20 best movies like Little Tough Guy (1938)

Gary Cooper is cast as a racketeer known only as The Kid. He has chosen a life of crime out of love for Nan, the daughter of mob henchman Pop Cooley. Eventually railroaded into prison by her crooked cohorts, Nan implores The Kid to give up the rackets, but he refuses. Things go downhill very rapidly after that, culminating with The Kid and Nan being taken "for a ride".

A petty crook (Joseph Cotten) moves to an Ohio town and courts a factory owner's disabled daughter (Valli).

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.

A duped bride joins a bookie in love and crime.

A smuggler (Richard Denning) hides from hit men with a Greek fisherman (Steven Geray) and his daughter.

An orphan girl lives with apparently kind uncle who turns out to be a murderer.

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

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.

A mystery writer becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation when a publisher he last saw is found dead.

Ex con turned private investigator Bradford Galt suspects someone is following him and maybe even trying to kill him. With the assistance of his spunky secretary, Kathleen Stewart, he dives deep into a mystery in search of answers.

City police surround a building attempting to capture a suspected murder. The suspect knows there is no escape but refuses to give in.

A neglected wife gets mixed up with an hypnotic charmer and murder.

After several years of supporting parts, Victor McLaglen once more landed a leading role in Republic's City of Shadows. McLaglen plays Big Tim Channing, an ageing but powerful gangster who raises young newsboy Dan Mason as his own son. Upon reaching adulthood, Mason (John Baer) becomes a law student, with the covert (and illegal) help of Channing. Despite his checkered past, Mason opts for honesty when he falls in love with Fern Fellows (Kathleen Crowley). This decision ultimately spells the doom for Mason's mentor Big Tim.

After her unfaithful husband leaves her, Mildred Pierce proves she can become independent and successful. However winning the approval of her spoiled daughter proves a greater challenge.

Tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. An embittered cop, Det. Jim McLeod, leads a precinct of characters in their grim daily battle with the city's lowlife. The characters who pass through the precinct over the course of the day include a young petty embezzler, a pair of burglars, and a naive shoplifter.

Cold War yarn about a US State Department courier who tangles with Soviet agents and seductive women in post WW2 Europe.

Los Angeles, 1958: a detective holes up in a downtown hotel awaiting killers to come get him. During the course of one night he will meet various occupants of the hotel and the truth of how he came to be in his present situation will be revealed.

Davis and Rains shine in a romantic melodrama set in the world of concert music. Davis is a pianist torn between her wealthy, jealous patron and her cellist husband.

The daughter of a Nevada casino owner gets involved with a racketeer, despite everyone's efforts to separate them.

A convict is forced to participate in a prison break even though he only has a year left on his sentence.

In a quiet Connecticut town, a kindly priest is murdered while waiting at a street corner. The citizens are horrified and demand action from the police. All of the witnesses identify John Waldron, a nervous out-of-towner, as the killer. Although Waldron vehemently denies the crime, no one will believe him. District Attorney Henry Harvey is then put on the case and faces political opposition in his attempt to prove Waldron's innocence. Based on a true story.

Can a couple keep important secrets from Communist spies?

After a woman shoots a man to death, a damning letter she wrote raises suspicions.

Bart Tare is an ex-Army man who has a lifelong fixation with guns, he meets a kindred spirit in sharpshooter Annie Starr and goes to work at a carnival. After upsetting the carnival owner who lusts after Starr, they both get fired. Soon, on Starr's behest, they embark on a crime spree for cash.

A golddigging femme fatale leaves a trail of men behind her, rich and poor, alive and dead.

A man listens to his wife and fakes his own death so that she can get her hands on his insurance policy.

When a businessman who has had a double indemnity policy taken out on him dies mysteriously, his insurance company sends an undercover investigator to town to determine exactly what happened.

A sailor and his captain fight over a beautiful girl.

Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, CA. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. But Jeff has a secret past, and when a mysterious stranger arrives in town, Jeff is forced to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

A garage owner marries a much younger woman. Trouble begins when he becomes friends with a man who has his eyes on his former-showgirl wife.

George McAllister (John Carroll), the black sheep of a wealthy family who has squandered his share of the family inheritance, and lives in constant jealousy, hatred and resentment of his half-brother Barry (Robert Paige), who has been supporting him. George gets his girl friend, Carlotta Duval (Vera Ralston), a job as Barry's nurse with the plan of eventually marrying him. She does, but instead of going ahead with the original plan or getting rid of Barry, inheriting his money and marrying George, she finds that she is really in love with Barry.