Subgenre Sampler

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Capone (2020): Dir. Josh Trank
Feat. Tom Hardy, Linda Cardellini, Jack Lowden…; Tom Hardy plays the legendary Chicago gangster at the age of 47, after a decade in prison, where his untreated neurosyphilis is robbing him of…
Irishman, The (2019): Dir. Martin Scorsese
Feat. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci…; Unwieldly but fascinating Scorsese crime drama, in which the director reunites with good fellas Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci to tell the…
Wild Goose Lake, The (Nan fang che zhan de ju hui) (2019): Dir. Diao Yinan
Feat. Ge Hu, Fan Liao, Lun-Mei Kwei; Chinese noir thriller with impeccable visual flair, following the fates of a rogue gangster and the prostitute he meets whilst on the run from the…
McMafia (TV Series) (2018): Feat. James Norton, David Strathairn, Juliet Rylance; Slow–burning crime TV series following the son of a Russian mafia boss who lives in London with his dad, and becomes pulled into the criminal…
Black Mass (2015): Dir. Scott Cooper
Feat. Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson…; True crime yarn with Johnny Depp disappearing into the role of notorious gangster Whitey Bulger, who became an FBI informant in order to take down a…
Clan, The (2015): Dir. Pablo Trapero
Feat. Guillermo Francella, Peter Lanzani, Lili Popovich; Swaggering portrait of the Argentina's notorious Puccio Clan who's ruthless kidnap and ransom operation that both terrorized and fascinated the…
Suburra (2015): Dir. Stefano Sollima
Feat. Pierfrancesco Favino, Elio Germano, Claudio Amendola…; Enthralling crime saga follows a gangster named Samurai as he attempts to turn the waterfront of Rome into an Italian Las Vegas.
Gomorrah (TV Series) (2014): Feat. Marco DAmore, Salvatore Esposito, Maria Pia Calzone…; Euro–crime TV series set in the Scampia neighbourhood of Naples, where a brutal war breaks out between rival gangs in the criminal underworld.…
American Hustle (2013): Dir. David O. Russell
Feat. Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams…; David O. Russell directs a full–house of acting talent in this wild crime drama about a FBI agent and con man collaborating to sting corrupt…
Blood Ties (2013): Dir. Guillaume Canet
Feat. Clive Owen, Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard…; French dir. Guillaume Canet helms this cagey thriller about a convicted killer (Clive Owen) who returns from prison to live with his younger brother…
New World (2013): Dir. Hoon-jung Park
Feat. Jung-Jae Lee, Min-sik Choi; Essentially INFERNAL AFFAIRS transposed to the Korean underworld, this brutal gangster flick revolves around an undercover cop whose loyalty to the…
Siberian Education (Deadly Code) (2013): Dir. Gabriele Salvatores
Feat. John Malkovich, Peter Stormare, Eleanor Tomlinson…; Gabriele Salvatores (I'M NOT SCARED) directs this odd Italian production of Russian gangster memoir, with John Malkovich as the hard–bitten…
Underbelly - Season 7 (TV Mini-series) (Squizzy) (2013): Feat. Jared Daperis, Camille Keenan; Further tales from Australia's underworld, this time centred on the life and times of notorious Melbourne gangster Squizzy Taylor, whose blend of…
Beyond Outrage (2012): Dir. Takeshi Kitano
Feat. Takeshi Kitano, Ryo Kase; A straightforward sequel to Takeshi Kitano's late return to the yakuza genre, continuing the bloody battle between police and rival gangs. As with…
Black's Game (2012): Dir. Óskar Thór Axelsson
Feat. Thor Kristjansson, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson; A young opportunist is drawn into Reykjavik's underworld of gangsters and drug pushers in this hardcore Scandi–crime, an eye–catching if…
Iceman, The (2012): Dir. Ariel Vromen
Feat. Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder, Chris Evans…; Michael Shannon embodies cold faced killer Richard Kuklinski in this oddly sympathetic portrait of the notorious contract killer, who was as infamous…
Ill Manors (2012): Dir. Ben Drew
Feat. Riz Ahmed, Natalie Press, Ed Skrein…; English rapper Plan B directs this multistory portrait of life in a London housing estate beset by drugs, gangsters, and sexual crime.
