Best movies like Compulsion

THEIRS WAS THE PERFECT CRIME they thought! They were too sure...too smart...too careful to leave a clue -- but they did! and it exploded -- The shocking story of two teenagers out for kicks...looking for thrills...and finding them!

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Compulsion Starring Orson Welles, Diane Varsi, Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman, and more. If you liked Compulsion then you may also like: 12 Angry Men, 12 Angry Men, Witness for the Prosecution, Native Son, On Trial 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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Two close friends kidnap and murder a young boy and are defended in court by a renowned attorney who makes an impassioned plea against capital punishment.

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12 Angry Men

The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.

12 Angry Men

During the trial of a man accused of his father's murder, a lone juror takes a stand against the guilty verdict handed down by the others as a result of their preconceptions and prejudices.

Witness for the Prosecution

When Leonard Vole is arrested for the sensational murder of a rich, middle-aged widow, the famous Sir Wilfrid Robarts agrees to appear on his behalf. Sir Wilfrid, recovering from a near-fatal heart attack, is supposed to be on a diet of bland, civil suits—but the lure of the criminal courts is too much for him, especially when the case is so difficult.

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.

On Trial

A man is put on trial for the murder of his best friend. A young attorney wants to become successful and decides to defend him. However, he is very inexperienced.

Jump

JUMP is a psychological drama revealing for the first time the extraordinary circumstances behind the unjust murder trial of the young Jew, Philippe Halsman, who would later become the most sought after celebrity portrait photographer of his generation.

...And Justice for All

An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is forced to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial under the threat of being disbarred.

The Chamber

Idealistic young attorney Adam Hall takes on the death row clemency case of his racist grandfather, Sam Cayhall, a former Ku Klux Klan member he has never met.

Lost Behind Bars

A reporter tracing the effect of the death penalty stumbles across a murder mystery and a potentially innocent man set for execution.

Chicago

Based on a true story, two-timing boozing wife Roxie Hart kills her lover in cold blood after he leaves her, and finagles her way out being indicted. The basis for Kander/Ebb's 1975 Broadway musical of the same name and its Oscar-winning 2002 film adaptation.

Inherit the Wind

Schoolteacher Bertram Cates is arrested for teaching his students Darwin's theory of evolution. The case receives national attention and one of the newspaper reporters, E.K. Hornbeck, arranges to bring in renowned defense attorney and atheist Henry Drummond to defend Cates. The prosecutor, Matthew Brady is a former presidential candidate, famous evangelist, and old adversary of Drummond.

A Time to Kill

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

Easy Virtue

Larita Filton is named as correspondent in a scandalous divorce case. She escapes to France to rebuild her life where she meets John Whittaker. They are later married, but John's well-to-do family finds out Larita's secret.

Primal Fear

An arrogant, high-powered attorney takes on the case of a poor altar boy found running away from the scene of the grisly murder of the bishop who has taken him in. The case gets a lot more complex when the accused reveals that there may or may not have been a third person in the room.

Bad, Black and Beautiful

When Johnny Boyles is falsely accused of murdering his ex-boss, he turns to the unstoppable attorney, Eva Taylor, to help him plea his case.

Till

The true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14 year old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi.

The Judge

A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.

Suspect

When a Supreme Court judge commits suicide and his secretary is found murdered, all fingers point to Carl Anderson, a homeless veteran who's deaf and mute. But when public defender Kathleen Riley is assigned to his case, she begins to believe that Anderson may actually be innocent. Juror Eddie Sanger, a Washington lobbyist, agrees, and together the pair begins their own investigation of events.

Guilty as Sin

Before a criminal lawyer knows what has happened, she is forced to defend a wife killer she knows is guilty.

Inherit the Wind

Based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution.

Inherit the Wind

Two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution.

Marked Woman

In the underworld of Manhattan, a woman dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters.

Town Without Pity

Four American soldiers stationed near a German village face death in the rape of a local girl and are defended by outside counsel Major Steve Grant.

The Trial

After the horrific death of his wife and two sons, suicide seems to be the only escape for small town attorney Kent "Mac" McClain... until he's assigned a capital punishment case that begins to transform his life and those around him forever.

Chi Girl

This offbeat comedy about love and romance won writer, director and actress Heidi Van Lier top honors a Grand Jury Prize at the 1999 Slamdance Film Festival. Heather Green (Van Lier) is a journalist with an alternative newspaper in Chicago who is obsessed with her ex-boyfriend. Randy (Joe Kraemer) is in turn obsessed with Heather. A would-be documentary filmmaker, Randy constantly films her, sometimes without her knowledge. When Heather takes up a challenge from Randy and announces she can seduce the next man she meets, her desperation makes it clear she's had bad luck with men for a very good reason. When Heather finally does meet the man of her dreams, a good-looking attorney named Cliff

Gangs of Chicago

A criminal uses his knowledge of the law for his not-very-legal purposes, betraying friends along the way.

False Faces

The philandering Dr. Silas Brenton is fired from his position at a large hospital and given 24 hours to vacate the state. He sets himself up in Chicago as a "prestigious" plastic surgeon to the stars. However, Brenton's silver tongue can't cover up his dubious methods, and an investigation into his practice is launched by the examining board of plastic surgeons. A delirious film à clef based on the loathsome career of Henry J. Schireson, the self-styled “King of Quacks”.

