Movies Like The Defense Rests
If you liked The Defense Rests (1934), a drama and crime movie directed by Lambert Hillyer, 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

Plunder Road (1957)
★ 6.9/10Also crime and dramaA spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.
- 2

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
★ 7.5/10Also crime and dramaRecently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.
- 3

Each Dawn I Die (1939)
★ 6.9/10Also crime and dramaA corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
- 4

5 Against the House (1955)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and dramaFormer war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.
- 5

The Blue Gardenia (1953)
★ 6.5/10Also crimeUpon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while…
- 6

Little Caesar (1931)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and crimeA small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?
- 7

Time Without Pity (1957)
★ 6.5/10Also crime and dramaAlec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec’s father, David Graham, a…
- 8

The Naked City (1948)
★ 7.2/10Also crime and dramaAfter a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.
- 9

The Web (1947)
★ 7.1/10Also crime and dramaA brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.
- 10

Pitfall (1948)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and crimeAn insurance man wishing for a more exciting life becomes wrapped up in the affairs of an imprisoned embezzler, his model girlfriend, and a violent private investigator.
- 11

Woman of Straw (1964)
★ 6.2/10Also crime and dramaAnthony Richmond schemes to get the fortune of his tyrannical, wheelchair-using tycoon uncle Charles Richmond by persuading Maria, a nurse he employs, to marry him.
- 12

The File on Thelma Jordon (1949)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and crimeCleve Marshall, an assistant district attorney, falls for Thelma Jordon, a mysterious woman with a troubled past. When Thelma becomes a suspect in her aunt's murder, Cleve tries to clear her name.
- 13

Framed (1947)
★ 6.5/10Also crime and dramaTruck driver Mike Lambert is a down-and-out mining engineer searching for a job. When his rig breaks down in a small town, he happens upon a venomous seductress. When her boyfriend robs a bank, they intend to frame…
- 14

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
★ 7.3/10Also crime and dramaAn examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office. Unscrupulous salesmen try to hawk dubious real estate to suckers.
- 15

Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
★ 5.9/10Also dramaThe story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
- 16

Kid Galahad (1962)
★ 6.2/10Also drama and crimeAfter completing military service, Walter Gulick takes a job as a sparring partner at a gym, the owner of which sees potential in Walter as a professional fighter—and takes him under his wing.
- 17

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
★ 6.3/10Also crimeNancy Drew, a smart high schooler with a penchant for keen observation and deduction, stumbles upon the haunting of a local home. A bit of an outsider struggling to fit into her new surroundings, Nancy and her pals set…
- 18

The Glass Key (1942)
★ 6.7/10Also crimeA crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
- 19

They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and crimeAfter being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.
- 20

Flicka (2006)
★ 6.9/10Also dramaKaty McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets…