Best movies like Sabu
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Sabu Starring Satoshi Tsumabuki, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Tomoko Tabata, Kazue Fukiishi, and more. If you liked Sabu then you may also like: 13 Assassins, Whirlwind, Jailbait, Desperate Moment, Framed 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.
When a young man is sent to a prison workhouse for a crime he did not commit his friend on the outside must find evidence to clear his name.
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Whirlwind
Set at the end of the Siege of Osaka this film follows the exploits of several members of the defeated Toyotomi clan as they cope with the post battle chaos and the persecution of the Shogun's army. Five samurai decide on different fates when it becomes clear that their side is being destroyed. One wants to attack the enemy head on in a final honorable death. Another decides to commit hari-kiri but wants to find a glorious view to do it. His close friend, the "coward", just wants to run and give up the life of a samurai. The final two set their own castle on fire to garner favors from the enemy and therefore avert their own death during the massacre of all defeated soldiers as
Jailbait
Randy commits a crime that would normally get him probation and a hefty fine, but in the "three-strikes" world of justice, he finds himself locked up for 25 years. His cellmate Jake is a congenial yet remorseless lifer who casually informs Randy that he slit his wife's throat because she slept with another man just three months after they exchanged vows. Jake recognizes Randy's fear and offers him advice on how to make it in prison. But it soon becomes clear that Jake has much more than mentoring in mind as he takes Randy under his wing. "Jailbait" sets a darkly cerebral tone, juxtaposing brutality with the unattainable ideal of intimacy in the harshest of psychological environments. For these two men so yearning to be anything but who they are and where they are, power is the goal, and it's never clear who truly holds it right up to the last unsettling moment
Desperate Moment
Story of a Dutchman's flight across post-war Germany trying to locate the man who alone can clear him of a false murder charge. (BFI Website)
Framed
Joe Don Baker plays a gambler who is framed for a crime he did not commit. A corrupt legal system leads him into a plea bargain and four years behind bars. By the time he gets out of prison, he's determined to put together the pieces of his frame-up and dole out the justice he was denied to those responsible.
Slightly Scarlet
Kleptomaniac Dorothy Lyons is paroled from prison into the custody of her sister June, secretary to "reform" politician Frank Jansen. Ben Grace, associate of crime boss Sol "Solly" Caspar, sees this as a way to smear Jansen's campaign. Seductive Dorothy will do anything to get what she wants, which includes having a good time with Ben-- whom June is now in love with.
Inn of Evil
The story takes place in feudal Japan, when any commerce with the rest of the world was strictly prohibited. An idealist suddenly appears in an isolated inn (the one that the title refers to), the head-quarters of a group of smugglers, with stolen money intended to ransom his loved one who is forced to work in a brothel.
Love and Honor
A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.
The Midnight Man
An ex-convict, and ex-cop, finds himself in the midst of drama as a murder, of a female student, is commited at the university where he works as a night watchman. He is reluctantly drawn into the criminal investigation and eventually becomes a suspect in the case. Will he be able to find the real murderer and clear his own name, or not?
Circumstantial Evidence
A man waits on death row while his son and friend try to prove that he did not kill a grocer with an ax.
The Man Who Cried Wolf
An actor plots "the perfect crime" by confessing to murders he didn't commit.
The Crime Doctor's Diary
A criminal psychologist tries to clear his patient of arson charges.
The Crime Doctor's Gamble
While visiting France, a criminal psychologist tries to clear a disturbed young man of his father's murder.
Mantrap
Branded as criminally insane and incarcerated for a murder he did not commit, Speight escapes from the asylum, determined to clear his name. He befriends private detective Hugo Bishop who, convinced that the wrong man has been convicted, agrees to help find the real killer. They begin their search for the murderer closest to home where both Thelma Speight and her employer Maurice Jerrard were visibly distressed by the news of her husband's jailbreak. More than Speight's 'insanity' fuels their worries.
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
A teenage high school drop-out Bobby McLaughlin is accused of the murder of a local drug dealer he says he didn’t commit. When he is convicted with little evidence, his father begins a fierce struggle to free his son from prison.
Nothing But the Truth
A polygraph examiner has an affair with a murder suspect after her test clears him, but new evidence then suggests that he's guilty after all.
Owls' Castle
As the great military commander Nobunaga Oda was consolidating his power across Japan, one of his actions was to wipe out a clan of assassins, killing every man, woman and child he found in the village. Years later, one of the survivors has hired a young but skilled assassin to avenge the deaths of his friends and family. His mission: to sneak into the most heavily guarded castle in Japan, and kill the supreme ruler of the country.
Yagyu Chronicles 1: Secret Scrolls
Two groups are after the legendary Yagyu Secret Scrolls. A princess of a disgraced clan and her loyal servant want it to clear their family's name. And a rival clan wants it to destroy the Yagyu family. Only master swordsman, Yagyu Jubei stands in their way. What is the secret that is hidden away in the scrolls?
End of the Road
A crime writer believes that a man imprisoned for committing the notorious "Flower Shop Murder" is innocent of the crime. He believes he knows who the actual culprit is, and sets out to befriend the man and get enough evidence to prove that he is the real killer.
