50 Movies Like Dirty Harry (1971) You Need to Watch Next
Updated August 2026
View Dirty Harry details →If you loved Dirty Harry (1971) by Don Siegel, here are 50 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are Sicario, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Bullitt. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
The Best Movies Similar to Dirty Harry
Selected for their real similarity in content, these are the movies that share the most with Dirty Harry in terms of theme, narrative tone, and cinematic style. Every recommendation goes beyond genre — we evaluate the type of conflict, pacing, dramatic context, and the experience they create for viewers.
Sicario
2015 · Denis Villeneuve
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
2018 · Stefano Sollima
Agent Matt Graver teams up with operative Alejandro Gillick to prevent Mexican drug cartels from smuggling terrorists across the United States border.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Bullitt
1968 · Peter Yates
Senator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal's hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch o
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Rip
2026 · Joe Carnahan
Trust frays when a team of Miami cops discovers millions in cash inside a run-down stash house, calling everyone — and everything — into question.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Lethal Weapon
1987 · Richard Donner
A veteran cop and an unstable detective become partners who must put their differences aside in order to bring down a heroin-smuggling ring run by ex-Special Forces.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Lethal Weapon 4
1998 · Richard Donner
With personal crises and age weighing in on them, LAPD officers Riggs and Murtaugh must contend with a deadly Chinese crime lord trying to get his brother out of prison.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Lethal Weapon 2
1989 · Richard Donner
Riggs and Murtaugh are on the trail of South African diplomats using their immunity to engage in criminal activities.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Lethal Weapon 3
1992 · Richard Donner
Riggs and Murtaugh pursue a former officer who uses his knowledge of police procedure and policies to steal and sell confiscated guns and ammunition to local street gangs.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Outlaws
2017 · Kang Yun-sung
In Chinatown, law and order is turned upside down when a trio of feral Chinese gangsters arrive, start terrorizing civilians, and usurping territory. The beleaguered local gangsters team up with the p
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Payback
1999 · Brian Helgeland
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 a
In common: Action · Crime
The Man from Nowhere
2010 · Lee Jeong-beom
A reclusive pawnshop owner goes on a brutal rampage to rescue a young girl kidnapped by a criminal organization.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
John Wick: Chapter 4
2023 · Chad Stahelski
With the price on his head ever increasing, John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances ac
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
John Wick: Chapter 2
2017 · Chad Stahelski
John Wick is forced out of retirement by a former associate looking to seize control of a shadowy international assassins’ guild. Bound by a blood oath to aid him, Wick travels to Rome and does battle
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
2014 · Frank Miller
Some of Sin City's most hard-boiled citizens cross paths with a few of its more reviled inhabitants.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Run All Night
2015 · Jaume Collet-Serra
Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon has seen better days. Longtime best friend of a mob boss, Jimmy is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective who’s been on
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Safe
2012 · Boaz Yakin
After a former elite agent rescues a 12-year-old Chinese girl who's been abducted, they find themselves in the middle of a standoff between Triads, the Russian Mafia and high-level corrupt New York Ci
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Protégé
2021 · Martin Campbell
Rescued as a child by the legendary assassin Moody and trained in the family business, Anna is the world’s most skilled contract killer. When Moody, the man who was like a father to her and taught her
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Blitz
2011 · Elliott Lester
A tough cop is dispatched to take down a serial killer who has been targeting police officers.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Last Stand
2013 · Kim Jee-woon
Ray Owens is sheriff of the quiet US border town of Sommerton Junction after leaving the LAPD following a bungled operation. Following his escape from the FBI, a notorious drug baron, his gang, and a
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Cop Land
1997 · James Mangold
Freddy Heflin is the sheriff of a place everyone calls “Cop Land” — a small and seemingly peaceful town populated by the big city police officers he’s long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place
In common: Crime · Thriller
The Girl in the Spider's Web
2018 · Fede Álvarez
After being enlisted to recover a dangerous computer program, hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist find themselves caught in a web of spies, cybercriminals and corrupt government of
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Swordfish
2001 · Dominic Sena
Rogue agent Gabriel Shear is determined to get his mitts on $9 billion stashed in a secret Drug Enforcement Administration account. He wants the cash to fight terrorism, but lacks the computer skills
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
2009 · Tony Scott
Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day's work for dispatcher Walter Garber into a face-off with the mastermin
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The November Man
2014 · Roger Donaldson
An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
High and Low
1963 · Akira Kurosawa
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
In common: Crime · Thriller
Collateral
2004 · Michael Mann
Cab driver Max picks up a man who offers him $600 to drive him around. But the promise of easy money sours when Max realizes his fare is an assassin.