A Covenant with Death

An innocent man is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, but as he's about to be hanged he accidentally kills his executioner. He now faces a new trial, presided over by a young and inexperienced judge.

Who Is Hope Schuyler?

A girl reporter is trying to tack down the lady-in-the-title, as a key witness in a graft trial, which involves three murder and that many failed attempts. A prosecuting attorney in the district attorneys office is aiding her in solving the mystery of the missing lady.

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.

My Sin

A prostitute living in Panama shoots her pimp and is charged with murder. The lawyer who gets her off fronts her money to start a new life in NY where she becomes a successful business woman and meets wealthy businessman, Harry Davenport. He knows nothing of her past. Then someone from the past shows up. Will she be exposed? Will she follow through on her plan to marry?

The Man Who Cried Wolf

An actor plots "the perfect crime" by confessing to murders he didn't commit.

The Big Tip Off

A newspaper man uses a mobster's tips to get the scoop on gangster activities.

They Won't Forget

A southern town is rocked by scandal when teenager Mary Clay is murdered on Confederate Decoration Day. Andrew Griffin, a small-time lawyer with political ambitions, sees the crime as his ticket to the Senate if he can find the right victim to finger for the crime. He sets out to convict Robert Hale, a transplanted northerner who was Mary's teacher at the business school where she was killed. Despite the fact that all the evidence against Hale is circumstantial, Griffin works with a ruthless reporter to create a media frenzy of prejudice and hate against the teacher.

I Want to Live

The movie tells the story of a woman who struggles and fights to escape the gas chamber being condemned with capital punishment because of her participation in a hold up in which a person was killed.

Death and Texas

Barefoot Bobby Briggs, the legendary running back for the Austin Steers was today sentenced to die for his role in the armed robbery/murder at a downtown Stop 'n Go convenience store... It's five years later, and Bobby's appeals have all but run out, and the Austin Steers are - once again - on the march to the Superbowl, with a lock on the playoffs, when their wide receiver has a season ending injury. With their playoff hopes in shambles, the Governor of Texas controversially offers Bobby a furlough -- from death row -- to help rescue the Steers' post-season hopes, and even play in the Superbowl.

American Hangman

An unidentified man posts a live feed on social media showing that he has kidnapped two strangers and intends to kill one before the day is out. His intention is to hold a capital 'trial' online. As the authorities recognize what's happening, it becomes apparent that the online public is going to act as judge and jury.

The Electric Chair

The murder of an innocent, happy couple leads to a courtroom trial that would sentence the killer to death, but who really did it?

Cross-Examination

Defense Atorney Gerald Waring uses great skill and ingenuity in his efforts to save the life of a young man charged with the murder of his father. Witness after witness piles up damaging evidence against the accused youth, but expert cross-examination by Waring digs out the startling truth behind the killing and subsequently reveals the identity of the real killer in a surprise-twist ending.

The Man Who Dared

A crusading reporter plans his own arrest and conviction for first degree murder, trying to show that the death sentence should be outlawed when based on circumstantial evidence alone, but his plan goes awry.

An American Tragedy

A social climber charms a debutante, seduces a factory worker and commits murder.

Perfect Strangers

Romance at a murder trial with a pair of sequestered jurors who are the only ones who think that the woman in the dock is innocent. Separated from their normal lives, jurors Terry Scott and David Campbell start to fall in love.

Ladies of the Jury

Society matron Mrs. Livingston Baldwin Crane is selected as a juror in the trial of former chorus girl Yvette Gordon, who's accused of murdering her rich older husband. In court and during deliberations, Mrs. Crane proves to be a disruptive and unorthodox juror.

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.

Inherit the Wind

A young man, Bert Cates, is arrested in a small Bible Belt town for teaching the theory of Evolution in the public school. Two of the finest legal minds in the U.S. are called to the trial: Henry Drummond for the defense, and Matthew Harrison Brady for the prosecution. The trial proceeds on three levels, the guilt or innocence of Cates, the issue of the Bible vs. Darwin, and finally, the personal confrontation between Drummond and Brady.

Career Woman

A young woman graduates from a New York City law school, returns to her small hometown, and finds her first case is defending a childhood friend accused of murder. Director Lewis Seiler's 1936 courtroom drama stars Claire Trevor, Isabel Jewell, Michael Whalen, Gene Lockhart, Eric Linden, Charles Middleton, Edward Brophy, Kathleen Lockhart, Guinn Williams, El Brendel, Sterling Holloway, Ray Brown, Howard Hickman, Frank McGlynn Sr., Charles Waldron Sr., Spencer Charters and Eily Malyon.

Inquest

A woman is suspected of killing her husband after a revolver is found in her attic. A coroner is determined to prove that she did it, but thanks to the assistance of a quick-witted lawyer she is eventually found innocent.

Disorder in the Court

The Stooges are key witnesses at a murder trial. Their friend Gail Tempest, who dances at the Black Bottom cafe where the Stooges are musicians, is accused of killing Kirk Robin.

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