Movies like Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
The best movies like Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) are Cool Hand Luke (1967), Papillon (1973) and Gideon's Trumpet (1980). If Birdman of Alcatraz hooked you with its drama and crime, 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 31,832 votes
- NewestA Prayer Before Dawn (2018)Released 2018
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPapillon (1973)
A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGideon's Trumpet (1980)
True story of Clarence Gideon's fight to be appointed counsel at the expense of the state. This landmark case led to the Supreme Court's decision which extended this right to all criminal defendants.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
The 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: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAttica (1980)
Acclaimed dramatization recreating the incidents surrounding the 1971 revolt in New York's Attica State Prison that lasted for 23 days and resulted in the greatest casualty toll between Americans since the Civil War.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Prison Break (2017)
One late night in June 1942, Sakuma Seitaro dangles from the frame of a skylight in an isolation cell in Akita Prison. He forces open the glass window and breaks out of jail. This crime even reaches the ears of Urata Susumu, the chief warden of Kosuge Prison in Tokyo. Urata had been in charge of those sentenced to life in the prison until last year. Although Sakuma is a dangerous person who had also broken out of jail in Aomori, he submits to Urata who is the only person who had treated him kindly in the past. However, three months after escaping from jail, Sakuma shows up at Urata’s house. He has come to complain about the inhumane Akita prison officers. But he is locked up again after Urata notifies the police during an unguarded moment. A year later, Sakuma is sent to Abashiri Prison and Urata is also ordered to transfer as the prison’s chief warden.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Le Trou (1960)
Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system – yet their escape is anything but assured.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBrubaker (1980)
The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Glass House (1972)
Adapted from a story by Truman Capote ("In Cold Blood"), the world of the prison convict is open to the viewer. As the story develops, one thing becomes clear. As in the outside world, there is a "system"; and just as on the outside, there is accommodation, honesty, cynicism, violence and all the other factors that make up our society. The film follows the three newcomers, it records the grim, terrifying, sometimes fascinating events that occur.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Hunger (2008)
The story of Bobby Sands, the IRA member who led the 1981 hunger strike during The Troubles in which Irish Republican prisoners tried to win political status.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMidnight Express (1978)
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEscape from Alcatraz (1979)
San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates begin to carefully prepare an escape plan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWomen's Prison (1955)
A crusading psychiatrist battles a sadistic female warden to improve conditions at a women's prison.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Caged (1950)
A single mistake puts a 19-year old girl behind bars, where she experiences the terrors and torments of women in prison.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJamesy Boy (2014)
Based on the true story of teenager James Burns who goes from a suburban street gang to a maximum-security prison cell surrounded by hardened criminals. He turns his life around in prison thanks to the unexpected friendship he forms with a convicted murderer who becomes his mentor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShort Eyes (1977)
A young man who is charged with child molestation is placed in New York City’s infamous Tombs prison. When the other inmates in his cell block find out what he is charged with, life becomes extremely difficult for him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder in the First (1995)
A young, inexperienced public defender is assigned to defend an inmate accused of committing murder while behind bars.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKing Rat (1965)
When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, the Allied POWs, mostly British but including a few Americans, were incarcerated in Changi prison. Among the American prisoners is Cpl. King, a wheeler-dealer who has managed to establish a pretty good life for himself in the camp. King soon forms a friendship with an upper-class British officer who is fascinated with King's enthusiastic approach to life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)
In 1971, Stanford's Professor Philip Zimbardo conducts a controversial psychology experiment in which college students pretend to be either prisoners or guards, but the proceedings soon get out of hand. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wild One (1953)
The Black Rebels Motorcycle Club ride into the small California town of Wrightsville, eager to raise hell. Brooding gang leader Johnny Strabler takes a liking to Kathie, the daughter of the local lawman, as another club rolls into town.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Defiant Ones (1958)
Two convicts—one white, one black—escape while chained to each other.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStarred Up (2014)
19-year-old Eric, arrogant and ultra-violent, is prematurely transferred to the same adult prison facility as his estranged father. As his explosive temper quickly finds him enemies in both prison authorities and fellow inmates — and his already volatile relationship with his father is pushed past breaking point — Eric is approached by a volunteer psychotherapist, who runs an anger management group for prisoners. Torn between gang politics, prison corruption, and a glimmer of something better, Eric finds himself in a fight for his own life, unsure if his own father is there to protect him or join in punishing him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Longest Yard (1974)
A football player-turned-convict organizes a team of inmates to play against a team of prison guards. His dilemma is that the warden asks him to throw the game in return for an early release, but he is also concerned about the inmates' lack of self-esteem.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead Man Walking (1995)
A death row inmate turns for spiritual guidance to a local nun in the days leading up to his scheduled execution for the murders of a young couple.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Prayer Before Dawn (2018)
The amazing true story of Billy Moore, an English boxer incarcerated in Thailand’s most notorious prison. Thrown into a world of drugs and violence, he finds his best chance to escape is to fight his way out in prison Muay Thai tournaments.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Chase (1966)
The escape of Bubber Reeves from prison affects the inhabitants of a small Southern town.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Green Mile (1999)
A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, he tries desperately to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Birdman of Alcatraz?
The closest matches to Birdman of Alcatraz are Cool Hand Luke (1967), Papillon (1973) and Gideon's Trumpet (1980). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Birdman of Alcatraz?
People who watched Birdman of Alcatraz most often go on to Cool Hand Luke (1967), Papillon (1973) and Gideon's Trumpet (1980).
What is the highest-rated movie like Birdman of Alcatraz?
The Shawshank Redemption (1994), rated 8.7/10 by 31,832 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Birdman of Alcatraz?
A Prayer Before Dawn (2018) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Birdman of Alcatraz?
Yes: Cool Hand Luke (1967), Papillon (1973) and Gideon's Trumpet (1980).
How are movies similar to Birdman of Alcatraz chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Birdman of Alcatraz, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.