Movies Like Desperado (1995)

Desperado is a 1995 action, crime, thriller film from Robert Rodriguez with a MovieMagicScore of 6.9/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with El Mariachi and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Action Crime Thriller

El Mariachi

1993

El Mariachi just wants to play his guitar and carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, the town he tries to find work in has another visitor, a killer who carries his guns in a guitar case. The drug lord and his henchmen mistake el Mariachi for the killer, Azul, and chase him around town trying to kill him and get his guitar case.

6.7

MagicScore

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

The Appaloosa

1966

A man tries to recover a horse stolen from him by a Mexican bandit.

6.3

MagicScore

Con Air

1997

Newly-paroled former US Army ranger Cameron Poe is headed back to his wife, but must fly home aboard a prison transport flight dubbed "Jailbird" taking the “worst of the worst” prisoners, a group described as “pure predators”, to a new super-prison. Poe faces impossible odds when the transport plane is skyjacked mid-flight by the most vicious criminals in the country led by the mastermind — genius serial killer Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, and backed by black militant Diamond Dog and psychopath Billy Bedlam.

6.8

MagicScore

The Gauntlet

1977

Phoenix cop Ben Shockley is well on his way to becoming a derelict when he is assigned to transport a witness from Las Vegas. The witness turns out to be a belligerent prostitute with mob ties—and incriminating information regarding a high-ranking official.

6.5

MagicScore

Eraser

1996

A Witness Protection specialist becomes suspicious of his co-workers when dealing with a case involving high-tech weapons.

6.1

MagicScore

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

1974

An American bartender and his prostitute girlfriend go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.

7.1

MagicScore

Hannie Caulder

1971

After she's raped by the outlaw trio who murdered her husband, a frontierswoman hires a bounty hunter to instruct her in the ways of a gun in order to exact her revenge.

6.2

MagicScore

Assault on Precinct 13

1976

A highway patrol officer, two criminals, and a station secretary form an unlikely alliance to defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.

7.3

MagicScore

#10

End of Watch

2012

Two young officers are marked for death after confiscating a small cache of money and firearms from the members of a notorious cartel during a routine traffic stop.

7.3

MagicScore

#11

The President's Man

2000

To many, Joshua McCord is a charismatic Asian studies professor. To the President of the United States, he's America's greatest secret weapon; a covert operative charged with only the most sensitive and dangerous missions.

4.5

MagicScore

#12

Die Hard 2

1990

One year after his heroics in Los Angeles, John McClane is an off-duty cop who is the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. On a snowy Christmas Eve, as he waits for his wife's plane to land at Washington Dulles International Airport, terrorists take over the air traffic control system in a plot to free a South American army general and drug smuggler being flown into the US to face drug charges. It's now up to McClane to take on the terrorists, while coping with an inept airport police chief, an uncooperative anti-terrorist squad, and the life of his wife and everyone else trapped in planes circling overhead.

7.0

MagicScore

#13

Clear and Present Danger

1994

Agent Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA when Admiral Greer is diagnosed with cancer. When an American businessman, and friend of the president, is murdered on his yacht, Ryan starts discovering links between the man and drug dealers. As former CIA agent John Clark is sent to Colombia to kill drug cartel kingpins in retaliation, Ryan must fight through multiple cover-ups to figure out what happened and who's responsible.

6.6

MagicScore

#14

Fist of Fury

1972

Chen Chen returns to his former school in Shanghai when he learns that his beloved instructor has been murdered. While investigating the man's death, Chen discovers that a rival Japanese school is operating a drug smuggling ring. To avenge his master’s death, Chen takes on both Chinese and Japanese assassins… and even a towering Russian.

7.2

MagicScore

#15

High Noon

1952

Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has been freed, and will be arriving on the noon train. Knowing the outlaw and his gang are coming to kill him, Kane is determined to stand his ground, so he attempts to gather a posse from among the local townspeople.

7.7

MagicScore

#16

The Man from Nowhere

2010

An ex-special agent is involved in a convoluted drug ring drama. He has to save a drug smuggler's innocent daughter from being the victim of her parents' fight.

7.7

MagicScore

#17

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

2018

Agent Matt Graver teams up with operative Alejandro Gillick to prevent Mexican drug cartels from smuggling terrorists across the United States border.

6.9

MagicScore

#18

Take a Hard Ride

1975

After his cattle rancher boss dies, right-hand man Pike is given the job of returning $86,000 to some families who live across the border in Sonora, Mexico. Honest Pike is joined on the trip through the wilderness by a dishonest gambler named Tyree.

5.2

MagicScore

#19

Bangkok Dangerous

2008

When carrying out a hit, assassin Joe always makes use of the knowledge of the local population. On arriving in Bangkok, Joe meets street kid Kong and he becomes his primary aide. But when Kong is nearly killed, he asks Joe to train him up in the deadly arts and unwittingly becomes a target of a band of killers.

5.2

MagicScore

#20

The Replacement Killers

1998

Hired assassin John Lee is asked by Chinatown crime boss Terence Wei to murder the young son of policeman Stan Zedkov. Lee has the boy in his sights, but his conscience gets the better of him, and he spares the child's life. Afraid that Wei will take revenge on his family in China, Lee seeks out expert forger Meg Coburn to obtain the passport he needs to get out of the country, but a band of replacement killers is soon on his trail.

6.2

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Desperado?

The top films similar to Desperado by MovieMagicScore are El Mariachi (6.7), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (6.3), The Appaloosa (6.3). Each shares action/crime/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Desperado worth watching?

Desperado holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.9/10 from 3,007 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Desperado?

Desperado (1995) is a action, crime, thriller film directed by Robert Rodriguez, starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek Pinault, Joaquim de Almeida.

Where can I find more recommendations like Desperado?

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

Keep exploring

Movies like El Mariachi Movies like Once Upon a Time in Mexico Movies like The Appaloosa Movies like Con Air Movies like The Gauntlet Movies like Eraser

About movies like Desperado

This ranked list pairs Desperado (1995), a action and crime and thriller film from Robert Rodriguez, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Antonio Banderas 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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