Killing Them Softly (2012): Dir. Andrew Dominik
Feat. Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn…; Ex–pat Kiwi Andrew Dominik helms this sullen gangland thriller, about a professional enforcer (Pitt) hired to track down the amateur criminals…
Last Dragon Master, The (The Last Tycoon) (2012): Dir. Wong Jing
Feat. Chow Yun-Fat, Sammo Hung, Francis Ng; Chow Yun–Fat lends his charismatic presence to this sumptuous gangster picture detailing the rise of a legendary Shanghai mobster at the turn…
Luck (TV Series) (2012): Dir. Michael Mann, Phillip Noyce, Mimi Leder
Feat. Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Farina, John Ortiz…; Heavy–hitting HBO crime drama centred on the deal–makers who frequent a popular Los Angeles racetrack – principally, an aging…
Underbelly - Season 6 (TV Mini-series) (Badness) (2012): Feat. Jonathan LaPaglia, Matt Nable; Further tales from Australia's underworld, this time centred on the decade–long case built against one Anthony "Rooster" Perish, an elusive…
A Gang Story (2011): Dir. Olivier Marchal
Feat. Gerard Lanvin, Tcheky Karyo, Daniel Duval; French cop–turned–filmmaker Olivier Marchal (36 QUAI DES ORFEVRES, MR73) steps over to the other side of the law with this…
Kill the Irishman (2011): Dir. Jonathan Hensleigh
Feat. Ray Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Val Kilmer…; Based on the violent exploits of Shamrock career criminal Danny Greene – a union crook, loan shark heavy, and finally, organised crime boss in…
Killing Time (TV Mini-Series) (2011): Feat. David Wenham, Diana Glenn, Colin Friels; Another hard–hitting crime story ripped from Australian headlines, starring David Wenham as a favourite defense lawyer of Melbourne's gangland…
Underbelly - Season 5 (TV Mini-series) (Razor) (2011): Feat. Danielle Cormack, Chelsie Preston-Crayford, Felix Williamson; The latest in the Underbelly franchise again features a strong Kiwi (and female) flavour, with Danielle Cormack and Chelsie Preston–Crayford…
Angels of Evil (2010): Dir. Michele Placido
Feat. Kim Rossi Stuart, Filippo Timi, Valeria Solarino…; Taking a leaf from MESRINE's rap sheet, Italy simultaneously glorifies and moralises the story of its own criminal rock star, Renato…
Brighton Rock (2010): Dir. Rowan Joffe
Feat. Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Helen Mirren…; Graham Greene's 1939 novel is the source material for this prickly British underworld drama about a gangster (Riley) whose rise through the ranks is…
London Boulevard (2010): Dir. William Monahan
Feat. Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley, David Thewlis…; An ex–con turned celebrity bodyguard finds himself unwittingly drawn back into London's criminal underworld in this confident directorial debut…
Love / Hate (TV Series) (2010-2014): Feat. Aidan Gillen, Robert Sheehan, Peter Coonan…; TV series set in Ireland's criminal underworld, where a kingpin (Aidan Gillen) and four members of his small–time drug gang navigate rivalries…
Outrage (2010): Dir. Takeshi Kitano
Feat. Takeshi Kitano, Renji Ishibashi, Ryo Kase; Aging Japanese hard–man Takeshi Kitano returns to the turf of his international film celebrity – the minimalist Yakuza movie – in…
Revenge (Shadow Boxing 2) (2010): Dir. Anton Megerdichev
Feat. Denis Nikiforov, Andrey Panin, Victor Lopez…; Punchy crime thriller with a Russian boxer taking on a Mexican mafia boss after mortally injuring his son in the ring. Leave your brain parked in…
Father and Son (TV Mini-Series) (2009): Dir. Brian Kirk
Feat. Dougray Scott, Sophie Okonedo, Stephen Rea…; Gritty, tough–minded BBC serial examines the reverberations of crime across two parallel storylines: a father (Scott), whose wife was murdered…
Shinjuku Incident (San suk si gin) (2009): Dir. Derek Yee
Feat. Jackie Chan, Naoto Takenaka, Daniel Wu; Jackie Chan turns serious for this gritty, nocturnal gangland drama centered around a Chinese immigrant who is unintentionally drawn into Tokyo’s…
Staten Island (Little New York) (2009): Dir. James DeMonaco
Feat. Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Seymour Cassel…; Ethan Hawke plays a blue collar New Yorker whose plan to fleece a mob boss of his dirty money comes unstuck when a deaf–mute hitman enters the…
American Trap, The (2008): Dir. Charles Biname
Feat. Remy Girard, Colm Feore, Janet Lane; Paranoid sixties set thriller has a Canadian criminal becoming an unwitting secret weapon for a covert organisation and bearing witness to a chain of…
