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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. 1Plunder Road

    Plunder Road (1957)

    ★ 6.9/10Also crime and drama

    A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.

  2. 2The Asphalt Jungle

    The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

    ★ 7.5/10Also crime and drama

    Recently 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. 3Each Dawn I Die

    Each Dawn I Die (1939)

    ★ 6.9/10Also crime and drama

    A 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. 45 Against the House

    5 Against the House (1955)

    ★ 5.9/10Also crime and drama

    Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.

  5. 5The Blue Gardenia

    The Blue Gardenia (1953)

    ★ 6.5/10Also crime

    Upon 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. 6Little Caesar

    Little Caesar (1931)

    ★ 6.9/10Also drama and crime

    A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?

  7. 7Time Without Pity

    Time Without Pity (1957)

    ★ 6.5/10Also crime and drama

    Alec 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. 8The Naked City

    The Naked City (1948)

    ★ 7.2/10Also crime and drama

    After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.

  9. 9The Web

    The Web (1947)

    ★ 7.1/10Also crime and drama

    A 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. 10Pitfall

    Pitfall (1948)

    ★ 6.8/10Also drama and crime

    An 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. 11Woman of Straw

    Woman of Straw (1964)

    ★ 6.2/10Also crime and drama

    Anthony 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. 12The File on Thelma Jordon

    The File on Thelma Jordon (1949)

    ★ 6.5/10Also drama and crime

    Cleve 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. 13Framed

    Framed (1947)

    ★ 6.5/10Also crime and drama

    Truck 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. 14Glengarry Glen Ross

    Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

    ★ 7.3/10Also crime and drama

    An examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office. Unscrupulous salesmen try to hawk dubious real estate to suckers.

  15. 15Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius

    Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)

    ★ 5.9/10Also drama

    The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.

  16. 16Kid Galahad

    Kid Galahad (1962)

    ★ 6.2/10Also drama and crime

    After 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. 17Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

    Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)

    ★ 6.3/10Also crime

    Nancy 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. 18The Glass Key

    The Glass Key (1942)

    ★ 6.7/10Also crime

    A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.

  19. 19They Made Me a Fugitive

    They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)

    ★ 6.6/10Also drama and crime

    After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.

  20. 20Flicka

    Flicka (2006)

    ★ 6.9/10Also drama

    Katy 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…

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