Movies Like Life Is Hot in Cracktown

If you liked Life Is Hot in Cracktown (2009), a drama movie directed by Buddy Giovinazzo, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
GoodFellas (1990)
★ 8.5/10Also drama
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.
2
New Jack City (1991)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
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.
3
Paid in Full (2002)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
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…
4
Layer Cake (2004)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...
5
The Informer (2019)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
In New York, former convict Pete Koslow, related to the Polish mafia, must deal with both Klimek the General, his ruthless boss, and the twisted ambitions of two federal agents, as he tries to survive and protect the…
6
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
★ 8.4/10Also drama
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.
7
A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.
8
Bound by Honor (1993)
★ 8.2/10Also drama
Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known…
9
American Gangster (2007)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being…
10
25th Hour (2002)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
On the eve of a seven-year prison sentence, a New York drug dealer spends his final day of freedom confronting his past, his relationships, and the choices that led to his downfall in a city still reeling from 9/11.
11
Payback (1999)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
With friends like these, who needs enemies? That's the question bad guy Porter is left asking after his wife and partner steal his heist money and leave him for dead -- or so they think. Five months and an endless…
12
Carlito's Way (1993)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
Free after years in prison, Carlito Brigante intends to give up his criminal ways, but it's not long before the ex-con is sucked back into the New York City underworld.
13
The Nines (2007)
★ 6/10Also drama
A troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed videogame designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways.
14
Menace II Society (1993)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
15
We Die Young (2019)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
Lucas, a 14-year-old boy inducted into the gang life in Washington D.C., is determined that his 10-year-old brother won't follow the same path. When an Afghanistan war veteran comes into the neighborhood, an…
16
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.
17
Fresh (1994)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
Death and violence anger twelve year old drug courier Fresh, who sets his rival employers against each other.
18
Havoc (2025)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.
19
Asphalt City (2024)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
A young paramedic is paired with a seasoned partner on the night shift in New York revealing a city in crisis. Discovering the chaos firsthand, he is tested with the ethical ambiguity that can be the difference between…
20
Clockers (1995)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little. When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike’s older brother turns himself in as the…