Best movies like In the Heat of the Night
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An African American detective is asked to investigate a murder in a racist southern town.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 82000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: detective, tense, atmospheric, suspenseful, suspense, thought provoking, intense, serious, rough, neo noir
Best tv shows and movies like In the Heat of the Night (1967):
Similar in 78%
They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
Plot Summary:
A police detective's investigation of a prostitute's murder points to his best friend.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: neo noir, detective, tense, atmospheric, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, black cinema
Similar in 79%
The Organization (1971)
Plot Summary:
After a group of young revolutionaries break into a company's corporate headquarters and steal $5,000,000 worth of heroin to keep it off the street, they call on San Francisco Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs for assistance.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: neo noir, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, suspense, black cinema
Similar in 90%
Mystery Road (2013)
Plot Summary:
An indigenous detective returns to the Outback to investigate the murder of a young girl.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Australia
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: detective, atmospheric, serious, captivating, tense, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, thought provoking, disturbing
Similar in 78%
Lone Star (1996)
Plot Summary:
When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: neo western, witty, tense, sincere, touching, realistic, philosophical, neo noir, cerebral, independent film
Similar in 76%
Affliction (1997)
Plot Summary:
A small town policeman must investigate a suspicious hunting accident. The investigation and other events result in his slowly disintegrating mentally.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, Japan
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, rough, independent film, neo noir, psychological thriller, depressing, disturbing, atmospheric, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
The Badge (2002)
Plot Summary:
A sheriff begins an investigation into the death of a local transsexual after hearing that high ranking politicians may have been involved. Although he is homophobic, his investigation causes him to be rejected by others, forcing him to seek help from the people he once despised.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, atmospheric, detective, neo noir
Similar in 89%
Strange Fruit (2004)
Plot Summary:
New York attorney William Boyals has escaped the Louisiana bayou of his childhood, but he must return to investigate the death of a childhood friend who, like Boyals himself, was both black and gay.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 260
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, thought provoking, bleak, crying, independent film, queer cinema
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Similar in 87%
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Plot Summary:
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: neo noir, detective, dark, atmospheric, clever, stylized, suspense, psychological, political, mysterious
Similar in 78%
The Conversation (1974)
Plot Summary:
Surveillance expert Harry Caul is hired by a mysterious client's brusque aide to tail a young couple. Tracking the pair through San Francisco's Union Square, Caul and his associate Stan manage to record a cryptic conversation between them. Tormented by memories of a previous case that ended badly, Caul becomes obsessed with the resulting tape, trying to determine if the couple are in danger.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 119000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, psychological thriller, neo noir, disturbing, political thriller, meditative, realistic, dark, intense
Similar in 88%
Chiefs (1983)
Plot Summary:
Three generations of police chiefs for a southern town go about their jobs while a serial murderer operates.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: detective, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
The Little Things (2021)
Plot Summary:
Deputy Sheriff Joe "Deke" Deacon joins forces with Sgt. Jim Baxter to search for a serial killer who's terrorizing Los Angeles. As they track the culprit, Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deke's past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 120000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, suspenseful, neo noir, captivating, dark, disturbing, action thriller, twisted, psychological
Similar in 90%
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Plot Summary:
Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: black and white, retro, social, existential, aesthetic, sentimental, sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious
Similar in 77%
Out of Time (2003)
Plot Summary:
Matt Lee Whitlock, respected chief of police in small Banyan Key, Florida, must solve a vicious double homicide before he himself falls under suspicion. Matt Lee has to stay a few steps ahead of his own police force and everyone he's trusted in order to find out the truth.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 64000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: suspense, twist ending, suspenseful, tense, neo noir, atmospheric, serious, realistic, entertaining, detective
Similar in 78%
The Firm (1993)
Plot Summary:
Mitch McDeere is a young man with a promising future in Law. About to sit his Bar exam, he is approached by 'The Firm' and made an offer he doesn't refuse. Seduced by the money and gifts showered on him, he is totally oblivious to the more sinister side of his company. Then, two Associates are murdered. The FBI contact him, asking him for information and suddenly his life is ruined. He has a choice - work with the FBI, or stay with the Firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it. Mitch figures the only way out is to follow his own plan.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 145000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, tense, surprise ending, clever, psychological, serious, realistic, stylized, entertaining
Similar in 88%
Just Cause (1995)
Plot Summary:
Bobby Earl is facing the electric chair for the murder of a young girl. Eight years after the crime he calls in Paul Armstrong, a professor of law, to help prove his innocence. Armstrong quickly uncovers some overlooked evidence to present to the local police, but they aren't interested - Bobby was their killer.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: rough, tense, psychological, suspenseful, suspense, entertaining, sincere, gothic, dark, psychotronic
