The Worst Gangster Films of All Time

David Duchovny plays a decertified surgeon who becomes the personal doctor for a gangster (Timothy Hutton). Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune said “David Duchovny is absolutely charming in a movie that combines medicine and crime and ultimately wears out its welcome by being too cute and repetitive with its throwaway humor.”

Keifer Sutherland portrays an undercover Philadelphia cop forced to take part in a robbery that leads to fatalities. Lou Diamond Phillips appears as the brother of one of those killed who teams with Sutherland to seek vengeance. Critic Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic.com dismissed the movie as “another mismatched cop adventure.”

Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds are two cops out to avenge the death of another policeman (Richard Roundtree). Jane Alexander is their love interest. What could go wrong with a movie with that kind of cast? Apparently almost everything: Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader said “Under the direction of last-minute replacement Richard Benjamin, the results are insufferable — grotesque, chaotic, demoralized.”

The title almost says it all. In this comedy, Joe Pesci plays a mobster transporting the severed heads of rivals and his duffel bag gets mixed up with that of a medical student. This was director Tom Schulman’s lowest-rated film by Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score.

Andrew Lau and Andrew Loo directed this tale of two young men rising through the ranks of a Chinese-American gang in New York. Jordan Hoffman of the New York Daily News called the film a Chinese-American “Goodfellas” that failed.

A gunman (Thomas Jane) is tasked with protecting an important briefcase from a mobster (Gregory Harrison). Despite the star power of Ving Rhames, the film was criticized for trying to capitalize on the style of the movie “Sin City,” as critic Alex Lindsey Jones of Moviedex put it.

There have been several biopics of Gambino crime lord John Gotti, but this one, starring John Travolta as the “Teflon Don,” failed to please any of the 58 critics on Rotten Tomatoes. “A Gotti awful mess,” moaned Richard Popes of TheIndependentCritic.com. It was directed by Kevin Connolly, who starred in the cable television series “Entourage.”

Oscar winner Nicolas Cage plays a reformed criminal whose daughter is kidnapped. He regroups his old crew to find her. Director Paco Cabezas spared no violence in this thriller, which critics called dull, dour, and lacking in originality.

This clunker starring Nicholas Cage as a contract assassin is a remake of a Thai-language film released eight years earlier, also directed by brothers Danny and Oxide Chun Pang. Critic Christy Lemire of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer found it “tediously monotonous.”

“Half Past Dead” stars Steven Seagal as an undercover FBI agent out to stop a master villain from finding $200 million in gold. John J. Puccio of Movie Metropolis lanced Seagal’s performance, saying “Seagal at his most minimal, saying and doing less in this film than in practically any film he’s been in. Maybe it’s for the best.” It’s the lowest-rated film by director Don Michael Paul on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.

A border patrol agent played by Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. (Best Supporting Actor for “Jerry Maguire”) can’t escape his gang past. This movie holds one of Gooding Jr.’s lowest audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

A killer on the run forces a plastic surgeon to make him a new face. The film was directed by Edward D. Wood Jr., who is credited, or blamed, for some of the worst movies ever made, among them “Plan 9 From Outer Space” and the quasi-autobiographical “Glen or Glenda.” Critic Dennis Schwartz cut Wood some slack: “This is Wood’s attempt to be taken seriously, and he makes this the best film he has ever made.”

Both Charles Bronson and the Death Wish franchise were getting long in the tooth when this vigilante sequel arrived in 1994. TV Guide unleashed on its wanton gun violence: “What’s revolting, if not surprising, about this salute to Bernie Goetz, the NRA, and All-American contempt for civil liberties, is the casual inevitability of all the violence.”

Djimon Hounsou (“Amistad,” “Gladiator”) is an assassin hired by a businessman to avenge the murder of his daughter at the hands of slave traders in Thailand. Critics called “Elephant White” dreary. Kevin Bacon effects a British accent as a gun merchant.

“The Sting II” is one of the better examples why some seques are not needed. Despite a stellar cast including Jackie Gleason, Oliver Reed, Karl Malden and Teri Garr, it was a complete flop. Janet Maslin seemed to sum up the critics consensus: “Moves slowly, looks terrible and copies the first film shamelessly.”

Appalled by street crime (Robert Ginty), a man outfits a garbage truck with armor, rocket launchers, and machine guns, and arms himself with a flamethrower, to clean up his city. Critic Chuck Leary of FulvueDrive-in.com called the film “dreadful on every level.”

The only way for a young man to escape the clutches of gang life in this movie is through his talent as a hip-hop artist. Critics thought “Turn It Up” was derivative and formulaic, and one audience survey scored it D- on a scale of A to F.

Based on a Jimmy Breslin novel, the comedy is about a Brooklyn mob kingpin (Jerry Orbach) who tries to knock off his rivals. Television veteran James Goldstone (“Star Trek,” “Route 66,” “The Fugitive,” and “The Outer Limits”) directed the flop.

Featuring action star Jean-Claude Van Damme, “Dragon Eyes” is about a man (Cung Le) who utilizes his fighting skills to protect his neighborhood from drug dealers and corrupt police. The zero Tomatometer score is the lowest for director John Hyams, who’s had two films – “All Square” and “Alone” – top more than 90 percent on the scale.

An orphaned teen (India Eisley) enlists two men to help her avenge the deaths of her parents. “Kite” was dismissed by all 15 critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Ben Kenigsbuerg of the New York Times said “Nasty for nastiness’s sake, ‘Kite’ drags to achieve its brief running time; you wonder whether the slow motion is an artistic device or a stalling tactic.” It’s the lowest-rated film on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer for director Ralph Ziman.

In the future, three people plot a huge theft before a government-broadcast signal extinguishes crime for good. IndieWire’s David Ehrlich called “The Last Days of American Crime” a “death march of clichés that offers nothing to look at and even less to consider.”

A crime boss (Neal McDonough) won’t let anything stand in his way as he takes over a section of Bangkok. A team led by a martial-arts expert (Robin Shou) and an Interpol agent (Chris Klein) try to stop him. Adapted from a video game, “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li” faltered because of a poor plot and miscast actors. “Vapid and dull,” said Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle.

A mob don sends his son to learn the tricks of the organized-crime trade. The comedy starred comic actors Rodney Dangerfield and Dom DeLuise, but even they could not save this film. “Dangerfield and DeLuise are two of my favorite funnymen, but this is so bad I turned it off halfway through,” said Chuck O’Leary of Fantastica Daily.

Joe Don Baker, whose righteous rage as Sheriff Buford Pusser made “Walking Tall” a hit, returned in a similar role in “Mitchell,” playing a big-city cop cracking down on drug traffickers. This was not one of director Andrew V. McLaglen’s career highlights, and he’s had a few, including “Shenandoah” and “Chisum.”

This gangster film that’s also a rom-com featured Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez as the would-be kidnappers of the brother of a federal prosecutor. Critics trashed the film, citing in particular the lack of screen chemistry between Affleck and Lopez. This wasn’t director Martin Brest’s finest hour. He’s helmed four films that have had a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of 80 percent or higher, including “Midnight Run.” The Oscar-nominated director (for “Scent of a Woman”) won the Razzie for Worst Director in 2004 for “Gigli.”