Movies like The Hustler (1961)
The best movies like The Hustler (1961) are The Color of Money (1986), On the Waterfront (1954) and Champion (1949). If The Hustler hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Apartment (1960)8.2/10 from 2,840 votes
- NewestLucky You (2007)Released 2007
- Same seriesThe Color of Money (1986)The Hustler
The Color of Money (1986)
Former pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson decides he wants to return to the game by taking a pupil. He meets talented but green Vincent Lauria and proposes a partnership. As they tour pool halls, Eddie teaches Vincent the tricks of scamming, but he eventually grows frustrated with Vincent's showboat antics, leading to an argument and a falling-out. Eddie takes up playing again and soon crosses paths with Vincent as an opponent.
Why it matches: Same series: The Hustler · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn the Waterfront (1954)
A prizefighter-turned-longshoreman with a conscience goes up against labor leaders to expose corruption, extortion, and murder among the union ranks.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChampion (1949)
An unscrupulous boxer fights his way to the top, but eventually alienates all of the people who helped him on the way up.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRaging Bull (1980)
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBody and Soul (1947)
Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes a boxer. As he becomes more successful the fighter becomes surrounded by shady characters, including an unethical promoter named Roberts, who tempt the man with a number of vices. Charley finds himself faced with increasingly difficult choices.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGolden Boy (1939)
Despite his talent as a musician, a city boy decides to become a boxer. He's successful as a fighter — much to the dismay of his father. When gangsters try to buy a piece of him, he begins to have second thoughts.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPrefontaine (1997)
It's the true-life story of legendary track star Steve Prefontaine, the exciting and sometimes controversial "James Dean of Track," whose spirit captured the heart of the nation! Cocky, charismatic, and tough, "Pre" was a running rebel who defied rules, pushed limits ... and smashed records ...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Picture Show (1971)
High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Great Sinner (1949)
A young man succumbs to gambling fever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFat City (1972)
The story of two men, a veteran boxer who is down and out, and a young man who is just starting his life and boxing career. Their fighting careers cross paths as their lives and fortunes head in opposite directions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucky You (2007)
A professional poker player whose astounding luck at the table fails to translate into his lonesome love life attempts to win the World Series of Poker while simultaneously earning the affections of a beautiful Las Vegas singer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Boy in Blue (1986)
Ned Hanlan was Canada's most successful sculling champion at the turn of the 20th century. This dramatization of his life begins in his youth, when the wild young man is informally adopted by a gambler who promotes Ned on the sculling circuit, betting on the boy's rowing skills solely to make money off him. Later, a ruthless businessman named Knox takes over Ned's career, but when Ned realizes how dishonest Knox is, he finds another manager. Walter is an inventor and the first honest man Ned has dealt with in his career and, under Walter's guidance, Ned rises to great success in the sculling world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Stratton Story (1949)
Star major league pitcher Monty Stratton loses a leg in a hunting accident, but becomes determined to leave the game on his own terms.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
The Gambler (1974)
New York City English professor Axel Freed outwardly seems like an upstanding citizen. But privately Freed is in the clutches of a severe gambling addiction that threatens to destroy him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRocky (1976)
Rocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRequiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
After suffering a brutal defeat and being told he can no longer fight, 37-year-old, scar-ridden prizefighter Louis 'Mountain' Rivera struggles to find a new direction in life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBaby the Rain Must Fall (1965)
Henry Thomas tries to overcome the horrors of his childhood and start a new life with his wife and kid. However, his abusive step-mother and his dependence on alcohol threaten to ruin his future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDownhill Racer (1969)
An ambitious young skier, determined to break all existing records, is contemptuous of the teamwork advocated by the US coach when they go to Europe for the Olympics.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer, Jonathan Shields, as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer, James Lee Bartlow; a star, Georgia Lorrison; and a director, Fred Amiel. He is a hard-driving, ambitious man who ruthlessly uses everyone on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's top movie makers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTough Enough (1983)
An aspiring country singer, whose money is disappearing faster than his career opportunities, enters a "Tough Man" amateur boxing contest to earn some cash to pay his bills. Amazingly enough, he wins it, and is picked to go onto the national finals. He's torn between his first love, music, and the glitz, glamor and money of the "Tough Man" world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDays of Wine and Roses (1963)
An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Apartment (1960)
Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWinning (1969)
Frank Capua is a rising star on the race circuit who dreams of winning the big one - the Indianapolis 500. But to get there he runs the risk of losing his wife Elora to his rival, Luther Erding, and strains the relationship with his stepson.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Place in the Sun (1951)
A young social climber wins the heart of a beautiful heiress but his former girlfriend's pregnancy stands in the way of his ambition.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Face in the Crowd (1957)
The rise of a raucous hayseed named Lonesome Rhodes from itinerant Ozark guitar picker to local media rabble-rouser to TV superstar and political king-maker. Marcia Jeffries is the innocent Sarah Lawrence girl who discovers the great man in a back-country jail and is the first to fall under his spell.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDogfight (1991)
In the fall of 1963, Eddie Birdlace is an 18-year-old Marine Corps volunteer who is about to ship out with three of his buddies for a tour of duty in Vietnam. Planning a massive blowout for their last night in San Francisco, Eddie, his buddies, and a number of other Marines set up a contest they call a "dogfight”.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Hustler?
The closest matches to The Hustler are The Color of Money (1986), On the Waterfront (1954) and Champion (1949). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Hustler?
People who watched The Hustler most often go on to On the Waterfront (1954), Champion (1949) and Raging Bull (1980).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Hustler?
The Apartment (1960), rated 8.2/10 by 2,840 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Hustler?
Lucky You (2007) is the most recent release on this list.
Is The Hustler part of a series?
Yes. It belongs to The Hustler, which includes The Color of Money (1986).
Are there English movies like The Hustler?
Yes: The Color of Money (1986), On the Waterfront (1954) and Champion (1949).
How are movies similar to The Hustler chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Hustler, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.