Top Ten Gangster Movies

My top gangster films are as follows – I haven’t seen American Gangster yet – Denzel Washington so I wont include it, but here are my top ten in order of my favourites, but it could also be argued that they are the best gangster films:

1) Four Brothers
2) The Departed
3) Snatch
4) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
5) Reservoir Dog’s
6) The Godfather
7) ScarFace
8) Casino
9) Road To Perdition
10) Analyze This

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james adams

What, no Goodfellas?

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

1. GoodFellas (1990 - Martin Scorsese)
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."
2. The Godfather Part II (1974 - Francis Ford Coppola)
"I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart."
3. The Godfather (1972 - Francis Ford Coppola)
"It's a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes."
4. Once Upon a Time in America (1984 - Sergio Leone)
"I like the stink of the streets. It cleans out my lungs."
5. Donnie Brasco (1997 - Mike Newell)
"'Fuggetaboudit'. Sometimes it just means forget about it."
6. Mean Streets (1973 - Martin Scorsese)
"You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullsh!t, and you know it."
7. White Heat (1949 - Raoul Walsh)
"Stuffy, huh? I'll give it some air."
8. Casino (1995 - Martin Scorsese)
"A lot of holes in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes."
9. The Roaring Twenties (1939 - Raoul Walsh)
"I always say, when you got a job to do, get somebody else to do it."
10. Bugsy (1991 - Barry Levinson)
"I don't understand this desert thing of yours, Ben. What are we, Bedouins?"
11. Scarface (1932 - Howard Hawks)
"You're a butcher! That's what you are! You're a butcher! "
12. Carlito's Way (1993 - Brian De Palma)
"You think you're big time? You gonna fu*kin' die big time!"

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Yeah, you're gonna have to make that argument, because other than possibly John Singleton's mother, I don't know of anybody who would list Four Brothers as one of the best gangster movies ever made, and most definitely not number one. I'd barely even slot it in the genre at all. It's a revenge crime movie, but while the targets of their wrath are local hoods and you get some of the corrupt police department too, it's not really "about" the world of organized crime, is it?

So what is it you like about that one? I found it derivative, silly, and completely uninteresting.

1. Goodfellas
2. The Godfather Part II
3. The Godfather
4. Once Upon a Time in America
5. Miller's Crossing
6. The Departed
7. Donnie Brasco
8. Casino
9. Carlito's Way
10. Mean Streets


Had to mention Miller's Crossing!

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Yeah, I love Miller's Crossing of course, but I didn't include it on my list because while it's a crime movie and crime bosses Leo & Casper start a war against each other with Tommy Guns and all, it's about the one duplicitous but secretly loyal character playing the all the angles and not about the actual criminal empire and its workings in any real detail. Tom Reagan works in organized crime, but would you call him a gangster? Do you think he's ever made collections or run numbers or roughed anybody up? It's also so much The Coen Brothers and their style that it feels out of place next to The Godfathers and GoodFellas and such, with their intentionally unnamed cinematic period metropolis purposefully kept from being in the "real" world. It's uncredited but Ethan & Joel clearly modeled Miller's Crossing on Dashiell Hammett's The Glass Key (which was twice made into movies, in 1935 and 1942, both are very good). And while that original Hammett story swims in the waters of corruption and crime syndicates too, I wouldn't call it a "gangster" or "Mafia" movie either. Not in the same way that Little Ceasar, Public Enemy, The Godfather and Donnie Brasco are, if you allow the distinction. That's just me, though.

But goodness I do love me some Miller's Crossing.

I always have such a hard time with lists but I'll try...

1. The Godfather
2. The Godfather 2
3. The Long Good Friday
4. Goodfellas
5. The King of New York
6. Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead
7. A History of Violence
8. Reservoir Dogs
9. A Prayer for the Dying
10. Casino

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

Yeah, I had a couple of titles that I thought about, but then asked myself if they belonged in the genre. I said yes to Miller's Crossing, just because I love it so damn much, and couldn't resist plugging it again.

Moving on...

Not that it would top 10 for me, but, Reservoir Dogs seems like more of a Heist flick to me, and, if I am going to consider flicks like that, which is a specialized group of criminals brought together for a job, I would have to dig into stuff like The Asphalt Jungle when listing.

