Movies like The Principal

If you like "The Principal" you are looking for feel good, hood and rough movies about / with teacher, high school, youth gang, vigilante, vigilantism, gang and mentor themes of Action, Crime and Drama genre shot in USA.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
The Principal (1987)
 6.3
 12K
The Principal (1987)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story: Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.
Style: feel good, hood, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, inspirational, sexy, unusual plot structure ...
Audience: teens, manly, kids
Plot: teacher, high school, youth gang, vigilante, vigilantism, gang, mentor, gangster, ghetto, chase, urban, teenager, street gang, teaching, high school life, youth, teachers and students, teenage life, school, violence, motorcycle, brutality, danger, biker, troubled teen ...
Time: 80s, year 1987
Place: oakland california, new jersey
Keyword: gangsters

Movie in categories

teacher movies
3839
vigilante movies
1566
gang movies
4547
feel good movies
13548
80s movies
80s
5694

Most similar movies to The Principal

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out serious, realistic, rough and suspenseful films with plots about gang, violence, murder, revenge, society, rivalry and vengeance mostly in Crime, Thriller and Drama genres. Some movies like The Principal: The Substitute 2: School's Out (1998), The Substitute (1996), Judgment Night (1993), Class of 1984 (1982), One Eight Seven (1997). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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The Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story: When teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson (Treat Williams). An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary. Karl signs on as a new substitute teacher in ...
Style: hood, independent film, realistic, serious, suspenseful ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: gang, vigilante, vigilantism, high school, die hard, tough heroes, ghetto, interracial, gangster, education, murder, ak 47 ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: new york, usa, vietnam, brooklyn new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.0
 16K
The Substitute (1996)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story: After he did some jobs for CIA, ex-marine John Shale is visiting his high school love Jane. She's now a teacher in Columbus High School in Miami. Soon after his arriving Jane has her knee cap broken while jogging. After that, John decides to go ...
Style: rough, suspenseful, intense, harsh, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: high school, teachers and students, teacher, hidden identity, vigilante, bullying, danger, gang, undercover, gangster, substitute teacher, society ...
Time: year 1996, 90s
Place: miami, florida, usa, cuba
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.6
 19K
Judgment Night (1993)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story: While racing to a boxing match, Frank, Mike, John and Rey get more than they bargained for. A wrong turn lands them directly in the path of Fallon, a vicious, wise-cracking drug lord. After accidentally witnessing Fallon murder a disloyal henchman, ...
Style: suspense, suspenseful, exciting, intense, harsh ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: murder, chase, gangster, hip hop, police investigation, on the run, ghetto, friendship, chases and races, crime gone awry, buddies, law enforcement ...
Time: 90s, year 1993
Place: chicago, seattle, cuba
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.5
 13K
Class of 1984 (1982)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Andy is a new teacher at a inner city high school that is like nothing he has ever seen before. There is metal detectors at the front door and everything is basically run by a tough kid named Peter Stegman. Soon, Andy and Stegman become enemies and ...
Style: grindhouse, disturbing, cult classic, psychotronic, detective ...
Audience: teens
Plot: high school, punk, teacher, revenge, gang, violence, rape, bullying, juvenile delinquency, sexual cruelty, vigilante, school ...
Time: 80s, future, year 1982, 20th century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
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gangster movies
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ghetto movies
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chase movies
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One Eight Seven (1997)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story: After surviving a stabbing by a student, teacher Trevor Garfield moves from New York to Los Angeles. There, he resumes teaching as a substitute teacher. The education system, where violent bullies control the classrooms and the administration is ...
Style: hood, suspense, cult classic, realistic, disturbing ...
Plot: teacher, high school, african american gangster, urban, hip hop, teenager, revenge, ghetto, gang, mentor, gangster, vengeance ...
Time: year 1997, 20th century, 90s
Place: los angeles, new york, usa, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 5.6
 824
3:15 (1986)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story: Violent crime is routine. Organized drug trade runs rampant in the face of powerless authority. And a vicious street gang holds dominion with a savage reign of terror. Welcome to Lincoln High! Here the cobras rule the school and everyone in it. ...
