Movies Like Gang Smashers

If you liked Gang Smashers (1938), a crime and music movie directed by Leo C. Popkin, 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
King Creole (1958)
★ 6.4/10Also music and crime
Delinquent Danny Fisher flunks out of high school, quits his job as a nightclub busboy, and one night gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at…
2
One Night at McCool's (2001)
★ 5.9/10Also crime
On an ordinary night, in an ordinary part of town, a beautiful young woman walks into a bar. Her name is Jewel, and before long she is chatting to bartender Randy. The pair leave together, but he ends up getting into a…
3
Panic (2000)
★ 6.2/10Also crime
Alex is going through a midlife crisis and it has become a very difficult time for him. His marriage is struggling, he's worried about his son, and his job of killing people for his family has become the most stressful…
4
Blue Story (2019)
★ 7.3/10Also crime
Blue Story is a tragic tale of a friendship between Timmy and Marco, two young boys from opposing postcodes. Timmy, a shy, smart, naive and timid young boy from Deptford, goes to school in Peckham where he strikes up a…
5
Juice (1992)
★ 7.2/10Also crime
Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different…
6
Hoodlum (1997)
★ 6.5/10Also crime
In 1934, the second most lucrative business in New York City was running 'the numbers'. When Madam Queen—the powerful woman who runs the scam in Harlem—is arrested, Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson takes over the business and…
7
Belly (1998)
★ 6.3/10Also crime
Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking…
8
The Cotton Club (1984)
★ 6.5/10Also crime
Harlem's legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves of entertainers and gangsters collide.
9
They Live by Night (1949)
★ 6.8/10Also crime
An escaped convict, injured during a robbery, falls in love with the woman who nurses him back to health, but their relationship seems doomed from the beginning.
10
Stark Raving Mad (2002)
★ 6.1/10Also crime
A crook quietly plots his revenge against the boss who murdered his brother while working for him.
11
Sharky's Machine (1981)
★ 6.2/10Also crime
Police officer Tom Sharky gets busted back to working vice, where he happens upon a scandalous conspiracy involving a local politician. Sharky's new 'machine' gathers evidence while Sharky falls in love with a woman he…
12
Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer (2025)
★ 6.8/10Also crime
A struggling writer in the midst of a divorce befriends a retired serial killer who incidentally becomes his marriage counselor by day, and killing counselor for his next book by night.
13
West Side Story (2021)
★ 6.9/10Also crime
Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.
14
Song of the Thin Man (1947)
★ 6.7/10Also 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…
15
Killer's Kiss (1955)
★ 6.3/10Also crime
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The…
16
I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
★ 6.9/10Also crime
A young promoter is accused of the murder of Vicky Lynn, a young actress he "discovered" as a waitress while out with ex-actor Robin Ray and gossip columnist Larry Evans.
17
Absolution (2024)
★ 5.9/10Also crime
An aging ex-boxer gangster working as muscle for a Boston crime boss receives an upsetting diagnosis. Despite a faltering memory, he attempts to rectify the sins of his past and reconnect with his estranged children…
18
Dead Man Down (2013)
★ 6.2/10Also crime
In New York City, a crime lord's right-hand man is seduced by a woman seeking retribution.
19
Bad (1977)
★ 6.5/10Also crime
Hazel runs a beauty salon out of her house, but makes extra money by providing ruthless women the oppurtunity to perform hit jobs. L.T. is a parasite, and contacts Hazel looking for work after he runs out of money. She…
20
The Enforcer (2022)
★ 7/10Also crime
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to…