Movies like Penitentiary

If you like "Penitentiary" you are looking for independent film, rough and bleak movies about / with prison, blaxploitation, boxing, black, drifter, martial arts and underground themes of Crime, Drama and Sport 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.
Penitentiary (1979)
 5.7
 1K
Penitentiary (1979)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: A hitchhiker named Martel Gordone gets in a fight with two bikers over a prostitute, and one of the bikers is killed. Gordone is arrested and sent to prison, where he joins the prison's boxing team in an effort to secure an early parole and to establish his dominance over the prison's toughest gang.
Style: independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, blaxploitation, boxing, black, drifter, martial arts, underground, black history, thug life, false accusation, prison sex, gay subtext, gay interest, survival, prostitute, gang, escape, murder, manhood, sexual abuse, life is a bitch, fugitives, prison life, chases and races, injustice ...
Time: year 1979, 70s
Keyword: sport, fighting movie

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to Penitentiary

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, rough and suspenseful films with plots about prison, rivalry, murder, life is a bitch, criminal heroes, dishonesty and prison life mostly in Drama, Crime and Action genres. Some movies like Penitentiary: The Pursuit of Happiness (1971), The Escapist (2002), Breaking Point (1976), Doing Hard Time (2004), Undisputed (2002). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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The Pursuit of Happiness (1971)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: William Popper is the son of a stockbroker and is thoroughly disenchanted with "the system." So much so that even though he can prove that he ran over a woman in his car entirely by accident, he accepts a sentence for manslaughter.
Style: realistic, serious, psychological, thought provoking, bleak
Plot: prison, escape, college, car accident, manslaughter, courtroom, on the run, fugitive, girlfriend, injustice, stock broker, estrangement ...
Time: year 1971, 70s
Place: new york, canada
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Penitentiary II (1982)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story: An ex-con, on parole and trying to straighten his life out, decides to resume his boxing career when one of his prison enemies escapes and kills his girlfriend.
Style: independent film, realistic, serious, suspenseful, bleak ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: boxing, blaxploitation, prison, black, martial arts, murder, tough heroes, injustice, family in danger, wrongfully committed, haunted by the past, prison life ...
Time: year 1982, 80s
⇓ similarity ⇓
84%
Penitentiary III (1987)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: A man is framed for murder and sent to prison. He is beaten and tortured, then forced to fight the prison's worst killer, a martial-arts fighting midget called Thud.
Style: grindhouse, psychotronic, independent film
Plot: prison, blaxploitation, boxing, martial arts, black, midget, manslaughter, prison sentence, blood, prisoner, savage, murder ...
Time: year 1987
⇓ similarity ⇓
59%
 6.1
 2K
The Escapist (2002)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 88 min.
Story: Denis Hopkins, a pilot, lives with his pregnant wife Valerie and has a comfortable lifestyle. When a gang of criminals led by the sadistic Ricky Barnes breaks into his home, he offers whatever the criminals want to protect his wife and unborn child, ...
Style: suspenseful, realistic, serious, tense, rough
Audience: boys' night
Plot: manhunt, prison, tough heroes, violence spree, heroes, murder, criminal heroes, haunted by the past, gang, revenge, escape, fugitives ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
53%
Movie in collections
 5.5
 345
Breaking Point (1976)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story: The Mafia tries to take revenge against a man who testified against them in court.
Style: serious, realistic, suspenseful, rough
Audience: boys' night
Plot: mafia, vigilante, exploitation, murder, law enforcement, dishonesty, rivalry, on the run, legal, blind ambition, vengeance, criminal heroes ...
Time: year 1976, 70s
Place: usa, philadelphia
⇓ similarity ⇓
51%
Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Sequel to the 2002 film. This time, Heavyweight Champ George "Iceman" Chambers (White) is sent to a Russian jail on trumped-up drug charges. In order to win his freedom he must fight against the jailhouse fighting champ Uri Boyka (Adkins) ...
Style: suspenseful, serious, realistic, exciting, rough ...
Audience: manly, boys' night
Plot: boxing, martial arts, prison, kickboxing, tournament, jail, contests and competitions, prison life, martial artist, tough heroes, heroes, convict ...
Time: 21st century
Place: russia, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
51%
Doing Hard Time (2004)
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: 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.
Style: serious, suspenseful, realistic, rough, hood ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, murder, criminal heroes, vengeance, vigilantism, prison life, confined, redemption, law enforcement, life is a bitch, dishonesty, police investigation ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 6.1
 34K
Undisputed (2002)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA, Germany, Japan
Duration: 96 min.
Story: Monroe Hutchens is the heavyweight champion of Sweetwater, a maximum security prison. He was convicted to a life sentence due to a passionate crime. Iceman Chambers is the heavyweight champion, who lost his title due to a rape conviction to ten ...
Style: suspense, intense, talky, stylized, exciting ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, boxing, fight, african american, hip hop, prison fight, violence, jail, gangster, martial arts, prison life, boxer ...
Time: year 2002, 21st century
Place: usa, mojave desert, las vegas, nevada
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
Movie in collections
 6.6
 3K
The Mack (1973)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story: 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.