In Bruges (2008): Dir. Martin McDonagh
Feat. Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes; A smart, jet–black comedy centred on two Irish assassins who are packed off to Bruges, Belgium by their superior after a hit goes horribly…
Jerusalema (2008): Dir. Ralph Ziman
Feat. Daniel Buckland, Robert Hobbs; A punchy, gun–toting gangland epic following the rise to two Soweto teenagers seduced by crime and violence in South Africa. Although…
Mesrine (Killer Instinct, Public Enemy Number 1) (2008): Dir. Jean-François Richet
Feat. Vincent Cassel, Cecile De France, Gerard Depardieu…; Effective, if at times highly sensationalised biopic of career criminal Jacques Mesrine – France’s ‘Public Enemy #1’ throughout the 1960s and…
RocknRolla (2008): Dir. Guy Ritchie
Feat. Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandiwe Newton…; Stylephile Guy Ritchie revisits well–trodden territory with this typically tangled crime caper involving a menagerie of seedy opportunists…
Black Donnellys, The (TV Series) (2007): Feat. Michael Stahl-David, Jonathan Tucker, Tom Guiry…; Haphazard but engrossing antidote to the status quo of gangster TV series (i.e. THE SOPRANOS) centres on four Hell's Kitchen brothers whose…
Brooklyn Rules (2007): Dir. Michael Corrente
Feat. Alec Baldwin, Scott Caan, Freddie Prinze Jnr.…; Three impressionable Italian Americans must choose to resist or surrender to Mob life in this familiar, but soundly acted coming–of–age,…
Concrete Romance (Cemento armato) (2007): Dir. Marco Martani
Feat. Nicolas Vaporidis, Giorgio Faletti, Carolina Crescentini; Brutal Italian thriller focused on a young petty crim unwittingly caught up in a deadly revenge plot by a Mafia kingpin after damaging his…
Eastern Promises (2007): Dir. David Cronenberg
Feat. Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel…; A muscular, satisfying thriller set in the underworld of the Russian mafia in London, this reteams the director and star of A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE,…
Rise of the Foot Soldier (2007): Dir. Julian Gilbey
Feat. Roland Manookian, Frank Harper, Lara Belmont; Brutal gangster drama chronicles three decades in the life of Carlton Leach – a football hooligan who went on to become one of the UK's most…
We Own the Night (2007): Dir. James Gray
Feat. Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes…; Accomplished crime saga concerns a nightclub manager (Phoenix) on the fringe of New York's Russian Mafia, whose lifestyle is jeopardized when family…
You Move You Die (2007): Dir. Ketzal Sterling
Feat. Ketzal Sterling, Bruce Hopkins; Ad hoc gangster thriller out of Auckland concerns a stolen engagement ring, and its ensuing recovery by a desperate fiancée and his posse of…
Brotherhood (TV Series) (2006): Feat. Jason Isaacs, Jason Clarke; Tough, multistoried drama from HBO competitor Showtime builds a crime legacy on par with THE SOPRANOS in focusing on the Irish neighborhood of…
Departed, The (2006): Dir. Martin Scorsese
Feat. Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson…; A rip–roaring remake of Hong Kong actioner INFERNAL AFFAIRS, Martin Scorsese returns to the mean streets in this high–performance game of…
Election 2 (Triad Election) (2006): Dir. Johnny To
Feat. Simon Yam, Nick Cheung, Louis Koo; Genre exponent Johnny To logically extends the gangland politics of his original film in this punchy, no–nonsense sequel concerning a fresh…
Running Scared (2006): Dir. Wayne Kramer
Feat. Paul Walker, Chazz Palminteri, John Noble; Flashy, hopped–up mob thriller has New Jersey foot–soldier Paul Walker assigned to conceal a snub–nosed revolver, a gun used in a…
Beat My Heart Skipped, The (De battre mon coeur s'est arrete) (2005): Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Jonathan Zaccai…; A star–turn by Romain Duris invigorates this deft remake of James Toback's 1978 thriller FINGERS, playing a reluctant young thug with a…
Crime Novel (Romanzo criminale) (2005): Feat. Kim Rossi Stuart, Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudio Santamaria…; Novel–based Italian crime drama concerning a group of small–town crims who went on to become Rome's most merciless crime family and a…
Election (2005): Dir. Johnnie To
