Movies Like Charlie Chan in Panama

If you liked Charlie Chan in Panama (1940), a crime and thriller movie directed by Norman Foster, 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
The Glass Key (1942)
★ 6.7/10Also crime and mystery
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
2
LaRoy, Texas (2024)
★ 6.8/10Also crime and comedy
Broke and depressed, Ray is mistaken for a dangerous hitman and given an envelope of cash. Along with his P.I. friend Skip, he must escape the actual hitman to make it out of LaRoy alive.
3
See Spot Run (2001)
★ 6.1/10Also comedy and crime
A drug sniffing agent canine is a target for an assassin boss so the FBI calls Witness Protection to send him somewhere else. Meanwhile a single Mom puts her 6 year old boy James in the care of her irresponsible…
4
Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
★ 7/10Also comedy and crime
While attending a major horse race with their young son, Nick Jr., Nick and Nora Charles witnesse a shocking murder from the crowded grandstand. What first appears to be an isolated killing soon leads to a maze of…
5
The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
★ 6.1/10Also mystery and crime
Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.
6
Song of the Thin Man (1947)
★ 6.7/10Also comedy and crime
While attending a glamorous jazz cruise on New York’s East River, Nick and Nora Charles witness the fatal shooting of a wealthy patron. When suspicion falls on a young bandleader and his musicians, the couple steps in…
7
Another Thin Man (1939)
★ 7.1/10Also comedy and mystery
Nick and Nora Charles are back - and this time, they have a baby, a wealthy new client, and another murder to solve! Retired detective Nick is enjoying family life with Nora and their young son, Nick Jr., when…
8
The Cheap Detective (1978)
★ 6.4/10Also comedy and crime
A spoof of the entire 1940s detective genre. San Francisco private detective, Lou Pekinpaugh is accused of murdering his partner at the instigation of his mistress—his partner's wife.
9
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
★ 6.3/10Also crime and mystery
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…
10
Take the Money and Run (1969)
★ 7.1/10Also comedy and crime
Virgil Starkwell is intent on becoming a notorious bank robber. Unfortunately for Virgil and his not-so-budding career, he is completely incompetent.
11
Wrong Cops (2013)
★ 6.1/10Also crime and comedy
A group of bad cops look to dispose of a body that one of them accidentally shot.
12
The Blue Gardenia (1953)
★ 6.5/10Also crime and mystery
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…
13
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
★ 6.9/10Also comedy and crime
Charles Dreyfus, who has finally cracked over inspector Clouseau's antics, escapes from a mental institution and launches an elaborate plan to get rid of Clouseau once and for all.
14
The Green Man (1956)
★ 7/10Also comedy and crime
Unknown to everyone but his shady Middle Eastern bosses, watchmaker Hawkins is actually a professional hired assassin with a predilection for killing his targets with bombs. After disposing of a dictator and…
15
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
★ 7.6/10Also comedy and crime
Mortimer Brewster, a newspaper drama critic, playwright, and author known for his diatribes against marriage, suddenly falls in love and gets married; but when he makes a quick trip home to tell his two maiden aunts…
16
A Shot in the Dark (1964)
★ 7.2/10Also comedy and mystery
Inspector Jacques Clouseau, smitten with the accused maid Maria Gambrelli, unwittingly turns a straightforward murder investigation into a comedic series of mishaps, testing the patience of his irritable boss Charles…
17
A Blueprint for Murder (1953)
★ 6.2/10Also mystery and crime
Whitney Cameron is in a quandary: he's attracted to his beautiful sister-in-law, Lynn, but also harbors serious suspicions about her. Her husband, Cameron's brother, died under mysterious circumstances, and now that…
18
Deathtrap (1982)
★ 6.7/10Also mystery and thriller
A Broadway playwright puts murder in his plan to take credit for a student's script.
19
Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006)
★ 7.4/10Also comedy and mystery
It's horror on the high seas when Scooby-Doo and the gang take a creepy cruise into one of the world's most mysterious places, the Bermuda Triangle! If Scooby, Shaggy and the gang can't solve this mystery, they may…
20
The Mechanic (1972)
★ 6.7/10Also crime and thriller
Arthur Bishop is a veteran hit man who, owing to his penchant for making his targets' deaths seem like accidents, thinks himself an artist. It's made him very rich, but as he hits middle age, he's so depressed and…