Movies Like Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

If you liked Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971), a action and crime movie directed by Melvin Van Peebles, 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
Foxy Brown (1974)
★ 6.3/10Also action and crime
A voluptuous black woman takes a job as a high-class prostitute in order to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.
2
The Substitute (1996)
★ 7/10Also action and crime
When an inner-city Miami schoolteacher gets her knee broken after standing up to the school's gang leader, her mercenary combat specialist boyfriend goes undercover as a substitute teacher to take down the punk. Soon…
3
Payback (1999)
★ 6.8/10Also action and drama
With friends like these, who needs enemies? That's the question bad guy Porter is left asking after his wife and partner steal his heist money and leave him for dead -- or so they think. Five months and an endless…
4
Coffy (1973)
★ 6.6/10Also crime and thriller
After her younger sister gets involved in drugs and is severely injured by contaminated heroin, a nurse sets out on a mission of vengeance and vigilante justice, killing drug dealers, pimps, and mobsters who cross her…
5
The Rookie (1990)
★ 5.9/10Also action and crime
Veteran cop Nick Pulovski is used to playing musical partners; many of the partners he's had in the past have died on the job, and often as a result of Nick's risky tactics. But the rookie who's been assigned to help…
6
Cop (1988)
★ 6.4/10Also crime and 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.
7
The Corruptor (1999)
★ 6.1/10Also action and crime
Danny is a young cop partnered with Nick, a seasoned but ethically tainted veteran. As the two try to stop a gang war in Chinatown, Danny relies on Nick but grows increasingly uncomfortable with the way Nick gets…
8
The Way of the Gun (2000)
★ 6.4/10Also action and crime
Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother of a powerful and shady man.
9
Al Capone (1959)
★ 6.6/10Also action and crime
In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder…
10
Death Wish II (1982)
★ 6.2/10Also action and crime
Paul Kersey is again a vigilante trying to find five punks who murdered his housekeeper and daughter in Los Angeles.
11
Citizen Vigilante (2026)
★ 6.4/10Also crime and action
A man takes justice into his own hands, hunting down criminals. His vigilante crusade makes him a social media star but puts him at odds with the local police chief.
12
Crimes of Passion (1984)
★ 6.3/10Also crime and drama
Fashion designer Joanna Crane leads a double life. By night she is China Blue, a prostitute who's attracted the attention of a sexually frustrated private detective, and a psychopathic priest in possession of a…
13
Extreme Prejudice (1987)
★ 6.3/10Also action and thriller
Lean, mean Texas Ranger Jack Benteen locks horns with a former friend, Cash Bailey, now a ruthless drug kingpin. Though they're on opposite sides of the law, they share a love interest in the sensual Sarita. When a…
14
Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and action
A vigilante homeless man pulls into a new city and finds himself trapped in urban chaos, a city where crime rules and where the city's crime boss reigns. Seeing an urban landscape filled with armed robbers, corrupt…
15
Death Wish (2018)
★ 6.2/10Also action and crime
A mild-mannered father is transformed into a killing machine after his family is torn apart by a violent act.
16
Rise of the Footsoldier 3 (2017)
★ 6.4/10Also action and crime
In the late 1980s, Pat Tate journeys from peddling pills in Marbella to his time in prison, where he solidifies his power before his release to reclaim his turf.
17
Switchblade Sisters (1975)
★ 6.3/10Also action and crime
The leader of an inner city girl gang is challenged when a new girl moves into the neighborhood.
18
El Gringo (2012)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and action
A man crossing into Mexico with a satchel of $2,000,000—and a bloody past—finds himself under sudden attack in the sleepy town of El Fronteras.
19
Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006)
★ 7.4/10Also action and crime
Heavyweight Champ George "Iceman" Chambers is sent to a Russian jail on trumped-up drug charges. In order to win his freedom he must fight against the jailhouse fighting champ Uri Boyka in a battle to the death. This…
20
The Born Losers (1967)
★ 6.4/10Also action and crime
A biker gang incites a reign of terror in a California coastal town that culminates in four teenage girls being raped. Vietnam veteran Billy Jack has had enough, however, and takes on the depraved bikers…