Best movies like While the City Sleeps

A tough detective who is part of an elite New York City unit is trying to find out who killed his partner, but uncovers a plot to kidnap mobsters for money.

The story begins in 1923 where after an accident, a newspaper reporter needs to raise $5,000 to pay for an operation, otherwise his young sister will be crippled for life. The desperate reporter is finally able to get the cash from a shady acquaintance, Riggs. Eight years later in New York, circumstances conspire to place the reporter as the number one suspect in the murder of a showgirl. With no witness or alibi, the reporter devises a plan to smoke out the real culprit. A meeting is arranged under the cover of night and to the surprise of both men, the murderer is Riggs. Out of gratitude for past generosity to his sister, the reporter agrees not to expose Riggs, however unwittingly leads the police to him! Riggs is found guilty, and a dramatic scene in the courthouse ensues.

Questioned as a murder suspect, solid (but drunk) citizen Al Willis attacks his police questioners, is beaten, and swears vengeance against them. Next night, Lieut. Parks is murdered; Willis is the only suspect in the eyes of tough Chief Conroy, who pursues him doggedly despite lack of evidence. The obsessed Conroy is dismissed from the force, but continues to harass Willis, who flees to a sleazy town on the Mexican border. Of course, Conroy follows. But which is crazy, Conroy or Willis?

Chicago psychiatrist Judd Stevens is suspected of murdering one of his patients when the man turns up stabbed to death in the middle of the city. After repeated attempts to convince the cops of his innocence, Dr. Stevens is forced to go after the real villains himself.

A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's widow on a tense train ride.

Helen Roberts, who's on probation, goes back to work as a waitress at Torre's Fish Palace, a San Francisco waterfront dive. The customers are low characters trying to make time with Helen and ex-rum runners trying to make a dishonest dollar. Some of the latter, including Helen's unwelcome suitor Martin Rhodes, are after a mysterious, valuable hidden "cargo"; when violence erupts, Helen finds herself innocently involved, and is soon on the run from both cops and crooks.

Chick Williams, a prohibition gangster, rejoins his mob soon after being released from prison. When a policeman is murdered during a robbery, he falls under suspicion. The gangster took Joan, a policeman's daughter, to the theater, sneaked out during the intermission to commit the crime, then used her to support his alibi. The detective squad employs its most sophisticated and barbaric techniques, including planting an undercover agent in the gang, to bring him to justice.

When his partner is killed, tough Irish detective Eddie Ryan vows to avenge the death, whatever the cost. As he begins unraveling clues, his behavior becomes so outrageous that he's obliged to turn in his badge, but the experience only emboldens him. Ryan eventually learns that his partner was caught up in a Puerto Rican gun-running scheme masterminded by a crook named Sweet Willie, who wants to foment revolutionary war.

Detectives Jimmy and Paul, despite nine years as partners, can still sometimes seem like polar opposites—especially when Paul's unpredictable antics get them suspended without pay. Already strapped for cash and trying to pay for his daughter's wedding, Jimmy decides to sell a rare baseball card that's worth tens of thousands. Unfortunately, when the collector's shop is robbed and the card vanishes with the crook, Paul and Jimmy end up going rogue, tracking down the card and the drug ring behind its theft, all on their own time and without any backup—except for each other.

Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

A drunken ex-cop gets a shot at redemption when his young son is kidnapped after a smuggling deal goes belly up.

"Popeye" Doyle travels to Marseilles to find Alain Charnier, the drug smuggler that eluded him in New York.

Michael Lanyard's faithful butler Jamison is mistaken for his boss by a gang of jewel robbers.

A writer of BAD detective novels is in full writers' block. He pretends to be the alibi of a beautiful woman who was arrested for murder at first thinking her innocent, but as she shows more and more interesting abilities (such as knife throwing) he begins to doubt his first assessment.

Eddie is conned into fronting a speakeasy for a local gangster who intends to frame him for the murder of a cop.

Jury foreman Edward Weldon's questioning leads to the death sentence for Ethel Saxon. His daughter Stella claims to have killed her lover, the gangster Garboni, just as Saxon was to sit in the electric chair.

Honest cop Tim Kerry struggles to keep his son Ritzy from becoming involved in a crime ring.

Two veteran New York City detectives work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?

