Movies Like Secret Defense

If you liked Secret Defense (1998), a drama and crime movie directed by Jacques Rivette, 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
Righteous Kill (2008)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and thriller
Two veteran New York City detectives work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the…
2
180 (2026)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller and crime
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
3
A Score to Settle (2019)
★ 5.8/10Also crime and drama
A former mob enforcer who is released from prison after serving 22 years for a crime he didn't commit sets out on a path for revenge against the people who wronged him.
4
The Whisper Man (2026)
★ 6.8/10Also crime and drama
When his young son vanishes, a widower enlists help from his estranged father, a retired detective who put away the serial killer now linked to the case.
5
Pride and Glory (2008)
★ 6.3/10Also crime and drama
A saga centered on the Tierneys, a multi-generational family of New York City Police officers. The family's moral codes are tested when Ray Tierney investigates a case that reveals an incendiary police corruption…
6
Run (1991)
★ 6/10Also thriller and drama
When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.
7
Faster (2010)
★ 6.4/10Also crime and drama
After 10 years in prison, Driver is now a free man with a single focus - hunting down the people responsible for brutally murdering his brother.
8
Time Without Pity (1957)
★ 6.5/10Also crime and thriller
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…
9
No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990)
★ 6.8/10Also crime and drama
Two feuding brothers of differing political views, one a policeman, the other a martial artist, join forces to avenge the death of their father, a retired agent who was brutally murdered by the mafia.
10
The Second Wind (2007)
★ 6/10Also drama and crime
Gu, a famous gangster, has just escaped from jail. All french police is after him. Before leaving the country with Manouche, the woman he loves, Gu needs a final job to get some money. The job works, but a police's…
11
The Kingdom (2024)
★ 7/10Also crime and drama
Lesia, a teenager, is taken by a man to a villa where her fugitive father and his men are hiding. A war erupts, leading to death and a chase where father and daughter bond.
12
10th & Wolf (2006)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and drama
A former street thug returns to his Philadelphia home after a stint in the military. Back on his home turf, he once again finds himself tangling with the mob boss who was instrumental in his going off to be a soldier.
13
Suburbicon (2017)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller and crime
In the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect…
14
Absolution (2024)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and thriller
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…
15
Without Apparent Motive (1971)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and mystery
A series of murders is committed in Nice on the French riviera. The commissaire Carella is in charge and tries to find a missing link between all these murders.
16
In His Shadow (2023)
★ 6.3/10Also crime and drama
After the death of their father, two half-brothers find themselves on opposite sides of an escalating conflict with tragic consequences.
17
The Parts You Lose (2019)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and crime
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
18
The Inheritor (1973)
★ 6.4/10Also thriller and drama
After his father is killed in a plane crash, Bart Cordell returns back home to France to claim his inheritance: to lead the industrial empire his father built. But when a prostitute tries to set him up for a drug…
19
Blood Ties (2013)
★ 6.1/10Also thriller and crime
Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.
20
Violent Ends (2025)
★ 6.2/10Also thriller and crime
A man raised in a violent crime family struggles to build an honest life with his fiancée but is dragged back into the criminal world after his cousin’s armed robbery leaves an innocent person caught in the crossfire.