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Movies like Shakedown

Key Features:
Corruption, Undercover cop, Drug dealer, Legal thriller, Crime, Conspiracy, Greed, Betrayal, Self-defense, Investigation, Moral ambiguity, Urban setting, Action, Suspense
Tone:
gritty, serious, suspense-driven
Target Audience:
Crime thriller fans, Legal drama enthusiasts, Action movie viewers, Fans of gritty urban stories
Emotional Arc:
Intrigue → Suspicion → Revelation

Shakedown

1988-05-06
Shakedown Poster - Find Similar Movies

When a local drug dealer shoots a dishonest cop in self-defense, lawyer and renegade undercover cop join forces to clear him. But when their investigation leads them into a maze of greed and corruption, they learn that in a town where everything is for sale, anything can happen.

Genres
Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller, Mystery
Cast
Peter Weller, Sam Elliott, Patricia Charbonneau, Antonio Fargas, Blanche Baker, John C. McGinley, Richard Brooks, Jude Ciccolella, Thomas G. Waites, Daryl Edwards
Crew
James Glickenhaus, James Glickenhaus, James Borrelli
Rating
5.8(94 votes)
ShakedownShakedown
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A Low Down Dirty Shame

A black detective becomes embroiled in a web of danger while searching for a fortune in missing drug money. During the course of his investigation, he encounters various old connections, ultimately confronting the criminal responsible for Shame's expulsion from the force. He must also deal with two women, Angela, a beautiful old flame, and Peaches, his energetic but annoying sidekick.



L.A. Takedown
5.4

Michael Mann's gutsy telefilm tells the tale of two skilled professionals--one a cop, the other a criminal--who aren't as different as they think. Vincent Hanna is an intense cop on the trail of ruthless armed robber Patrick McLaren. After a botched heist, the two men confront each via a full scale battle on the seedy streets of Los Angeles.



Havoc
Havoc(2025)
6.396

When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.



An Innocent Man
6.108

Jimmie Rainwood was minding his own business when two corrupt police officers (getting an address wrong) burst into his house, expecting to find a major drug dealer. Rainwood is shot, and the officers frame him as a drug dealer. Rainwood is convicted of drug dealing, based on the perjured evidence of a police informant. Thrown into a seedy jail, fighting to prove his innocence is diffucult when he has to deal with the realities of prison life, where everyone claims they were framed.



Deep Cover
6.8

Black police officer Russell Stevens applies for a special anti-drug squad which targets the highest boss of cocaine delivery to LA—the Colombian foreign minister's nephew. Russell works his way up from the bottom undercover, until he reaches the boss.



Q & A
Q & A(1990)
5.8

A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who refuses to help him.



Officer Down
5.3

When a cop's crooked past comes back to get him, can he do the right thing, or will he succumb to the threats of his dangerous connections?



Empire
Empire(2002)
6

Big time drug dealer Victor Rosa is looking to get out of the game and sees his chance with a big deal with a new friend who happens to be a Wall St. stockbroker. Thinking this will be his chance to go out on top, Victor soon finds out that he's been double crossed and his last option is to get revenge.



Busting
Busting(1974)
6.167

Defying orders to lay-off the case, two Los Angeles vice-squad cops go after a local mobster and use unorthodox methods to achieve results.



Michael Clayton
6.8

A law firm brings in its "fixer" to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multi-billion dollar class action suit.



The Corruptor
6.1

Danny is a young cop partnered with Nick, a seasoned but ethically tainted veteran. As the two try to stop a gang war in Chinatown, Danny relies on Nick but grows increasingly uncomfortable with the way Nick gets things done.



Dirty
Dirty(2005)
5.3

Two gangbangers turned cops try and cover up a scandal within the LAPD.



An Eye for an Eye
5.146

Sean Kane is forced to resign from the San Francisco Police Department's Narcotics Division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered. He decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places.



No Mercy
No Mercy(1986)
5.845

An unconventional undercover Chicago cop and his partner are recruited to commit the murder of a New Orleans criminal kingpin.



Gang Related
6.4

After murdering an undercover DEA agent, two corrupt cops scramble to cover up what they've done.



Reasonable Doubt
5.8

When up-and-coming District Attorney Mitch Brockden commits a fatal hit-and-run, he feels compelled to throw the case against the accused criminal who was found with the body and blamed for the crime. Following the trial, Mitch's worst fears come true when he realizes that he acquitted a guilty man, and he soon finds himself on the hunt for the killer before more victims pile up.



