Movies like They Were So Young (1954)
The best movies like They Were So Young (1954) are Nightfall (1956), One Night at McCool's (2001) and I Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013). If They Were So Young hooked you with its crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedJohn Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)7.3/10 from 14,831 votes
- NewestWardriver (2026)Released 2026
Nightfall (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 thisOne Night at McCool's (2001)
On an ordinary night, in an ordinary part of town, a beautiful young woman walks into a bar. Her name is Jewel, and before long she is chatting to bartender Randy. The pair leave together, but he ends up getting into a tussle with her criminal boyfriend, who she then shoots dead, later persuading Randy to take the rap for her. But this isn't the end of it, as both Randy's cousin Carl and the detective assigned to the murder case also fall for Jewel's charms and find themselves caught up in the ensuing events. It seems that any man who meets Jewel falls instantly in love with her, and she's going to use this fully to her own advantage, leaving a trail of havoc in her wake. It also seems that she is going to get away with it - that is, until Randy decides to hire a hitman...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013)
Broke, and in desperate need to update her portfolio, New York City model Katie calls a number from a tear-off flyer offering free photos. But this innocent attempt quickly turns into an unthinkable kidnapping nightmare where she's ripped away from everyone and everything she knows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrash (2014)
Set in Brazil, three kids who make a discovery in a garbage dump soon find themselves running from the cops and trying to right a terrible wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Enforcer (2022)
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to save the young girl from the deadly organization he’s spent his life building.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPanic (2000)
Alex is going through a midlife crisis and it has become a very difficult time for him. His marriage is struggling, he's worried about his son, and his job of killing people for his family has become the most stressful part of his life. He seeks the help of a therapist and meets a woman in the waiting room that he connects with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
The true story of Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- iconoclast, opportunist, and outspoken atheist -- from her controversial rise to her untimely demise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKid Galahad (1937)
Fight promoter Nick Donati grooms a bellhop as a future champ, but has second thoughts when the 'kid' falls for his sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWinged Creatures (2009)
A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an experimental medical procedure on his wife, while a gambler believes he's on a lucky streak. A waitress begins engaging in promiscuous sex, and a young girl whose father is among the dead gains unexpected fame.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Wake Up Screaming (1941)
A young promoter is accused of the murder of Vicky Lynn, a young actress he "discovered" as a waitress while out with ex-actor Robin Ray and gossip columnist Larry Evans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohn Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
John Wick is forced out of retirement by a former associate looking to seize control of a shadowy international assassins’ guild. Bound by a blood oath to aid him, Wick travels to Rome and does battle against some of the world’s most dangerous killers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn Secret (2014)
In 1860s Paris, a young woman, Therese, is trapped in a loveless marriage to the sickly Camille by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin. She spends her days behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominos with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband’s alluring friend, Laurent, she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences. Based on Emile Zola’s novel, Thérèse Raquin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWardriver (2026)
He’s a Wardriver: a hacker who steals from banks, not people—until he’s noticed. Now the money turns violent, and the woman caught in it could save him or kill them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHe Ran All the Way (1951)
A crook on the run hides out in an innocent girl's apartment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrand Slam (1967)
Professor James Anders is a seemingly mild-mannered teacher, an American working in Rio De Janeiro. Anders, bored with years of teaching, decides to put together a team to pull off a diamond heist during the Rio Carnival. Four international experts are brought together to carry out the robbery: a safe cracking expert, a master thief, a mechanical genius, and a playboy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHouse by the River (1950)
Wealthy writer Stephen Byrne tries to seduce the family maid, but when she resists, he kills her. Long jealous of his brother John, Stephen does his best to pin the blame for the murder on his sibling. Also affected by Stephen's arrogant dementia is his long-suffering wife Marjorie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Is a Bullet (2023)
Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Run (1971)
A former mob getaway driver from Chicago has retired to a peaceful life in a Portuguese fishing village. He is asked to pull off one last job - to drive a dangerous crook and his girlfriend to France.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like this6 Bullets (2012)
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTed Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021)
Set in a gritty and decadent 1970s America, American Boogeyman follows the elusive and charming killer and the manhunt that brought him to justice involving the detective and the FBI rookie who coined the phrase ‘serial killer’.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOSS 117: Lost in Rio (2009)
In 1967, OSS 117 is sent to Brazil in order to retrieve a microfilm list of French Nazi sympathizers, only to once again unknowingly set foot into a bigger international intrigue.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBus 174 (2002)
On 12 June 2000, in Rio de Janeiro, Ônibus 174 was taken by an armed young man, threatening to kill all the passengers. Transmitted live on all national networks, this shocking and tragic event became one of violence's most shocking portraits, and one of the most terrifying examples of police incompetence and abuse in recent years.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVitória (2025)
Nina is an elderly woman who lives alone and feels distressed by the increasing violence in her neighborhood. Amidst conflicts with her neighbors, she decides to film the movement of drug traffickers from her window, hoping to assist the police. After months of recording suspicious activities, her initiative attracts the attention of a journalist, who approaches Nina and offers to support her in her mission.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pugilist (2017)
After his eldest son is murdered in a gangland hit, an absentee father desperately tries to protect what’s left of the shattered family he abandoned.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Taxi (2004)
A mouthy and feisty taxicab driver has hot tips for a green and inept cop set on solving a string of New York City bank robberies committed by a quartet of female Brazilian bank robbers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisNew York (2009)
The plot follows three friends in New York City whose lives are upended by the 9/11 attacks leading to suspicion, FBI involvement, and a story about friendship, identity, and the aftermath of terrorism.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deep End (2001)
With her husband Jack perpetually away at work, Margaret Hall raises her children virtually alone. Her teenage son is testing the waters of the adult world, and early one morning she wakes to find the dead body of his gay lover on the beach of their rural lakeside home. What would you do? What is rational and what do you do to protect your child? How far do you go and when do you stop?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Joint Venture (2008)
The decade of the hippies is at an end and the 80's are approaching fast. Carl and Robert are two doped out guys who lives in harmony with the world around them and let life pass by in an eternal hash high. They have been peddling hashish for a decade, hitting an all time high with this last batch: 45 Kilos of pure, high grade Nepalese Hashish. Following the delivery, the police are on their tail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Captivity (2007)
The sought-after images of top model Jennifer adorn magazine covers and billboards worldwide. When alone at a club, she is abducted and incarcerated in a cell with another prisoner. When their captor subjects the two to torture, they commit to escaping the chamber of horrors before they're killed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like They Were So Young?
The closest matches to They Were So Young are Nightfall (1956), One Night at McCool's (2001) and I Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after They Were So Young?
Start with Nightfall (1956), the closest match to They Were So Young.
What is the highest-rated movie like They Were So Young?
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), rated 7.3/10 by 14,831 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like They Were So Young?
Wardriver (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like They Were So Young?
Yes: Nightfall (1956), One Night at McCool's (2001) and I Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013).
How are movies similar to They Were So Young chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside They Were So Young, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.