Best movies like Boardwalk

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Boardwalk Starring Ruth Gordon, Lee Strasberg, Janet Leigh, Joe Silver, and more. If you liked Boardwalk then you may also like: Walk Proud, The Warriors, West Side Story, Nunzio, The Runner Stumbles and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

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In this drama, David Rosen and his wife Becky have lived in the same Coney Island neighborhood for nearly all their married life. But the area is not what it used to be, and a gang leader named Strut has decided to make Coney Island his new turf. Strut begins shaking down the merchants in the area, demanding payment for "protection" and using violence to deal with anyone who gets in his way. David refuses to give Strut protection money for the restaurant he owns, and as a result his diner is soon firebombed, while many of his neighbors are attacked and his synagogue is desecrated.

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Know any good movies to watch like Boardwalk 1979. With a similar plot or stoyline. Suggest it.
6.3 / 10 1979 Drama Romance
suggested by: user9871b9c7389

Walk Proud

A young Chicano gang member in Los Angeles comes to realize that the gang life is not what he really wants but doesn't know how to get out.

The Warriors

Prominent gang leader Cyrus calls a meeting of New York's gangs to set aside their turf wars and take over the city. At the meeting, a rival leader kills Cyrus, but a Coney Island gang called the Warriors is wrongly blamed for Cyrus' death. Before you know it, the cops and every gangbanger in town is hot on the Warriors' trail.

West Side Story

In the slums of the upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, a gang of Polish-American teenagers called the Jets compete with a rival gang of recently immigrated Puerto Ricans, the Sharks, to "own" the neighborhood streets. Tensions are high between the gangs but two romantics, one from each gang, fall in love leading to tragedy.

4.8 / 10 1978
suggested by: starrynight

Nunzio

A mentally-challenged delivery boy indulges in fantasies that he is a superhero in the tough streets of Brooklyn. He lives a life marked with torments from the gang of deadbeats at the corner, overbearing concern from his mother and older brother, and general confusion about women and his burgeoning desires for them.

6.8 / 10 1979 Drama
suggested by: user217bndfhk43

The Runner Stumbles

Dick Van Dyke stars as a priest accused of murdering a nun. Directed by Stanley Kramer, this 1979 drama also features Kathleen Quinlan, Maureen Stapleton, Ray Bolger, Beau Bridges and Tammy Grimes.

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.

Chantel Mitchell, a hip, articulate, black high-school girl in Brooklyn, is determined not to become "just another girl on the IRT" (the IRT is one of NYC's subway lines). She dreams of medical school, a family, and an escape from the generational poverty and street-corner life her friends seem to have accepted as their lot. But personal and sexual challenges confront Chantel on her way to fulfilling these dreams.

Class of 1984

Andy is a new teacher at an inner city high school that is unlike any he has seen before. There are metal detectors at the front door and the place is basically run by a tough kid named Peter Stegman. Soon, Andy and Stegman become enemies and Stegman will stop at nothing to protect his turf and drug dealing business.

Defiance

Tommy takes up temporary housing in a New York neighborhood plagued by a violent gang called the Souls. Tommy is waiting for his next assignment as a seaman and though he tries to avoid the gang and his neighbors, it does not work. Soon he is battling the Souls and not only changing their attitudes, but the attitudes of his previously intimidated neighbors as well.

Wonder Wheel

The story of four characters whose lives intertwine amid the hustle and bustle of the Coney Island amusement park in the 1950s: Ginny, an emotionally volatile former actress now working as a waitress in a clam house; Humpty, Ginny’s rough-hewn carousel operator husband; Mickey, a handsome young lifeguard who dreams of becoming a playwright; and Carolina, Humpty’s long-estranged daughter, who is now hiding out from gangsters at her father’s apartment.

Enemies, a Love Story

A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.

Friends with Money

After she quits her lucrative job, Olivia finds herself unsure about her future and her relationships with her successful and wealthy friends.

