Top Ten Gangster Movies

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Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
1. The Godfather Part II
2. The Godfather
3. City of God
4. Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels
5. Infernal Affairs
6. The Departed
7. Reservoir Dogs
8. Brighton Rock
9. Casino
10. Sexy Beast

Depending on your definition of gangster movie, of course....

(I have yet to see Donnie Brasco or Millers Crossing...)



Oh yeah scarface I forgot about that I'll include that to my list!!! Now it's 6 hehehe!!...



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
" Brighton Rock " - now here's one movie I don't remember seeing.
Brighton Rock

Well it isn't what first springs to mind when you think of gangsters...but it is about the mob. I know the Brighton gangster scene is not as famous or glamorous as the New York or Chicago gangster scene, but I think it counts. Unless you prefer to classify it as crime thriller.



i love the warriors and ahh i forgot name sorrrry =(





1. Once Upon A Time In America (Leone, 1984)

2. The Godfather (Coppola, 1971)

3. Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)

4. The Godfather Part II (Coppola, 1974)

5. Casino (Scorsese, 1995)

6. Millers Crossing (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1990)

7. Donnie Brasco (Newell, 1997)

8. Mean Streets (Scorsese, 1973)

9. Road To Perdition (Mendes, 2002)

10. Carlitos Way (De Palma, 1993)



Blood In, Blood Out. Classic!



Aye boy don't spit in my drink!
1. GoodFellas
2. The Godfather Part II
3. The Godfather
4. Breathless
5. Le Samourai
6. City of God
7. The Departed
8. Mean Streets
9. Casino
10. Boyz n the Hood

I might've stretched the term "gangster" a tiny bit for Breathless, the main character is really more of a wanksta acting like one of the mobsters he sees at the multiplex. I'm glad to see that so many of us agree that Scorsese is king though.



Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?
I loved the film Casino... actually more then Goodfellas
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1. Reservoir Dogs
2. Godfather Part II
3. Goodfellas
4. Godfather
5. Lock Stock And Two Smokin Barrels
6. Snatch
7. The Departed
8. Casino
9. Once Upon A Time In America
10. Millers Crossing

And also a mention for Smokin Aces, Heat and Rolling Thunder.
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Goodfellas was my all time favorite film, I thought the Godfather was a bit slow.



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Gangster of new york
God Father sequels



Godfather has to be the first.



Casino is often believed to be inferior to Goodfellas, due to a large resemblance in tone, pacing, and the storyline, but I consider it to be what The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly is to Dollar Trilogy: something of a remake that improves on the original movie. The Dollar Trilogy is a single movie largely upgraded in story, visuals and characters every time around; Casino is Godfellas with a lot more style, complexity and realism.

I found myself caring for the movie's characters much more than for those in the other Scorsese's gangster biography flick - Ace isn't a hypocritical brat that Henry Hill was, but a criminal who's trying to stop, and who's got real human feelings, and Ginger is someone who feels like a cynical hustler, but, as the movie progresses, we are shown all of her weaknesses and insecurities, while Karen Hill was a woman craving for money and success, who just felt sorry it all had to end. Even Joe Pesci isn't the one-dimensional crazy guy that his analogous character in Goodfellas was.

Casino is way more entertaining and it has much more emotion to it, but it fails to get the praising that its predecessor does, simply because of the prejudice that directors are falling short of ideas when their movies resemble each other.

As for other great gangster flicks, many of them have already been mentioned, but I also like some British stuff a lot. The first one is Layer Cake. It does resemble Guy Richie's flicks a bit(and I don't like those, because I find them somewhat boring), but this one's a fun, intelligent, and well-acted gangster movie. The Long Good Friday would be a great movie even if its only scene was the final one, and Sexy Beast does have a Sir-Ben-acting-against-type-overload, but it's surprisingly well made, with some great characters and an interesting storyline, which is basically, for its most part, the first act of a heist movie.
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Godfather
Goodfellas
Public Enemy
Scarface
Angles With Dirty Faces
Little Casesar
Donnie Brasc
White Heat
Reservoir Dogs
The Untouchables



I still go for The God Father trilogy.



Reservoir Dogs
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10. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
The British try their hand at imitating some of the Tarantinoisms of Pulp Fiction. Or maybe Reservoir Dogs. I dunno. But what I do know is the way that my smile tends to crook as a result of listening to the way Lock Stock's script manages to continually weave up, down & sideways to finally coalesce into an English flavored "duck soup", full of chunky bits of quips, guns & sometimes-almost-hard-to-decipher-yet-humuorously-satisfying East End slang. This film proves that despite their pasty skin pigment, drab skies & even drabbier food, the English can have style.
Not to mention that among the vast cast is included a small but solid bite-strewn & really cool role for Sting (the former Police-man, not the clown-faced wrestler .....you buncha nerds). The singer who, after filming was done, supposedly was responsible for introducing the director of this flick to Madonna. Which later would result in a relationship 'tween said director & material girl. Which later would result in marriage. Which later would then result in the movie Swept Away. Which later would then result in the conclusion that Sting needs to learn to mind his own business.




9. Reservoir Dogs
A mexican stand-off. Pop culture laden discussions. Casual cursing with machine gun rapidity. A mixed bag collection of songs that could only be found on a cassette that was taped by some nerd boy who collects comicbooks, works in an indie video or record store & thinks that guns are bad-ass.
All the elements that would qualify a film as being described as "Tarantinoesque".
And this is where it all started.



