20 best movies like Absence of Malice (1981)

List of the best movies like Absence of Malice (1981): The Paradine Case, The Verdict, Blood on the Sun, Red Corner, In a Lonely Place, Cassandra's Dream, Shanghai, Killing Emmett Young, Devil's Knot, Veronica Guerin.

Tags: movies similar to Absence of Malice (1981) - full list

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration02:05

The beautiful Mrs. Paradine is accused of poisoning her older, blind husband. She hires married Anthony Keane as her lawyer and when he begins to fall in love with her, she encourages him.

Markimdb: 7.7
Genredrama
CountryUSA
Duration02:09

Frank Galvin is a down-on-his-luck lawyer and reduced to drinking and ambulance chasing, when a former associate reminds him of his obligations in a medical malpractice suit by serving it to Galvin on a silver platter—all parties are willing to settle out of court. Blundering his way through the preliminaries, Galvin suddenly realizes that the case should actually go to court—to punish the guilty, to get a decent settlement for his clients... and to restore his standing as a lawyer.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, military
CountryUSA

Nick Condon, an American journalist in 1945 Tokyo, publishes the Japanese master plan for world domination. Reaction from the understandably upset Japanese provides the action, but this is overshadowed by the propaganda of the time.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration02:02

An American attorney on business in China, ends up wrongfully on trial for murder and his only key to innocence is a female defense lawyer from the country.

Markimdb: 7.9
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, detective, film noir
CountryUSA
Duration01:34

An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA, United Kingdom, France
Duration01:48

The tale of two brothers with serious financial woes. When a third party proposes they turn to crime, things go bad and the two become enemies.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, detective, military
CountryChina, USA
Duration01:43

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.

Markimdb: 6
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA

In the Philadelphia police department, Emmett Young is a hotshot, a workaholic newly promoted to homicide. He learns he has a disease that will soon kill him painfully, so he hires a stranger to arrange his own death. With one eye on the calendar (he's allowed a few days' grace before his murder), he pursues a final case, the serial killing of young women. Emmett develops a profile of the assailant. Meanwhile, his fixer hires an ex-cop to kill Emmett, a lonely security guard whom the fixer taunts and belittles. In this limited time, can Emmett sort out what's important? Written by

Markimdb: 6.1
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:54

The savage murders of three young children sparks a controversial trial of three teenagers accused of killing the kids as part of a satanic ritual.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genrethriller, drama, crime, biography
CountryRepublic of Ireland, United Kingdom, USA
Duration01:38

In this true story, Veronica Guerin is an investigative reporter for an Irish newspaper. As the drug trade begins to bleed into the mainstream, Guerin decides to take on and expose those responsible. Beginning at the bottom with addicts, Guerin then gets in touch with John Traynor, a paranoid informant. Not without some prodding, Traynor leads her to John Gilligan, the ruthless head of the operation, who does not take kindly to Guerin's nosing.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration02:03

Uncle John revolves around the struggle to keep a mysterious disappearance unsolved

Markimdb: 7.8
Genredrama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:57

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.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA, United Kingdom, France
Duration02:07

Handsome, unflappable U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins is the future of his political party: an honorable appointee who serves as the chairman of a committee overseeing defense spending. All eyes are upon the rising star to be his party's contender for the upcoming presidential race. Until his research assistant/mistress is brutally murdered and buried secrets come tumbling out.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA, Canada
Duration01:53

Seen-it-all New York detective Frank Keller is unsettled - he has done twenty years on the force and could retire, and he hasn't come to terms with his wife leaving him for a colleague. Joining up with an officer from another part of town to investigate a series of murders linked by the lonely hearts columns he finds he is getting seriously and possibly dangerously involved with Helen, one of the main suspects.

Markimdb: 5.6
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:57

A rising young attorney successfully defends a man accused of murder, only to have the same type of murder then happen again. Right away the previously defended man hires the attorney again, and although the attorney is quite certain that he is the killer, he agrees to again defend him... much to the consternation of his friends. However, he explains that by being his attorney he will be better able to catch the man in a mistake... and on this the rest of the film develops, with the killer playing a cat and mouse game with the attorney until, at last, they both must recognize that they are not all that different.

