Best Dramas based on contemporary literature on Netflix 2026
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Our pick of the best Dramas based on contemporary literature on Netflix right now, ranked by audience rating out of the 100 titles in category code 12994. Tap any title for full details and where to watch.
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1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Rated 9.3/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1994, 2h 22m. Framed for murder, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison and gradually forms a close bond with older inmate Red.
2. The Godfather (1972)
Rated 9.2/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1972, 2h 57m. When an organized-crime family patriarch barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son steps in to take care of the would-be killers.
3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Rated 9/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1974, 3h 22m. This second film in the trilogy explores the Corleone family roots, tracing Don Vito's journey from Sicily to a life of organized crime in New York.
4. Schindler's List (1993)
Rated 8.9/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1993, 3h 15m. Oskar Schindler becomes an unlikely humanitarian, spending his entire fortune to help save 1,100 Jews from Auschwitz during World War II.
5. Forrest Gump (1994)
Rated 8.8/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1994, 2h 22m. Forrest Gump, a friendly, simpleminded man, finds himself in the middle of nearly every major event of the 1960s and '70s.
6. The Prestige (2006)
Rated 8.5/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 2006, 2h 10m. Desperate to reveal each other's secrets, two rival magicians begin to perform increasingly risky tricks -- which soon turn deadly.
7. Black Friday (2004)
Rated 8.5/10 on IMDb, from 2004, 2h 41m. This docudrama based on the same-titled book tracks the aftermath of a 1993 bombing in Bombay through the eyes of a journalist covering the story.
8. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Rated 8.4/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1984, 4h 00m. Director Sergio Leone's sprawling crime epic follows a group of Jewish mobsters who rise in the ranks of organized crime in 1920s New York City.
9. Trainspotting (1996)
Rated 8.1/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1996, 1h 33m. Renton and his mates cope with the gritty realities of heroin addiction.
10. No Country for Old Men (2007)
Rated 8.1/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 2007, 2h 02m. While hunting, Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon a drug deal gone bad and takes off with $2 million in cash, but a psychotic hit man is hot on his trail.