Movies like The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Name: The Shawshank Redemption
Released: 1994

9 films to watch after The Shawshank Redemption, ranked by how well they match its tone — not just its genre.

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

1

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Fit 77%

Shares Drama and Crime with The Shawshank Redemption.

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.
2

The Green Mile (1999)

Fit 77%

Shares Drama and Crime with The Shawshank Redemption.

A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, he tries desperately to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
3

Papillon (1973)

Fit 75%

Shares Crime and Drama with The Shawshank Redemption.

A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
4

GoodFellas (1990)

Fit 72%

Shares Drama and Crime with The Shawshank Redemption.

The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.
5

Bronson (2009)

Fit 66%

Shares Drama and Crime with The Shawshank Redemption.

A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.
6

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)

Fit 51%

Shares Drama with The Shawshank Redemption.

The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills their lonely nights by spinning romantic fantasies drawn from memories of old movies.
7

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

Fit 50%

Shares Drama and Crime with The Shawshank Redemption.

A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
8

The Informer (2019)

Fit 45%

Shares Drama and Crime with The Shawshank Redemption.

In New York, former convict Pete Koslow, related to the Polish mafia, must deal with both Klimek the General, his ruthless boss, and the twisted ambitions of two federal agents, as he tries to survive and protect the lives of his loved ones.
9

The Pelican Brief (1993)

Fit 36%

Shares Crime and Drama with The Shawshank Redemption.

A law student's theory about the recent deaths of two Supreme Court justices embroils her in a far-reaching web of murder, corruption, and greed.