In common: Crime · Thriller
The Specialist
1994 · Luis Llosa
May Munro is a woman obsessed with getting revenge on the people who murdered her parents when she was still a girl. She hires Ray Quick, a retired explosives expert, to kill her parents' killers. Whe
In common: Action · Thriller
Body Heat
1981 · Lawrence Kasdan
During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.
In common: Crime · Thriller
Shelter
2026 · Ric Roman Waugh
A man living in self-imposed exile on a remote island rescues a young girl from a violent storm, setting off a chain of events that forces him out of seclusion to protect her from enemies tied to his
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
A Working Man
2025 · David Ayer
Levon Cade left behind a decorated military career in the black ops to live a simple life working construction. But when his boss's daughter, who is like family to him, is taken by human traffickers,
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Fast X
2023 · Louis Leterrier
Over many missions and against impossible odds, Dom Toretto and his family have outsmarted, out-nerved and outdriven every foe in their path. Now, they confront the most lethal opponent they've ever f
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Beekeeper
2024 · David Ayer
One man's campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as Beekeepers.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Ballerina
2025 · Len Wiseman
Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Eve Macarro begins her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Furious 7
2015 · James Wan
Deckard Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family for his comatose brother.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Equalizer 3
2023 · Antoine Fuqua
Robert McCall finds himself at home in Southern Italy but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friend
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
From Paris with Love
2010 · Pierre Morel
James Reese has a good job as an ambassador's aid in France, but his real passion is a side gig—working in a minor role in the CIA. He would love to be a full-fledged agent and can't believe his luck
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Equalizer 2
2018 · Antoine Fuqua
Robert McCall, who serves an unflinching justice for the exploited and oppressed, embarks on a relentless, globe-trotting quest for vengeance when his former partner is murdered.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Extraction 2
2023 · Sam Hargrave
Back from the brink of death, highly skilled commando Tyler Rake takes on another dangerous mission: saving the imprisoned family of a ruthless gangster.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Fate of the Furious
2017 · F. Gary Gray
When a mysterious woman seduces Dom into the world of crime and a betrayal of those closest to him, the crew face trials that will test them as never before.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Negotiator
1998 · F. Gary Gray
The police try to arrest expert hostage negotiator Danny Roman, who insists he's being framed for his partner's murder in what he believes is an elaborate conspiracy. Thinking there's evidence in the
In common: Action · Crime
Bad Boys for Life
2020 · Bilall Fallah
Marcus and Mike are forced to confront new threats, career changes, and midlife crises as they join the newly created elite team AMMO of the Miami police department to take down the ruthless Armando A
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Point Break
1991 · Kathryn Bigelow
In Los Angeles, a gang of bank robbers who call themselves The Ex-Presidents commit their crimes while wearing masks of Reagan, Carter, Nixon and Johnson. Believing that the members of the gang could
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Crank
2006 · Brian Taylor
Chev Chelios, a hit man wanting to go straight, lets his latest target slip away. Then he awakes the next morning to a phone call that informs him he has been poisoned and has only an hour to live unl
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Wanted
2008 · Timur Bekmambetov
Doormat Wesley Gibson is an office worker whose life is going nowhere. He meets an attractive woman named Fox and discovers that his recently murdered father - whom Wesley never knew - belonged to the
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Crank: High Voltage
2009 · Mark Neveldine
Chelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Transporter Refueled
2015 · Camille Delamarre
The fast-paced action movie is again set in the criminal underworld in France, where Frank Martin is known as The Transporter, because he is the best driver and mercenary money can buy. In this instal
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
The Killer
1989 · John Woo
Mob assassin Jeffrey is no ordinary hired gun; the best in his business, he views his chosen profession as a calling rather than simply a job. So, when beautiful nightclub chanteuse Jennie is blinded
In common: Action · Crime
Wild Card
2015 · Simon West
When a Las Vegas bodyguard with lethal skills and a gambling problem gets in trouble with the mob, he has one last play… and it's all or nothing.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Taken 2
2012 · Olivier Megaton
In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter.
In common: Action · Crime · Thriller
Death Wish
2018 · Eli Roth
A mild-mannered father is transformed into a killing machine after his family is torn apart by a violent act.
In common: Action · Crime
Popular series
Breaking Bad
2008 · Michelle MacLaren
Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live. He becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
2023 · Kazutaka Yamanaka
After the party of heroes defeated the Demon King, they restored peace to the land and returned to lives of solitude. Generations pass, and the elven mage Frieren comes face to face with humanity’s m
Avatar: The Last Airbender
2005 · Michael Dante DiMartino
In a war-torn world of elemental magic, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar, and bring peace to the world.
