NoBadPicks

Movies Like Johnny Handsome

If you loved Johnny Handsome's Crime and Drama storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.

Top Picks

Straight Time
7.1

Straight Time

1978

After being released on parole, a burglar attempts to go straight, get a regular job, and just go by the rules. He soon finds himself back in jail at the hands of a power-hungry parole officer.

High Sierra
7.1

High Sierra

1941

Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.

Kiss of Death
7.1

Kiss of Death

1947

An ex-con trying to go straight must face a crazed criminal out for revenge.

South of Heaven
6.4

South of Heaven

2021

Convicted felon Jimmy gets early parole after serving twelve years for armed robbery. Upon his release, he vows to give Annie, his childhood love, now dying from cancer, the best last year of her life – unfortunately it’s not that simple.

Awake
6.5

Awake

2007

While undergoing heart surgery, a man experiences a phenomenon called ‘anesthetic awareness’, which leaves him awake but paralyzed throughout the operation. As various obstacles present themselves, his wife must make life-altering decisions while wrestling with her own personal drama.

Brake
5.8

Brake

2012

A Secret Service Agent is held captive in the trunk of a car and endures high-speed mental and physical torture as terrorists attempt to extract needed information for their sinister plot.

Faster
6.3

Faster

2010

After 10 years in prison, Driver is now a free man with a single focus - hunting down the people responsible for brutally murdering his brother.

Down by Law
7.3

Down by Law

1986

A disc jockey, a pimp and an Italian tourist escape from jail in New Orleans.

More Movies Like Johnny Handsome

The Locksmith
5.9

The Locksmith

2023

A thief fresh out of prison, tries to work his way back into the life of his daughter and ex-fiancé. Determined, he is forced to use the skills he has as a gifted locksmith. Things take a tumultuous turn after an unexpected disappearance.

Face/Off
7.1

Face/Off

1997

In order to foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent undergoes facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity of a criminal mastermind. The plan turns sour when the criminal wakes up prematurely and seeks revenge.

Brute Force
7.3

Brute Force

1947

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 chains?

A Crooked Somebody
6.3

A Crooked Somebody

2018

An attention-seeking psychic is kidnapped and tries to use the situation to boost his popularity.

God Is a Bullet
6.0

God Is a Bullet

2023

Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.

No Mercy
5.8

No Mercy

1986

An unconventional undercover Chicago cop and his partner are recruited to commit the murder of a New Orleans criminal kingpin.

The Package
6.1

The Package

1989

Experienced Green Beret sergeant Johnny Gallagher is escorting a prisoner, Airborne Ranger Thomas Boyette, back to the US, but Boyette escapes and Gallagher must risk life and limb to catch him.

Pulp Fiction
8.5

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.

Stir Crazy
6.5

Stir Crazy

1980

New Yorkers Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe have no jobs and no prospects, so they decide to flee the city and find work elsewhere, landing jobs wearing woodpecker costumes to promote the opening of a bank. When their feathery costumes are stolen and used in a bank robbery, they no longer have to worry about employment — they're sent to prison.

Levity
6.1

Levity

2003

Manuel Jordan is a man who is free after serving 23 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery. After nearly two decades of staring at his victim's face on a newspaper clipping in his cell, the newly paroled man seeks redemption. Instead, redemption—in the form of a mysterious minister and two needy women— finds him.

Good Time
7.2

Good Time

2017

After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Connie Nikas embarks on a twisted odyssey through New York City's underworld to get his brother Nick out of jail.

Tightrope
6.1

Tightrope

1984

Wes Block is a detective who's put on the case of a serial killer whose victims are young and pretty women. The murders are getting personal when the killer chooses victims who are acquaintances of Block. Even his daughters are threatened.

Why These Movies Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Johnny Handsome (1989): Crime and Drama themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of Johnny Handsome.

See full details for Johnny Handsome (1989)

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