Feat. Simon Yam, Tony Leung (Kar-fai); A terrific gangland power tussle from genre exponent Johnnie To, this combative suspenser embarks on the shady underworld of triad politics in…
Secuestro Express (2005): Dir. Jonathan Jakubowicz
Feat. Mia Maestro, Ruben Blades; Venezuela comes off second best in this exploitative thriller peddling the country's professional kidnapping trade, where a couple of wealthy young…
Tsotsi (2005): Dir. Gavin Hood
Feat. Presley Chweneyagae; Deserved winner of the 2006 Foreign Language Oscar, this gripping tale of a young homicidal street–thug ('tsotsi') in post–apartheid…
Dead Fish (2004): Dir. Charley Stadler
Feat. Gary Oldman, Robert Carlyle, Jimi Mistry…; The stock British gangster flick gets yet another working over: Gary Oldman plays a hitman who crosses paths with various motley individuals,…
Old Boy (Oldboy) (2004): Dir. Park Chan-Wook
Feat. Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yoo; Wowing audiences wherever it's played (including being nominated for the Palm D'Or at Cannes), this achingly intense thriller from Korea raises the…
One Night in Mongkok (Wong gok hak yau) (2004): Dir. Derek Yee
Feat. Daniel Wu, Cecilia Cheung; A bespectacled 'Mainland' Chinese man is recruited for the assassination of a triad boss in the lusciously seedy Hong Kong district of Mongkok, but…
Bookies (2003): Dir. Mark Illsley
Feat. Nick Stahl, Lukas Haas, Rachael Leigh Cook…; Four college friends become small–time bookies, only to find their world spinning dangerously out of control when their greed attracts the…
Ginji The Slasher (2003): Dir. Takeshi Miyasaka
Feat. Riki Takeuchi; Low profile suspenser, set around a recalcitrant swordsman who goes on the rampage in post–WW2 Japan and 50 years later is released to start…
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003): Dir. Mike Hodges
Feat. Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, Jonathan Rhys Meyers…; Reteaming dir. Mike Hodges with star Clive Owen for a follow–up to the acclaimed CROUPIER, this takes more of a cue from the director’s…
Infernal Affairs 3 (Mou gaan dou III) (2003): Dir. Wai Keung Lau, Siu Fai Mak
Feat. Andy Lau, Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Leon Lai…; Actual sequel to the hit Hong Kong gangland–cop thriller attempts valiantly to tie up loose ends, both picking up where corrupt cop Ming (Lau)…
Angela (2002): Dir. Roberta Torre
Feat. Donatella Finocchiaro; A solid, if oblique drama depicting the doings of the 1980s Sicilian Mafia as seen through the eyes of mob–wife Finocchiaro. Although…
City of God (Cidade de Deus) (2002): Dir. Fernando Mierelles
Feat. Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmano da Hora, Phellipe Haagensen; An incendiary Brazilian drama depicting two decades of blood–drenched rivalry between two youth gangs who control a slum area of Rio De…
Infernal Affairs (2002): Dir. Wai Keung Lau, Siu Fai Mak
Feat. Andy Lau, Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Anthony Wong…; This dynamic cops ‘n’ robbers spectacle is populist Hong Kong film–making at its most slick and sophisticated. Infused with more than a…
Quickie, The (2002): Dir. Sergei Bodrov
Feat. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Vladimir Mashkov, Henry Thomas…; A middling US debut for the dir. of PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS, this weaves a drama of moral corruption around a troubled Russian mob family festering…
Road To Perdition (2002): Dir. Sam Mendes
Feat. Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law…; Handsomely–mounted Chicago gangland flick that casts Tom Hanks against type as a mob hitman who becomes an ‘angel of vengeance’ after he is…
Friends and Family (2001): Dir. Kristen Coury
Feat. Tony Lo Bianco, Greg Lauren; An unassuming, mostly ticklish comedy, in which a gay couple in New York are visited by relations and have to conceal their careers as Mafia hitmen.…
Heist (2001): Dir. David Mamet
Feat. Gene Hackman, Ricky Jay, Delroy Lindo…; The heisting of Swiss–Bank bullion by professional thieves Gene Hackman, Ricky Jay and Delroy Lindo is given enjoyably intricate spins by…
Knockaround Guys (2001): Dir. Brian Koppelman, David Levien
Feat. Dennis Hopper, Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper…; SOPRANOS–influenced crime drama, which follows aspiring NYC wiseguy Barry Pepper, son of a famous mafioso, but stuck in a menial role.…
Made (2001): Dir. Jon Favreau
