Movies Like The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) is a drama and crime film directed by Frank Darabont. Its recurring themes include prison, friendship, police brutality, corruption. The 20 films below were selected because they overlap with it on measurable signals — shared genres, shared themes, overlapping cast or crew, and the audiences TMDB records as watching both. The Shawshank Redemption stars Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton; where a recommendation shares one of those performers it is noted on the card.

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20 movies similar to The Shawshank Redemption

GoodFellas (1990) poster

GoodFellas

1990Drama, Crime8.5

The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the gu…

Why it’s similar: Drama • Crime • prison • based on novel or book

The Green Mile (1999) poster

The Green Mile

1999Fantasy, Drama8.5

A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard…

Why it’s similar: Drama • Crime • based on novel or book • Directed by Frank Darabont • Also stars Jeffrey DeMunn

Cool Hand Luke (1967) poster

Cool Hand Luke

1967Drama, Crime7.7

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragli…

Why it’s similar: Drama • Crime • prison • based on novel or book

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) poster

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

2019Drama, Crime7.0

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.

Why it’s similar: Drama • Crime • prison • based on novel or book

Once Upon a Time in America (1984) poster

Once Upon a Time in America

1984Drama, Crime8.4

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old li…

Why it’s similar: Drama • Crime • corruption • based on novel or book

Papillon (1973) poster

Papillon

1973Crime, Drama7.8

A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.

Why it’s similar: Crime • Drama • prison • prison escape

South Central (1992) poster

South Central

1992Crime, Drama6.7

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. Up…

Why it’s similar: Crime • Drama • prison • based on novel or book

Léon: The Professional (1994) poster

Léon: The Professional

1994Crime, Drama8.3

Léon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling…

Why it’s similar: Crime • Drama • police brutality • corruption

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) poster

The Wolf of Wall Street

2013Crime, Drama8.0

A New York stockbroker refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration. Based on Jordan Belf…

Why it’s similar: Crime • Drama • corruption • based on novel or book

Brubaker (1980) poster

Brubaker

1980Crime, Drama7.1

The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

Why it’s similar: Crime • Drama • prison • Also stars Morgan Freeman

The Informer (2019) poster

The Informer

2019Drama, Crime6.5

In New York, former convict Pete Koslow, related to the Polish mafia, must deal with both Klimek the General, his ruthless boss, and the twisted ambitions of two federal agents, as…

Why it’s similar: Drama • Crime • prison • based on novel or book

Bronson (2009) poster

Bronson

2009Drama, Action6.9

A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted…

Why it’s similar: Drama • Crime • prison

The Valachi Papers (1972) poster

The Valachi Papers

1972Crime, Drama6.5

When Joe Valachi has a price put on his head by Don Vito Genovese, he must take desperate steps to protect himself while in prison. An unsuccessful attempt to slit his throat puts…

Why it’s similar: Crime • Drama • prison

Papillon (2017) poster

Papillon

2017Adventure, Crime7.3

Henri “Papillon” Charrière, a safecracker from the Parisian underworld, is wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, where he fo…

Why it’s similar: Crime • Drama • based on novel or book

City of God (2002) poster

City of God

2002Drama, Crime8.4

In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related vio…

Why it’s similar: Drama • Crime • police brutality

Monster (2021) poster

Monster

2021Crime, Drama6.4

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.

Why it’s similar: Crime • Drama

Sleepers (1996) poster

Sleepers

1996Crime, Drama7.6

Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crim…

Why it’s similar: Crime • Drama

A Clockwork Orange (1971) poster

A Clockwork Orange

1971Science Fiction, Crime8.2

In a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the mu…

Why it’s similar: Crime

Lawless (2012) poster

Lawless

2012Crime, Drama7.1

In 1931, the Bondurant brothers of Franklin County, Virginia, run a multipurpose backwoods establishment that hides their true business — bootlegging. Middle brother Forrest is the…

Why it’s similar: Crime • Drama

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) poster

Kiss of the Spider Woman

1985Drama7.0

The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molin…

Why it’s similar: Drama

How this list was built

Candidates come from the recommendation and similar-title data TMDB publishes for The Shawshank Redemption, merged and deduplicated. Each candidate is then re-ranked on genre overlap, shared TMDB keywords, shared director or cast members, and audience-rating confidence. Titles without a poster, a synopsis or enough votes to be a meaningful signal are dropped rather than padded in — which is why some pages show ten results and others twenty.

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