Best movies like Shaft
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Cool black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, stylized, tense, harsh, neo noir, serious, suspenseful, hood, realistic, cult classic
Best tv shows and movies like Shaft (1971):
Similar in 89%
Shaft's Big Score! (1972)
Plot Summary:
John Shaft is back as the lady-loved black detective cop on the search for the murderer of a client.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: epic, neo noir, hood, grim, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, poliziottesco
Similar in 75%
Cleopatra Jones (1973)
Plot Summary:
A United States Special Agent is assigned to crack down on drug-trafficking in the U.S. and abroad. After she burns a Turkish poppy field, the notorious drug-lord Mommy is furious at the loss of her supply and vows to destroy her.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: hood, cult classic, action adventure, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, surprise ending
Similar in 80%
Action Jackson (1988)
Plot Summary:
Vengence drives a tough Detroit cop to stay on the trail of a power hungry auto magnate who's systematically eliminating his competition.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: cult classic, neo noir, black comedy, action comedy, psychotronic, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Truck Turner (1974)
Plot Summary:
Ex-football star turned skip-tracer, Turner specializes in bringing in the criminals police are too scared to chase, and when he's hired to capture sociopathic pimp Gator, he finds himself confronted by the most vicious killers in the underground scene.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, neo noir, cult classic, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending
Similar in 80%
Slaughter (1972)
Plot Summary:
Slaughter, a former Green Beret, avenges the killing of loved ones by the Mob, and in so doing is coerced by the Feds into traveling to Mexico to finish off surviving mobsters.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: neo noir, grindhouse, cult classic, independent film, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending
Similar in 89%
Trouble Man (1972)
Plot Summary:
It seems that masked men are knocking over the floating crap games of Chalky and Pete. Chalky and Pete hire the cool, loose, elegant Mr. T to fix things. Then, the masked manipulators set up the death of a collector for a rival gang lord. It looks like it's up to T to hold a gang war from breaking out, keep the police off his back, and earn his fee from Chalky and Pete.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: neo noir, crime drama, cult classic, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, suspense
Similar in 82%
Foxy Brown (1974)
Plot Summary:
A voluptuous black woman takes a job as a high-class prostitute in order to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, cult classic, hood, sexy, neo noir, thought provoking, slasher, psychotronic, multicultural, anime
Similar in 77%
Shaft (2019)
Plot Summary:
JJ, aka John Shaft Jr., may be a cyber security expert with a degree from MIT, but to uncover the truth behind his best friend’s untimely death, he needs an education only his dad can provide. Absent throughout JJ’s youth, the legendary locked-and-loaded John Shaft agrees to help his progeny navigate Harlem’s heroin-infested underbelly.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: humorous, action comedy, captivating, semi serious, hood, exciting, colorful, retro, perverse, cult classic
Similar in 88%
Black Caesar (1973)
Plot Summary:
Tommy Gibbs is a tough kid, raised in the ghetto, who aspires to be a kingpin criminal. As a young boy, his leg is broken by a bad cop on the take, during a payoff gone bad. Nursing his vengeance, he rises to power in Harlem, New York. Angry at the racist society around him, both criminal and straight, he sees the acquisition of power as the solution to his rage.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, neo noir, psychotronic, hood, crime drama, grim, cult classic, action thriller, action adventure, rough
Similar in 76%
Super Fly (1972)
Plot Summary:
Super Fly is a cocaine dealer who begins to realize that his life will soon end with either prison or his death. He decides to build an escape from the life by making his biggest deal yet.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Music, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, hood, stylized, grim, cult classic, bleak, neo noir, independent film, crime drama, action adventure
Similar in 81%
Across 110th Street (1972)
Plot Summary:
In a daring robbery, some $300,000 is taken from the Italian mob. Several mafiosi are killed, as are two policemen. Lt. Pope and Mattelli are two New York City cops trying to break the case. Three small-time criminals are on the run with the money. Will the mafia catch them first, or will the police? Written by Ken Miller.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: neo noir, grindhouse, grim, bleak, realistic, cynical, hood, suspense, absurd, crime drama
Similar in 77%
The French Connection (1971)
Plot Summary:
Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 133000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: detective, neo noir, atmospheric, tense, realistic, breathtaking, cerebral, grim, crime drama, exciting
Similar in 87%
Coffy (1973)
Plot Summary:
After her younger sister gets involved in drugs and is severely injured by contaminated heroin, a nurse sets out on a mission of vengeance and vigilante justice, killing drug dealers, pimps, and mobsters who cross her path.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, cult classic, hood, sexy, neo noir, erotic, slasher, psychotronic, period piece, sexual
Similar in 77%
Dirty Harry (1971)
Plot Summary:
When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement – is tasked with hunting down the psychopath. Harry eventually collars Scorpio in the process of rescuing a kidnap victim, only to see him walk on technicalities. Now, the maverick detective is determined to nail the maniac himself.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 166000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, suspense, tense, bleak, suspenseful, cult classic, neo noir, grindhouse, harsh
Similar in 79%
The Exterminator (1980)
Plot Summary:
