Best movies like Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An African-American Mafia hit man who models himself after the samurai of old finds himself targeted for death by the mob.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Germany, USA, Japan
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: art house, stylized, atmospheric, cult classic, hood, thought provoking, captivating, neo noir, tense, philosophical
Best tv shows and movies like Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999):
Similar in 75%
Branded to Kill (1967)
Plot Summary:
After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: surreal, grindhouse, experimental, neo noir, cult classic, aesthetic, exciting, mind bending, psychedelic, bloody
Similar in 78%
Diary of a Hitman (1991)
Plot Summary:
Hitman Dekker is on his last job, out to kill the wife (Jain) of his client, but he starts to waiver. The longer he takes to do the job the more difficult it becomes.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: neo noir, realistic, suspenseful, serious, captivating, surprise ending, suspense, cult classic, independent film, bleak
Similar in 89%
Brother (2000)
Plot Summary:
A Japanese Yakuza gangster’s deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, California, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother’s gang. This is the first English film by Takeshi Kitano.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, France, Japan
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: harsh, intense, rough, serious, exciting, atmospheric, art house, stylized, hood, psychological thriller
Similar in 87%
Le Samurai (1967)
Plot Summary:
Hitman Jef Costello is a perfectionist who always carefully plans his murders and who never gets caught.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, tense, suspenseful, bleak, suspense, visual, meditative, witty, art house
Similar in 76%
Blood In, Blood Out (1993)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known as the "Vatos Locos", and the story focuses on how a violent crime and the influence of narcotics alter their lives. Miklo is incarcerated and sent to San Quentin, where he makes a "home" for himself. Cruz becomes an exceptional artist, but a heroin addiction overcomes him with tragic results. Paco becomes a cop and an enemy to his "carnal", Miklo.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: intense, bad ending, entertaining, rough, serious, realistic, disturbing, cult classic, inspirational, retro
Similar in 86%
Hate (1995)
Plot Summary:
Aimlessly whiling away their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz, Hubert, and Said -- a Jew, African, and an Arab -- give human faces to France's immigrant populations, their bristling resentment at their social marginalization slowly simmering until it reaches a climactic boiling point. La Haine means Hate.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 191000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: bleak, black and white, art house, disturbing, hood, political, rough, captivating, neo noir, brutal
Similar in 84%
Thief (1981)
Plot Summary:
Frank is an expert professional safecracker, specialized in high-profile diamond heists. He plans to use his ill-gotten income to retire from crime and build a nice life for himself complete with a home, wife and kids. To accelerate the process, he signs on with a top gangster for a big score.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, cerebral, cult classic, retro, tense, realistic, stylized, crime drama, suspense
Similar in 81%
Léon: The Professional (1994)
Plot Summary:
Leon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling custodian of 12-year-old Mathilda. Before long, Mathilda's thoughts turn to revenge, and she considers following in Leon's footsteps.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 12000000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: neo noir, cult classic, rough, touching, suspenseful, suspense, emotional, tense, dramatic, intense
Similar in 86%
Killing Them Softly (2012)
Plot Summary:
Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 151000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: neo noir, suspenseful, tense, intense, bleak, independent film, dark comedy, rough, bloody, political
Similar in 82%
The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
Plot Summary:
Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark, N.J., history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters start to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, whose influence over his nephew will help shape the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss, Tony Soprano.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, dramatic, hood, anamorphic, powerful, surprise ending, neo noir
Similar in 89%
Drive (2011)
Plot Summary:
A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman for criminals discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 690000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, suspense, tense, serious, captivating, intense, stylized, art house, ambiguous ending
Similar in 87%
The Drop (2014)
Plot Summary:
Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 160000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, tense, realistic, suspense, cerebral, clever, atmospheric, tricky, crime thriller
Similar in 80%
Menace II Society (1993)
Plot Summary:
Menace II Society is a coming of age tale detailing the summer after its protagonist Caine (Tyrin Turner) graduates from high school. This is Caine's story, which details real life in today's tough inner city.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 63000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, realistic, stylized, hood, rough, serious, harsh, intense, bloody
Similar in 86%
New Jersey Drive (1995)
Plot Summary:
New Jersey Drive is a 1995 film about black youths in Newark, New Jersey, the unofficial "car theft capital of the world". Their favorite pastime is that of everybody in their neighborhood: stealing cars and joyriding. The trouble starts when they steal a police car and the cops launch a violent offensive that involves beating and even shooting suspects.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: realistic, hood, brutal, melancholic, rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, cult classic, independent film
Similar in 87%
Belly (1998)
Plot Summary:
Tommy Brown 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?.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: hood, independent film, stylized, crime drama, bleak, serious, realistic, gloomy, fairy tale, neorealism