Style: independent film, fast, exciting, serious, realistic ...
Audience: teens, boys' night
Plot: teenager, street gang, high school gang, club, gangster, high school, school, vengeance, rivalry, youth, drug dealing, starting over ...
Time: 80s
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.6
 39K
New Jack City (1991)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: A gangster, Nino, is in the Cash Money Brothers, making a million dollars every week selling crack. A cop, Scotty, discovers that the only way to infiltrate the gang is to become a dealer himself.
Style: hood, stylized, suspense, intense, harsh ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: organized crime, gang war, ghetto, gangster, drug, hip hop, mafia, gang, chase, betrayal, urban, addiction ...
Time: 80s, 20th century, 90s
Place: harlem, new york, usa, america, turkey ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Enemy Territory (1987)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story: An insurance salesman inadvertently gets trapped after dark in an apartment building that is terrorized by a street gang called "The Vampires."
Style: realistic, rough, suspenseful, serious, suspense ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: survival, gang, danger, society, life is a bitch, urban ghetto life, ghetto, street gang, urban, murder, violence, racial injustice ...
Time: 80s
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
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teenager movies
11008
teaching movies
277
Marked for Death (1990)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: 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 ...
Style: suspense, exciting, serious, suspenseful, neo noir ...
Audience: boys' night, manly
Plot: martial arts, vigilante, gangster, murder, violence, good versus evil, revenge, voodoo, jamaican, drug lord, car chase, sword fight ...
Time: 20th century, 80s, 90s
Place: jamaica, usa, chicago, colombia, caribbean ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.2
 17K
Bad Boys (1983)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story: Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a ...
Style: neo noir, suspense, realistic, disturbing, serious ...
Audience: teens, teen drama
Plot: prison, teenager, youth, juvenile delinquency, violence, bullying, gangster, rivalry, brat pack, confined, society, gang war ...
Time: 20th century, 80s
Place: chicago, usa, illinois
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: After the death of his girlfriend's daughter from a drug overdose, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) takes on the local drug cartel.
Style: cult classic, detective, grindhouse, neo noir, exciting ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: vigilante, revenge, vigilantism, violence, hospital, cannon, gang, drug, brutality, gangster, murder, gunfight ...
Time: 80s, year 1987, 20th century
Place: los angeles, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.5
 110K
The Warriors (1979)
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: Prominent gang leader Cyrus calls a meeting of New York's gangs to set aside their turf wars and take over the city. At the meeting, a rival leader kills Cyrus, but a Coney Island gang called the Warriors is wrongly blamed for Cyrus' ...
Style: neo noir, grindhouse, futuristic, stylized, suspense ...
Audience: teens, boys' night, teen drama, adult
Plot: survival, street gang, gang, violence, gang war, subway, gang member, gangster, chase, murder, graffiti, assassination ...
Time: future, year 1979, 70s, near future
Place: new york, coney island brooklyn new york city, bronx new york city, usa, brooklyn new york city ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Gleaming the Cube (1989)
Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: An Orange County teenager's carefree life of ditching class and skateboarding abandoned pools comes to a screeching halt when his adopted Vietnamese brother dies. The cops rule the death a suicide, but the bereaved skater believes he was ...
Style: cult classic, neo noir, colorful, sexual, tense ...
Audience: teens, kids
Plot: skateboard, punk, murder, culture clash, revenge, skater, teenager, urban, city, violence, tribe, vietnam war ...
Time: 80s, year 1989, year 1988
Place: los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
An Innocent Man (1989)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story: Jimmie Rainwood was minding his own business when two corrupt police officers (getting an address wrong) burst into his house, expecting to find a major drug dealer. Rainwood is shot, and the officers frame him as a drug dealer. Rainwood is ...
