Movies Like The Crooked Way (1949)

The Crooked Way is a 1949 crime, drama, thriller film from Robert Florey with a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Somewhere in the Night and The Clay Pigeon.

Crime Drama Thriller

Somewhere in the Night

1946

George Taylor returns from WWII with amnesia. Back home in Los Angeles, he tries to track down his old identity, stumbling into a 3-year old murder case and a hunt for a missing $2 million.

6.7

MagicScore

The Clay Pigeon

1949

Jim Fletcher, waking up from a coma, finds he is to be given a court martial for treason and charged with informing on fellow inmates in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. Escaping from the hospital he tries to clear himself by enlisting the aid of Martha Gregory, widow of a service buddy he was accused of informing on. Helped also by Ted Niles, a surviving fellow prisoner, he gets closer to finding the answers he needs, and becomes ensnared in a grandiose scheme involving his Japanese ex-prison guard, $10,000,000 of US currency forged by the Japanese and a burgeoning crime network poised to wreak havoc throughout southern California.

5.5

MagicScore

High Wall

1947

Steven Kenet, suffering from a recurring brain injury, appears to have strangled his wife. Having confessed, he's committed to an understaffed county asylum full of pathetic inmates. There, Dr. Ann Lorrison is initially skeptical about Kenet's story and reluctance to undergo treatment. But against her better judgement, she begins to doubt his guilt.

6.3

MagicScore

The Chase

1946

Chuck Scott gets a job as chauffeur to tough guy Eddie Roman; but Chuck's involvement with Eddie's fearful wife becomes a nightmare.

6.2

MagicScore

The Long Kiss Goodnight

1996

Samantha Caine is a small-town schoolteacher and mom with no memory of her life before washing up on a beach eight years ago. After a car accident and a violent home invasion trigger flashes of her past, she discovers she used to be a deadly CIA assassin. Teaming up with a wisecracking private investigator, Samantha must return to her old ways to take down the people who tried to erase her.

6.6

MagicScore

Le Deuxième Souffle

1966

A gangster escapes jail and quickly makes plans to continue his criminal ways elsewhere, but a determined inspector is closing in.

7.6

MagicScore

The Blue Dahlia

1946

Soon after a veteran returns from war, his cheating wife is found dead. He evades police in an attempt to find the real murderer.

6.7

MagicScore

Dark City

1998

A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans.

7.3

MagicScore

Touchez Pas au Grisbi

1954

Gentleman gangster Max and his partner, Riton, pull off their last, most successful heist and find themselves comfortable enough to retire in the style they enjoy. However, Max confides the details of the theft to his younger mistress, Josey -- who has secretly taken up with ambitious young rival gangster Angelo. Angelo then has Riton kidnapped and demands the stash of gold as ransom, which threatens Max's dreams of the perfect retirement.

7.2

MagicScore

#10

Out of the Past

1947

The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

7.6

MagicScore

#11

The Underworld Story

1950

A blacklisted reporter brings his shady ways to a small-town newspaper after being fired from a big city daily.

6.1

MagicScore

#12

My Gun Is Quick

1957

Detective Mike Hammer's investigation of a murder puts him in the middle between warring jewel thieves.

5.4

MagicScore

#13

Pulp Fiction

1994

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.

8.5

MagicScore

#14

Article 99

1992

Dr. Richard Sturgess leads a team of compassionate doctors at a veteran's hospital. Along with Drs. Morgan, Handleman and Van Dorn, he fights to deliver adequate care to needy veterans in the face of funding cuts and a corrupt administration. To succeed, the staff may have to bend the rules and circumvent the villainous "Article 99," a bureaucratic loophole that prevents veterans from receiving the benefits they deserve.

6.2

MagicScore

#15

Key Largo

1948

A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up - and holds at gunpoint hotel owner James Temple, his widowed daughter-in-law Nora, and ex-GI Frank McCloud.

7.5

MagicScore

#16

Fresh

1994

Death and violence anger twelve year old drug courier Fresh, who sets his rival employers against each other.

7.2

MagicScore

#17

Man on Fire

2004

Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she's kidnapped he's consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save her life.

7.5

MagicScore

#18

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

2003

A corrupt CIA agent Sands hires hitman El Mariachi to assassinate a Mexican general hired by a drug kingpin attempting a coup d'état of the President of Mexico.

6.3

MagicScore

#19

Sundays and Cybele

1962

The tragic story of a young orphan girl who is befriended by an innocent but emotionally disabled veteran of the French Indochina War.

7.1

MagicScore

#20

Matewan

1987

Filmed in the coal country of West Virginia, "Matewan" celebrates labor organizing in the context of a 1920s work stoppage. Union organizer, Joe Kenehan, a scab named "Few Clothes" Johnson and a sympathetic mayor and police chief heroically fight the power represented by a coal company and Matewan's vested interests so that justice and workers' rights need not take a back seat to squalid working conditions, exploitation and the bottom line.

7.4

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Crooked Way?

The top films similar to The Crooked Way by MovieMagicScore are Somewhere in the Night (6.7), The Clay Pigeon (5.5), High Wall (6.3). Each shares crime/drama/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Crooked Way worth watching?

The Crooked Way holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10 from 32 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is The Crooked Way?

The Crooked Way (1949) is a crime, drama, thriller film directed by Robert Florey, starring John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Ellen Drew.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Crooked Way?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more crime recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Somewhere in the Night Movies like The Clay Pigeon Movies like High Wall Movies like The Chase Movies like The Long Kiss Goodnight Movies like Le Deuxième Souffle

About movies like The Crooked Way

This ranked list pairs The Crooked Way (1949), a crime and drama and thriller film from Robert Florey, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of John Payne take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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