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)
6. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Seventeen years after it first rocked the US indie scene, Tarantino’s energetic, tightly-plotted debut still feels fresher than noughties nostalgia trips like Kill Bill and Death Proof.
QT never shows the botched diamond-store heist on which the film hinges – this is all about the fallout, as a gang of colourfully named crims try to root out the mole in their midst.
Confidently laying the Tarantino template, Dogs leaves an indelible impression. “For some people, the violence isn’t their cup of tea,” said the director. “That’s OK. I wanted it to be disturbing.”
Killer Scene: “All you can do is pray for a quick death...” Michael Madsen’s sadistic Mr Blonde goes to work to the sounds of Stealers Wheel.
5. Heat (1995)
Possibly the best cops’n’robbers movie ever made. That’s because in Mann’s world, cops and robbers battle like Gods.
The coffee-shop scene between screen deities De Niro and Pacino makes epic drama of tiny silences. Guns sound like thunder. LA becomes a doomy Valhalla.
Heat’s mirror-duel between De Niro’s master robber and Pacino’s brilliant detective holds tight to an emotional inner life as its obsessive anti-heroes lose grip on theirs. Slick and stunning.
Killer Scene: That final dying handshake between De Niro and Pacino.
4. The Godfather (1972)
“I felt that I should quit,” said Steven Spielberg of the first time he saw The Godfather. “That there was no reason to continue directing because
I would never reach that level of confidence.”
Even if you’ve never seen Francis Ford Coppola’s blistering gangster epic, forged in the white heat of Silver Age Hollywood, the saga of Don Vito Corleone’s youngest son Michael’s ascent from shiftless Ivy Leaguer to ruthless Capo di Capi is so seared into the public consciousness you’ll think you have.
Shot in burnished mahogany tones, it’s an elegant tale of the gentlemanly corruption of old segueing into an age of cruel efficiency.
Pick your own superlative: chances are it’ll be bang on.
Killer Scene: The ‘Baptism Massacre’, Michael becoming Godfather as the heads of the other families roll…
Next: Army In The Shadows, The Godfather, Part II, Goodfellas...
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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