Movies like American Gangster

If you like "American Gangster" you are looking for serious, tense and realistic movies about / with organized crime, mafia, gangster, mob boss, heroin, drug lord and mobster themes of Biography, Crime and Drama genre shot in USA or UK.
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.
American Gangster (2007)
 7.8
 450K
American Gangster (2007)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 157 min.
Story: Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Based on a true story.
Style: serious, tense, realistic, suspense, harsh, hood, clever, detective, suspenseful, entertaining ...
Audience: manly, boys' night, adult
Plot: organized crime, mafia, gangster, mob boss, heroin, drug lord, mobster, police, violence, crime boss, drug traffic, gang, drug, criminal, ghetto, mob hit, criminal syndicate, drug dealer, police corruption, mafioso, smuggling, cop, society, rise and fall, drug addiction ...
Time: 60s, 70s, year 2007, 20th century, year 1968, year 1970, 90s ...
Place: new york, new jersey, vietnam, china, cuba, usa, harlem ...
Keyword: gangsters, americana, jewish, new yorker, thai, challenge, poster, retrospective, eye candy

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to American Gangster

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, rough and suspense films with plots about organized crime, gangster, mafia, violence, mob, mobster and gang mostly in Crime, Drama and Biography genres. Some movies like American Gangster: Goodfellas (1990), Blow (2001), New Jack City (1991), Scarface (1983), Casino (1995). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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 8.7
 1.2M
Goodfellas (1990)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 145 min.
Story: The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.
Style: rough, suspense, realistic, epic, brutal ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: organized crime, mafia, gangster, rise and fall, mobster, cosa nostra, mentor, criminal, badass, friends, italian mafia, biopic ...
Time: 70s, 50s, 90s, year 1990, year 1970 ...
Place: new york, brooklyn new york city, italy, florida, usa ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
94%
 7.5
 274K
Blow (2001)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story: A boy named George Jung grows up in a struggling family in the 1950's. His mother nags at her husband as he is trying to make a living for the family. It is finally revealed that George's father cannot make a living and the family goes ...
Style: depressing, touching, emotional, serious, epic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: drug addiction, drug lord, drug abuse, drug dealing, friendship, drug, drug dealer, drug cartel, rise and fall, addiction, gangster, drug use ...
Time: 70s, year 2001, 20th century, 80s, near future ...
Place: latin america, colombia, california, mexico, usa ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
86%
 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%
 8.3
 909K
Scarface (1983)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 170 min.
Story: After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the ...
Style: serious, cult classic, exciting, rough, suspense ...
Audience: manly, date night, boys' night, adult
Plot: gangster, mafia, organized crime, gunfight, drug lord, mob boss, drug cartel, drug dealing, cocaine, drug abuse, ambition, violence ...
Time: 80s, 20th century, year 1983, year 1980
Place: miami, cuba, miami beach, florida, bolivia ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
Movie in collections
mobster movies
1019
police movies
9787
violence movies
15772
crime boss movies
1241
 8.2
 560K
Casino (1995)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, France
Duration: 178 min.
Story: The life of the gambling paradise – Las Vegas – and its dark mafia underbelly.
Style: realistic, clever, rough, suspense, neo noir ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: organized crime, mafia, casino, rise and fall, gangster, gambling, money, greed, mobster, betrayal, cosa nostra, criminal heroes ...
Time: 70s, 20th century, year 1995, 80s, 90s ...
Place: las vegas, chicago, missouri, israel, usa ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
82%
 9.2
 2.0M
The Godfather (1972)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 175 min.
Story: 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 ...
Style: serious, epic, dramatic, atmospheric, captivating ...
Audience: boys' night, manly, chick flick, adult
Plot: mafia, organized crime, gangster, greed, revenge, mob boss, crime family, mobster, cosa nostra, wedding, pride and honor, corruption ...
Time: 1950s, 1940s, 20th century, 50s, year 1972 ...
Place: italy, new york, bronx new york city, europe, sicily ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
83%
 6.9
 191K
Black Mass (2015)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 123 min.
Story: The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
Style: suspense, factual, intense, brutal, realistic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: mafia, corruption, gangster, irish mob, violence, murder, mob boss, true crime, mobster, illness, brutality, organized crime ...
Time: year 2015, 70s, 80s, 2010s, year 2016 ...
Place: boston, peru, usa, massachusetts, santa monica california ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 4.8
 17K
Gotti (2018)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story: John Gotti rises to the top of the New York underworld to become the boss of the Gambino crime family. His life takes a tumultuous turn as he faces tragedy, multiple trials and a prison sentence.
Style: serious, rough, suspenseful, realistic, disgusting ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: cosa nostra, gangster, godfather, profanity, federal bureau of investigation, father son relationship, mafia, brutality, organized crime, mobster, parents and children, family relations ...
Time: 70s, 80s, 20th century, year 1997, year 2002 ...
Place: usa, new york
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
gang movies
4547
drug movies
4224
criminal movies
5351
 8.5
 1.4M
The Departed (2006)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Hong Kong
Duration: 151 min.
