Movies Like The United States vs. Billie Holiday

The Fire of Immortality

1956

American Gangster

2007

Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts.

Blow

2001

A boy named George Jung grows up in a struggling family in the 1950's. His mother nags at her husband as he is trying to make a living for the family. It is finally revealed that George's father cannot make a living and the family goes bankrupt. George does not want the same thing to happen to him, and his friend Tuna, in the 1960's, suggests that he deal marijuana. He is a big hit in California in the 1960's, yet he goes to jail, where he finds out about the wonders of cocaine. As a result, when released, he gets rich by bringing cocaine to America. However, he soon pays the price.

The Story of Alfred Nobel

1939

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short tells the story of Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite, and later established the Nobel Prize.

Rocketman

2019

The story of Elton John's life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.

The Doors

1991

The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.

Cadillac Records

2008

The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.

Lady Sings the Blues

1972

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.

Bird

1988

Saxophone player Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker comes to New York in 1940 and is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him.

Get On Up

2014

A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.

Harta Tahta Raisa

2024

Recording the journey of Raisa, a great Indonesian singer from childhood to her greatest achievements, holding a big concert at Gelora Bung Karno.

Rush

1991

Undercover cop Jim Raynor is a seasoned veteran. His partner, Kristen Cates, is lacking in experience, but he thinks she's tough enough to work his next case with him: a deep cover assignment to bring down the notoriously hard-to-capture drug lord Gaines. While their relationship turns romantic during the assignment, they also turn into junkies, and will have to battle their own addictions if they want to bring down Gaines once and for all.

The Day Silence Died

1999

A handsome and mysterious stranger, played by Darío Grandinetti, walks into the town square of Villaserena one day and strategically places loudspeakers around the town, blaring a variety of musical tunes. Soon, he begins to sell airtime to the various locals, who broadcast their own personal love dedications and (more frequently) insults for all to hear. A subplot evolves between Abelardo (the stranger), Celeste (a young woman who is chained inside her father's house to stop her running away), and José (a young man).

The Salton Sea

2002

After the murder of his beloved wife, a man in search of redemption is set adrift in a world where nothing is as it seems. On his journey, he befriends slacker Jimmy "The Finn", becomes involved in rescuing his neighbor Colette from her own demons, and gets entangled in a web of deceit full of unexpected twists and turns.

Born to Be Blue

2015

Jazz legend Chet Baker finds love and redemption when he stars in a movie about his own troubled life to mount a comeback.

The Cotton Club

1984

Harlem's legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves of entertainers and gangsters collide.

A Child in the Crowd

1976

Deserted by his father, and dislocated by the Second World War, Paul is a boy who wants affection and attention and cannot find it at home. For a while, he becomes the pet of some German soldiers, running errands for them. Later, he helps the Resistance, and when the Americans come to stay, he is really in his element with them.

Hounddog

2008

A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.