Movies Like Women Behind Bars

If you liked Women Behind Bars (1975), a thriller and crime movie directed by Jesús Franco, 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
Brute Force (1947)
★ 7.3/10Also crime and thriller
Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's…
2
High Sierra (1941)
★ 7.1/10Also crime and thriller
Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.
3
Pickpocket (1959)
★ 7.3/10Also crime
Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up…
4
Le Trou (1960)
★ 8.2/10Also thriller and crime
Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of…
5
Flic Story (1975)
★ 6.4/10Also crime and thriller
The film story depicts Emile Buisson, following the death of his wife and child, escaping from a psychiatric institution in 1947 and returning to Paris. Buisson, who three years later would become France's public enemy…
6
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
★ 7.1/10Also crime
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
7
The Unforgivable (2021)
★ 7.4/10Also crime
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
8
Lock Up (1989)
★ 6.8/10Also crime and thriller
Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison term for a relatively minor crime. Just before he is paroled, however, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. Drumgoole was assigned to a hell-hole prison after his administration…
9
The Night Caller (1975)
★ 7.2/10Also thriller and crime
A serial-killer frightens Paris by phoning young ladies at night, telling them insults about their lives. Minos, as he calls himself, wants to prevent the world from free women and he targets at first these ones…
10
Hold-up (1985)
★ 6.2/10Also crime
Dressed as a clown, the clever rascal Grimm holds up the most secure bank of Montreal and takes 30 hostages. While confusing and ridiculing the police with his strange behavior, he calmly manages to rid the bank of a…
11
Fight for Your Life (1977)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller and crime
A minister dispenses justice on three convicts who take his family hostage.
12
In Cold Light (2026)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller and crime
Fresh out of prison, Ava's attempt to reclaim her drug operation collapses when she witnesses a brutal crime, forcing her to flee into a nightmarish underworld where allies are scarce and enemies multiply by the minute.
13
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…
14
Grindhouse (2007)
★ 7/10Also thriller
Grindhouse combines Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, an action thriller about a murderous stuntman who…
15
Borgo (2024)
★ 6.8/10Also crime
Melissa is an experienced, exemplary prison guard. But a dangerous spiral is set into motion when she transfers to a Corsican jail, where she accepts help and protection from inmate Saveriu to get her bearings. Upon…
16
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.
17
Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and thriller
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…
18
Overdrive (2017)
★ 6.1/10Also thriller
Master car thieves square off against French gangsters in the South of France with money, women and lives all on the line.
19
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…
20
I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017)
★ 6.6/10Also thriller and crime
When a depressed woman is burglarized, she finds a new sense of purpose by tracking down the thieves alongside her obnoxious neighbor. But they soon find themselves dangerously out of their depth against a pack of…