Style: tense, suspense, intense, psychological, suspenseful ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, police corruption, gang, frame up, gunfight, mistaken identity, drug dealing, law enforcement, criminal heroes, tough law enforcer, prison life, prison escape ...
Time: 80s, year 1989
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Dangerously Close (1986)
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Rebel without a cause or a clue at an elite but uptight college discovers some of his classmates have formed an even more elite clique more or less hell-bent on ridding the school, and quite possibly American society, of what they deem to be its ...
Style: neo noir, grindhouse, cult classic, independent film, realistic ...
Audience: teens
Plot: high school student, bullying, vigilante, fascism, high school, street gang, teenager, gang, school bully, killer, cannon, school ...
Time: year 2016, 80s
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
The Brotherhood of Justice (1986)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: A group of high school students, led by a rich boy Derek, is sick of school violence and decides to become underground vigilantes named "Brotherhood of Justice". It starts with the idea "watching people", but things quickly get ...
Style: retro, realistic, serious
Audience: teen drama
Plot: vigilante, gang, high school, revenge, vigilantism, school, rivals, brotherhood, masked man, diner, failed pilot, love interest ...
Time: 80s
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 5.5
 474
Crack House (1989)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Rick and Melissa are a pair of young lovers hoping to get out of the slums for good and escape the poverty and crime their families and friends have gotten involved in. All this comes to an end when Rick feels he must rejoin his old gang to avenge ...
Style: grindhouse, crime drama, independent film, hispanic, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: gang, blaxploitation, cannon, drug, drug addiction, black, rape victim, poverty, nudity, drug dealing, gang rape, gang violence ...
Time: 80s
Place: los angeles, usa, california
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
 2.6
 1K
Corrupt (1999)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 69 min.
Story: After decades of terror, two deadly street gangs reach a delicate truce and young MJ (Silkk the Shocker) sees a way out of the hood once and for all. Only Corrupt (Ice-T) stands in MJ's way, resulting into a violent and brutal roller coaster ...
Style: hood, independent film, realistic, serious, suspenseful ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: ghetto, gang, urban, hip hop, discrimination, underworld, hip hop culture, urban setting, gangster, urban ghetto, life is a bitch, social misfits ...
Time: 90s
Place: new york, usa, bronx new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Movie in collections
 5.8
 17K
Death Wish 3 (1985)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Paul Kersey returns to New York to visit his friend Charley, who lives in one of the worst parts of New York City. But when Paul arrives at Charley's apartment, he finds Charley dying after a vicious beating by a gang led by Manny Fraker, and ...
Style: grindhouse, cult classic, neo noir, hood, perverse ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: violence, vigilante, revenge, vigilantism, gang, gangster, shootout, woman in jeopardy, gang rape, rape victim, sniper, cannon ...
Time: 80s, 20th century
Place: new york, los angeles, usa, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
 6.1
 10K
Stone Cold (1991)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story: Joe Huff (Brian Bosworth) is a tough, loner cop with a flair for infiltrating dangerous biker gangs. The FBI blackmail Joe into an undercover operation that entails infiltrating "The Brotherhood" - a powerful Mississippi biker gang linked ...
Style: rough, bleak, serious, suspenseful, retro ...
Audience: boys' night, manly
Plot: biker, motorcycle, gang, fbi, drug dealing, undercover cop, bike, law enforcement, investigation, partner, tough heroes, rivalry ...
Time: 90s, year 1991
Place: mississippi, new orleans, alabama
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
 2.1
 204
Snitch'd (2003)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story: When the South Side Gang and the Cut Throat Mafia start a drug war at a local high school in Santa Ana, CA, detective McClure goes undercover to investigate the brutal murder of a young Latina student. The gang members are the key suspects but ...
Style: serious, realistic, rough, suspenseful, independent film ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: undercover, gangster, police detective, juvenile delinquency, criminal heroes, gang, police investigation, police corruption, urban ghetto life, working undercover, law enforcement, drug dealing ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Savage Streets (1984)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: A teenage vigilante seeks revenge on a group of violent thugs who raped her handicapped sister and murdered her best friend.
