Essential Gangster Movies
by craigcouz | created - 26 Jun 2012 | updated - 04 Jul 2012 | PublicMy favourite gangster movies, British & American.
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1. The Godfather (1972)
R | 175 min | Crime, Drama
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Votes: 2,014,412 | Gross: $134.97M
2. The Godfather Part II (1974)
R | 202 min | Crime, Drama
The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
Votes: 1,365,275 | Gross: $57.30M
3. The Godfather Part III (1990)
R | 162 min | Crime, Drama
Follows Michael Corleone, now in his 60s, as he seeks to free his family from crime and find a suitable successor to his empire.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Talia Shire
Votes: 424,372 | Gross: $66.67M
4. Goodfellas (1990)
R | 145 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Votes: 1,258,423 | Gross: $46.84M
5. Casino (1995)
R | 178 min | Crime, Drama
In Las Vegas, two best friends - a casino executive and a mafia enforcer - compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods
Votes: 564,472 | Gross: $42.44M
6. Gangster No. 1 (2000)
R | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Chronicles the rise and fall of a prominent, and particularly ruthless English gangster.
Director: Paul McGuigan | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis, Paul Bettany, Saffron Burrows
Votes: 14,547 | Gross: $0.03M
7. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Eddy persuades his three pals to pool money for a vital poker game against a powerful local mobster, Hatchet Harry. Eddy loses, after which Harry gives him a week to pay back 500,000 pounds.
Director: Guy Ritchie | Stars: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham
Votes: 616,680 | Gross: $3.90M
8. Snatch (2000)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Crime
Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.
Director: Guy Ritchie | Stars: Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Stephen Graham, Vinnie Jones
Votes: 911,526 | Gross: $30.33M
9. Donnie Brasco (1997)
R | 127 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and finds himself identifying more with the Mafia life--at the expense of his regular one.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby
Votes: 332,487 | Gross: $41.91M
10. The Untouchables (1987)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
During Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Charles Martin Smith
Votes: 331,006 | Gross: $76.27M
11. The Departed (2006)
R | 151 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg
Votes: 1,423,326 | Gross: $132.38M
12. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
R | 99 min | Crime, Thriller
When a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn
Votes: 1,088,959 | Gross: $2.83M
13. Carlito's Way (1993)
R | 144 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A Puerto Rican former convict, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him and lead on to a better life outside of N.Y.C.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Leguizamo
Votes: 232,505 | Gross: $36.95M
14. Scarface (1983)
R | 170 min | Crime, Drama
In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Votes: 917,236 | Gross: $45.60M
15. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
R | 229 min | Crime, Drama
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan 35 years later, where he must once again confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams
Votes: 378,009 | Gross: $5.32M
16. Pulp Fiction (1994)
R | 154 min | Crime, Drama
The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis
Votes: 2,222,316 | Gross: $107.93M
17. Miller's Crossing (1990)
R | 115 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Tom Reagan, an advisor to a Prohibition-era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro, Marcia Gay Harden
Votes: 142,209 | Gross: $5.08M
18. Sexy Beast (2000)
R | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Brutal gangster Don Logan recruits "retired" safecracker Gal for one last job, but it goes badly for both of them.
Director: Jonathan Glazer | Stars: Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane, Amanda Redman
Votes: 69,353 | Gross: $6.95M
19. Love, Honor and Obey (2000)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime
A north London postman gets involved with a gang of criminals.
Directors: Dominic Anciano, Ray Burdis | Stars: Sadie Frost, Jonny Lee Miller, Jude Law, Ray Winstone
Votes: 5,747 | Gross: $0.00M
20. Layer Cake (2004)
R | 105 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A successful cocaine dealer gets two tough assignments from his boss on the eve of his planned early retirement.
Director: Matthew Vaughn | Stars: Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon, Tom Hardy
Votes: 195,713 | Gross: $2.34M
21. Get Carter (1971)
R | 112 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
When his brother dies under mysterious circumstances in a car accident, London gangster Jack Carter travels to Newcastle to investigate.
Director: Mike Hodges | Stars: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland, John Osborne
Votes: 36,804 | Gross: $0.39M
22. Billy Bathgate (1991)
R | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In the year 1935, a teen named Billy Bathgate finds first love while becoming the protégé of fledgling gangster Dutch Schultz.
Director: Robert Benton | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Loren Dean, Bruce Willis
Votes: 12,746 | Gross: $15.97M
23. Mobsters (1991)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama
From start to finish, this is a story of friendship between four street-wise mates who don't mind using violence to achieve the lives that they want. They trust no one but each other, which is vital to their success as mobsters.