Story: To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the underworld, not realizing the syndicate has done likewise. While an undercover cop curries favor with the mob kingpin, a career criminal rises ...
Style: twist ending, suspense, surprise ending, clever, tense ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: mafia, police, organized crime, mole, mobster, undercover cop, twists and turns, undercover, gunfight, corruption, working undercover, gangster ...
Time: 2000s, year 2006, 21st century
Place: boston, america, persia, massachusetts, usa ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
80%
 7.2
 253K
Lawless (2012)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story: Set in the Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a bootlegging gang is threatened by authorities who want a cut of their profits.
Style: intense, suspense, harsh, stylized, entertaining ...
Plot: mafia, gangster, bootlegging, smuggling, corruption, greed, gang, vigilante, prohibition, great depression, violence, robbery ...
Time: 1930s, 20th century, year 2012, 2010s, year 1940 ...
Place: virginia, usa, america, appalachia
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 8.9
 2.2M
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min.
Story: A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.
Style: neo noir, cult classic, exciting, witty, black comedy ...
Audience: boys' night, manly, adult
Plot: gangster, dark humor, organized crime, gunfight, violence, hitman, overdose, multiple storylines, violent, killings, drug, redemption ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1994, 70s
Place: los angeles, california, persia, america, peru ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.7
 330K
Donnie Brasco (1997)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story: An FBI undercover agent infilitrates the mob and finds himself identifying more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.
Style: neo noir, realistic, clever, suspense, tense ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: mafia, organized crime, fbi, undercover, mentor, mobster, investigation, working undercover, undercover agent, italian mafia, law enforcement, friends ...
Time: 70s, 20th century, year 1997, 90s, year 1978
Place: new york, new jersey, usa, miami, florida ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
57%
 6.7
 222K
Gangster Squad (2013)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story: Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and — if he has his way — every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it ...
Style: rough, exciting, stylized, serious, suspenseful ...
Audience: boys' night, chick flick, manly, teens
Plot: mob boss, organized crime, mafia, gangster, partners against crime, law enforcement, corruption, revenge, police brutality, squad, power struggle, love triangle ...
Time: 1940s, year 2013, 2010s, 20th century, year 1949 ...
Place: los angeles, california, israel, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.8
 159K
A Bronx Tale (1993)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story: 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 ...
Style: sentimental, intense, suspense, hood, realistic ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: mafia, gangster, coming of age, organized crime, mentor, mobster, loyalty, gang leader, cosa nostra, father son relationship, friendship, mob boss ...
Time: 60s, year 1960, 20th century, year 1993, 90s ...
Place: new york, bronx new york city, usa, new york state
⇓ similarity ⇓
71%
Kill the Irishman (2011)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: Over the summer of 1976, thirty-six bombs detonate in the heart of Cleveland while a turf war raged between Irish mobster Danny Greene and the Italian mafia. Based on a true story, kill the Irishman chronicles Greene's heroic rise from a tough ...
Style: tense, brutal, talky, intense, suspense ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: mafia, gangster, mob boss, gang war, irish mob, hitman, gang, corruption, organized crime, assassin, murder, caper ...
Time: 70s, year 2011, 60s, 20th century, year 1977 ...
Place: usa, ireland, ohio, new york, brooklyn new york city ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
67%
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 202 min.
Story: In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
Style: epic, captivating, suspense, serious, visual ...
Audience: boys' night, manly, adult
Plot: mafia, organized crime, cosa nostra, revenge, mobster, ambition, melancholy, mob boss, corruption, corrupt politician, gangster, murder ...
Time: 50s, 20th century, 1950s, 1940s, year 1974 ...
Place: cuba, new york, las vegas, italy, sicily ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
 7.9
 231K
Carlito's Way (1993)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 144 min.
Story: A Puerto-Rican ex-con, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him and lead on to a better life outside of NYC.
Style: neo noir, suspense, suspenseful, tense, melancholic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: organized crime, gangster, mafia, nightclub, tragic hero, drug dealing, mobster, drug, gunfight, violence, prison, drug lord ...
Time: 90s, 70s, 20th century, year 1993, year 1975
Place: new york, usa, grand central station manhattan new york city, harlem, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.0
 14K
Paid in Full (2002)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky ...
Style: hood, tense, rough, realistic, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: urban ghetto life, rapper, organized crime, ghetto, urban, drug dealing, drug, gangster, drug lord, black, rise and fall, street life ...
Time: 80s, year 2002, 20th century, year 1986
Place: harlem, new york, usa, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
ghetto movies
952
tense movies
16020
new york movies
4863
realistic movies
29790
Boss of Bosses (2001)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: The story of the rise and fall of the powerful New York City organized crime boss, Paul Castellano.
Style: serious, tense, rough, suspenseful, realistic
Audience: boys' night
Plot: mafia, hitman, rise and fall, murder, undercover, going straight, master criminal, rivalry, downfall, police corruption, gangster, organized crime ...