Similar in 79%
Narc (2002)
Plot Summary:
An undercover narc dies, the investigation stalls, so the Detroit P.D. brings back Nick Tellis, fired 18-months ago when a stray bullet hits a pregnant woman. Tellis teams with Henry Oak, a friend of the dead narc and an aggressive cop constantly under the scrutiny of internal affairs. They follow leads and informants turn up dead.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Germany, Canada, USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: bleak, suspense, tense, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, psychological, atmospheric, harsh, disturbing
Similar in 79%
Jennifer 8 (1992)
Plot Summary:
A big city cop from LA moves to a small town police force and immediately finds himself investigating a murder. Using theories rejected by his colleagues, the cop, John Berlin, meets a young blind woman named Helena, who he is attracted to. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose and only John knows it.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA, UK
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, surprise ending, tense, detective, neo noir, psychological thriller, visually stunning, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 82%
A Time to Kill (1996)
Plot Summary:
A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 177000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, suspense, serious, political, realistic, tense, brutal, intense, emotional
Similar in 82%
Rosewood (1997)
Plot Summary:
Spurred by a white woman's lie, vigilantes destroy a black Florida town and slay inhabitants in 1923.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: disturbing, depressing, political, social, cult classic, tense, rough, thought provoking, touching, serious
Similar in 88%
Chinatown (1974)
Plot Summary:
Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 343000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: neo noir, detective, twist ending, suspense, atmospheric, bleak, suspenseful, enigmatic, noir, psychological
Similar in 89%
Mystic River (2003)
Plot Summary:
A story about friendship and loyalty, guilt and vengeance, and the fateful affect the past has on the present.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 477000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, emotional, twist ending, neo noir, depressing, tense, bleak, psychological thriller, disturbing
Similar in 86%
Kiss the Girls (1997)
Plot Summary:
Forensic psychologist Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail leads to Los Angeles, where the duo discovers that the psychopath may not be working alone.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 80000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: detective, suspense, twist ending, suspenseful, tense, serious, psychological thriller, surprise ending, disturbing, intense
Similar in 90%
Memories of Murder (2003)
Plot Summary:
1986 Gyunggi Province. The body of a young woman is found brutally raped and murdered. Two months later, a series of rapes and murders commences under similar circumstances. And in a country that had never known such crimes, the dark whispers about a serial murderer grow louder. A special task force is set up in the area, with two local detectives Park Doo-Man and Jo Young-Goo joined by a detective from Seoul who requested to be assigned to the case.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 208000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: realistic, neo noir, psychological, suspense, bleak, disturbing, detective, enigmatic, clever, thought provoking
Similar in 85%
Zodiac (2007)
Plot Summary:
The true story of the investigation of the "Zodiac Killer", a serial killer who terrified the San Francisco Bay Area, taunting police with his ciphers and letters. The case becomes an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 584000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: suspense, atmospheric, tense, neo noir, stylized, twist ending, suspenseful, psychological, rough, detective
Similar in 90%
Prisoners (2013)
Plot Summary:
When Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 784000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags: psychological, twist ending, suspenseful, bleak, atmospheric, neo noir, detective, surprise ending, psychological thriller, tense
Similar in 87%
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Plot Summary:
Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his, former Sheriff, partner.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 108000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: suspense, political, disturbing, realistic, political thriller, tense, suspenseful, psychological, intense, atmospheric
Similar in 81%
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Plot Summary:
When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons - they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live. As the case progresses, Kenzie and Gennaro face drug dealers, gangs and pedophiles. When they are about to solve the case, they are faced with a moral dilemma that tears them apart.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 285000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: twist ending, detective, thought provoking, neo noir, surprise ending, suspense, disturbing, psychological, suspenseful, tense
Similar in 75%
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Plot Summary:
Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 607000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: neo noir, captivating, tense, noir, suspense, atmospheric, clever, suspenseful, detective, serious
Similar in 84%
The Bone Collector (1999)
Plot Summary:
Rookie cop, Amelia Donaghy reluctantly teams with Lincoln Rhyme – formerly the department's top homicide detective but now paralyzed as a result of a spinal injury – to catch a grisly serial killer dubbed 'The Bone Collector'. The murderer's special signature is to leave tantalizing clues based on the grim remains of his crimes.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 182000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological thriller, suspenseful, tense, psychological, detective, surprise ending, clever, neo noir, bad ending
Similar in 76%
Gone Girl (2014)
Plot Summary:
With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 10000000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, surprise ending, clever, twist ending, suspenseful, neo noir, tense, dramatic, psychological thriller