Similar in 87%
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Plot Summary:
Boyz n the Hood is the popular and successful film and social criticism from John Singleton about the conditions in South Central Los Angeles where teenagers are involved in gun fights and drug dealing on a daily basis.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 151000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, thought provoking, hood, cult classic, brutal, bleak, independent film, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Miller's Crossing (1990)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 140000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, tense, stylized, serious, realistic, suspense, dark, cult classic, clever
Similar in 83%
Kill the Irishman (2011)
Plot Summary:
Over the summer of 1976, thirty-six bombs detonate in the heart of Cleveland while a turf war raged between Irish mobster Danny Greene and the Italian mafia. Based on a true story, kill the Irishman chronicles Greene's heroic rise from a tough Cleveland neighborhood to become an enforcer in the local mob.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: tense, brutal, suspense, talky, intense, rough, suspenseful, serious, realistic, thought provoking
Similar in 83%
Carlito's Way (1993)
Plot Summary:
A Puerto-Rican ex-con, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him and lead on to a better life outside of NYC.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 229000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: neo noir, suspense, atmospheric, suspenseful, tense, melancholic, intense, rough, bleak, serious
Similar in 76%
City of God (2002)
Plot Summary:
Cidade de Deus is a shantytown that started during the 1960s and became one of Rio de Janeiro’s most dangerous places in the beginning of the 1980s. To tell the story of this place, the movie describes the life of various characters, all seen by the point of view of the narrator, Buscapé. Buscapé was raised in a very violent environment. Despite the feeling that all odds were against him, he finds out that life can be seen with other eyes.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 788000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil, France, Germany
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, bleak, hood, stylized, visual, cult classic, visually stunning, captivating, emotional
Similar in 78%
Hoodlum (1997)
Plot Summary:
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 against the invasion from merciless mobster Dutch Shultz.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: hood, stylized, neo noir, black and white, crime drama, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, clever
Similar in 90%
Mobsters (1991)
Plot Summary:
The story of a group of friends in turn of the century New York, from their early days as street hoods to their rise in the world of organized crime.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: suspense, talky, intense, realistic, suspenseful, rough, serious, stylized, hood, exciting
Similar in 75%
A Bronx Tale (1993)
Plot Summary:
Set in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is the youngster's growing attraction - forbidden in his neighborhood - for a beautiful black girl.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 156000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: sentimental, suspense, intense, hood, touching, realistic, inspirational, crime drama, scary, sincere
Similar in 85%
The Godfather Part III (1990)
Plot Summary:
In the midst of trying to legitimize his business dealings in 1979 New York and Italy, aging mafia don, Michael Corleone seeks forgiveness for his sins while taking a young protege under his wing.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 418000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 162 min
Plot tags: epic, saga, bad ending, suspense, visually appealing, serious, stylized, sad, cult classic, inspirational
Similar in 82%
Heat (1995)
Plot Summary:
Obsessive master thief, Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective, Vincent Hanna pursues him without rest. Each man recognizes and respects the ability and the dedication of the other even though they are aware their cat-and-mouse game may end in violence.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 702000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, detective, suspense, suspenseful, intense, exciting, bleak, atmospheric, clever
Similar in 81%
Casino (1995)
Plot Summary:
The life of the gambling paradise – Las Vegas – and its dark mafia underbelly.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 552000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, France
Duration: 178 min
Plot tags: realistic, clever, rough, suspense, neo noir, captivating, brutal, stylized, intense, tense
Similar in 78%
Proud Mary (2018)
Plot Summary:
Mary is a hit woman working for an organized crime family in Boston, whose life is completely turned around when she meets a young boy whose path she crosses when a professional hit goes bad.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, exciting, captivating, retro, hood, surprise ending, neo noir, black cinema
Similar in 86%
Gangs of New York (2002)
Plot Summary:
It's 1863. America was born in the streets. Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points of America to seek vengeance against the psychotic gangland kingpin, Bill the Butcher, who murdered his father years earlier. With an eager pickpocket by his side and a whole new army, Vallon fights his way to seek vengeance on the Butcher and restore peace in the area.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 466000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 167 min
Plot tags: epic, rough, atmospheric, tense, stylized, suspense, captivating, period piece, brutal, bloody
Similar in 79%
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Plot Summary:
In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
IMDB Rating: 9.0
IMDB Votes: 13000000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 202 min
Plot tags: epic, captivating, suspense, serious, visual, neo noir, visually appealing, realistic, saga, atmospheric
Similar in 76%
The Godfather (1972)
Plot Summary:
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.
IMDB Rating: 9.2
IMDB Votes: 20000000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: serious, epic, atmospheric, dramatic, captivating, rough, realistic, family saga, entertaining, breathtaking