Movies like The Ruthless (2019)
The best movies like The Ruthless (2019) are Don't Be Bad (2015), The Traitor (2019) and Gomorrah (2008). If The Ruthless 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 ratedThe Godfather (1972)8.7/10 from 23,951 votes
- NewestThe Big Fake (2025)Released 2025
- In ItalianDon't Be Bad (2015)Also in Italian
Don't Be Bad (2015)
A story set in the 90s and in the outskirts of Rome to Ostia. A world where money, luxury cars, night clubs, cocaine and synthetic drugs are easy to run. A world in which Vittorio and Cesare, in their early twenties, act in search of their success.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Traitor (2019)
Palermo, Sicily, 1980. Mafia member Tommaso Buscetta decides to move to Brazil with his family fleeing the constant war between the different clans of the criminal organization. But when, after living several misfortunes, he is forced to return to Italy, he makes a bold decision that will change his life and the destiny of Cosa Nostra forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGomorrah (2008)
An inside look at Italy's modern-day crime families, the Camorra in Naples and Caserta. Based on a book by Roberto Saviano. Power, money and blood: these are the "values" that the residents of the Province of Naples and Caserta have to face every day. They hardly ever have a choice and are forced to obey the rules of the Camorra. Only a lucky few can even think of leading a normal life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngel of Evil (2010)
Set in Italy in the 1970s, VALLANZASCA is the true story of the Italian underworld’s most infamous outlaw. A criminal by age 9, Renato Vallanzasca grew up to become the country’s most notorious mobster before the age of 27. Vallanzasca and his gang wrested control of the Milan underworld with a string of high profile robberies, kidnappings and murders. In the process, he captivated the public and earned the nickname ‘il bel Renè’ – for his devilish charm and handsome face. Arrested multiple times, his daring escapes from prison enraged the government, angered his rivals and fed his legend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPiranhas (2019)
A gang of teenage boys stalk the streets of Naples armed with hand guns and AK-47s to do their mob bosses' bidding – until they decide to be the bosses themselves.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrime Novel (2005)
After serving prison time for a juvenile offense, Freddo gathers his old buddies Libano and Dandi and embarks on a crime spree that makes the trio the most powerful gangsters in Rome. Libano loves their new status, and seeks to spread their influence throughout the underworld, while the other two pursue more fleshly desires. For decades, their gang perpetrates extravagant crimes, until paranoia threatens to split the friends apart.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIl Divo (2008)
Italy, early '90s. Calm, clever and inscrutable, politician Giulio Andreotti has been synonymous with power for decades. He has survived everything: electoral battles, terrorist massacres, loss of friends, slanderous accusations; but now certain repentant mobsters implicate him in the crimes of Cosa Nostra.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hand of God (2021)
In 1980s Naples, an awkward teen struggling to find his place experiences heartbreak and liberation after he's inadvertently saved from a freak accident by football legend Diego Maradona.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNostalgia (2022)
Felice returns to his native Rione Sanità in Naples to look after his dying mother, having lived abroad for the last forty years. Here he discovers that his old friend Oreste has become a notorious crimeboss.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDogman (2018)
Marcello, a small and gentle dog groomer, finds himself involved in a dangerous relationship of subjugation with Simone, a former violent boxer who terrorizes the entire neighborhood. In an effort to reaffirm his dignity, Marcello will submit to an unexpected act of vengeance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Souls (2014)
A former narcotics smuggler, now living peaceably in the Calabrian hills, is drawn back into his family’s drug-trade dynasty by his impetuous teenage son.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRobbing Mussolini (2022)
Near the end of WWII, a young bootlegger and his nightclub-singing girlfriend assemble a ragtag team for an dangerous heist: to steal Mussolini's treasure right from his headquarters.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisSicilian Letters (2024)
Loosely based on real events that took place during Matteo Messina Denaro's thirty years on the run. A disgraced politician is gifted a second chance when secret services involve him in an operation to root out an elusive Mafia boss. Using his personal connection as the Boss' godfather, his task is to get him to reveal his hiding place in their secret letters.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuburra (2015)
A gangster known as "Samurai" wants to turn the waterfront of Rome into a new Las Vegas. All the local mob bosses have agreed to work for this common goal. But peace is not to last long.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Big Fake (2025)
Toni Chichiarelli arrives in Rome with the dream of becoming a painter, but his talent leads him elsewhere — from art galleries to state secrets. Between art, crime, and power, his signature ends up everywhere — even in the history of Italy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn My Skin (2018)