...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 Takedown
6

Ousmane Diakité and François Monge are two cops with very different styles, backgrounds and careers. The unlikely pair are reunited once again for a new investigation that takes them across France. What seemed to be a simple drug deal turns out to be a much bigger criminal case wrapped in danger and unexpected comedy.



Narc
Narc(2002)
6.743

When the trail goes cold on a murder investigation of a policeman, an undercover narcotics officer is lured back to the force to help solve the case.



Miami Vice
6

A case involving drug lords and murder in South Florida takes a personal turn for undercover detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. Unorthodox Crockett gets involved romantically with the Chinese-Cuban wife of a trafficker of arms and drugs, while Tubbs deals with an assault on those he loves.



Thumper
Thumper(2017)
5.6

In a town of low-income and fractured families, a group of teens are lured into working for a dangerous drug dealer. A new girl arrives who hides a dangerous secret that will impact everybody and change their lives forever.



Drug War
Drug War(2012)
6.879

A drug cartel boss is arrested in a raid and coerced into betraying his former accomplices as part of an undercover operation.



City Hall
City Hall(1996)
5.9

The accidental shooting of a boy in New York City leads to an investigation by the Deputy Mayor, and unexpectedly far-reaching consequences.



Runaway Jury
6.9

After a workplace shooting in New Orleans, a trial against the gun manufacturer pits lawyer Wendell Rohr against shady jury consultant Rankin Fitch, who uses illegal means to stack the jury with people sympathetic to the defense. But when juror Nicholas Easter and his girlfriend Marlee reveal their ability to sway the jury into delivering any verdict they want, a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game begins.



Brooklyn's Finest
6.303

Enforcing the law within the notoriously rough Brownsville section of the city and especially within the Van Dyke housing projects is the NYPD's sixty-fifth precinct. Three police officers struggle with the sometimes fine line between right and wrong.



New Jack City
6.6

A gangster, Nino, is in the Cash Money Brothers, making a million dollars every week selling crack. A cop, Scotty, discovers that the only way to infiltrate the gang is to become a dealer himself.



Misconduct
5.6

An ambitious lawyer finds himself caught in a power struggle between a corrupt pharmaceutical executive and his firm’s senior partner. When the case takes a deadly turn, he must race to uncover the truth before he loses everything.



Running Scared
7

A low-ranking thug is entrusted by his boss to dispose of a gun that killed corrupt cops, but things spiral out of control when the gun ends up in wrong hands.



Naked Singularity
4.6

When a successful New York public defender loses his first case, he is pulled into a drug heist by a former client in an effort to beat the broken system at its own game.



Training Day
7.508

On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.



Carancho
Carancho(2010)
6.7

Sosa is a lawyer who haunts hospital waiting rooms hoping to represent the victims of traffic accidents in insurance claims. When he falls in love with ambulance medic Luján, he tries to leave this dark business but the shady law firm that he works for won’t let him off that easily.



Starsky & Hutch
5.821

Join uptight David Starsky and laid-back Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson as they're paired for the first time as undercover cops. The new partners must overcome their differences to solve an important case with help from street informant Huggy Bear and persuasive criminal Reese Feldman.



Raw Deal
Raw Deal(1986)
5.827

Mark Kaminsky is kicked out of the FBI for his rough treatment of a suspect. He winds up as the sheriff of a small town in North Carolina. FBI Chief Harry Shannon, whose son has been killed by a mobster named Patrovina, enlists Kaminsky in a personal vendetta with a promise of reinstatement into the FBI if Patrovina is taken down. To accomplish this, he must go undercover and join Patrovina's gang.



Fresh
Fresh(1994)
7.2

Death and violence anger twelve year old drug courier Fresh, who sets his rival employers against each other.



Mission of Justice
6.709

Mayoral candidate Dr. Rachel Larkin has a dangerous plan for swift justice in the form of a band of ex-convicts, called the Peacemakers, who roam the streets to do her bidding. When a boxer friend is killed by Larkin's thugs, an outlaw cop goes undercover to get evidence, and works his way up to the inner circle of the doctor's army.



Antigang
Antigang(2015)
5.848

As a rowdy team of detectives clashes with their disciplined new boss, they must catch a vicious band of robbers who are wreaking havoc on their city.



Blindfire
Blindfire(2020)
6.7

A police officer who while responding to a violent hostage call, kills the African American suspect only to later learn of his innocence. Sensing this was a set-up, and facing repercussions, he must track down the person responsible while examining his own accountability and the ingrained racism which brought him to this point.