Lesson in Murder
Masaya is a university student, but he attends a school that's not his ideal school. His days are generally gloomy. One day, he receives a letter from serial killer Haimura. He was convicted for nine murders and received the death penalty. Back when Haimura was committing his murders, he ran a bakery store. At that time, Masaya was a middle-school student and a customer at his bakery store. According to the letter, Haimura confesses to having committed eight murders, but he insists that he did not commit the last murder. Masaya begins to investigate the last murder case involving Haimura.
Behind Prison Gates
An agent for the state attorney general poses as a convict to learn about bank loot.
Murder City Angels
A story of redemption in the Murder City. Nick wants out of the mean streets and robberies, he is ready to become a family man...but first he must clear his name of a bank heist he did not commit. Produced by NBA star Rip Hamilton.
Hunter in the Dark
Yataro Tanigawa, a one-eyed hired assassin, impresses yakuza boss Gomyo Kiyoemon with his skill. Gomyo hires Tanigawa as his bodyguard, or yojimbo, to protect him during an inter-clan conflict. Tanigawa quickly rises in stature in the clan, but finds his boss's enemies almost overwhelming.
Withered Tree, the Adventures of Monjiro
Kogarashi Monjiro is a lone samurai who agrees to take responsibility for a murder that his friend committed so that he can stay with his dying mother, with the expectation that his friend will confess and get him pardoned once she dies. Monjiro is sentenced to an island for prisoners. When he discovers that his friend's mother has died over a year ago, Monjiro seeks to escape with a group of prisoners in order to get his revenge.
One Night at Susie's
A woman gets help from her gangster friends after her foster son takes the blame for a murder he did not commit.
6,149 Days
Greg Taylor was convicted in 1993 for the murder of Jacquetta Thomas, who was beaten to death in 1992. Contributing factors to Taylor’s wrongful conviction included a rushed police investigation, evidence that was withheld from defense attorneys and misleading testimony that was presented to the jury. In 2010, after Taylor spent 16 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission dismissed the murder charge against him and he walked out of prison a free and innocent man.
False Arrest
A luxury home, a handsome husband and terrific children. But it all comes crashing down when she is accused of being a mastermind behind a brutal triple-homicide and is arrested and handcuffed in front of her own children. A gripping story of passion and betrayal as a woman fights to clear her name and avoid the death penalty for a crime she didn't commit.
Worm
"Worm" tells the story of a man wanted for a double homicide in the small town of Guthrie, OK. Jason "Worm" Truitt has a young daughter that he loves dearly - and a beautiful girlfriend that he feels is out of his league. Worm is always doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, taking odd jobs for shady men, and even breaking the law from time to time. He is constantly tailed by the local Sheriff, and constantly berated by his own Father and friends. The film plays out as a Southern Neo-Noir of sorts. A modern day "whodunit" tale told using a chest-mounted Snorricam. The audience journeys with Worm as he tries to clear his name and make safe the ones he loves. Along the way, he is entangled in a small town crime syndicate and nearly loses the people that mean the most to him. Did he commit this heinous crime? Will his past sins catch up to him? Only God knows.
Destry Rides Again
The story about a man framed for a crime he didn't commit, who returns to wreak havoc following his release from prison.
Mallory: Circumstantial Evidence
In this pilot film, Mallory is a prominent lawyer with a tarnished reputation who defends a young man charged with committing homicide against a sexual predator in prison.
King of the Bandits
Traveling north into Arizona, Cisco finds that someone committing robberies has been impersonating him and he is a wanted man. After retrieving some of the stolen loot, he is caught with it in his posession and put in the guard house. A friend whose life he recently saved beaks him out and Cisco heads out to find the impersonator and clear himself.
The Actress vs. the Greedy Sharks
Framed by his enemies, Manbe finds himself imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit. His only hope lies with his daughter Yuki who takes it upon herself to clear his name.
Detective Tex: Circumstantial Evidence
Tex, a famous detective, recounts the story of how he went into the crime business: While visiting his old friend, Jack Nelson, a dispute breaks out between Nelson and his butler. Later that night, Nelson is murdered, and the next morning the murder weapon, a knife, is discovered next to the body. Edna, the victim's wife, seizes the knife, and Tex, fearing that she is about to kill herself, throws the weapon out the window. Interpreting Tex's actions as incriminating, the police arrest him, and he is sentenced to prison. Two years later, a fire breaks out at the penitentiary, and Tex's bravery in saving the warden's wife and child wins him a pardon. Determining to solve Nelson's murder, Tex searches for the butler but discovers him to be innocent. Summoned to Edna's deathbed, Tex hears her confess to the crime, thus causing him to devote his life to solving crimes and saving innocents from being convicted on circumstantial evidence.
13 Assassins
A sadistic Daimyo (feudal lord) rapes a woman and murders both her and her husband, but even when one of his own vassals commits suicide to bring attention to the crime, the matter is quickly hushed up. Not only will there be no punishment, but because the Daimyo is the Shogun's younger brother, he will soon be appointed to a high political position from which he could wreak even more havoc. Convinced that the fate of the Shogunate hangs in the balance, a plot is hatched to assassinate the Daimyo. The two most brilliant strategic minds of their generation find themselves pitted against each other; one is tasked to defend a man he despises, and has a small army at his disposal. The other is given a suicide mission, and has 12 brave men. They are the 13 Assassins.