Style: slasher, cult classic, psychotronic, sexy, controversial ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: rape and revenge, revenge, rape, violence against women, violence, female vigilante, gang, tough girl, nudity, payback, vigilantism, murder ...
Time: 80s, 1950s
Place: los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Menace II Society (1993)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: 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.
Style: bleak, realistic, stylized, tense, hood ...
Audience: teens, teen drama, adult
Plot: hip hop, ghetto, african american, urban ghetto life, murder, police brutality, coming of age, street gang, friendship, organized crime, gangsta, gunfight ...
Time: 90s, year 1993, 20th century, 70s
Place: california, los angeles, usa, south central los angeles, north america
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Movie in collections
school movies
5855
violence movies
15772
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3055
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10651
Detention: The Siege at Johnson High (1997)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: A former high school student, Jason Copeland, returns to his school to take his revenge on the teachers for failing him out of school.
Style: tense, realistic, serious, rough, suspenseful
Plot: school shooting, serial killer, killer, captive, held captive, hostage, vengeance, school, high school, psychopath, power relations, confined ...
Time: 90s
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Chains of Gold (1990)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Scott Barnes is an alcoholic turned social worker hellbent on saving a young boy named Tommy from self-destructing when he finds out he has begun selling crack in an organization called YIP, run by Carlos.
Style: serious, realistic, tense, psychotronic
Audience: boys' night
Plot: gang, undercover, die hard, social worker, gangster, drug dealing, buddies, youth, going straight, society, police investigation, life is a bitch ...
Time: year 1991, 90s
Place: miami, usa, florida
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
 6.8
 9K
Boy Wonder (2010)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: A young Brooklyn boy witnesses the brutal murder of his mother and grows up obsessed with finding her killer. Thus begins his life as a quiet, straight-A student by day and a self-appointed hero at night. But what is a real hero? And who decides ...
Style: psychological, serious, suspenseful, rough, tense ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: vigilante, violence, vengeance, childhood trauma, criminal, vigilantism, dead mother, pimp, murder, haunted by the past, policewoman, father son relationship ...
Time: 21st century
Place: new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
 6.0
 731
Fighting Back (1982)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: It's a hard crime story about a Philadelphia shop owner who has enough of the criminals' violences and ravages. He organizes a patrol of civil people. It all starts to go wrong because his team's actions are taken as racial ...
Style: tense, exciting, psychological, realistic, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: revenge, vigilante, vigilantism, violence, urban, teenager, vietnam war, city, exploitation, vengeance, interracial relations, racism ...
Time: year 1982, 80s
Place: philadelphia, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Original Gangstas (1996)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: 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 ...
Style: hood, cult classic, independent film, serious, realistic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: blaxploitation, vigilante, urban, female warrior, vigilantism, gang, murder, black, ghetto, vengeance, tough heroes, culture clash ...
Time: year 1996, year 2016, 90s
Place: indiana, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
 7.4
 23K
Lean on Me (1989)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story: When principal Joe Clark takes over decaying Eastside High School, he's faced with students wearing gang colors and graffiti-covered walls. Determined to do anything he must to turn the school around, he expels suspected drug dealers, padlocks ...
Style: inspirational, feel good, hood, realistic, political ...
Audience: teens
Plot: african american, high school, teacher, black, education, mentor, school, teenager, urban, teaching, teenage pregnancy, violence ...
Time: 80s, year 1989, 20th century, 60s
Place: new jersey
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
 4.6
 607
Young Warriors (1983)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: After a young woman is gang raped and murdered in a California college town, her brother takes up arms by night with a gang of like-minded vigilantes from his fraternity, brutally punishing any miscreants they catch in a criminal act.
Style: grindhouse, independent film, fast, serious, realistic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: gang, revenge, vigilante, fraternity, biker, guy, cannon, youth, vigilantism, rape, rape and revenge, rivalry ...
Time: year 1983, 80s
Place: california
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
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