8. The Godfather lll
I know, I know.... everybody thinx this one sux. However, the Godfather Trilogy didn't come to me til much later in my life. Therefore, the 1st. Godfather film I ever watched was this one. So I got to see it without the comparison of it's 2 predecessors. And, IMO, on it's own, it's a very good mobster movie. Obviously, it can't compare to the 1st. 2, but, in the genre of mob-flicks, it kicks it's own particuler brand of mafia ass. Plus, with it's redemption-themed, politically-charged corporation/Vatican storyline,
it's a pretty g#dd@mn smart movie, too.
Now, if only Sofia Coppola would've gotten shot at the beginning of the film instead of the end, maybe this flick would get a little more respect.




7. Casino
Goodfellas, Las Vegas style.
Well, not really, but close enough.
What Scorcese reveals of the inner-workings of the mafia lifestyle in Goodfellas, he now sheds light onto in this film about the relationship between the casino & the Cosa Nostra .
And just as we saw in "Fellas" the manner in which a mobster's greed & violence will cause him to jump into a situation without much regard to the consequences, we now see in this movie how that same greed & violence can affect a good hand in what should've been the only safe bet in of all of Vegas.
In short, a story of how the mob had a good thing, but ruined it with same characteristics that helped them to get it in the first place.
Because, in the City of Sin, even "La Familia" has got to know when to hold 'em,
& know when to fold 'em.





6. Road To Perdition
Based off of a graphic novel of the same name, Road To Perdition is a quality film that addresses an area of the mobster life that rarely gets any notice from most movies from this genre: the relationship of a gangster with his kid(s) when the child is at the age in which the the parent's influence is most strongest & begins to crystalize in the kid's identity. Just this one aspect of the mafia lifestyle is enough to open a new set of ideas for future movies plotlines that focus on those in the world of organized crime.
Tom Hanks wanders out of his standard role to play an assasin who, along with his only survivng son, is on the run from the crime syndicate which he formerly called home. A life & death experience which reveals that there's a difference between the blood that is spilled for a mob-family & the blood that is shared within a real family.





5. Donnie Brasco
Al Pacino in the mob, but this time, on the opposite side of the heirarchy. A low-level aging hitman who can't get no respect. One of the few times Al gets to expand his acting muscles as opposed to just flexing 'em with a loud performance, which, though he's good at, has sorta become his standard.
For me, a great gangster movie isn't just about "wacking" people. It's when it shows the inner-most details of how the mob works. This one goes towards the very lowest part of the totem & shows us how the "cogs" grind thru a living in hopes of someday climbing that mafia ladder.





4. Bugsy
Bugsy is a mob flick that doesn't even try to compete with other mob flicks. And therefore, it succeeds as a gangster movie that stands out on its own. It almost completely removes the realistic-type dialogue & the grittiness that is usually associated with this genre. I can almost sense the same sheen that the old black & white mafia films used to use to screen over the mobster characters & give em that "romanticized" look that they became famous for back then. For all their ruthlessness, the major players in this story come off as very likeable people.
And along with Warren Beatty & Annette Benning, you just can't beat the acting by the supporting cast of Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliot Gould & Joe Mantegna.




3. The Godfather 2
After lightning struck once with the first Godfather, it was almost impossibe to believe that it could strike twice in the same series, especially with the absence of Marlon Brando, James Caan & Abe Vigoda (oh c'mon! Y'know his presence added a certain dimension to the whole of the movie.....).
Yet strike it did.
And with even more intensity than could be expected.
Francis Ford Coppola masterfully continues the epic saga of la famiglia Corleone, this time, along with an interjecting prologue story starring a Sicilian speaking Robert Deniro.



I know that the rest of the planet says that this one is the superior film, but personally, I still like the first one better. Now don't get me wrong, G-2 is practically a perfect movie, however IMO, G-1 is just a bit more perfect. That being said, if only all sequels could match the quality ratio that this one did with its predecessor, then I bet that there wouldn't be any more wars in the world.
Like,
ever.


2. Goodfellas
"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you said to, uh, somebody, 'You're gonna like this guy. He's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?' We were goodfellas. Wiseguys."



When it comes to gangster movies, you just can't beat this one for charismatic energy. Goodfellas is my favorite Martin Scorcese film, for several reasons, but one of the main ones being the manner in which he pays close attention to the minute details that the members of a 60's-70's mafia family engage in for the sake of maintaining the lifestyle that they have so become accustomed to. Also, the way that the accomplished director progresses the story as to show how that type of self-contained lifestyle can only eventually crumble as the "normal" world outside of the Cosa Nostra continually changes & evolves.
And in the end, no matter how much of a goodfella you may be, you will either end up in prison, getting whacked, or the worst of 'em all, living the rest of your life like a schnook.


1. The Godfather


I'm not gonna repeat what every other friggin' person has already friggin said a hunnert friggin' times about why this friggin' film friggin' rocks. Instead, I'd like to point out my favorite foreshadowing in this flick (which I did mention somewhere on another forum discussion).
When Luca Brasi (the guy who ends up sleeping with the fishes) goes to make a deal with the rival crime-family, he walks thru a glass door that leads to the bar where he will meet his end. As the door closes, the scene is shot looking at Luca from behind, setting up the shot to so that you will notice fish that have been engraved into the glass & give the impression that they are surrounding Luca's body.
IMO, this is an example why friggin' Coppola is a friggin' genius.
One final note about the Godfather: I don't want to like this movie as much as I do. Because, when it comes to movies, I like it when my opinion veers away from that which the mainstream tends to think. However, when it comes to the Godfather,
I was made an offer that my tastes in cinematic-entertainment could not refuse.

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