Released five years after the first installment, Tiger Claws II finds Yeung's martial arts serial killer, Chong, busted out of jail by a team of heavies in the employ of gangster Dai Lo Fu and whisked across the country to San Fransisco's Chinatown. When NYC cop Tarek Richards learns of a rash of recent killings using Chong's distinctive M.O.— a claw-like mark across the face of the victim— he contacts his old partner, Linda Masterson, who is now living in L.A., for help. But Chong, as it turns out, has nothing to do with the murders. He's just being used by crime kingpin Lo Fu, who needs to combine his energy with Chong's to open some sort of time portal to provide vital supplies for the ancient Shaolin monks. In truth, though, Lo Fu greedily plans to use the portal to smuggle heavy modern artillery back and rule Qing Dynasty-era China himself.

A cop, who plays by his own rules, brings down a notorious gangster.

A society woman gets involved with a gangster only to find he has hidden plans.

Gangsters, nightclubs and the Roaring '20s.

A society girl is suspected of murdering an artist whose brother is a notorious racketeer. In her pursuit of an alibi, she inadvertently implicates a struggling advertisement photographer. Now they must keep up the appearance of being engaged as a bumbling detective snoops around, and their initial distaste for each other blossoms into romance.

Johnny McCloud, a tough police inspector given more to fisticuffs than investigating has the hots for torch-singer Lola Parker, but Miss Parker is much taken with a good-looking crook named George Perry. This does not bother McCloud, as he not only gets his man behind bars but takes the man's woman also.

Police Inspector Paul Fein copes with family troubles while also dealing with the possibility of advancement to police chief. Meanwhile, his son is investigating the murder of a banker.

Allegedly based on a true story, this film follows the life of Toshi, a Japanese man living in America and working with the New York City police. After being recommended for undercover work, Toshi decides to go after a gang lead by Hawk. Hawk and Toshi soon become friends, although Hawk's second-in-command, Tito, is suspicious of the newcomer. Will Toshi be able to bring the gang down, or will his cover be blown before he can finish the assignment?

A police lieutenant is determined to bust the gang of crooks selling defective automobile tires.

Mike Sullivan spends his nights kidnapping runaways so his boss, Lamar, can turn them into prostitutes. He is a crack addict and a thief and he is in love with a resentful prostitute, Rhonda, who doesn't love him back. Although he has aspirations of escaping this world, it isn't until he is nearly killed by corrupt cops for stealing money from his boss that he decides to redeem himself. In an attempt to save his own soul, he tries to get Rhonda out of the business, and is forced to battle Lamar and his henchmen, as well as Rhonda's unwillingness to change. As punishment for betraying Lamar, Mike is forced into a series of misdeeds, and in a shocking ending, must commit unredeemable acts as he tries to save Rhonda and himself.

Hustlers, players and gangsters rule the urban streets of New York in this story about loyalty and betrayal. Billy Goode, a street-smart crook and his partner Jackie Williams are two small time gangsters with dream of seeing their names in the headlines. After a shooting and robbery that doesn't give them the attention they desire, the partners hook up with the local criie boss Kenyatta who has a major agenda to shake up the city. Meanwhile Detective Benson and Detective Ryan are on the case.

A detective tries to figure out who killed a man who predicted his own death.

A radio commentator named Perry Travis fancies himself a brilliant amateur detective. The cops wish he’d stick to his microphone and let them do the detecting. This proves impossible when a famed scientist is murdered in Perry’s studio, right in the middle of the interview. All evidence points to Perry, and he sets out to clear his name before the Shadow-like villain roaming the hallways of the radio station gets away with murder.

Two crooks are hired to rob an eccentric old lady's estate, but once they get to know her, they can't bring themselves to do it.

Mary Carlton, who lives with her invalid father on a cotton plantation, receives a letter from Bob, her brother, in New York, stating that he faces death in the electric chair for a crime of which he claims to be innocent. Determined to save him, she goes there, learns of his association with an underworld gang, and begins to suspect Handsome Joe of a connection with the crime.

In 1989, a woman was brutally murdered in broad daylight on a beach in Brittany. The detective assigned to the case was a young homicide cop, Jean Francois Abgrall. He became convinced that the murderer was a weird drifter called Francis Heaulmes who, despite an alibi, kept dropping mysterious hints. Abgrall recounts how he trailed Heaulmes through France to bring him to justice.

Dann Mulvey (William Scott), just released from prison, is falsely accused of murder. The real culprit is the least-suspected person, who makes a deathbed confession.