Copshop
Copshop(2021)
6.3

On the run from a lethal assassin, a wily con artist devises a scheme to hide out inside a small-town police station. However, when the hit man turns up at the precinct, an unsuspecting rookie cop finds herself caught in the crosshairs.



Renegades
Renegades(1989)
5.237

While investigating police corruption in his department, undercover cop Buster McHenry is forced to participate in a heist, leading to innocent casualties and the theft of an ancient Lakota tribal spear. After McHenry ends up severely wounded, he is taken in by Native American Hank Storm, who is out to recover the spear and avenge the death of a loved one in the heist.



Police
Police(1985)
6

Mangin, a police inspector in Paris, leans hard on informants to get evidence on three Tunisian brothers who traffic in drugs. He arrests one, Simon, and his girl-friend Noria. Simon's brothers go to their lawyer. He springs Noria, who promptly steals 2 million francs that belong to the Tunisians. They suspect her of the theft; her life as well as the lawyer's is in danger. Meanwhile, Noria is playing with both the lawyer and Mangin's affections. Mangin is mercurial anyway: intimidating and bloodying suspects, falling for a police commission trainee before flipping for Noria, wearing his emotions on his sleeve. Can he save the lawyer and Noria, and can he convince her to love?



The Seven-Ups
6.3

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.



Wanted Man
6.614

Follows a police officer who must retrieve an eyewitness and escort her after a cartel shooting leaves several DEA agents dead, but then he must decide who to trust when they discover that the attack was executed by American forces.



Sacrifice
Sacrifice(2011)
4.445

A tough undercover cop inadvertently gets involved in a dangerous heroin ring when a young defector of the drug trade leaves his five year-old sister in his care.



Colors
Colors(1988)
6.5

A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of Los Angeles, where the gang culture is enforced by the colors the members wear.



In Too Deep
6.4

Drug lord Dwayne Gittens rules Cincinnati with an iron fist. No wonder he's known as "God" on the streets. Determined to break Gittens' stranglehold on the city is undercover cop Jeffrey Cole. But as Cole takes on an assumed identity to penetrate Gittens' criminal empire, he makes a disturbing discovery -- he kind of likes being a gangster.



Fair Game
Fair Game(1995)
5.1

Max Kirkpatrick is a cop who protects Kate McQuean, a civil law attorney, from a renegade KGB team out to terminate her



Martial Law
6.1

An undercover cop teams up with a martial-arts expert to stop a gang of drug smugglers and car thieves.



Inside Man
5.8

Based on true events. A disgraced police detective seeking redemption goes undercover to expose a violent crime syndicate. But as he sinks deeper into the mob, the price for absolution may be higher than he can afford.



The Counselor
5.3

A lawyer finds himself in far over his head when he attempts to get involved in drug trafficking.



Just Cause
6.2

A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.



Emilia Pérez
6.51

Rita, an underrated lawyer working for a large law firm more interested in getting criminals out of jail than bringing them to justice, is hired by the leader of a criminal organization.



The Outsider
6.804

Philippe Jordan is a policeman prone to advancing the cause of justice by any means necessary. On his agenda is a powerful drug cartel working out of Paris and Marseilles, with a drug lord who is essentially inaccessible -- but not immortal.



Vanquish
Vanquish(2021)
5.2

Victoria is a young mother trying to put her dark past as a Russian drug courier behind her, but retired cop Damon forces Victoria to do his bidding by holding her daughter hostage. Now, Victoria must use guns, guts and a motorcycle to take out a series of violent gangsters—or she may never see her child again.



The Prosecutor
6.7

A poor young man is wrongly charged with drug trafficking after being deceived. An ex-prosecutor investigates the case, uncovers a corrupt lawyer team's scheme, and restores justice despite obstruction from evil forces.



Sabotage
Sabotage(2014)
5.6

John 'Breacher' Wharton leads an elite DEA task force that takes on the world's deadliest drug cartels. When the team successfully executes a high-stakes raid on a cartel safe house, they think their work is done – until, one-by-one, the team members mysteriously start to be eliminated. As the body count rises, everyone is a suspect.



Street Smart
5.9

A New York journalist lies when his fake story about a pimp describes a real pimp up for murder.



Johnny Gaddaar
6.8

Five men get involved in a drug deal set up by a corrupt police officer, but the plan goes awry when the youngest member decides to steal the money.



