Best movies like Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence resolutions which earned him multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was executed by lethal injection.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, political, hood, crime drama, sincere, touching
Best tv shows and movies like Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004):
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Lion's Den (2008)
Plot Summary:
Julia, a 25 year-old university student, two weeks pregnant, with no criminal record, is sent to prison. Julia murdered the father of her child. This story addresses maternity, jail and Justice; confinement, guilt and solitude; but above all it deals with Julia and her son, Tomas, born inside an Argentinean prison.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Argentina, South Korea, Brazil, Spain
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: touching, rough, uplifting, serious, bleak, realistic, gloomy, disgusting
Similar in 78%
Prison Song (2001)
Plot Summary:
Elijah has been bounced from group home to group home throughout his turbulent young life. What has sustained him is his art. After a promised scholarship is taken away, Elijah ends up in a fight that result in the death of another boy. Now, sentenced to a minimum of fifteen years, the young man must find a way to keep his soul alive behind bars or turn into a hardened bitter criminal.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 683
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sincere, rough, serious, captivating, hood, crime drama, realistic, gloomy, independent film
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Animal 2 (2008)
Plot Summary:
Now serving a life sentence for murder, James "Animal" Allen returns to fighting for cash in order to help his troubled son on the outside. However, with his newfound fame as a fighter, Animal uncovers a jailhouse conspiracy that threatens to cause racial tensions to explode.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, hood, crime drama
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Doing Hard Time (2004)
Plot Summary:
A father's eight year old son is murdered in a gangland shooting. The father (Boris Kodjoe) gets himself thrown into prison to avenge his son's death.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, hood, crime drama
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In Too Deep (1999)
Plot Summary:
A fearless cop is taking on a ruthless crimelord. He knew the risks. He just didn't know how far he would have to go.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: hood, entertaining, exciting, rough, suspenseful, suspense, neo noir, crime drama, serious, realistic
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Lockdown (2000)
Plot Summary:
Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, serious, realistic, hood, crime drama, bleak, independent film
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Slam (1998)
Plot Summary:
Slam tells the story of Ray Joshua, an original, gifted young MC trapped in a war-zone housing project known as Dodge City. Unable to find a job, Ray copes with the despair and poverty of his neighborhood by using his wits and verbal talent. Written by Offline Publicist Young Ray Joshua lives in the Washington, DC, district known as Dodge City, which is dominated by gang wars. One day he is arrested when his drug dealer is gunned down while talking to him. He is put to prison where two rival gangs, Thug Life and the Union, want to recruit him as a member.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, hood, psychological, talky, uplifting, tense, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
Clockers (1995)
Plot Summary:
Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little. When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike's older brother turns himself in as the killer. Det. Rocco Klein doesn't buy the story, however, setting out to find the truth, and it seems that all the fingers point toward Strike & Rodney.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: hood, detective, grim, neo noir, realistic, dark, social, controversial, crime drama, tense
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Three Walls (2003)
Plot Summary:
Three men are on death row. Jaggu (Jackie Shroff), a lawyer and a poet, is serving a sentence for murdering his wife because she was cheating on him with another man. Nagya (Nagesh Kukunoor), a man angry with the whole world, is arrested for murdering his wife too, but he claims that it was an accident where she falls off the sidewalk while they were talking. Ishaan (Naseeruddin Shah), a happy-go-lucky man, is also arrested for murder that he commits while in the act of robbery. The prison's custodian is Mohan (Gulshan Grover), who attempts several methods to reform the prison's inmates. A documentary filmmaker, Chandrika (Juhi Chawla) comes to the jail to set a film about these three men. In the process, she finds redemption to her troubled marriage.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, touching, bleak, contemplative, rough, realistic, suspenseful, offbeat, twist ending
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Stranger Inside (2001)
Plot Summary:
A mother daughter reunion set in the harsh reality of a women's correctional facility.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 592
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, emotional, disturbing, crime drama, independent film, bleak, serious, realistic, surprise ending
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Life (1999)
Plot Summary:
Two men in 1930s Mississippi become friends after being sentenced to life in prison together for a crime they did not commit.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 54000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: funny, humorous, entertaining, semi serious, feel good, hilarious, hood, black comedy, retro, realistic
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Too Young to Die? (1990)
Plot Summary:
An abused 15 year old is charged with a murder that carries the death penalty in this fact-based story.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: emotional, retro, neo noir, sad, cult classic, teen, rough, bleak, serious, realistic
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The Onion Field (1979)
Plot Summary:
Greg Powell, a disturbed ex-con, recruits Jimmy Youngblood (Smith) a petty thief, as partner in crime. Powell panics when they two of are pulled over by two cops for tail lights. Powell decides to kidnap the cops and Smith goes along with his crazy scheme. They drive out to a deserted onion field in Bakersfield, where one cop is killed and the other escapes. The film explores the consequences.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, psychological, realistic, rough, serious, disturbing, detective, bleak, emotional