• The Roaring Twenties (1939) script by a newsman from that period, directed by Raoul Walsh with Cagney, Bogart, Priscilla Lane, and Paul Kelly who actually did time in San Quentin in the 1920s on a manslaughter conviction after beating a man to death. This film has the best final scene and closing line ever—“He used to be a big shot.”
• The Petrified Forest (1936) made Bogart a star in one o f his most interesting roles as Duke Mantee, who looked and sounded a lot like John Dillinger.
• Public Enemy (1931) made Cagney a star.
• Little Caesar (1931) made Edward G. Robinson a star.
• Kiss of Death (1947) made Richard Widmark a star as giggling gangster Tommy Udo. Udo could have given crazy scary lessons to all of the “Goodfellas.” Also had Vic Mature and Brian Donlevy.
• White Heat (1950) Cagney’s greatest character, Cody Jarret. The train robbery caper was based on a real incident, the last hold-up of a train in the US by a couple of bungling brothers who ended up killing several people without getting a dime. Directed by Walsh with Virginia Mayo and Edmond O’Brien.
• Dead End (1937) Bogart, Claire Trevor, Allen Jenkins represent organized crime and the Dead End Kids symbolize the youth gangs they grew out of. Marjorie Main does a brief but great turn as “Baby Face” Martin’s (Bogart) mom.
• Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) Another great death scene from Cagney, one of the best ever filmed! With Bogart, Pat O’Brien, Dead End Kids, Ann Sheridan.
• On the Waterfront (1954) Brando, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Karl Malden, Elia Kazan.
• Men of Respect (1991) John Turtorro, Dennis Farina, Peter Boyle, and Steiger doing Macbeth as modern day gangsters. Nothing is any meaner or bloodier than that!

Yeah, I can see Reagan working his way up the organization making collections, running numbers, setting up banks. No one ever starts at the top of the mob, so I see him and Albert Finney's character working their way up together, developing respect for each other in the process. Reagan was no leg breaker, but he has a bagman's knowledge of who's on the take among police and civilians developed from longtime connections with those people. And he has no scruples about killing--you don't get the impression that's the first fatal shot he's ever fired.

Like you said, you see the same thing in several of Dashiell Hammett's stories in which organized crime is so pervasive that it's taken control of society. When even the cops are in the mob, it's gotta be a mob story, no matter where you slice it.

1. The Godfather
2. Goodfellas
3. Godfather Part Two
4. Public Enemy
5. Kiss of Death
6. Bob le flambeur
7. Miller's Crossing
8. Angels with Dirty Faces
9. White Heat
10. The Departed

There are so many good ones it's hard to limit to just 10. I also enjoy Once Upon a Time in America, Reservoir Dogs, Mean Streets, A Bronx Tale, The Road to Perdition, Dead End, Scarface(1932), Little Caesar, Donnie Brasco and American Gangster.

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"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."- Groucho Marx

Gangster films really aren't my thing but I'll name my favourites in no particular order:

1. Godfather
2. Goodfellas
3. Godfather Part 2
4. Once Upon a Time In America
5. The Untouchables (shall I walk away now? )
6. Scarface
7. Casino
8. The Departed
9. Carlito's Way

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That depends on which version of Scarface you are listing... Hopefully not the dreadful DePalma remake with Pacino, which is barely a 2-star film, IMO.

Yeah it's the original

No I haven't seen the original, I'm really not into gangster movies but I thought it was OK

Yeah, I kept wanting to put the original Scarface somewhere in my top 10--guess it would be my No. 11. But Paul Muni could squeeze more suspense out of a gunman's shadow on the wall than Pachino running amuck with his "little friend."

Two more great films I'd have liked to include:

Key Largo (1948) Bogart, Bacall, Eddie Robinson, Barrymore, Clare Treavor, Tomas Gomez, Mark Lawrence--what a great cast!

The Big Heat (1953) Lee Marvin and Gloria Grahame really sizzle, and Glenn Ford is good, too.

i don't think i've even seen 10

1. Reservoir Dogs (if this counts)
2. The Departed
3. The Godfather
4. Goodfellas

and Godfather Part 2 was pretty good

and some crappy gangster movies i've seen

Scarface
Godfather Part 3
Deuces Wild (OMG BAD)

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wahh...i want to watch reservoir dogs...

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Escalade Love|Mercedes blog|Auto Repair and Maintenance

1. The Godfather Part II
2. The Godfather
3. Goodfellas
4. Once Upon a Time in America
5. Reservoir dogs

Just Five will do!!!...

Lots of folks--including lots whose opinions about movies I respect--list Once Upon a Time in America but I have mixed feelings about that film. There were things about it that I enjoyed--Woods and DeNiro are almost always a pleasure to watch, and I enjoyed their interplay.

But bless his heart, Sergio Leone demonstrated no more knowledge or understanding of American gangsters than he did of American cowboys in his westerns. His characters always seem to me off-key compared with real life, sort of like those distorted tales that the first European explorers brought home of the New World. I don't know whether it was the music or what, but I kept expecting Woods and DeNiro to burst into tears at any moment. A lot of American gangsters are nuts, but none of the big ones were ever that depressed or depressing (with the possible exception of Frank Nitti, who shot himself).

One thing that seemed totally false to me in that movie was how DeNiro's character completely walked away from his past life after it appeared his buddies were killed. Sure, I can see him going to another city, changing his name, but give up crime? That's all he knew. And repeat offenders never give it up. (That's how they know for sure that the three cons who attempted that escape from Alcatraz were washed out to sea--they never were connected by fingerprint or MO or snitches or any other evidence to any crime ever again. Had they escaped alive, sooner or later--likely as soon as they reached land--they would have committed a crime. Therefore, they never reached land.)

Ruf - I set up some spoiler tags in your post, to protect the innocent.