Best movies like Canal Street
Guilty until proven innocent
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Canal Street Starring Bryshere Y. Gray, Woody McClain, Lance Reddick, Mekhi Phifer, and more. If you liked Canal Street then you may also like: Eighth Grade, The Young Savages, The Way of All Flesh, Native Son, Black and White 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.
A Chicago lawyer embraces his undying faith when his teenage son is accused of murdering a classmate.
Canal Street
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The Young Savages
A district attorney investigates the racially charged case of three teenagers accused of the murder of a blind Puerto Rican boy.
The Way of All Flesh
The story takes place in Milwaukee during the early 1900s with a bank clerk named August Schiller who is happy with both his job and his family. He is tasked with transporting $1,000 in securities to Chicago. On the train he meets a blond seductress who convinces him to buy her a bottle of champagne, and takes him to a saloon. The next morning he awakes alone in a dilapidated bedroom and without the securities.
Native Son
In 1940s Chicago, a young black man takes a job as a chauffeur to a white family, which takes a turn for the worse when he accidentally kills the teenage daughter of the couple and then tries to cover it up.
Black and White
Australia, 1958. When a nine year old white girl is found murdered, police are quick to arrest illiterate Aborigine, Max Stuart. Under interrogation Max admits to the killing. With a legal system compromised by intimidation tactics, the skills of his two gifted but naïve defense lawyers are put to the test.
A Boy Called Hate
After a run-in with the law, an angry maladjusted young man starts calling himself "Hate". One night he saves a girl from a lusty Assistant District Attorney. He falsely accuses them of robbery, so they go on the run and make things worse.
Accused at 17
A teenager is accused of murdering a classmate and claims that she was framed by her best friend. Her mother must try to find the truth.
Mom at Sixteen
Pregnant sixteen year old Jacey's well-meaning mother forces her to keep the birth a secret and decides to raise the baby as her own.
The Color Purple
A decades-spanning tale of love and resilience and of one woman's journey to independence. Celie faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.
Children on Their Birthdays
Havoc is created in a small Southern community when a 12-year-old shows up, causing a couple 13-year-old friends to fall in love with her, thus possibly jeopardizing their friendship.
Catching Faith
From the outside, Alexa has the perfect life. Her son is the high school football star, daughter a straight A student and her husband is CFO of a booming start-up company. The sudden death ...
Murder on a Sunday Morning
2001 French documentary about the murder trial of a 15 year old black teen accused of murder in Jacksonville, Florida. Winner of 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Hoop Dreams
Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.
The Incident
Small town lawyer, Harmon Cobb, defends a Nazi prisoner of war against murder charges. Set during World War II, Cobb has to contend with the difficulties of defending the devil when the town's only doctor (Barnard Hughes) dies while at "Camp Bremen" in the fictitious town of Bremen, Colorado.
The Perfect Son
Brothers Theo and Ryan lead very different lives. Theo is always in and out of drug rehabilitation while Ryan is a successful and rather conservative lawyer. Usually they do not get along and stay out of each other's way. When reunited at their father's funeral, Ryan's admission to being gay ultimately brings the two closer than they've ever been.
Snipes
Erik is a hip-hop-lovin' teen living in Philadelphia who'd rather spend time listening to his idol, the rapper Prolifik. One day, Erik finds himself more entangled in Prolifik's life than he ever imagined possible: Prolifik's been kidnapped, his master tapes are gone, and, through a series of twisted events, the same people who are after the musician go after Erik, too.
Cornbread, Earl and Me
The unintentional shooting by police of a star basketball player has profound personal, political and community repercussions in this acclaimed adaptation of the novel Hog Butcher by Ronald Fair. This was one of the more thoughtful urban dramas produced at the height of the "blaxploitation" craze. Also released under the title Hit the Open Man, it features the screen debut of Laurence Fishburne, who was barely a teenager at the time.
Anatomy of a Psycho
The crazed brother of a condemned killer sent to the gas chamber swears vengeance on those he holds responsible for his brother's execution.
The Current
Jake loves living in Chicago but when big city violence hits a little too close to home his parents buy a campground in rural Minnesota and move the family there. Jake hates living at the campground until he meets Peter, the boy across the river. The two quickly become best friends and spend a fun-filled summer together on the river. In one of their conversations, Peter shares his Christian faith with Jake. Jake uses his new faith to help a friend through a tragedy.
