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Violent and the Damned?
The closest matches to The Violent and the Damned are Nowhere to Run (1993), She Made Them Do It (2012) and Maze (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Violent and the Damned?
Start with Nowhere to Run (1993), the closest match to The Violent and the Damned.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Violent and the Damned?
The Shawshank Redemption (1994), rated 8.7/10 by 31,826 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Violent and the Damned?
The Unforgivable (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Violent and the Damned?
Yes: Nowhere to Run (1993), She Made Them Do It (2012) and Maze (2017).
How are movies similar to The Violent and the Damned chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Violent and the Damned, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.