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)
12. Mean Streets (1973)
Scorsese’s paean to the Little Italy of his youth (“I knew all those guys and many of them are still very close friends”) lacks the polish of his later works but makes up for it with a raw passion and energy embodied in Robert De Niro’s reckless Johnny Boy.
The director’s alter ego, though, is Harvey Keitel’s Charlie, the tortured Catholic torn between spirituality and crime. “I saw myself in Harvey,”
reveals This Is England helmer and Scorsese fan Shane Meadows.
“He was part of a circle, but you could see he was looking for a way out.”
Killer Scene: “I’m a mook? What’s a mook?”
11. Point Blank (1967)
There is no cash – that’s the secret of Point Blank. John Boorman’s stylish, stylized gangster thriller pits Lee Marvin’s ghost-like revenger
Walker against the shadowy “organisation” that left him for dead on Alcatraz.
He wants his $93,000, but in ultra-modern LA the Mob only deals in cheques or plastic.
Boorman exploited the “complete loss of nerve by the American studios” to wrestle total creative control for himself – the resulting movie is a bad trip, with déjà vu flashbacks and jump cuts channelling European style. The first acid-noir gangster flick.
Killer Scene: The trippy nightclub scene, with strobe lights punctuating Walker’s violence.
10. Pulp Fiction (1994)
“Gangster films are sort of parodies of the American Dream,” explains Quentin Tarantino. “They’re a skewed, bizarro world of getting rich in business in America.There always has to be some sort of satire on the American lifestyle.”
So is that why Jules and Vincent go about their business like ordinary schmoes, shooting the shit about burgers and foot massages on their
way to make a killing?
It’s the hitmen’s very ordinariness that makes them extraordinary though, in a sophomore effort that was both a polished crime anthology and an international phenomenon.
Killer Scene: “And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger…”
Next: Scarface, Once Upon A Time In America, Miller's Crossing...
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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