Beach Rats

On the outskirts of Brooklyn, Frankie, an aimless teenager, suffocates under the oppressive glare cast by his family and a toxic group of delinquent friends. Struggling with his own identity, Frankie begins to scour hookup sites for older men.

Tart

A student will do anything to become part of the "in-crowd" at the exclusive school she attends in New York.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

Dito Montiel, a successful author, receives a call from his long-suffering mother, asking him to return home and visit his ailing father. Dito recalls his childhood growing up in a violent neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., with friends Antonio, Giuseppe, Nerf and Mike.

Hurricane Streets

Marcus is a kid on Manhattan's mean streets. He's turning 15, his father is dead, his mother is in prison for smuggling undocumented aliens. His grandmother is raising him. He has four close buddies who have a basement clubhouse; they shoplift and sell the wares to kids. One is moving toward selling drugs. Marcus wants to take a breather from the city and visit family in New Mexico. He also meets Melena, 14, a sweet kid who dreams of going to Alaska; her father is not just protective but angry and uncommunicative. The gang pressures Marcus to move up to burglary and car theft. He just wants to breathe open air. Can anything go right?

Imitation of Life

In 1940s New York, a white widow who dreams of being on Broadway has a chance encounter with a black single mother, who becomes her maid.

Little Fugitive

After a prank makes Joey Norton believe he killed his older brother, he runs away from home and spends the day at Coney Island while his brother tries to find him before their mother gets home.

Prison Song

Elijah has been bounced from group home to group home throughout his turbulent young life. What has sustained him is his art. After a promised scholarship is taken away, Elijah ends up in a fight that result in the death of another boy. Now, sentenced to a minimum of fifteen years, the young man must find a way to keep his soul alive behind bars or turn into a hardened bitter criminal.

The Lady and the Mob

Hattie Leonard sets out to break a criminal gang controlling the dry cleaning business.

A Thousand and One

Struggling but unapologetically living on her own terms, Inez is moving from shelter to shelter in mid-1990s New York City. With her 6-year-old son Terry in foster care and unable to leave him again, she kidnaps him so they can build their life together. As the years go by, their family grows and Terry becomes a smart yet quiet teenager, but the secret that has defined their lives threatens to destroy the home they have so improbably built.

Delinquent Daughters

A town is shocked when a high school girl commits suicide. A reporter and a cop team up to investigate and find out exactly what is going on among the youth of the town.

Love Etc.

LOVE ETC. is a witty, poignant and humorous exploration about the universal stages of love, depicted through five real stories over the course of one year in New York City. Young, old, gay, straight – everyone has experienced love – and the joy and frustration that come with it. From teen romance to a decades-long marriage; newlyweds to a recent divorcee, and even a bachelor so frustrated in his search that he chooses to have children without a partner, LOVE ETC. documents the intimate journeys of engaging characters aged 18-89 who reflect the city’s diversity, and takes an honest look at life's most challenging pursuit.

Denmark

Herb’s life is a mess. He’s lost his welfare, can’t hold a job, can’t talk to his son, has a neighbour who won’t shut up and a diet that consists mainly of cheap beer and mushy peas. It’s no way to live and he knows it. Then he learns from a TV news report that Danish prisoners have it way better than he does: a job, accessible healthcare, the quiet of the countryside, even an HDTV. They’re practically living in hotels. He says goodbye (and good riddance) to his dingy flat and smuggles himself to Denmark aboard a cargo ship, landing in a quaint town with everything he needs -- including a bank to rob. But when he meets a friendly local barmaid and a lovable stray dog that won’t leave his side, he begins to wonder if prison really is his only chance of a fulfilling life.

Song for Marion

Arthur is a grumpy pensioner who can't understand why his wife Marion would want to embarrass herself singing silly songs with her unconventional local choir. But choir director Elizabeth sees something special in the reluctant Arthur and refuses to give up on him. As she coaxes him out of his shell, Arthur realizes that it is never too late to change.

