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Movies like The Council

The best movies like The Council are Hoodlum (1997), A Call to Spy (2020) and Blood Ties (2013). If The Council 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

  1. Hoodlum (1997)

    In 1934, the second most lucrative business in New York City was running 'the numbers'. When Madam Queen—the powerful woman who runs the scam in Harlem—is arrested, Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson takes over the business and must resist an invasion from a merciless mobster.

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  2. A Call to Spy (2020)

    The story of Vera Atkins, a crafty spy recruiter, and two of the first women she selects for Churchill's "secret army": Virginia Hall, a daring American undaunted by a disability and Noor Inayat Khan, a pacifist. These civilian women form an unlikely sisterhood while entangled in dangerous missions to turn the tide of the war.

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  3. Blood Ties (2013)

    Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  4. Belly (1998)

    Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  5. Little 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 this
  6. 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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  7. Winged 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 & drama

  8. Cry of the City (1948)

    Petty crook and cop-killer Martin Rome, in bad shape from wounds in the hospital prison ward, still refuses to help slimy lawyer Niles clear his client by confessing to another crime. Police Lt. Candella must check Niles' allegation; a friend of the Rome family, he walks a tightrope between sentiment and cynicism. When Martin fears Candella will implicate his girlfriend Teena, he'll do anything to protect her. How many others will he drag down to disaster with him?

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  9. The Outfit (1973)

    A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  10. GoodFellas (1990)

    The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.

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

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  11. Donnie Brasco (1997)

    An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.

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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  12. The Valachi Papers (1972)

    When Joe Valachi has a price put on his head by Don Vito Genovese, he must take desperate steps to protect himself while in prison. An unsuccessful attempt to slit his throat puts him over the edge to break the sacred code of silence.

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  13. The Informer (2019)

    In New York, former convict Pete Koslow, related to the Polish mafia, must deal with both Klimek the General, his ruthless boss, and the twisted ambitions of two federal agents, as he tries to survive and protect the lives of his loved ones.

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. McVicar (1980)

    John McVicar was a London Bad Boy. he graduated to armed bank robbery and was Britain's "Public Enemy No. 1". He was captured and put into a high security prison. Will even the highest security prison be able to hold him? This is the true story of his life, his criminal exploits and his eventual rehabilitation.

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  15. Live by Night (2016)

    A group of Boston-bred gangsters set up shop in balmy Florida during the Prohibition era, facing off against the competition and the Ku Klux Klan.

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  16. Casino (1995)

    In Las Vegas, two best friends-a casino executive and a Mafia enforcer--compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.

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

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  17. Auto Focus (2002)

    A successful TV star during the 1960s, former "Hogan's Heroes" actor Bob Crane projects a wholesome family-man image, but this front masks his persona as a sex addict who records and photographs his many encounters with women, often with the help of his seedy friend, John Henry Carpenter. This biographical drama reveals how Crane's double life takes its toll on him and his family, and ultimately contributes to his death.

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. Each 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 this
  19. Ted 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 this
  20. Won't Back Down (2012)

    Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  21. American Psycho (2000)

    A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.

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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  22. Sashenka (2022)

    In the night, someone shoots an elderly couple in their sleep with a hunting rifle, leaving their twenty-year-old son, disabled and confined to a wheelchair, an orphan. The investigation reveals the life story of what seems at first glance to be an ordinary Soviet family. While still young, the couple lost their long-desired infant daughter. Later in life, the fate gives them a child, but he happens to be a boy. The mother's pathological desire to have a daughter becomes an obsession. The woman treats Sashenka as a girl, dresses him as a girl and buys him dolls. The father supports his wife in every way. This is how starts a dramatic and astonishing story of human vices and deviations.

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

  23. I'm Your Woman (2020)

    A woman is forced to go on the run after her husband betrays his partners, sending her and her baby on a dangerous journey.

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

  24. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

    A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.

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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  25. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

    The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  26. The Epidemic (1972)

    Based on a true outbreak of smallpox in Wroclaw. A young doctor picks up a girl and they go to bed, but the night is ruined by the doctor being called to the epidemic. The doctor has to leave, and when it is all over, runs into her with another man.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  27. My Story (2019)

    Young talented Elizabeth leaves a successful career in ballet for love. The man who has stolen her heart, however, has a dark side, and in a single moment Elizabeth loses everything dear to her in life.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  28. The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden (TBA)

    Nombeko Mayeki is a young woman from Soweto who finds herself caught in an international whirlwind from South Africa to Sweden. A heroine born in the slums of South Africa, she rises from obscurity to become the key player in an international nuclear conspiracy, accidentally saving the Swedish monarchy and averting global catastrophe with her quick-witted resourcefulness.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  29. Velvet Goldmine (1998)

    Almost a decade since larger-than-life glam-rock enigma Brian Slade disappeared from public eye, an investigative journalist is on assignment to uncover the truth behind his former idol.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  30. מלאכים באמריקה- בנייה מחדש (2024)

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Like The Council and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The Council?

The closest matches to The Council are Hoodlum (1997), A Call to Spy (2020) and Blood Ties (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The Council?

Start with Hoodlum (1997), the closest match to The Council.

What is the highest-rated movie like The Council?

GoodFellas (1990), rated 8.5/10 by 15,012 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The Council?

מלאכים באמריקה- בנייה מחדש (2024) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like The Council?

Yes: Hoodlum (1997), A Call to Spy (2020) and Blood Ties (2013).

How are movies similar to The Council chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Council, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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