Movies like Spokes & Robbers (2024)

The Principal (1987)

Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & crime

Al Capone (1959)

In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & crime

Play Dirty (2025)

Expert thief Parker gets a shot at a major heist, but to pull it off he and his team must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world's richest man.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama

Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (1995)

Teenager Angus adopts a stray dog and names him Yellow. Several days later, while travelling along the coast of British Columbia with Angus's father, John, the boy and dog become stranded when turbulent waters capsize their boat. Angus's parents relentlessly badger rescue teams. Angus, schooled by his father in wilderness survival skills, and assisted by the intelligent Yellow Dog, tries to attract rescuers.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama

The Rover (2014)

Ten years after a severe economic collapse in the western world, lawlessness reigns and life is cheap. Eric is a lone drifter, and his car is his only possession. When a gang steals it, Eric comes across the injured Rey, left behind by the car thieves. The pair form an unlikely and uneasy alliance.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama

Black Gold (2011)

On the Arabian Peninsula in the 1930s, two warring leaders come face to face. The victorious Nesib, Emir of Hobeika, lays down his peace terms to rival Amar, Sultan of Salmaah. The two men agree that neither can lay claim to the area of no man’s land between them called The Yellow Belt. In return, Nesib adopts Amar’s two boys Saleeh and Auda as a guarantee against invasion. Twelve years later, Saleeh and Auda have grown into young men. Saleeh, the warrior, itches to escape his gilded cage and return to his father’s land. Auda cares only for books and the pursuit of knowledge. One day, their adopted father Nesib is visited by an American from Texas. He tells the Emir that his land is blessed with oil and promises him riches beyond his wildest imagination. Nesib imagines a realm of infinite possibility, a kingdom with roads, schools and hospitals all paid for by the black gold beneath the barren sand. There is only one problem. The precious oil is located in the Yellow Belt.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama

Wildlike (2015)

Fourteen-year-old Mackenzie is sent to live with her uncle in Juneau when her mother can’t care for her anymore. The living situation quickly takes a turn for the worse, and she runs away to rejoin her mother in Seattle. While on her dangerous journey of sleeping in cars and breaking into hotel rooms, she’s drawn to Rene, a lonesome backpacker looking for tranquility in the wilderness.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama

True Spirit (2023)

When the tenacious young sailor Jessica Watson sets out to be the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world, many expect her to fail. With the support of her sailing coach and mentor Ben Bryant and her parents, Jessica is determined to accomplish what was thought to be impossible, navigating some of the world’s most challenging stretches of ocean over the course of 210 days.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama

The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)

A motorcycle stunt rider considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime

The Usual Suspects (1995)

The lone survivor of an explosive heist gone wrong recounts for interrogators the events that began with five disparate criminals assembled for a police lineup - with alleged criminal mastermind Keyser Soze at the center of it all.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime

Phantom Halo (2014)

Two brothers barely scrape by as their father continues to gamble and drink away the money they do bring home. They hatch a plan for a robbery but at what price?

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama

The 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 & drama

Silverton Siege (2022)

After a failed sabotage mission, a trio of anti-apartheid freedom fighters ends up in a tense bank hostage situation. Based on a true story.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama

Wanda (1970)

After a string of abusive relationships, Wanda abandons her family and seeks solace in the company of a petty criminal.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013)

A 10-year-old child prodigy cartographer secretly leaves his family's ranch in Montana where he lives with his cowboy father and scientist mother and travels across the country on board a freight train to receive an award at the Smithsonian Institute.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama

Wildwood (2026)

Prue and her classmate Curtis are drawn into a magical forest filled with enchanted creatures, loyal allies, and formidable adversaries as they embark on a desperate quest to rescue Prue's abducted baby brother from a murder of crows led by a mysterious woman named Alexandra.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama

The Grifters (1990)

A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama

The Born Losers (1967)

A biker gang incites a reign of terror in a California coastal town that culminates in four teenage girls being raped. Vietnam veteran Billy Jack has had enough, however, and takes on the depraved bikers single-handedly. He rescues young Vicky Barrington from their clutches, but then has to contend with not only the thugs, but also the ineffectual and racist local lawmen, who have it out for the half-Native American Billy.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama

The Great Train Robbery (1903)

After the train station clerk is assaulted and left bound and gagged, then the departing train and its passengers robbed, a posse goes in hot pursuit of the fleeing bandits.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & adventure

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama

Breakdown (1997)

On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker ― who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama

Bad Timing (1982)

Nancy Savoca’s second student film follows two twelve-year olds, Bobby (Joey D’Arelli) and Denise (Kelly Cinnante) who run away to Hollywood. They land at an open mic night in a New Jersey bar where Bobby’s aunt and uncle (once aspiring actors) lay out the realities of life as a working actor. The film was inspired by performers Savoca met while making her first student film, most notably William DaPrato. Filled with wry humor and quiet revelations about the pursuit of artistic dreams, Bad Timing also features Marianne Leone and the on-screen debut of future Academy Award winner Chris Cooper.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & adventure

A Few Feet Away (2025)

Santiago, a 20 year-old twink shaped by the anonymity of the virtual world, becomes frustrated with gay dating apps and starts obsessively looking for a real experience in the Buenos Aires nightlife.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & drama

Paranoid Park (2007)

A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime

American Graffiti (1973)

A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Aparajito (1956)

Apu and his family have moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Benares. As he progresses from wide-eyed child to intellectually curious teenager, eventually studying in Kolkata, we witness his academic and moral education, as well as the growing complexity of his relationship with his mother.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Meet the Robinsons (2007)

Lewis, a brilliant young inventor, is keen on creating a time machine to find his mother, who abandoned him in an orphanage. Things take a turn when he meets Wilbur Robinson and his family.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure

Anche il riccio respira (TBA)

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Big (1988)

When a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big, he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight, but he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups, including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Camp Harlow (2014)

On the brink of a family crisis, Alex finds herself being sent to the last place she wants to be, summer camp. Knowing that a young admirer from school will be at the camp, Alex reluctantly agrees. Thrown into a group of people she has never met, Alex is determined to shut out the world. However, Alex is brought out of the corners of her own heart by the most unlikely of friends: a horse.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama