The 50 Best Gangster Movies of All Time

“Eastern Promises” is a dark crime thriller with the type of extreme violence one might expect from director David Cronenberg, (“Videodrome” (1983), “The Fly” (1986)). While the movie may be more dramatic than the average action flick, the gritty brutality — including a famous nudе fight scene — is a draw to many fans of the genre.

Film noir classic “Cry of the City” follows a convicted killer and suspected jewel thief who escapes from prison. As he plots to escape from the country, a police lieutenant who happens to be a long time family friend tries to track him down.

In “Force of Death,” a lawyer has a chance to team up with a gangster to make big money with an illegal numbers racket. But when the lawyer’s brother refuses to involve his bank in the scheme, he is left with a difficult choice.

“Point Blank” is a film adaptation of the 1963 Richard Stark noir novel “The Hunter.” It tells the tale of a man double-crossed in a robbery, shot, and left for dead. Upon recovering from his wounds, he sets out to get his share of the take and kill those that wronged him.

In “Dinner Rush,” a restaurant owner must fend off a takeover attempt from a pair of gangsters, while also navigating an argument with his son and making sure to please a restaurant critic – all in the space of one busy evening.

“Thief” is another classic gangster movie from a master of the genre — Michael Mann. In the film, a jewel thief tries to leave his life of crime behind so he can settle down with his girlfriend. But to do this, he needs one last big score, and the gangster he teams with for the robbery doesn’t want to let him retire.

Albert and Allen Hughes — credited as The Hughes Brothers — directed and co-wrote (along with Tyger Williams) this gritty drama about a young man trying to escape his hometown in the Los Angeles Watts neighborhood projects.

“Mean Streets” is a crime drama directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. Keitel plays Charlie, a young Italian-American man navigating life in New York City in the 1970s. Charlie is torn between his mafia-connected family and his desire to be a good Catholic. Further, his best friend Johnny (De Niro) is self-destructive and owes money to all the wrong people.

“The Untouchables” follows a special team of law enforcement agents, led by Elliott Ness (Kevin Costner) as they try to take down the infamous Al Capone (Robert De Niro) in Prohibition-era Chicago. Ness sets out to build a team that hasn’t been corrupted by Capone and is willing to pursue him to the end.

In “Snatch,” the underground boxing world is thrown into disarray when a talented fighter refuses to throw a match — much to the dismay of the gangster betting on him. Meanwhile, incompetent thieves and crooks all search for a stolen diamond.

In “Underworld,” notorious gangster kingpin Bull Weed helps pull his alcoholic lawyer out of the gutter and get his life together, but things become complicated when the lawyer falls in love with Weed’s girlfriend. The film earned its writer, Ben Hecht, the first ever Academy Award for best writing, original story.

Al Pacino stars in this crime drama as Carlito Brigante, a Puerto Rican criminal in New York City who attempts to clean up his act.

“Traffic” tells three different interlocking stories about the drug trade — a tough judge who has to deal with an addict daughter, DEA agents who are protecting an inside source, and the wife of an incarcerated gang leader who tries to run his crew and the drug business. The film won four Academy Awards, including best director for Steven Soderbergh and best supporting actor for Benicio Del Toro.

Set in the late 1920s in New York City, “Bullets Over Broadway” tells the story of a struggling playwright who must cast a mob boss’ talentless girlfriend in order for his play to make it on Broadway.

The 1961 film “Underworld U.S.A.” is a classic tale of revenge. In it, a teenager sees a group of four gangsters kill his father. He promises to exact revenge on those responsible.

In yet another crime drama, Al Pacino plays Lefty Ruggiero, an aging gangster who unwittingly takes a young undercover FBI agent under his wing.

“Casino” is an American mob epic that is based on real-life organized crime members in Las Vegas. Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro) is a gambling expert who is asked to take over operations of a mob-controlled casino in Vegas in the early 1970s. Shortly after his arrival, Rothstein’s childhood friend and mobster Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) is sent by higher ups to help with security and operations. Everything begins well enough, but Santoro starts getting into all sorts of trouble.