Feat. Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Famke Janssen…; The hotly–awaited follow–up to SWINGERS from Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau looks to resurrect the easy–going swing and…
Night at the Golden Eagle (2001): Dir. Adam Rifkin
Feat. Vinnie Jones, James Caan, Ann Magnuson…; A grimly satisfying, verbally violent drama set in a fleabag hotel in L.A. where two aging hoods plan their migration to the not–so–mean…
Ordinary Decent Criminal (2001): Dir. Thaddeus O'Sullivan
Feat. Kevin Spacey, Linda Fiorentino, Peter Mullan…; Fairly decent, but ordinary rerun of the same events covered by Boorman's THE GENERAL, detailing the colourful life of Irish gangster Martin Cahill…
Sexy Beast (2001): Dir. Jonathan Glazer
Feat. Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane…; Retirement in sunbaked Spain is going nicely for mellowed–out ex–crim Ray Winstone, that is, until a poison–tongued Ben Kingsley…
Shiner (2001): Dir. John Irvin
Feat. Michael Caine, Martin Landau, Frances Barber…; A contemporary British gangster film with a showcase role for Michael Caine as a blindly ambitious, fast–talking East End boxing promoter…
Yards, The (2001): Dir. James Gray
Feat. Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron…; Shot through with epic ambitions, this crime–drama, set amid the corruption of a New York subway–repair yards, boasts a compelling lead…
Brother (2000): Dir. Takeshi Kitano
Feat. Takeshi Kitano, Omar Epps; Dir. Kitano’s first US film fuses his touch for wincingly intense violence with a ironical, comic streak that plays off the dynamics of the…
Circus (2000): Dir. Rob Walker
Feat. Famke Janssen, John Hannah, Eddie Izzard…; Famke Janssen and hubby John Hannah engage in some tongue–in–cheek British criminality in a Brighton ruled by Brian Conley. With a broad…
Lock Stock and Four Stolen Hooves (TV Series) (2000): Dir. Sheree Folkson; Tele–sequel to the hit movie LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, gives a reasonably funny riff on the bumbling quartet of lads on the make,…
Love, Honour and Obey (2000): Dir. Dominic Anciano, Ray Burdis
Feat. Jonny Lee Miller, Ray Winstone, Jude Law…; Jonny Lee Miller is appealing as a mischief–making wannabe–crim in this half–serious set of London gangster moves, that basically…
One Hundred Steps, The (I Cento Passi) (2000): Dir. Marco Tullio Giordana; Expansive, fact–based drama set around a young man's fight against local mafiosos in the small Sicilian village of Cinisi in the…
Essex Boys (1999): Dir. Terry Winsor
Feat. Charlie Creed-Miles, Sean Bean; One of the present wave of British crime–films, this tale of trainee cabbie Charlie Creed–Miles going to work for volatile hard–man…
Heaven (1999): Dir. Scott Reynolds
Feat. Martin Donovan, Joanna Going, Danny Edwards…; Banished into virtual anonymity by Miramax studio indifference, we can only assume they found this 'arty' thriller too slippery to pigeonhole and…
If… Dog… Rabbit… (1999): Dir. Matthew Modine
Feat. Matthew Modine, Bruce Dern, John Hurt…; Directorial debut for actor Matthew Modine (who also stars), coming up with a by now rather familiar gangster caper, set among an eccentric bunch of…
Sopranos, The (TV Series) - Season 1 (1999): Dir. Nick Gomez, John Patterson, David Chase
Feat. James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco…; Groundbreaking TV–series that ironically portrays the life of a New Jersey Mafia clan as a parade of suburban neurosis, pop–culture…
Suicide Kings (1999): Dir. Peter O'Fallon
Feat. Christopher Walken, Denis Leary; Post–PULP FICTION black–comedy, that does better than most in juggling a crime setting, a mystery and various comical dialogues, with a…
Two Hands (1999): Dir. Gregor Jordan
Feat. Heath Ledger, Bryan Brown, Steve LaMarquand; Mobster Bryan Brown finds work for Heath Ledger's idle hands, who fumbles the ball and finds himself deep in the crapper… Overcoming the…
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998): Dir. Guy Ritchie
Feat. Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng, Nick Moran…; The independent hit of 1998 is a massively assured directing debut and an entertainment sensation. Cocked with sharp dialogue, intricate plotting,…
Donnie Brasco (1997): Dir. Mike Newell
Feat. Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen…; Riveting, true–life tale of an FBI agent's perilous infiltration of the New York Mafia in the 70s. A knife–edge dramatic tension is…