Markimdb: 6
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA

Police chief Xavier Quinn investigates the gruesome murder of Donald Pater, one of the wealthiest residents on a Caribbean island. He was found decapitated in his Jacuzzi. Although the local political establishment, especially crooked Governor Chalk, insists that small-time thief Maubee is responsible, Xavier has his doubts. This view is complicated by the police chief's personal history with Maubee: The men have been friends since childhood.

Markimdb: 6
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:53

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.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, crime, history
CountryUSA
Duration01:30

House Un-American Activities Committee investigators Jim McLain and Mal Baxter come to post war Hawaii to track Communist Party activities even though belonging to the party was legal at the time. They are interested in everything from insurance fraud to the sabotage of a U.S. naval vessel.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama
CountryUSA

A passionate filmmaker creating a film based upon a true crime casts an unknown mysterious young woman bearing a disturbing resemblance to the femme fatale in the story. Unsuspectingly, he finds himself drawn into a complex web of haunting intrigue: he becomes obsessed with the woman, the crime, her possibly notorious past, and the disturbing complexity between art and truth. From the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina to Verona, Rome, and London, new truths are revealed and clues to other crimes and passions, darker and even more complex, are uncovered.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genrethriller, drama, detective
CountryUSA
Duration02:34

Mitch McDeere is a young man with a promising future in Law. About to sit his Bar exam, he is approached by 'The Firm' and made an offer he doesn't refuse. Seduced by the money and gifts showered on him, he is totally oblivious to the more sinister side of his company. Then, two Associates are murdered. The FBI contact him, asking him for information and suddenly his life is ruined. He has a choice - work with the FBI, or stay with the Firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it. Mitch figures the only way out is to follow his own plan...

Markimdb: 7.2
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, detective, film noir
CountryUSA
Duration01:22

A young promoter is accused of the murder of Vicky Lynn, a young actress he "discovered" as a waitress while out with ex-actor Robin Ray and gossip columnist Larry Evans.

Markimdb: 5.2
Genrethriller, drama
CountryCanada
Duration01:30

CHRISTIAN SLATER plays a worldly and urbane priest who is forced to challenge his comfortable existence as an ecclesiastical spin-doctor when he comes to believe in the innocence of a young priest accused of murder. His only ally, a journalist, is also his former sweetheart.

Markimdb: 7.5
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration02:30

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

Markimdb: 6.2
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
Duration01:36

A terrorist attack in London results in the capture of suspect, and the attorney general appoints Claudia Simmons-Howe as special advocate on his defence team. On the eve of the trial, the accused's attorney dies and a new one, Martin Rose, steps in. Martin and Claudia are former lovers—a fact which must remain hidden—and, as Martin assembles his case, he uncovers a sinister conspiracy that places him and Claudia in danger.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genredrama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:48

When reporter Rachel Armstrong writes a story that reveals the identity of a covert CIA operative, the government demands that Rachel reveal her source. She defies the special prosecutor and is thrown in jail. Meanwhile, her attorney, Albert Burnside argues her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genredrama, detective, biography
CountryUSA, Japan, United Kingdom
Duration01:52

Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA

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

Markimdb: 6.9
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration01:22

A Los Angeles detective and his Japanese partner woo an artist while solving a stripper's murder.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration01:59

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.

Markimdb: 7
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA, United Arab Emirates
Duration02:05

A thriller set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city's history, and centered on a the lives of an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business and capitalize on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag them in and threaten to destroy all they have built.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration01:49

Richard spots a man dumping a body, and decides to expose the man he thinks is the culprit with his friend Alex Cutter.

Markimdb: 6.9
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryUSA
Duration01:42

A Jewish homicide detective investigates a seemingly minor murder and falls in with a Zionist group as a result.

Markimdb: 8.5
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA, Hong Kong
Duration02:31

To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the underworld, not realizing the syndicate has done likewise. While an undercover cop curries favor with the mob kingpin, a career criminal rises through the police ranks. But both sides soon discover there's a mole among them.