Believer
Believer(2018)
7.198

After a traumatic event, a drug trafficker turns sides and conspires with a dangerously ambitious undercover police officer to bring down the mysterious kingpin of a major drug cartel.



Killer Joe
6.53

A cop who moonlights as a hit man agrees to kill the hated mother of a desperate drug dealer in exchange for a tumble with the young man's virginal sister.



Serpico
Serpico(1973)
7.5

New York cop Frank Serpico blows the whistle on the rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.



Payback
Payback(1999)
6.8

With friends like these, who needs enemies? That's the question bad guy Porter is left asking after his wife and partner steal his heist money and leave him for dead -- or so they think. Five months and an endless reservoir of bitterness later, Porter's partners and the crooked cops on his tail learn how bad payback can be.



Bad Country
5.517

When Baton Rouge police detective Bud Carter busts contract killer Jesse Weiland, he convinces Jesse to become an informant and rat out the South's most powerful crime ring.



Sugar Hill
5.6

In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner and brother to lead a straight life with his girlfriend.



True Colors
6.2

Two law school friends find themselves at odds when one becomes a Justice Department lawyer and the other goes into politics.



Atlantic City
6.8

In a corrupt city, a small-time gangster and the estranged wife of a pot dealer find themselves thrown together in an escapade of love, money, drugs and danger.



Fire Down Below
5.8

When an EPA representative is murdered in a small Appalachian community, EPA undercover agent Jack Taggart is sent in—posing as a handyman working with a Christian relief agency—to determine what happened.



Joe
Joe(1970)
6.415

After murdering his daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend, a wealthy ad executive stumbles into a bar and strikes up an uneasy alliance with Joe Curran, a drunken bigot with a bloodlust who works at a local factory.



Bulletproof
5.707

An undercover police officer named Rock Keats befriends a drug dealer and car thief named Archie Moses in a bid to catch the villainous drug lord Frank Coltan. But the only problem is that Keats is a cop, his real name is Jack Carter, and he is working undercover with the LAPD to bust Moses and Colton at a sting operation the LAPD has set up.



BuyBust
BuyBust(2018)
5.9

A special forces team is sent to snuff out a drug den, but find themselves trapped inside it after being set-up and betrayed.



Puncture
Puncture(2011)
6.645

A lawyer who is a drug addict fights a medical-supplies corporation in court while battling his personal demons.



War on Everyone
5.764

Two corrupt cops in New Mexico set out to blackmail and frame every criminal unfortunate enough to cross their path. Things take a sinister turn, however, when they try to intimidate someone who is more dangerous than they are. Or is he?



Deceiver
Deceiver(1997)
5.955

The gruesome death of a prostitute brings suspicion on one of her clients, James Wayland, a brilliant, self-destructive and epileptic heir to a textile fortune. So detectives Braxton and Kennesaw take Wayland in for questioning, thinking they can break the man. But despite his troubles, Wayland is a master of manipulation, and during the interrogation, he begins to turn the tables on the investigators, forcing them to reveal their own sinister sides.



Layer Cake
6.913

When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...



21 Bridges
6.8

An embattled NYPD detective, is thrust into a citywide manhunt for a pair of cop killers after uncovering a massive and unexpected conspiracy. As the night unfolds, lines become blurred on who he is pursuing, and who is in pursuit of him.



Bullet to the Head
5.631

After watching their respective partners die, a cop and a hitman form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy.



Confidential Informant

During a crack epidemic two narcotics agents hunting for a cop killer. Hoping for leads, Moran and Thorton pay off a junkie informant. To provide for his wife and son, Moran involves the stool pigeon in a deadly scheme. This causes the partners to come under the scrutiny of a suspicious internal affairs agent.



Direct Action
5.018

Frank Gannon, a veteran cop, is being hunted by his fellow police officers after they learned he has betrayed the brotherhood and exposed to the feds wide scale corruption of the LAPD. He has one day left to prove his case and survive.



Vice Squad
6.2

An unlikely Hollywood hooker helps a detective set a trap for a mutilator pimp.



The Client
6.701

A street-wise kid, Mark Sway, sees the suicide of Jerome Clifford, a prominent Louisiana lawyer, whose current client is Barry 'The Blade' Muldano, a Mafia hit-man. Before Jerome shoots himself, he tells Mark where the body of a Senator is buried. Clifford shoots himself and Mark is found at the scene, and both the FBI and the Mafia quickly realize that Mark probably knows more than he says.