A man's best friend is killed on the streets of New York. The man (Robert Ginty) then transforms into a violent killer, turning New York into a great war zone and Christopher George is the only one to stop him.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: disturbing, suspense, brutal, stylized, rough, serious, suspenseful, cult classic, slasher, retro
Similar in 76%
Exit Wounds (2001)
Plot Summary:
Maverick cop Orin Boyd always brings down the domestic terrorists he tracks, but he ruffles feathers with his unorthodox techniques -- and soon finds himself reassigned to the toughest district in Detroit. When he discovers a group of detectives secretly operating a drug ring, Boyd joins forces with an unlikely ally -- gangster Latrell Walker -- to bring down the rotten cops.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: stylized, suspense, detective, black comedy, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast paced
Similar in 87%
Original Gangstas (1996)
Plot Summary:
A violent street gang, the Rebels, rule the streets of Gary, Indiana. The Rebels shoot Marvin Bookman, a store-keeper, for giving the police information about a drive-by shooting they committed. Marvin's son, former NFL star John who created the Rebels, returns to Gary to be with his father and, with a little help from his friends, to destroy the Rebels his way.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: hood, crime drama, cult classic, independent film, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending
Similar in 79%
Urban Justice (2007)
Plot Summary:
Seagal plays a man with a dark and violent past, who seeks revenge for the murder of his son.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, suspenseful, exciting, serious, realistic, suspense, bloody, cult classic, bleak, fast
Similar in 85%
Street Fighters (1982)
Plot Summary:
New York City factory worker Eddie Marino (Robert Forster, Oscar nominee for JACKIE BROWN) is a solid citizen and regular guy, until the day a sadistic street gang brutally assaults his wife and murders his child. But when a corrupt judge sets the thugs free, Eddie goes berserk and vows revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: cult classic, grindhouse, psychotronic, hood, grim, action adventure, independent film, rough, bleak, serious
Similar in 78%
An Eye for an Eye (1981)
Plot Summary:
Sean Kane is forced to resign from the San Francisco Police Department's Narcotics Division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered. He decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: suspense, serious, exciting, cult classic, tense, neo noir, independent film, rough, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
The Protector (1985)
Plot Summary:
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: retro, crime drama, perverse, cult classic, action adventure, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
SuperFly (2018)
Plot Summary:
Career criminal Youngblood Priest wants out of the Atlanta drug scene, but as he ramps up sales, one little slip up threatens to bring the whole operation down before he can make his exit.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: suspense, hood, captivating, disturbing, exciting, tense, erotic, retro, surprise ending, neo noir
Similar in 76%
Deep Cover (1992)
Plot Summary:
The black policeman Russell Stevens applies for a special anti-drug squad which targets the highest boss of cocaine delivery to LA: the Colombian foreign minister's nephew. Russell works his way up from the bottom undercover, until he reaches the boss. The first step is to get the lawyer and hobby dealer David Jason to trust him.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: neo noir, suspenseful, tense, enigmatic, suspense, hood, cult classic, exciting, rough, serious
Similar in 84%
Shaft (2000)
Plot Summary:
New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted -- especially since he's paid a drug kingpin to kill the witness.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 80000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: stylized, suspense, intense, hood, rough, realistic, exciting, serious, suspenseful, action packed
Similar in 80%
Marked for Death (1990)
Plot Summary:
Just retired from the Drug Enforcement Agency, John Hatcher returns to his hometown and quickly discovers that drugs have infiltrated his old neighborhood. Determined to drive the dealers out, Hatcher crosses paths with a ferocious Jamaican drug lord who vows that Hatcher and his family are now marked for death.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, serious, suspenseful, rough, realistic, grindhouse, intense, hood, cult classic
Similar in 85%
King of New York (1990)
Plot Summary:
A former drug lord returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York's poor and lower classes in this stylish and ultra violent modern twist on Robin Hood.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: neo noir, atmospheric, hood, tense, suspense, intense, serious, captivating, realistic, dark
Similar in 78%
Death Wish (1974)
Plot Summary:
After his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad, prowling the streets for would-be muggers after dark.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Italy
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: controversial, disturbing, tense, grindhouse, intense, cult classic, rough, serious, suspenseful, neo noir
Similar in 79%
The Gentlemen (2019)
Plot Summary:
A drug lord tries to sell off his highly profitable empire.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 377000
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, stylized, realistic, neo noir, black comedy, funny, psychotronic, rough, psychological, cult classic
Similar in 87%
Black and Blue (2019)
Plot Summary:
Exposure follows a rookie Detroit African-American female cop who stumbles upon corrupt officers who are murdering a drug dealer, an incident captured by her body cam. They pursue her through the night in an attempt to destroy the footage, but to make matters worse, they've tipped off a criminal gang that she's responsible for the dealer's death.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, bleak, hood, slang, neo noir, social, anamorphic, predictable, surprise ending
Similar in 80%
Triple 9 (2016)
Plot Summary:
A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 76000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: tense, exciting, suspense, suspenseful, stylized, intense, neo noir, detective, independent film, crime thriller