Best movies like The Cotton Club
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story of the people that frequented Harlem's famous nightclubs, 'The Cotton Club', and those that ran it.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: intense, atmospheric, captivating, realistic, entertaining, period piece, visually stunning, stylized, neo noir, cult classic
Best tv shows and movies like The Cotton Club (1984):
Similar in 86%
Feel the Noise (2007)
Plot Summary:
After a run-in with local thugs, aspiring Harlem rapper Rob flees to a place and father he never knew, and finds his salvation in Reggaeton, a spicy blend of hip-hop, reggae and Latin beats. Puerto Rico, the spiritual home of Reggaeton, inspires Rob and his step-brother Javi to pursue their dream of becoming Reggaeton stars. Together with a dancer named C.C., they learn what it means to stay true to themselves and each other, while overcoming obstacles in love, greed and pride, all culminating in an explosive performance at New York’s Puerto Rican Day Parade.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: feel good, realistic, hood, serious
Similar in 86%
Stormy Monday (1988)
Plot Summary:
When a corrupt American businessman tries to strong arm his way into businesses in Newcastle, England, he is thwarted by an club attendant and his waitress girlfriend.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, atmospheric, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, noir, light, sexy
Similar in 87%
The Mambo Kings (1992)
Plot Summary:
The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, melancholic, serious, realistic, touching, captivating, fairy tale, romantic, sexy
Similar in 89%
Nina (2016)
Plot Summary:
The story of the late jazz musician and classical pianist Nina Simone including her rise to fame and relationship with her manager Clifton Henderson.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: captivating, touching, serious, controversial, thought provoking, anamorphic, realistic, black cinema
Similar in 90%
Honeydripper (2007)
Plot Summary:
In 1950s Alabama, the owner of the Honeydripper juke joint finds his business dropping off and against his better judgment, hires a young electric guitarist in a last ditch effort to draw crowds during harvest time.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History, Music, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, captivating, psychological, cult classic, sentimental, uplifting, touching, feel good, serious
Similar in 82%
Kansas City (1996)
Plot Summary:
Robert Altman's story is a riff on race, class, and power cross-cuts between the two kidnappings and the background of corrupt politics and virtuoso jazz music. It all takes place in Kansas City in 1934.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Music, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, talky, neo noir, offbeat, serious, realistic, independent film, crime thriller, thought provoking, clever
Similar in 87%
Mo' Better Blues (1990)
Plot Summary:
Opens with Bleek as a child learning to play the trumpet, his friends want him to come out and play but mother insists he finish his lessons. Bleek grows into adulthood and forms his own band - The Bleek Gilliam Quartet. The story of Bleek's and Shadow's friendly rivalry on stage which spills into their professional relationship and threatens to tear apart the quartet.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, psychological, serious, clever, stylized, hood, sentimental, romantic drama, controversial, cult classic
Similar in 80%
Billy Bathgate (1991)
Plot Summary:
In the year 1935, a teen named Billy Bathgate finds first love while becoming the protégé of fledgling gangster Dutch Schultz.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: stylized, erotic, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, light, romantic, sexy, unusual plot structure
Similar in 78%
Idlewild (2006)
Plot Summary:
A musical set in the Prohibition-era American South, where a speakeasy performer and club manager Rooster must contend with gangsters who have their eyes on the club while his piano player and partner Percival must choose between his love, Angel or his obligations to his father.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: erotic, stylized, serious, realistic, black comedy, hood, cult classic, psychological, sexy, clever
Similar in 76%
New York, New York (1977)
Plot Summary:
An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Music, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, stylized, cult classic, atmospheric, serious, captivating, romantic, road movie, clever
Similar in 80%
Paris Blues (1961)
Plot Summary:
Ram Bowen and Eddie Cook are two expatriate jazz musicians living in Paris where, unlike America at the time, Jazz musicians are celebrated and racism is a non-issue. When they meet and fall in love with two young American girls, Lillian and Connie, who are vacationing in France, Ram and Eddie must decide whether they should move back to America with them, or stay in Paris for the freedom it allows them. Ram, who wants to be a serious composer, finds Paris more exciting than America and is reluctant to give up his music for a relationship, and Eddie wants to stay for the city's more tolerant racial atmosphere.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: black and white, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 90%
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 75%
Harlem Nights (1989)
Plot Summary:
"Sugar" Ray is the owner of an illegal casino, who contend with the pressures of vicious gangster and corrupt policemen who want to see him go out of business. In the world of organized crime and police corruption in the 1920s, any dastardly trick is fair!.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: hood, funny, black comedy, humorous, stylized, retro, action comedy, cult classic, action adventure, exciting
Similar in 85%
Bugsy (1991)
Plot Summary:
New York gangster Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womanizer with a foul temper, Siegel doesn't hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gambling joint at a spot in the desert known as Las Vegas gives him his big idea.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: realistic, stylized, intense, suspense, talky, tense, serious, captivating, period piece, neo noir
Similar in 85%
Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
Plot Summary:
Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: realistic, retro, intellectual, sentimental, touching, serious, gloomy, sexy, brutal, feel good
Similar in 87%
Purple Rain (1984)
Plot Summary:
A young man with a talent for music meets an aspiring singer, Apollonia, and finds that talent alone isn't all that he needs.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, sentimental, realistic, cult classic, intellectual, entertaining, avant garde, hood, eros
Similar in 82%
What's Love Got to Do with It (1993)
Plot Summary:
A film about the singer Tina Turner and how she rose to stardom with her abusive husband Ike Turner and how she gained the courage to break free.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sincere, intense, serious, emotional, touching, intellectual, hood, captivating, realistic
Similar in 81%
Bird (1988)
Plot Summary:
Saxophone player Charlie Parker comes to New York in 1940. He is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 161 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, psychological, factual, stylized, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 84%
Cadillac Records (2008)
Plot Summary:
The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: realistic, inspirational, talky, stylized, intense, sincere, sentimental, serious, captivating, social
Similar in 86%
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Plot Summary:
Tony Manero is a Brooklyn paint-store clerk who'd give anything to break out of his dead-end existence. In life, Tony is a peasant; on the disco dance floor, he's a king. As the soundtrack plays one Bee Gees hit after another, white-suited Tony struts his stuff amidst flashing lights and sweaty, undulating bodies. Tony's class aspirations are mirrored in his relationship with his dance partner, a secretary eager to move into the glamorous world of Manhattan.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sexy, rough, light, serious, captivating, realistic, cult classic, teen, stylized
Similar in 81%
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
Similar in 82%
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 77%
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 87%
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 76%
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 89%
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Plot Summary:
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 371000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Italy
Duration: 229 min
Plot tags: epic, ambiguous ending, atmospheric, melancholic, breathtaking, captivating, rough, visually appealing, realistic, talky
Similar in 83%
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 76%
Lawless (2012)
Plot Summary:
Set in the Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a bootlegging gang is threatened by authorities who want a cut of their profits.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 251000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: intense, suspense, harsh, stylized, entertaining, atmospheric, bad ending, rough, bleak, serious
Similar in 77%
Notorious (2009)
Plot Summary:
NOTORIOUS is the story of Christopher Wallace. Through raw talent and sheer determination, Wallace transforms himself from Brooklyn street hustler (once selling crack to pregnant women) to one of the greatest rappers of all time; THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. Follow his meteoric rise to fame and his refusal to succumb to expectations - redefining our notion of "The American Dream.".
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: hood, melancholic, factual, sincere, serious, epic, sad, sexual, sentimental, rough
Similar in 81%
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