Bringing Down the House

Uptight lawyer Peter Sanderson wants to dive back into dating after his divorce and has a hard time meeting the right women. He tries online dating and lucks out when he starts chatting with a fellow lawyer. The two agree to meet in the flesh, but the woman he meets — an escaped African-American convict named Charlene — is not what he expected. Peter is freaked out, but Charlene tries to convince him to take her case and prove her innocence. Along the way, she wreaks havoc on his middle-class life as he gets a lesson in learning to lighten up.



Freelancers
5.055

The son of a slain NYPD officer joins the force, where he falls in with his father's former partner and a team of rogue cops. His new boss, Sarcone, will see if he has what it takes to be rogue through many trials and tribulations of loyalty, trust and respect. When the truth about his father's death is revealed revenge takes him over and he won't stop until justice has been truly served.



Inside Man
7.398

When an armed, masked gang enter a Manhattan bank, lock the doors and take hostages, the detective assigned to effect their release enters negotiations preoccupied with corruption charges he is facing.



Broken Rage
6.6

A seemingly unremarkable man called “Mouse” is caught by the police. In exchange for his freedom, he goes undercover, infiltrates a drug ring, and arranges a fake deal, but an unexpected turn of events occurs.



The Drop
The Drop(2014)
6.819

Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost.



Violent Cop
7.222

A detective breaks all rules of ethical conduct while investigating a colleague’s involvement in drug pushing and Yakuza activities.



Internal Affairs
6.349

Keen young Raymold Avila joins the Internal Affairs Department of the Los Angeles police. He and partner Amy Wallace are soon looking closely at the activities of cop Dennis Peck whose financial holdings start to suggest something shady. Indeed Peck is involved in any number of dubious or downright criminal activities. He is also devious, a womaniser, and a clever manipulator, and he starts to turn his attention on Avila.



Street Kings
6.638

Tom Ludlow is a disillusioned L.A. Police Officer, rarely playing by the rules and haunted by the death of his wife. When evidence implicates him in the execution of a fellow officer, he is forced to go up against the cop culture he's been a part of his entire career, ultimately leading him to question the loyalties of everyone around him.



Under Suspicion
6.1

A lawyer is asked to come to the police station to clear up a few loose ends in his witness report of a foul murder. "This will only take ten minutes", they say, but it turns out to be one loose end after another, and the ten minutes he is away from his speech become longer and longer.



Bad Boys
Bad Boys(1995)
6.8

Marcus Burnett is a henpecked family man. Mike Lowrey is a footloose and fancy free ladies' man. Both Miami policemen, they have 72 hours to reclaim a consignment of drugs stolen from under their station's nose. To complicate matters, in order to get the assistance of the sole witness to a murder, they have to pretend to be each other.



Narcopolis
4.622

In the near future, Frank, a police officer, discovers that the legalization of all recreational drugs comes with a price.



Hollow Point
6.4

When his wife and daughter are senselessly murdered, a grieving man finds himself caught up in a war between a group of charismatic vigilantes and the crime that infests their city.



Operações Especiais

In a crime-plagued area of Rio de Janeiro, a team of honest cops, including a determined rookie, fights corruption and mistrust on all sides.



The Man
The Man(2005)
5.8

A case of mistaken identity forces a Federal agent and a dental supply salesman to team up as they speed through the streets of Detroit to pull off a sting operation and solve the murder of the agent's former partner.



Public Enemy
7.2

A notorious dirty cop makes an honest attempt to catch a serial killer who even murdered his own parents.



A Hard Day
7.1

After trying to cover up a car accident that left a man dead, a crooked homicide detective is stalked by a mysterious man claiming to have witnessed the event.



Criminal Law
5.549

Ben Chase is an on-the-rise Boston attorney currently defending a wealthy client in a high-profile murder case. Martin Thiel is the wealthy young man on trial for a particularly brutal murder. The verdict sets Thiel free. Within 24 hours another grizzly and all-too-familiar murder has taken place with striking similarities to the first crime. Chase inexplicably agrees to act as his defense attorney; but this time it will be to gather evidence that will put away his client for good.



Manhunt
Manhunt(2017)
5.662

Accused of a murder he didn't commit, a prosecutor sets out on a mission to clear his name.



Small Crimes
5.383

A disgraced former cop, fresh off a six-year prison sentence for attempted murder, returns home looking for redemption but winds up trapped in the mess he left behind.



Slow Burn
Slow Burn(2005)
5.3

A district attorney is involved in a 24-hour showdown with a gang leader and is, at the same time, being manipulated by an attractive assistant district attorney and a cryptic stranger.

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