Movies like Payroll (1961)
The best movies like Payroll (1961) are The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Villain (1971) and The Killers (1964). If Payroll 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 ratedPickup on South Street (1953)7.4/10 from 341 votes
- NewestSicario (2015)Released 2015
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Cosmo Vittelli, the proprietor of a sleazy, low-rent Hollywood cabaret, has a real affection for the women who strip in his peepshows and the staff who keep up his dingy establishment. He also has a major gambling problem that has gotten him in trouble before. When Cosmo loses big-time at an underground casino run by mobster Mort, he isn't able to pay up. Mort then offers Cosmo the chance to pay back his debt by knocking off a pesky, Mafia-protected bookie.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVillain (1971)
In 1970s London, Scotland Yard orchestrates the downfall of mob boss Vic Dakin after he crosses the line by blackmailing Members of Parliament.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Fans watch both · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Anderson Tapes (1971)
Thief Duke Anderson—just released from ten years in jail—takes up with his old girlfriend in her posh apartment block, and makes plans to rob the entire building. What he doesn't know is that his every move is being recorded on audio and video, although he is not the subject of any surveillance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rise (2012)
After being released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, Harvey Miller has revenge on his mind. He recruits his three best friends to help him rob the local drug kingpin whose betrayal put him away in the first place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
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 thisLittle Caesar (1931)
A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?
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 thisPitfall (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 this5 Against the House (1955)
Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisEach Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisBubble (2006)
Set against the backdrop of a decaying Midwestern town, a murder becomes the focal point of three people who work in a doll factory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wrong Man (1956)
In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Damned Don't Cry (1950)
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisOn Dangerous Ground (1951)
A big-city cop is reassigned to the country after his superiors find him too angry to be an effective policeman. While on his temporary assignment he assists in a manhunt of a suspected murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisPoint Blank (1967)
After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Blue Gardenia (1953)
Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPickup on South Street (1953)
In New York City, an insolent pickpocket, Skip McCoy, inadvertently sets off a chain of events when he targets ex-prostitute Candy and steals her wallet. Unaware that she has been making deliveries of highly classified information to the communists, Candy, who has been trailed by FBI agents for months in hopes of nabbing the spy ringleader, is sent by her ex-boyfriend, Joey, to find Skip and retrieve the valuable microfilm he now holds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
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 thisBrick (2006)
A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bank Job (2008)
Terry is a small-time car dealer trying to leave his shady past behind and start a family. Martine is a beautiful model from Terry's old neighbourhood who knows that Terry is no angel. When Martine proposes a foolproof plan to rob a bank, Terry recognises the danger but realises this may be the opportunity of a lifetime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBound (1996)
Corky, a tough female ex-convict working on an apartment renovation in a Chicago building, meets a couple living next door, Caesar, a paranoid mobster, and Violet, his seductive girlfriend, who is immediately attracted to her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMatar al Nani (1988)
The story of El Nani, a juvenile delinquent from the years of the Transition, whose disappearance in a police station after an interrogation has not yet been clarified, putting the accent on the denunciation of police brutality and speculating on the outcome of the story. A story that mixes political denunciation and social chronicle of an era.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Sicario (2015)
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Payroll?
The closest matches to Payroll are The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Villain (1971) and The Killers (1964). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Payroll?
People who watched Payroll most often go on to The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Villain (1971) and The Killers (1964).
What is the highest-rated movie like Payroll?
Pickup on South Street (1953), rated 7.4/10 by 341 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Payroll?
Sicario (2015) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Payroll?
Yes: The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Villain (1971) and The Killers (1964).
How are movies similar to Payroll chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Payroll, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.