The incredible true story behind the most controversial Italian court cases in recent years. Stefano Cucchi was arrested for a minor crime and mysteriously found dead during his detention. In one week's time, a family is changed forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMy Brother Is an Only Child (2007)
Accio and Manrico are siblings from a working-class family in 1960s Italy: older Manrico is handsome, charismatic, and loved by all, while younger Accio is sulky, hot-headed, and treats life as a battleground — much to his parents' chagrin. After the former is drawn into left-wing politics, Accio joins the fascists out of spite, but his flimsy beliefs are put to test when he falls for Manrico's like-minded girlfriend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalvatore Giuliano (1962)
Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano's bullet-riddled corpse is found facedown in a courtyard in Castelvetrano, a handgun and rifle by his side. Local and international press descend upon the scene, hoping to crack open the true story behind the death of this young man, who, at the age of twenty-seven, had already become Italy’s most wanted criminal and celebrated hero.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisForgive Us Our Debts (2018)
Threatened by creditors, a newly unemployed man agrees to work for a debt collector, but soon discovers his deal with the devil has unexpected costs.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mafia Kills Only in Summer (2013)
While Arturo tries to gain the love of Flora, he witnesses the history of Sicily from 1969 to 1992, miraculously dodging the crimes of the Mafia and supporting as a journalist the heroic struggle of the judges and policemen who fought this infamous organization.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA.C.A.B. - All Cops Are Bastards (2012)
A look at the controversial riot cops unit, told through the stories of three veteran cops and a young recruit.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Godfather (1972)
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Inner Cage (2021)
A prison drama where an old mobster and a prison guard must find a way to coexist so that imprisonment can become less so, and perhaps reveal the paradox that is behind the very concept of captivity.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisItalian Race (2016)
Giulia De Martino is a pilot. At seventeen she participates in the GT Championship, under the guidance of her father Mario. But one day everything changes and Giulia has to face alone both the track and her own life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEasy Money III: Life Deluxe (2013)
JW now lives in exile and is more than ever determined to find out what happened to his missing sister Camilla. Every trace leads him to the world of organized crime in Stockholm. Jorge is about to do his last score – the largest robbery in Swedish history. But during the complicated preparations he meets a woman from his past – Nadja. Martin Hägerström is chosen to go undercover into the Serbian mafia, in order to get its notorious boss Radovan Krajnic behind bars. When an assassination attempt is made on Radovan, his daughter Natalie is pulled into the power struggle within the Serbian mafia.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDiaz - Don't Clean Up This Blood (2012)
On July 19–21, 2001, over 200,000 people took to the streets of Genoa to protest against the ongoing G8 summit. Anti-globalization activists clashed with the police, with 23-year-old protester Carlo Giuliani shot dead after confronting a police vehicle. In the aftermath, the police organized a night raid on the Diaz high school, where around a hundred people between unarmed protesters—mostly students—and independent reporters who documented the police brutality during the protests had took shelter. What happened next was called by Amnesty International "the most serious breach of civil liberties in a democratic Western country since World War II."
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Paradiso (2021)
In 1950s Italy, a farmer's dream of improving workers’ living conditions collapses when he falls for a landowner's daughter. Based on true events.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Music of Silence (2017)
Born with a serious eye condition that eventually leads to his blindness, Bocelli nevertheless rises above the challenges, driven by great ambitions towards his passion. The silent pursuit of his daily mission continues.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAdagio (2023)
Tangled up with blackmail and crooked cops, the son of a former gangster seeks out his father's old friends, who risk everything to save him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Life Ahead (2020)
In seaside Italy, a Holocaust survivor with a daycare business takes in a 12-year-old street kid who recently robbed her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Ruthless?
The closest matches to The Ruthless are Don't Be Bad (2015), The Traitor (2019) and Gomorrah (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Ruthless?
People who watched The Ruthless most often go on to Don't Be Bad (2015), The Traitor (2019) and Gomorrah (2008).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Ruthless?
The Godfather (1972), rated 8.7/10 by 23,951 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Ruthless?
The Big Fake (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like The Ruthless?
Yes: Don't Be Bad (2015), The Traitor (2019) and Gomorrah (2008).
How are movies similar to The Ruthless chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Ruthless, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.