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My Crazy Life (1993)
Plot Summary:
Mousie and Sad Girl are childhood best friends in a contemporary Los Angeles poor Hispanic neighborhood. But when Sad Girl becomes pregnant by Mousie's boyfriend, a drug dealer named Ernesto, the two become bitter enemies. While their dispute escalates towards violence, the violence of the world around them soon also impacts their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, talky, serious, hood, cult classic, independent film, bleak, hispanic, crime drama, sincere
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Straight Out of Brooklyn (1991)
Plot Summary:
A Special Jury Award winner at the Sundance Film Festival, this drama stars a then-19-year-old Matty Rich (who also wrote and directed it). Rich plays Larry, a troubled teen living in the rough Red Hook section of Brooklyn who decides he wants out and turns to crime to fund his escape. But his plan involves scamming the neighborhood's biggest drug kingpin, a heist that's dangerous at best.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 659
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: hood, independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
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Hot Boyz (2000)
Plot Summary:
Injustice begets a criminal. Kool is an artist without prospects, a black belt in karate, and in love with LaShawna, poised and college bound. One night she witnesses a stabbing and discovers the victim is a cop as he dies in her arms. She's jailed for murder by the infamous Ramparts Division of the LAPD. Kool wants to prove her innocence, and Tully, the cynical detective in charge, ignores LaShawna's case but uses Kool to break up an incipient crime operation. She's in danger because the guilty parties fear that the officer talked before he died. While in jail awaiting a hearing and legal help, she's beaten to death by a rogue cop. Kool vows revenge: the Hot Boyz are born.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: hood, realistic, suspenseful, rough, serious, crime drama, independent film, bleak
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The Mack (1973)
Plot Summary:
Goldie returns from five years at the state pen and winds up king of the pimping game. Trouble comes in the form of two corrupt white cops and a crime lord who wants him to return to the small time.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, hood, funny, cult classic, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
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LUV (2012)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of one day, a shy 13-year-old forms a bond with his troubled uncle.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, rough, realistic, hood, crime drama, independent film
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Fresh (1994)
Plot Summary:
Michael is a 12-year-old drug pusher who lives in a crowded house with his cousins and aunt. His father has become a street bum,but still meets with Fresh on occasion to play chess. Fresh is rather quiet in a crazy world. Fresh's sister is a junkie who sleeps with the dealers that Fresh sells for. As the story progresses Fresh realizes that he doesn't want to sell drugs anymore - he wants revenge.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: hood, bleak, realistic, suspenseful, atmospheric, disturbing, harsh, tense, rough, touching
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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
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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
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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
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South Central (1992)
Plot Summary:
A man is put to prison for 10 years. Coming out of prison he wants to live a normal life and stop with crime but his son has yet followed the criminal path of his father.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: hood, captivating, social, sexual, crime drama, tense, rough, serious, realistic, independent film
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Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)
Plot Summary:
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Music
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: hood, harsh, stylized, serious, rough, exciting, sexual, crime drama, realistic, semi autobiographical
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Just Mercy (2019)
Plot Summary:
The powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Bryan fights tirelessly for Walter with the system stacked against them.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 74000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, touching, inspirational, enigmatic, motivational, emotional, educational
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Brubaker (1980)
Plot Summary:
The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspense, factual, harsh, serious, captivating, political, tense, psychological, edutainment
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Hustle & Flow (2005)
Plot Summary:
With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: touching, bleak, realistic, hood, emotional, intense, sincere, rough, uplifting, serious
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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
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Dead Man Walking (1995)
Plot Summary:
A justice drama based on a true story about a man on death row who in his last days forms a strong relationship with a nun who teaches him forgiveness and gives him spirituality as she accompanies him to his execution.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 100000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, thought provoking, sad, emotional, atmospheric, suspense, depressing, serious, realistic
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Sucker Free City (2004)
Plot Summary:
The film follows three young men as they are drawn into lives of crime. Nick (Crowley) uses his entry-level corporate job to commit credit card fraud and deals drugs on the side. K-Luv (Mackie) is a member of the "V-Dubs", an African-American street gang. Lincoln (Leung) is a rising figure in the Chinese mafia. Gentrification forces Nick's family to move out of their home in the Mission District into Hunter's Point where they are harassed by the V-Dubs. K-Luv's side business of selling bootleg compact discs leads him to enlist Nick's help to bootleg CDs and to negotiate a truce with Lincoln. Lincoln conducts an affair with his boss' daughter Angela (Carpio), a Stanford student engaged to a medical student classmate.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, tense, bleak, crime drama