Greatest early gangster films
Best gangster movies of the 1920s and 1930s
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15 titles
- DirectorJosef von SternbergArthur RossonStarsGeorge BancroftClive BrookEvelyn BrentBoisterous gangster kingpin Bull Weed rehabilitates his former lawyer from his alcoholic haze, but complications arise when he falls for Weed's girlfriend.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsThomas MeighanLouis WolheimMarie PrevostAn honest police captain vows to bring down a powerful bootlegger who is protected by corrupt politicians and judges.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsLew AyresJames CagneyDorothy MathewsDespite his efforts to go straight, a young gangster keeps falling back into crime.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsJames CagneyJean HarlowEdward WoodsAn Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsEdward G. RobinsonDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Glenda FarrellA small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.
- DirectorHoward HawksRichard RossonStarsPaul MuniAnn DvorakKaren MorleyAn ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.
- DirectorBryan FoyStarsHelene CostelloCullen LandisMary CarrA gangster frames two bootleggers for the shooting of a police officer in New York during the prohibition.
- DirectorGeorge W. HillStarsWallace BeeryLewis StoneJohnny Mack BrownAfter rising bootlegger Slaughterhouse Scorpio eliminates his gangland competition, two reporters and a cabal of six businessmen work to expose him.
- DirectorCharles BrabinStarsWalter HustonJean HarlowWallace FordPolice Chief Jim Fitzpatrick ruthlessly goes after organized crime and is prepared to use brutal and violent methods to fight it.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsJames CagneyHumphrey BogartPriscilla LaneThree men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsHelen TwelvetreesRicardo CortezJohn GarrickRicardo Cortez plays a ruthless, near-psychotic gangster who withal follows his own code of honor. Helen Twelvetrees co-stars as a trusting young woman who marries mob lawyer John Garrick, never dreaming that both her husband and her brother Frank Conroy are involved in the rackets. When she does learn the horrible truth, it is she who determines to "cleanse" her family of the tinge of crime by dealing directly with Cortez--and she means directly.
- DirectorJohn Francis DillonStarsCharles FarrellBette DavisRicardo CortezRacketeers flood the market with counterfeit cosmetics and drugs, causing some tragedies.
- DirectorJohn S. RobertsonStarsJoseph SchildkrautBarbara KentEdward G. RobinsonJust after newsman Rooker and Ruth Kearns are married he covers a double murder during a bank robbery. Cigarettes at the scene implicate gangster Tony Garotta. Garotta kidnaps Rooker and another reporter, intending to kill them.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsClaudette ColbertDavid NewellNellie SavageMrs. Ramsey sent Jean Oliver to prison on a false charge. To get even, Jean (disguised as Madame Mystera) plans to kidnap her daughter and turn her into a thief. Love entanglements with a gangster known as "The Fox" and newspaperman Grant complicate her plans.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsMary NolanEdward G. RobinsonOwen MooreFingers is planning a half-million-dollar bank robbery in gang boss Cobra Collins' territory. Fingers' moll Connie tries to bluff Cobra into thinking the hit won't be for another week when the call comes through saying it's now.