Remembered for its iconic 10-minute car chase scene — known as one of the best in film history — “Bullitt” follows a San Francisco detective as he searches for the mob boss who killed one of his witnesses. The film, shot mostly outside on location, broke boundaries with its hyperreal filmmaking style.

The Korean drama “The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil” was one of 2019’s best-reviewed films, with well over 90% of both critics and audience members on Rotten Tomatoes reviewing the movie reporting that they enjoyed it. In the film, a mob boss forms an unlikely partnership with a detective to try to find a serial killer that attacked him.

“Miller’s Crossing” tells the story of an escalating mob war between Irish and Italian organized crime families. Caught in the middle is a crooked bookie whose sister is dating the head of the Irish mob.

The mob epic is based on the nonfiction book “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt. It follows the story of Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), a real-life mob hitman. By chance, Sheeran begins working for some local crime figures around Philadelphia and quickly begins to climb the ranks. His experience fighting in World War II left him with considerable skills that are useful in the criminal world. One thing leads to another and he becomes involved with famous Teamster union boss Jimmy Hoffa.

Though 1983’s “Scarface” is still well known today, what may be less well known is the fact that it is actually a remake of another movie that came out over 50 years earlier. In both films the lead character is an ambitious figure in organized crime whose greed proves to be his downfall.

“The Friends of Eddie Coyle” is a film about an aging bakery truck driver in Boston who is also a small-time gun runner and faces jail time unless he rats out his friends. The title character is played by film noir-star Robert Mitchum, and the movie also features Peter Boyle.

Ambitious Irish mobster Tom Powers (James Cagney) becomes a successful bootlegger during Prohibition-era Chicago. One of Warner Bros.’s studio first gangster movies, Powers murders a rival gang member, but his smashing of a grapefruit in his girlfriend’s face is what really made him a bad guy.

Loosely based upon the life of Al Capone, Scarface traces the rise of brutal mobster Tony Carmonte (Paul Muni) in the Chicago underworld. An unrepentant murderer, Tony blows away anyone in his path. He may also have some unnatural feelings for his sister, Cesca (Ann Dvorak). Capone himself was said to admire the film.

The plot of “Key Largo” centers on a World War II veteran who goes to Florida to see the family hotel of his fallen war buddy. He arrives to discover gangsters have taken over the operation, leading to a confrontation. The star-studded cast features Hollywood legends like Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, and Claire Trevor, who won the Oscar for best supporting actress for the film.

In 1950’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” a tough cop tries to leave behind his father’s legacy of crime, but when he kills a suspect during an interrogation, he tries to get out of trouble by framing a gangster for the crime.

In this crime drama, Al Pacino plays good cop Vincent Hanna, an LAPD Lieutenant who investigates a professional theft ring, led by Neil McCauley, played by Robert De Niro.

Based on the 1952 novel “The Hoods,” this movie sees Robert De Niro playing a mobster — broke, and haunted by the memories of his past — returning to the Lower East Side after 35 years in hiding.

In “The Narrow Margin,” a gangster’s widow is preparing to testify in a trial. A police officer is assigned to escort her on a train trip from Chicago to Los Angeles as hit men come for them both to try to stop her testimony.

An artist falls in love with a young woman named Kitty, who is secretly involved with a criminal named Johnny. When the artist’s work suddenly becomes highly sought after, Johnny and Kitty team up to con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings.

After a mysterious man called “The Swede” is murdered, an investigator unravels his past, finding a femme fatale, deception, and evidence of a bank robbery.

John Singleton became the first African American nominated for a Best Director Oscar for the film about the experiences, relationships, and aspirations of three young black men living in the impoverished Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles. Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, and Laurence Fishburne star in the film.