Style: grindhouse, hood, funny, cult classic, independent film ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: blaxploitation, urban, black, exploitation, african american, ghetto, black history, gangsta, mafia, tough guy, blues, hip hop ...
Time: 70s
Place: bay area, usa, california, oakland california
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 5.7
 436
Jailbait (2004)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Randy commits a crime that would normally get him probation and a hefty fine, but in the "three-strikes" world of justice, he finds himself locked up for 25 years. His cellmate Jake is a congenial yet remorseless lifer who casually informs ...
Style: psychological, serious, realistic
Plot: prison, homosexual rape, gay, criminal heroes, life is a bitch, power relations, prison life, fighting the system, confined, going straight, murder, false accusation ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 4.6
 395
Body and Soul (1981)
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story: A young man struggles to become a boxing champ, but success blinds him. It is only through the love of his girlfriend that he is brought back to reality.
Style: neo noir, grindhouse, independent film, rough, sincere ...
Plot: boxing, boxer, black, power relations, rich and poor, love affair, rise to the top, ambition, life is a bitch, athlete's life, rivalry, redemption ...
Time: year 1981, 1940s
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 5.7
 249
The Ceremony (1963)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Spain, USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: A man (Robert Walker) has an affair with his condemned brother's (Laurence Harvey) girlfriend (Sarah Miles) while plotting his escape in Tangier.
Style: noir, realistic, serious, bleak, gloomy ...
Plot: prison, prison escape, mistaken identity, death row, prisoner, escape, intrigue, life is a bitch, confined, investigation, chases and races, dishonesty ...
Time: year 1963, 60s
Place: tangier morocco
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
 4.8
 322
Tracks (2005)
Genre: Drama, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story: Peter, a frustrated suburban teenager, prefers to hang out by the railroad tracks with his friends and get rid of boredom. When the young men throw the switch one day just for fun, a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions occurs. A train derails ...
Style: realistic, serious, psychological, suspense, bleak
Plot: train, prison, juvenile delinquency, going straight, redemption, confined, teenage life, youth, false accusation, prison life, human spirit, hopes ...
Place: usa, new jersey
⇓ similarity ⇓
49%
 5.0
 1K
Animal 2 (2008)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: 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 ...
Style: serious, realistic, hood, crime drama
Plot: prison, martial arts, false accusation, prison life, frame up, courtroom drama, murder, rivalry, black, jail, muscleman, prison violence ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
49%
 6.5
 838
La Fuga (2001)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, Argentina
Duration: 117 min.
Story: In the summer of 1928, several inmates from the National Penitentiary in Buenos Aires managed to escape. The film narrates the fate of each of these runaways in search of their destiny - tough men with their own ethical codes and ready to do ...
Style: captivating, serious, suspenseful, rough, realistic
Plot: fugitives, prison, criminal heroes, starting over, on the run, couples, society, couple relations, prison life, chases and races, escape, down on your luck ...
Time: 1920s
Place: latin america, argentina
⇓ similarity ⇓
49%
Hell's Kitchen (1998)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: When a robbery goes awry, the bandits all end up in a puddle of blood and only one lives and goes to jail for five years. Upon his release, the girlfriend wants her new boyfriend to kill him. Only trouble is the boyfriend knows that the fault was ...
Style: serious, rough, suspenseful, disturbing, tense ...
Plot: crime gone awry, haunted by the past, murder, friendship, criminal's revenge, dishonesty, gang, life is a bitch, drug dealing, criminal heroes, heist, infidelity ...
Time: 90s
Place: new york, usa, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
49%
Undisputed III: Redemption (2010)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story: Russian inmate Boyka, now severely hobbled by the knee injury suffered at the end of Undisputed 2. No longer the feared prison fighter he was, he has declined so far that he is now good only for cleaning toilets. But when a new prison fight ...
Style: serious, realistic, exciting, rough, suspenseful ...
Audience: manly, boys' night
Plot: prison fight, boxing, martial arts, kickboxing, prison, hand to hand combat, mixed martial arts, contests and competitions, fight, capoeira, prison life, tournament ...
Time: year 2010, 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
 5.1
 355
Marked Man (1996)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min.
Story: A jailed auto mechanic must run for his life after he witnesses the murder of a fellow inmate by two prison guards.
Style: independent film, exciting, realistic, serious, suspenseful ...
Plot: frame up, murder, wrestling, chase, law enforcement, dishonesty, chases and races, on the run, life is a bitch, confined, criminal heroes, wrongfully committed ...
Time: 90s
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
Movie in collections
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The Wild Rebels (1967)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: A stock car driver goes undercover as the wheel man for a motorcycle gang.
Style: grindhouse, cult classic, independent film, realistic, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: biker, bike, bank robbery, motorcycle gang, gangster, law enforcement, violence spree, crime gone awry, fighting crime, betrayal, chases and races, dishonesty ...
Time: 20th century, 60s
Place: florida
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
Black Mama White Mama (1973)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Philippines, USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story: When two troublemaking female prisoners (one a revolutionary, the other a former harem-girl) can't seem to get along, they are chained together and extradited for safekeeping. The women, still chained together, stumble, stab, and cat-fight ...
