20 Best Gangster Movies All-Time
Here are Rich C's top 20 Gangster movies of all time in decending order
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- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroRay LiottaJoe PesciThe 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.Probably the only gangster movie that made me WANT to be a gangster.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsAl PacinoRobert De NiroRobert DuvallThe 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.Even better than the original, in my humble opinion.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.Not A gangster movie, THE gangster movie
- DirectorArthur PennStarsWarren BeattyFaye DunawayMichael J. PollardBored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.What can I say Faye Dunnaway and Warren Beatty are red "HOT" as the depression era bandits, you can't drive through a small town in Texas or Oklahoma without encountering 1 or 2 old men that swear they were at the gas station when Bonnie and Clyde came thru for gas.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsAl PacinoMichelle PfeifferSteven BauerIn 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed.Signature line "Say hello to my little friend", I can't see that clip too many times.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioMatt DamonJack NicholsonAn undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.A tremendously well acted movie. Nicholson was great as you expected but career preformances turned in by Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio.
- DirectorSam MendesStarsTom HanksTyler HoechlinPaul NewmanA 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.I don't know that the world was ready for Forrest Gump as a gangster, but at least he was the "good guy" of the bad guys. Great Flick
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsKevin CostnerSean ConneryRobert De NiroDuring Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.Signature of the movie De Niro's line "I want him dead, I want his family dead, I want his house burnt to the ground ....."
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroSharon StoneJoe PesciIn Las Vegas, two best friends - a casino executive and a mafia enforcer - compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.A fun film my only complaint is Joe Pesci played the same exact character in Goodfellas.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsJames CagneyVirginia MayoEdmond O'BrienA psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.Cagney's signature line "Made it Ma, top of the world."
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsJohn TravoltaUma ThurmanSamuel L. JacksonThe 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.Tarantino's seminal movie, paved the way for many others. What made this movie great was the cavalier way in which Travolta and Jackson treated murder. Just another day at the office.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyPat O'BrienHumphrey BogartA priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.One of Cagney's best gangster roles
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsDenzel WashingtonRussell CroweChiwetel EjioforAn outcast New York City cop is charged with bringing down Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, whose real life inspired this partly biographical film.Really hard to find a bad Denzel movie. One of the few actors that I buy as a "hero" or a "villan"
- DirectorGuy RitchieStarsJason FlemyngDexter FletcherNick MoranEddy 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.Probably the best British gangster film of all time.
- DirectorSergio LeoneStarsRobert De NiroJames WoodsElizabeth McGovernA 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.One of Sergio Leone's great movies, his pacing unbelievable, and the way he cuts in the flashback scenes makes you pay attention.
- DirectorBryan SingerStarsKevin SpaceyGabriel ByrneChazz PalminteriThe sole survivor of a pier shoot-out tells the story of how a notorious criminal influenced the events that began with five criminals meeting in a seemingly random police lineup.Keyser Soze, enough said.
- DirectorMike NewellStarsAl PacinoJohnny DeppMichael MadsenAn FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and finds himself identifying more with the Mafia life--at the expense of his regular one.For me a breakout roll for Johnny Depp
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsGene HackmanRoy ScheiderFernando ReyA pair of NYPD detectives in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a heroin smuggling ring based in Marseilles, but stopping them and capturing their leaders proves an elusive goal.You gotta love a character named Popeye.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn HustonA private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.The heat between Nicholson and Dunnaway is SMOKIN'
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsAl PacinoJohn RandolphJack KehoeAn honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.Made on the heals of The Godfather and just before Dog Day Afternoon, Pacino had already become America's favorite gangster