Markimdb: 4.5
Genrethriller, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:38

Haunted by memories of his ex-girlfriend Alice, a heartbroken Billy returns home to Northern Virginia seeking solace from old friends. But what he finds there is more disconcerting: his best friend Stanley has become unstable, mysterious and withdrawn from those around him. Billy teams up with another old friend to find out what's going on and as they probe Stanley's recent activities, their friend's behaviour seems more and more bizarre and frightening.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genrethriller, drama, crime, biography
CountryCanada, USA

"To Catch a Killer" tells the true gruesome story of John Wayne Gacy - a good friend and helpful neighbour, a great child entertainer, a respectful businessman, and a violent serial killer who raped and murdered over 30 young boys.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genrethriller, drama
CountryUSA
Duration02:08

A computer specialist is sued for sexual harassment by a former lover turned boss who initiated the act forcefully, which threatens both his career and his personal life.

Markimdb: 6.9
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective, history
CountryUSA
Duration01:52

A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA's role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California. Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime, military, biography
CountryUnited Kingdom, USA, Luxembourg, China
Duration01:37

The true story of British intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun who—prior to the 2003 Iraq invasion—leaked a top-secret NSA memo exposing a joint US-UK illegal spying operation against members of the UN Security Council. The memo proposed blackmailing member states into voting for war.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA, United Kingdom
Duration02:12

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 refuse to help him.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:47

Valerie is a juror in the trail of a mob boss. When her young son's life is threatened, she has no option other than to see that justice isn't done.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genrethriller, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:43

Upon taking a new job, young lawyer Rick Hayes is assigned to the clemency case of Cindy Liggett, a woman convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. As Hayes investigates the background for her case, the two begin to form a deep friendship, while all the while the date for her execution draws nearer.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, crime
CountryUSA, France
Duration02:13

    A married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder. Lara Brennan is arrested for murdering her boss with whom she had an argument. It seems she was seen leaving the scene of the crime and her fingerprints were on the murder weapon. Her husband, John would spend the next few years trying to get her released, but there's no evidence that negates the evidence against her. And when the strain of being separated from her family, especially her son, gets to her, John decides to break her out. So he does a lot of research to find a way.

    Markimdb: 7.4
    Genrethriller, drama
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:02

    While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicize the incident, but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret.

    Markimdb: 4.4
    Genreaction, thriller, drama
    CountryUSA

    When the son of a successful judge is killed by two police officers and the system sets them free, a hardened veteran detective finds some incriminating files on the officers and the judge teams up with another mourning father to take the law into his own hands.

    Markimdb: 6.9
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
    CountryArgentina, Chile, France, South Korea
    Duration01:47

    In Argentina over 8,000 people die in traffic accidents every year. Behind each of these tragedies is a flourishing industry founded on insurance payouts and legal loopholes. Sosa is a lawyer who tours the A&E Departments of the public hospitals and the police stations in search of potential clients. Luján is a young doctor recently arrived from the provinces. Their love story kicks off one night when Luján and Sosa meet in the street. She's trying to save a man's life; he wants him on his client portfolio

    Markimdb: 4.7
    Genrethriller, drama, detective
    CountryUSA

    Deadline is the story of the murder of an African American youth in rural Alabama that has gone uninvestigated, unsolved, and unpunished for almost twenty years. That changes when Nashville Times reporter Matt Harper (Steve Talley) meets an idealistic young blueblood bent on discovering the truth. Harper undertakes the investigation despite the opposition of his publisher, violent threats from mysterious forces, a break-up with his fiancée, and his father's cancer diagnosis.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
    CountryIndia
    Duration01:53

    Prime leader of a campaign against a big government project is killed in what appears to be a road accident. An IAS officer is ordered to probe the incident and the veils of falsehood begin to drop.

    Markimdb: 6.6
    Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:07

    Boozer, skirt chaser, careless father. You could create your own list of reporter Steve Everett's faults but there's no time. A San Quentin Death Row prisoner is slated to die at midnight – a man Everett has suddenly realized is innocent.

    Markimdb: 6.3
    Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
    CountryUSA, United Kingdom, Spain, South Korea
    Duration02:32

    A tight-knit team of FBI investigators, along with their District Attorney supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.

    Markimdb: 5.1
    Genrethriller, drama, detective
    CountryUSA

    Emily Parker is haunted by visions of a woman from the past soon after receiving an antique engagement ring from her fiancé.




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