Style: grindhouse, realistic, serious, rough, psychotronic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: women in prison, blaxploitation, prostitute, prison, female prisoner, female exploitation, lesbian, racial tension, jungle, women's prison, sexual desire, injustice ...
Time: 20th century, 70s
Place: the philippines, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
Green Street Hooligans 2 (2009)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story: When the top players of the Green Street Elite are imprisoned following a deadly battle with their archenemies Millwall every day becomes a fight for survival. On the inside, rival firms and prison guards will stop at nothing to make their lives a ...
Style: serious, rough, realistic, suspense, tense ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, hooligan, lifestyle, mob violence, buddies, confined, uninhibited rivalry, society, rivalry, soccer, football, violence ...
Time: year 2009
Place: england, britain, london, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
 3.9
 4K
Wild Seven (2006)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: In this darkly karmic vision of Arizona, a man who breathes nothing but ill will begins a noxious domino effect as quickly as an uncontrollable virus kills. As he exits Arizona State Penn after twenty-one long years, Wilson has only one thing on the ...
Style: serious, suspenseful, suspense, captivating, realistic
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, criminal's revenge, frame up, vengeance, cons and scams, going straight, brutality, false accusation, life is a bitch, hooligan, escape, goofy hero ...
Place: arizona, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
New Jersey Drive (1995)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: 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 ...
Style: realistic, hood, melancholic, brutal, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: gang, brutality, police, police investigation, urban, vengeance, hip hop, ghetto, murder, lone hero, black, teenage life ...
Time: 90s
Place: new jersey, new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
Movie in collections
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7400
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Jackson County Jail (1976)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story: This is a powerful drama about a young woman who stumbles into a nightmare land of hijacking and humiliation while driving cross-country from California to New York.
Style: grindhouse, independent film, road movie, realistic, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, women in prison, murder, prison rape, injustice, escape, rape and revenge, rape and murder, hicksploitation, car, exploitation, blaxploitation ...
Time: year 1976, 70s
Place: new york, los angeles, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
 5.7
 1K
Hit Man (1972)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Bernie Casey portrays Tyrone and Pamela Grier plays a sultry skin-flick star in this first Americanized remake of the iconic Michael Caine action film Get Carter. From Watts to the West Side, from porno parlors to a high-rise, from motel dives to a ...
Style: neo noir, grindhouse, psychotronic, realistic, serious ...
Plot: blaxploitation, lawyer, martial arts, revenge, exploitation, black, tough heroes, hitman, rivalry, criminal's revenge, vengeance, lone wolves ...
Time: year 1972, 20th century, 70s
Place: los angeles, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
The Black Godfather (1974)
Genre: Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story: The heroes in The Black Godfather are members of an African-American criminal organization. Like Brando in The Godfather, they're not averse to robbery and murder, but they do draw the line at narcotics. When the Mafia infiltrates the ...
Style: independent film, serious, realistic, bleak, suspenseful ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: blaxploitation, organized crime, mobster, black history, black, revenge, vigilante, gangster, violent content, working undercover, urban, ghetto ...
Time: 70s
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
Another Pair of Aces: Three of a Kind (1991)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: A gambler, a Texas ranger and an FBI agent are investigating a series of vigilante murders.
Style: exciting, realistic, serious, rough, suspenseful
Audience: boys' night
Plot: poker, texas ranger, injustice, cons and scams, frame up, murder, friendship, old west, false accusation, private detective, investigation, manhunt ...
Time: 19th century
Place: texas
⇓ similarity ⇓
47%
 6.0
 292
Mean Dog Blues (1978)
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story: Former TV documentary filmmaker Mel Stuart tries to inject an acceptable degree of verisimilitude in Mean Dog Blues. A victim of circumstance, country and western musician Paul Ramsey (Gregg Henry) finds himself on a Southern chain gang. Captain ...
Style: grindhouse, independent film, realistic, serious, tense ...
Plot: prison, escape, murder, corruption, forest, false accusation, female nudity, rape, injustice, power relations, tough heroes, life is a bitch ...
Time: year 1978, 20th century, 70s
⇓ similarity ⇓
47%
El padrino: The Latin Godfather (2004)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min.
Story: In the streets of East Los Angeles, Manny is a formidable drug dealer. Impressed by his extravagant lifestyle and prowess, his young son, Kilo, yearns to follow in his footsteps. Kilo resolves to learn how to prosper in the drug world, and his new ...
Style: rough, realistic, serious, suspenseful, exciting
Audience: boys' night
Plot: crime boss, gangster, prison gang, prison, criminal heroes, juvenile delinquency, prison life, life is a bitch, gang, dishonesty, drug dealing, urban ghetto ...
Time: 21st century
Place: los angeles, california, usa, mexico
⇓ similarity ⇓
47%
Ring of Death (2008)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min.
Story: On the inside, there are no rules. See what happens when Prison Officials Profit from Illegal fights.
Style: suspenseful, rough, serious, realistic
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prison, frame up, contests and competitions, criminal heroes, police investigation, criminal's revenge, jail, martial arts, fight, competition, undercover, electric torture ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
47%
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