“Out of the Past” is a deftly directed crime drama by Jacques Tourneur that starred Robert Mitchum as a former private investigator whose past catches up with him. Though the film was not nominated for an Oscar, it is lauded by critics as one of the greatest examples of film noir.

“Touch of Evil” is Orson Welles’ film noir about a corrupt, bullying police chief in conflict with a Mexican-born policeman investigating a bomb blast that killed an American contractor. The Critics Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes cites it as “artistically innovative and emotionally gripping.” The movie grossed more than $2 million worldwide.

A young Italian-American in the Bronx who struggles to navigate the obstacles of racism, his father’s working-class morals, and the temptations of joining the mob in this realistic crime drama.

In the “Roaring Twenties,” three men return home after fighting in World War I. After struggling to adjust to life back home, they decide to get into the bootlegging business during the prohibition era.

“The Big Heat,” Fritz Lang’s tautly directed film, is about a policeman (Glenn Ford) conducting an investigation into the death of a corrupt cop that leads him into conflict with organized crime. The movie is noteworthy for an early-career appearance by Lee Marvin as a gangland enforcer.

In Quentin Tarantino’s first feature-length film, a diamond heist goes awry and the criminal posse who pulled it off starts squabbling as they each begin to suspect that one of their own is to blame.

Is Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint (Kevin Spacey) a con artist with cerebral palsy, just a two-bit thief, or a fearsome murderous mobster known as Keyser Söze? The movie’s plot revolves around cocaine and a ship explosion. For his duplicitous performance, Spacey won an Academy Award.

“The Departed” is Martin Scorsese’s most financially successful film to date. The movie is based on the popular Hong Kong thriller “Infernal Affairs.” Scorsese’s gritty flick about the Irish mob in Boston took home Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing.

Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play two jazz musicians forced to become cross-dressing members of an all-women band to avoid being killed by mobsters after witnessing the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Directed by Billy Wilder, “Some Like It Hot” is an homage to gangster movies, screwball comedies, and silent films. It was named BBC Culture’s funniest comedy film of all time.

“Angels with Dirty Faces” follows the story of a notorious mobster, William “Rocky” Sullivan, and his relationship with his best friend who becomes a priest. As adults, the priest tries to prevent several young boys from falling under Rocky’s influence.

“White Heat” centers on psychotic killer Cody Jarrett who has an unnatural attraction to his mother. His wife kills his mother and he goes berserk, eventually leading to his final (literal) blow up.

The 1973 heist film “The Sting,” starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, was both a commercial and critical success. The comedy-drama tells the story of two con men who work together to pull off the scam to end all scams. The movie was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won seven, including Best Picture.

Director Elia Kazan’s gritty drama “On the Waterfront” is about corruption on the New Jersey waterfront in the 1950s. The movie was shot in Hoboken, where screenwriter Budd Schulberg walked the streets with star Marlon Brando to get a feel for the longshoremen’s lives.

This neo-noir comedy follows a series of Los Angeles criminals — including two hitmen, their boss and his wife, a double-crossing boxer, and a couple of small-time crooks — all of whom come face-to-face with death.

Martin Scorsese’s mafia classic “Goodfellas” is based on Nicholas Pileggi’s nonfiction bestseller “Wiseguy.” The book tells the story of mobster Henry Hill — played by Ray Liotta in the movie — and his criminal associates.

Critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes hailed this all-star saga for setting “new standards for sequels that have yet to be matched or broken.” Critics generally found it deeper and more powerful than the first “Godfather,” and the Chicago Tribune called it “a landmark work from one of Hollywood’s top cinema eras.” The movie won six Academy Awards, including best picture, best director, and best actor in a supporting role (Robert De Niro).

Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster epic “The Godfather” breathed new life into the American film industry upon its release in 1972. Critics Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes describes the film as “one of Hollywood’s greatest critical and commercial successes” and credits it for establishing “new benchmarks for American cinema.”