Time: 20th century, 80s, year 1985, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, florida
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Boardwalk Empire (2010)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min.
TV show
Story: Boardwalk Empire is a period drama focusing on Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (based on the historical Enoch L. Johnson), a political figure who rose to prominence and controlled Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition period of the ...
Style: serious, costume drama, captivating, suspenseful, atmospheric ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: mafia, gangster, mob boss, organized crime, prohibition, smuggling, criminal heroes, corruption, politician, mobster, female nudity, american history ...
Time: 1920s, 2000s, 2010s, 1900s, year 2010 ...
Place: new jersey, usa, cuba, atlantic city new jersey, atlantic city ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min.
Story: A New York stockbroker refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration. Based on Jordan Belfort's autobiography.
Style: clever, captivating, motivational, cynical, dramatic ...
Audience: teens, adult
Plot: money, corruption, business, wall street, rise and fall, greed, stock market, addiction, success, stock broker, wealth, rags to riches ...
Time: 80s, year 2013, 90s, 2010s, 20th century ...
Place: new york, usa, america, geneva switzerland, italy ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
64%
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Italy
Duration: 229 min.
Story: 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.
Style: epic, ambiguous ending, melancholic, breathtaking, atmospheric ...
Audience: boys' night, kids, adult
Plot: gangster, organized crime, mafia, friendship, prohibition, rape, gunfight, betrayal, childhood friend, corruption, criminal heroes, mobster ...
Time: 1930s, 60s, 1920s, 20th century, year 1984 ...
Place: new york, usa, america, israel, china ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 8.8
 466K
Narcos (2015)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Colombia
Duration: 49 min.
TV show
Story: The true story of Colombia's infamously violent and powerful drug cartels.
Style: serious, realistic, rough, political, bleak ...
Audience: boys' night, teens
Plot: drug cartel, drug dealer, cartel, drug dealing, rise to the top, gangster, drug lord, illegal drugs, cia agent, master criminal, dea, hitman ...
Time: 80s, 2010s, 70s, 90s, 20th century
Place: colombia, latin america, south america, mexico, panama ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
Movie in collections
 5.7
 3K
Capone (1975)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story: The story of the rise and fall of the infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone and the control he exhibited over the city during the prohibition years.
Style: realistic, suspenseful, rough, serious, psychotronic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: gangster, murder, rise and fall, police investigation, mafia, prohibition, brutality, gunfight, jail, female nudity, criminal heroes, gang ...
Time: 1920s, year 1975, 1930s
Place: chicago, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.4
 186K
Molly's Game (2017)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA, Canada, China
Duration: 140 min.
Story: Molly Bloom, a young skier and former Olympic hopeful becomes a successful entrepreneur (and a target of an FBI investigation) when she establishes a high-stakes, international poker game.
Style: inspirational, smart, freeze frame, psychological, witty ...
Audience: chick flick, teens, family friendly, adult
Plot: poker, trial, gambling, female protagonist, lawyer, father daughter relationship, court, card playing, fbi, woman, strong female lead, mafia ...
Time: year 2017, 2010s, future, 2000s
Place: new york, los angeles, colorado, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
We Own the Night (2007)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.
Style: suspense, harsh, stylized, captivating, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: organized crime, mafia, gangster, police, nightclub, gang, cop, brothers, hitman, multiple storylines, law enforcement, heroin ...
Time: year 2007, 20th century, year 1988, 80s
Place: new york, brooklyn new york city, usa, manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.3
 12K
Hoodlum (1997)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story: 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 ...
Style: hood, stylized, black and white, neo noir, realistic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: mafia, organized crime, mobster, african american, gangster, black, gangsta, black history, urban, corruption, gunfight, death ...
Time: 1930s, 90s, 20th century
Place: harlem, new york, israel, illinois, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark, N.J., history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters start to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle ...
Style: captivating, tense, suspense, disturbing, dramatic ...
Plot: mafia, criminal, gangster, mob boss, mobster, gang war, mafioso, black man white woman sex, cosa nostra, organized crime, criminal underworld, crime boss ...
Time: 60s, year 1971, 70s, year 1967, year 1972
Place: new york, new jersey, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.8
 79K
The Iceman (2012)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: The true story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer and family man.
Style: suspenseful, stylized, brutal, suspense, intense ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: hitman, psychopath, assassin, crime family, mafia, lone hero, killer, organized crime, biopic, greed, family relations, notoriety ...
Time: 70s, year 2012, 80s, year 1964, 20th century ...
Place: new jersey, usa, new york, manhattan new york city, lower east side manhattan new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
The Infiltrator (2016)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story: A U.S Customs official uncovers a massive money laundering scheme involving Pablo Escobar.
Style: suspense, realistic, dramatic, factual, tense ...
Audience: date night
Plot: drug lord, drug cartel, money laundering, drug, addiction, federal agent, money, investigation, biopic, undercover agent, organized crime, drug addiction ...
Time: year 2016, 80s, year 1985, 20th century
Place: colombia, middle east, florida
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
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