Movies Like The City and the Dogs

If you liked The City and the Dogs (1985), a drama movie directed by Francisco J. Lombardi, 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
Taps (1981)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Military cadets take extreme measures to ensure the future of their academy when its existence is threatened by local condo developers.
2
The Hate U Give (2018)
★ 8.1/10Also drama
Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she's torn between her two very different worlds…
3
Cherry (2021)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
Cherry drifts from college dropout to army medic in Iraq—anchored only by his one true love, Emily. But after returning from the war with PTSD, his life spirals into drugs and crime as he struggles to find his place in…
4
Steve (2025)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
Over one intense day, the devoted head teacher of a last-chance reform school strives to keep his students in line while facing pressures of his own.
5
Thank You for Your Service (2017)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
A group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life, while living with the memory of a war that threatens to destroy them long after they've left the battlefield.
6
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
★ 7/10Also drama
A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
7
The Pelican Brief (1993)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
A law student's theory about the recent deaths of two Supreme Court justices embroils her in a far-reaching web of murder, corruption, and greed.
8
Lean On Me (1989)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
When principal Joe Clark takes over decaying Eastside High School, he's faced with students wearing gang colors and graffiti-covered walls. Determined to do anything he must to turn the school around, he expels…
9
Coach Carter (2005)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
Based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.
10
Murderous Children (2018)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
4 stories about 4 criminal children. Two teenagers trapped in a world full of drugs and human trafficking, another two kids bring their loved ones to the limit, other two resentful kids want to fulfill their most evil…
11
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
★ 7.5/10Also 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.
12
South Central (1992)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to…
13
Monster (2021)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
The story of Steve Harmon, a 17-year-old honor student whose world comes crashing down around him when he is charged with felony murder.
14
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the…
15
Apt Pupil (1998)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
One day in 1984, Todd Bowden, a brilliant high school boy fascinated by the history of Nazism, stumbles across an old man whose appearance resembles that of Kurt Dussander, a wanted Nazi war criminal. A month later…
16
Jack Reacher (2012)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
One morning in an ordinary town, five people are shot dead in a seemingly random attack. All evidence points to a single suspect: an ex-military sniper who is quickly brought into custody. The interrogation yields one…
17
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
18
Fast Charlie (2023)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
When his aging mob boss is whacked, Charlie Swift, a loyal friend and hired gun, will stop at nothing to destroy the upcoming crew that took him out.
19
Cop (1988)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
An obsessive, insubordinate homicide cop is convinced a serial killer is loose in the Hollywood area and disobeys orders in order to catch him.
20
My Friend Dahmer (2017)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Jeffrey Dahmer struggles with a difficult family life as a young boy. During his teenage years he slowly transforms, edging closer to the serial killer he was to become.