The 30 Greatest Gangster Movies
Mobsters, molls, heavies & hoods. An offer you can't refuse...
BY Jun 16th 2009 13:13PMFILED UNDER: Features
User Comments (8)
27. The Killing (1956)
Can’t do the time, don’t do the crime: Kubrick’s racetrack stick-up unfolds in flashbacks, storytelling fractured to nail the fatalistic theme.
“A crime film,” said the director, “is almost like a bullfight; it has a ritual and a pattern, which lays down that the criminal isn’t going to make it.”
Kubrick’s OCD-editing flits from Sterling Hayden’s perfectly planned heist to the aftermath as his cool professionalism’s undone by the gang of squealers and bunglers he’s working with.
Tarantino nicked ideas for Reservoir Dogs, boasting, “This movie is my The Killing.”
Killer Scene: Elisha Cook’s turned worm: “The jerk’s right here.”
26. Tokyo Drifter (1966)
“Inspired lunacy,” reckoned Time Out. They were right on both counts. Seijun Suzuki’s yakuza run-around is your average gang-warfare flickplot-wise, locked’n’loaded by a crime boss’ struggles to “go straight”.
Twists, though, include a fractured structure, freaky effects, impromptu songs, near-slapstick gags, Pop Art colour coding (our hero is frequently coordinated to correlate with the wallpaper) and a villain who pretty much always arrives on screen sunglasses first.
With logic sidelined, are we talking style over content? Not quite: Suzuki extravagantly, exuberantly amplifies style to crack open and unpick conventional crime-flick content.
Killer Scene: A burly brawl in the “Saloon Western”. Insolent, pointless, well cheeky.
25. The Big Heat (1953)
Predating Dirty Harry and Popeye Doyle by two decades, Glenn Ford is the tough cop hunting the ruthless mobster who blew up his wife in Fritz Lang’s brutal thriller.
Shockingly violent for its day, this hard-boiled noir paints a bleak universe steeped in the kind of endemic corruption that was being uncovered at the time by the Kefauver Committee.
What unsettles, though, is the way women – beaten, burned, scalded and tortured – become the story’s collateral damage: sacrificial lambs caught in the cross-fire of a vicious new order.
Killer Scene: Lee Marvin’s psychotic gangster Vince Stone throwing hot coffee in Gloria Grahame’s face.
Next: Carlito's Way, Casque D'or, Get Carter...
Print Comments (8)
1: ebrown2112 says
I disagree about the exclusion of The Departed, but I agree about Goodfellas at #1.
Posted: Jun 23rd 2009 // 2:04PMAlert a moderator
2: weirdr0b0t says
i had forgotten about the departed, and i agree that should have been in there!!
What about Road to Perdition as well!! That movie should definitely be in there!!
Posted: Jun 23rd 2009 // 6:53PMAlert a moderator
3: adammiller2k says
forget the departed, infernal affairs is so much better! and having both in the list would have been stupid. great list though. i know i might get hounded for this, but if you had room for only 1 new wave "gangster movie" i'd replace breathless with truffaut's "shoot the pianist" that's a stonking good movie.
do the vengance triology not count as gangster movies? i know they are revenge tragedies, but then so is get carter (what a movie).
ps tokyo drifter rocks!
Posted: Jun 24th 2009 // 1:43AMAlert a moderator
4: Desperation says
I think Carlito's Way should have been higher.
Posted: Jun 24th 2009 // 11:39AMAlert a moderator
5: weirdr0b0t says
and you figure s****h or lock Stock or even RocknRolla would have got a mention!!
Posted: Jun 24th 2009 // 6:38PMAlert a moderator
6: Film2517 says
a pretty accurate list but Gomorrah is the most notable exclusion on it.
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 // 3:26PMAlert a moderator
7: SUPERmovieFREAK says
Okay this isn't that bad a list. You've definitely got some all time classics in there like the Godfather Part 1 & 2, Mean Streets, Goodfellas etc, etc. I disagree with Goodfellas being number 1, The Godfather is the greatest movie and greatest gangster movie EVER made (but okay I can deal with Goodfellas being Number 1).
But there are some films in there I've never even heard of. What the hell is Casque D'or, never heard of it. Or The Killing, never heard of it. The Big Heat, never heard of it.
Instead the complete shmucks you are, you’ve gone and missed major classics out like The Untouchables. How could you forget that? It’s got a small but classic role by Robert DeNiro and the legendary Sean Connery.
Plus like people have said above you’ve also missed out major modern classics like The Departed, Gommorah, Road To Perdition and Rock ‘n’ Rolla.
AND WHAT THE HELL ABOUT Eastern Promises and A History Of Violence. Two great movies by a great director and I still can’t believe you missed them out.
If I was a Don and I saw that list I’d have you all whacked you shmucks.
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 // 5:25PMAlert a moderator
8: Hip2thabone says
Seriously this list is totally f****d up.
How can u have pulp fiction higher than donnie brasco or infernal affairs?
What about a movie called "SHOTTAS"?
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