Heart of America
Starring Jurgen Prochnow ('The Replacement Killers' 'Air Force One' and Patrick Muldoon 'Stigmata' 'Starship Troopers'), 'Heart of America' is a powerhouse of a contemporary drama and essential viewing for anyone who was captivated by Michael Moore's 'Bowling For Columbine'. It is the last day of high school and the unthinkable is about to happen. Distraught at the constant abuse and bullying they have been subjected to, two students have made a suicide pact. But before they take their own lives, they are determined to cause chaos and murder amongst their fellow students.
New Port South
A group of teenagers wish to rebel against the administrators and teachers (the system) in their suburban Chicago high school called New Port South
Blame It on the Night
When his unmarried mother dies, custody of 13-year-old Job is assumed by his alleged father, Chris, whom he has never seen. Job is an enthusiastic cadet at a military academy, and Chris turns out to be a top-grossing rock star who removes Job from his beloved school to keep him company on tour. Getting acquainted is fraught with culture shock for both father and son. Written by Paul Emmons
Anderson's Cross
Nick Anderson, Kevin Daniels, and Tracey Green do everything together. They are the best of friends, and yet they couldn't be more different. Neighbors from adolescence, they finish each other's thoughts and sentences, joys and pains, happiness and tears. Using Nick's house as their own members only clubhouse, they escape into their own world of contentment. Yet the inevitable intrusion of others tests their stability in ways never imagined.
The UnMiracle
A suburban town is torn apart in the aftermath of an accidental teen drug overdose in this ensemble film exploring the mysteries of modern faith.
Stony Island
"Stony Island gives you a priceless look back at Chicago’s South Side neighborhood, at a time when very few films were made in within the city at all — and features a legion of legendary Chicago players (Gene Barge, Phil Upchurch, Larry Ball, Richie Davis, Tennyson Stephens, Ronnie Barron, and a young Susanna Hoffs) alongside Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue”) and Rae Dawn Chong. Telling the story of a group of multiracial R&B performers, and how they’re affected by the death of a veteran musician from their circle, Stony Island is an incredible time capsule, and provides a sweetly funky soundtrack to boot!" -- The Cinefamily
High Yellow
Cynthia Wood, a 17-year-old, light-skinned black girl, tries to pass off as white after getting hired of a wealthy movie magnate Mr. Langley who has family problems with his spoiled wife and his promiscuous teenage daughter and son.
In Defense of a Married Man
When a defense lawyer's adulterous husband becomes the prime suspect in the murder of the woman he was cheating with, his wife chooses to defend him. Can she overcome his betrayal while searching for the truth?
Still the Beaver
This movie reunites most of the members of the Cleaver clan, Wally, June, and of course, the Beaver. Their father Ward has passed away. Wally's married to Mary Ellen and a successful lawyer and has everything to make his life complete except for a child. The Beaver is married but unfortunately is still the same which is why his wife threw him out. With nowhere else to go, he goes home. And he also decides that he wants to raise his children, in his hometown of Mayfield. His wife, who decides that she hasn't done anything in her life, decides to become a veterinarian, but she can only go to school out of the country, so she let's Beaver have the children. So he brings his sons there and they are not exactly impressed with Mayfield and feel that they were dumped there, and bond more with Wally than with their own father. They also have to deal with Eddie Haskell, who has gone from nasty to crooked. It's a good thing they still have their mom.
Perry Mason Returns
When his former secretary is accused of a murder, Perry Mason gives up a judgeship to defend her.
Deadlocked
A young man is accused of rape and murder and placed on trial. His father doesn't believe that he is guilty, so in act of desperation he grabs the bailiff's guns and takes the whole jury hostage and insists that the prosecuting attorney re-investigates the crime that his son's accused of.
Tahara
Carrie Lowstein and Hannah Rosen have been inseparable for as long as they can remember. When their former Hebrew school classmate, Samantha Goldstein, commits suicide, the two girls go to her funeral as well as the "Teen Talk-back" session designed to be an opportunity for them to understand grief through their faith. But, after an innocent kissing exercise turns Carrie's world inside out, the best friends find themselves distracted by the teenage complications of lust, social status, and wavering faith.
Free, White and 21
A motel owner in Texas is accused of raping a civil-rights worker from Sweden.
Cold Justice
When a washed-up boxer invites a British priest to minister in his South Chicago neighborhood, he never suspects that the priest is not who he says he is.
Eighth Grade
Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school — the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year — before she begins high school.