Face (1997): Dir. Antonia Bird
Feat. Robert Carlyle, Ray Winstone, Phillip Davis; The wily Robert Carlyle plays lead 'face' of an armed–robbery gang, in a tense, grabby thriller that more than holds its own in…
Full Alert (1997): Dir. Ringo Lam
Feat. Lau Ching-wan, Francis Ng; Quality police thriller with realistic drama, bracing action and strong sense of locale – regarded as one of the last 'classics' from the…
L.A. Confidential (1997): Dir. Curtis Hanson
Feat. Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey…; Slam–bang adaptation preserves the lacerating edge of James Ellroy's crime novel while polishing up the sheen of 50s Hollywood. Antipodean boys…
Playing God (1997): Dir. Andy Wilson
Feat. David Duchovny; Diverting psycho–thriller for David Duchovny, playing a doctor struck–off for malpractice. After flirting with skid–row he lands in…
Resurrection Man (1997): Dir. Marc Evans
Feat. Stuart Townsend; Cut–above Irish thriller based around the notorious 1970s razor–gang Shankill Butchers, who dealt in drugs and intimidation with Stanley…
Sunset Heights (1997): Dir. Colm Villa
Feat. Toby Stephens, James Cosmo; Bloodthirsty thriller tinted with black comedy in which two rival 'punishment squads' (ie. gangs) in Belfast try to track down a…
Albino Alligator (1996): Dir. Kevin Spacey
Feat. Matt Dillon, Viggo Mortensen, Faye Dunaway…; Directing debut for Kevin Spacey, reupholsters a classic crime plot, with all the mordant, cold–blooded wit of his acting. Matt Dillon and his…
Funeral, The (1996): Dir. Abel Ferrara
Feat. Christopher Walken, Christopher Penn, Annabella Sciorra…; Indie iconoclast Abel Ferrara delves deeper into the troubled psyches of men–on–the–edge with a brooding chamber–piece.…
Gotti (1996): Dir. Robert Harmon
Feat. Armand Assante, William Forsythe, Anthony Quinn; Armand Assante picked up an Emmy Award for his convincing impression of the legendary mobster John Gotti, who ruled the New York Mafia during the…
Kansas City (1996): Dir. Robert Altman
Feat. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte; An all–star cast jam out on the multiple storylines of Robert Altman's homage to the 30s jazz–mecca of Kansas City. The old master stirs…
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1996): Dir. Gary Fleder
Feat. Andy Garcia, Christopher Walken, Gabrielle Anwar…; Things get messy for 'good guy' Andy Garcia under the sadistic tutelage of crippled crime–boss Christopher Walken. Cool and confident…
Fall Time (1995): Dir. Paul Warner
Feat. Mickey Rourke, Stephen Baldwin; A prank backfires for three teenagers who interrupt the plans of hardened gangsters. The innocence lost of '50s America is disturbingly mirrored as…
Get Shorty (1995): Dir. Barry Sonnenfeld
Feat. John Travolta, Danny De Vito, Gene Hackman…; Riding the wave of PULP FICTION, this is the most successful stab at translating Elmore Leonard for the screen. John Travolta is an amiable mobster…
Kamikaze Taxi (1995): Dir. Masato Harada
Feat. Koji Yakusho, Kazuya Takahashi, Reiko Kataoka; An apprentice gangster fouls up his first major assignment and flees Tokyo in a taxi, the driver of which turns out to be a unlikely confident with a…
Getting Gotti (1994): Dir. Roger Young
Feat. Lorraine Bracco, Ellen Burstyn, Anthony John Denison; Lorraine Bracco pre–SOPRANOS stardom takes on the role of a determined U.S. Attorney Assistant tracking down a Mafia Crime Boss that grew up in…
Darkness in Tallinn (1993): Dir. Ilka Jarvilaturi
Feat. Elina Aasa, Milena Gulbe, Juri Jarvet; In liberated Estonia, gangsters plan the elaborate ambush of gold bullion being restored from a Paris vault. A humble electrician has the pivotal job…
La Scorta (1993): Dir. Rick Tognazzi
Feat. Ennio Morricone; Bold dramatic thriller draws from real events surrounding the indictment of Mafia collaborators with the focus on the four bodyguards of a maverick…
Young Americans, The (1993): Dir. Danny Cannon
Feat. Harvey Keitel, Viggo Mortensen, Keith Allen; L.A. cop Keitel is roped in to crack a sadistic drug ring that has rooted itself in the London club scene. Thoughtful, suspenseful film with the…
Billy Bathgate (1991): Dir. Robert Benton
Feat. Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis; Tempers flare as loyalties are betrayed in this solid gangland tale concerning the indoctrination of a teenager into the mob.