Director: Michael Karbelnikoff | Stars: Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsey, Rodney Eastman, Costas Mandylor
Votes: 9,706 | Gross: $20.25M
24. Last Man Standing (1996)
R | 101 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A drifting gunslinger-for-hire finds himself in the middle of an ongoing war between the Irish and Italian mafia in a Prohibition era ghost town.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Bruce Willis, Bruce Dern, William Sanderson, Christopher Walken
Votes: 61,019 | Gross: $17.60M
25. Eastern Promises (2007)
R | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A teenager who dies during childbirth leaves clues in her journal that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Josef Altin
Votes: 261,301 | Gross: $17.11M
26. Blow (2001)
R | 124 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of how George Jung, along with the Medellín Cartel headed by Pablo Escobar, established the American cocaine market in the 1970s in the United States.
Director: Ted Demme | Stars: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente, Rachel Griffiths
Votes: 275,188 | Gross: $52.99M
27. Bugsy (1991)
R | 136 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of how Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel started Las Vegas.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 31,013 | Gross: $49.11M
28. Heat (1995)
R | 170 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A group of high-end professional thieves start to feel the heat from the LAPD when they unknowingly leave a verbal clue at their latest heist.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight
Votes: 719,985 | Gross: $67.44M
29. Road to Perdition (2002)
R | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A mob enforcer's son in 1930s Illinois witnesses a murder, forcing him and his father to take to the road, and his father down a path of redemption and revenge.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Newman
Votes: 284,661 | Gross: $104.45M
30. Gangs of New York (2002)
R | 167 min | Crime, Drama
In 1862, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jim Broadbent
Votes: 473,244 | Gross: $77.81M
31. Public Enemies (2009)
R | 140 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Christian Bale, Johnny Depp, Christian Stolte, Jason Clarke
Votes: 318,770 | Gross: $97.10M
32. American Gangster (2007)
R | 157 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An outcast New York City cop is charged with bringing down Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, whose real life inspired this partly biographical film.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin
Votes: 452,802 | Gross: $130.16M
33. The Krays (1990)
R | 115 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
This fact-based movie follows the life of the twin crime-lords in London's '60s underworld.
Director: Peter Medak | Stars: Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Billie Whitelaw, Tom Bell
Votes: 9,058 | Gross: $2.06M
34. The Krays Geordie Connection (2004 Video)
143 min | Documentary
Steve Wraith was so obsessed with the Kray Brothers, he decided to write to them. Little did he know he was to become the Kray's Geordie Connection. The last of the infamous Kray brothers ... See full summary »
Director: Liam Galvin | Star: Steve Wraith
Votes: 11
35. The Krays: The Final Word (2001 Video)
118 min | Documentary
Director: Aubrey Powell | Star: Reggie Kray
Votes: 17
36. The Krays by Fred Dinenage (2010 TV Movie)
47 min | Documentary
TV presenter Fred Dinenage is the official biographer to the most infamous gangsters in British history, the Kray Twins. In this documentary Fred, for the first time, reveals the truth about his time with the Twins and their brutal lives.
Director: Emma Spellman | Stars: Fred Dinenage, Bobby Cummines, Freddie Foreman, Frankie Fraser
Votes: 15
37. Face (I) (1997)
R | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In the face of demise in his values, a socialist in England decides to form a gang and rob banks for a living.
Director: Antonia Bird | Stars: Robert Carlyle, Ray Winstone, Steve Sweeney, Gerry Conlon
Votes: 4,805
38. Essex Boys (2000)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
The film is based loosely around events in December 1995 that culminated in the murders of three drug dealers in Rettendon, Essex, UK. On 6th December Patrick Tate, Craig Rolfe and Tony ... See full summary »
Director: Terry Winsor | Stars: Charlie Creed-Miles, Sean Bean, Gareth Milne, Alex Kingston
Votes: 4,322
39. Going Off Big Time (2000)
86 min | Thriller
After surviving prison, a man has to forge a career in the crime world.
Director: Jim Doyle | Stars: Neil Fitzmaurice, Dominic Carter, Nicholas Lamont, Nicholas Moss
Votes: 915
40. The Sopranos (1999–2007)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama
New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano deals with personal and professional issues in his home and business life that affect his mental state, leading him to seek professional psychiatric counseling.
Stars: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli
Votes: 472,198
41. The Real Sopranos (2006 TV Movie)
60 min | Documentary
Finding the connections between the TV series and a real-life New Jersey Mob.
Director: Thomas Viner | Stars: Selwyn Raab, Gregory B. Smith, Tommy Dades, Frank Santarsola
Votes: 107
42. Tough Guys (1986)
PG | 104 min | Comedy, Crime
Two elderly gangsters are released from prison only to find they have trouble fitting in as old men who still take no guff from anyone.
Director: Jeff Kanew | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charles Durning, Alexis Smith
Votes: 7,860 | Gross: $21.46M
43. Kill the Irishman (2011)
R | 106 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The true story of Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug working for mobsters in Cleveland during the 1970's.
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh | Stars: Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken, Vincent D'Onofrio, Val Kilmer
Votes: 51,375 | Gross: $1.19M
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