Souls in Pawn

Although she is secretly married to a student, a young girl is forced to give up her baby rather than be thought of as an "unwed mother".

Tough Kid

Skipper Murphy is serving as trainer and inspiration for his brother Red Murphy training for a world championship title bout. Trouble comes for the Murphys when Red runs up against a gambling syndicate and is put on the spot to throw the fight.

A New York Heartbeat

Spider, a young gang leader, gets in over his head when he robs a notorious gangster. On the run, he's taken in by a sheltered young woman and her reclusive uncle, a legendary mobster gunned down by the same gangster now pursuing Spider.

100 Days

The film centers on a pair of young lovers; Bapiste is more than ready to have sex with his girlfriend Josette, but she refuses, arguing that when they are married they can have all the sex they would like. Meanwhile, powerful Hutu leaders have had enough of Tutsi rebels and call on all Hutus to kill their Tutsi neighbors. As chaos breaks out, the Tutsis flee and the lovers are separated. Josette and her family find solace in a Catholic church run by a sadistic priest. The Catholic Church, the state, and the French army look the other way as bloodshed ensues. Josette is taken as a "wife" by the priest and repeatedly raped. When the Belgian army sent in to protect the church is called away on an emergency, the Hutus attack and massacre hundreds of women and children. Josette miraculously survives, but she is only a husk of the woman that she was. As the Tutsis regroup, they exact terrible revenge.

One-Round Hogan

"One-Round' Hogan is a heavyweight prizefighter with a knockout punch contending for a championship bout who, because of the death of a friend, almost wrecks his own career by holding back.

Girls in Chains

A fired teacher finds work at a girls reform school and helps a detective on a case.

Good After Bad

Wes Thorne and Shelly Ackerman — two people living in opposite worlds. Shelly’s mother is off her medication so her home life is in shambles and she’s being bullied at school. Wes is an eccentric, wealthy man who has deep-seated issues with women and no close friends. When Wes offers to be Shelly’s legal guardian, both of their lives take a dramatic turn.

Bobby G. Can't Swim

Bobby G. lives life on the edge in this real, raw New York street drama. Bobby is a small-time coke dealer, always on the hustle but rarely successful. He lives in Hell's Kitchen with his Puerto Rican girlfriend Lucy, who makes ends meet as a prostitute. A typical day finds Bobby selling $20 bags to neighborhood locals and passing cars. A yuppie kid looking to score a kilo of coke approaches him to broker a deal and Bobby sees the opportunity of a lifetime to make some real money. His rough days may just be over. With the tidy profit he could even leave the business. Playing out of his league, Bobby arranges to get the kilo from Astro, a fearsome, high-level drug dealer. Though Lucy announces that she's decided to go back to Puerto Rico and pleads with him to make a fresh start too, Bobby is sticking to his deal and isn't going anywhere now, convinced he'll be 'livin' large in a matter a' days...

5.3 / 10 2006 Comedy Drama
suggested by: laughterqueen

Choking Man

The social anxiety of a morbidly shy Ecuadorian dishwasher working in a Queens diner provides the psychological engine that powers this blend of drama and magical realism.

5.3 / 10 2014 Drama
suggested by: user437foysx0j7

Five Star

After John’s absent father is struck by a stray bullet, Primo takes it upon himself to verse the young boy in the code of the streets—one founded on respect and upheld by fear. A member of the Bloods since the age of twelve—both in the film and in reality—the streets of Brooklyn are all Primo has ever known. While John questions whether or not to enter into this life, Primo must decide whether to leave it all behind as he vows to become a better husband and father. Set during those New York summer weeks where the stifling heat seems to encase everything, Five Star plunges into gang culture with searing intensity. Director Keith Miller observes the lives of these two men with a quiet yet pointed distance, carefully eschewing worn clichés through its unflinching focus. Distinctions between fiction and real life remain intentionally ambiguous, allowing the story of these two men to resonate beyond the streets, as they face the question of what it means to be a man.

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