Godfather Part 3, The (1990): Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Feat. Al Pacino; The conclusion of the epic Corleone trilogy, with an aging Al Pacino looking to legitimise his business activities, and find a suitable successor.…
Krays, The (1990): Dir. Peter Medak
Feat. Billie Whitelaw, Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp; Excellent biographical account of the rise and fall of London's notorious Kray twins, with Spandau Ballet's Kemp brothers doing an admirable job in…
Miller's Crossing (1990): Dir. Joel Coen
Feat. Gabriel Byrne, John Turturro; Crossings and double–crossings punctuate this complex yet rewarding mobster flick loaded with heart–pounding violence and black humour.
Narrow Margin (1990): Dir. Peter Hyams
Feat. Gene Hackman, Anne Archer, James B. Sikking…; Gene Hackman stars in this remake of the 1952 classic about a protected witness who must testify against a mob killing. All set on a fast moving…
As Tears Go By (Wong gok ka moon) (1988): Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung; Dir. Wong Kar–Wai debuted with this ambitious remake of MEAN STREETS, where best buddies Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung struggle through the…
Stormy Monday (1987): Dir. Mike Figgis
Feat. Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting…; Mix some American mobsters with Polish avant–garde jazz musicians and set it in Newcastle, England and you have something of a one–off…
Camorra (1986): Dir. Lina Wertmuller
Feat. Angela Molina, Harvey Keitel; Complicated but well–judged thriller about the Naples underworld and specifically the use of children in the drug trade. More conventional than…
Police (1985): Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Sophie Marceau, Richard Anconina; Brilliantly idiosyncratic crime thriller co–written by French auteurs Maurice Pialat (who also directs) and Catherine Breillat (A MA SOEUR!),…
Year of the Dragon (1985): Dir. Michael Cimino
Feat. Mickey Rourke, John Lone; Mickey Rourke leads a clean–up of corruption in New York's Chinatown. An arresting melodrama with gut–wrenching violence in the league of…
Balance, La (1982): Dir. Bob Swaim
Feat. Nathalie Baye, Philippe Leotard, Richard Berry; Money, loyalty and death hang in the balance in this gritty, Cesar–winning thriller. A crime king–pin is exposed by an…
Contraband (The Smuggler) (1980): Dir. Lucio Fulci
Feat. Fabio Testi; A slight change of pace for dir. Fulci, here concocting a vicious criminal thriller about rival smugglers on the Naples waterfront, but which manages…
Gloria (1980): Dir. John Cassavetes
Feat. Gena Rowlands, Buck Henry, Julie Carmen; Rowlands is devastating as a gangster moll who runs from the Mob after taking protective custody of a neighbour's son, whose parents have fallen…
Long Good Friday, The (1980): Dir. John Mackenzie
Feat. Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren; Electrifying, influential account of hoodlum rivalry in contemporary London with Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren matching an intelligent, gritty script.
McVicar (1980): Dir. Tom Clegg
Feat. Roger Daltrey, Adam Faith, Cheryl Campbell…; Based on the true story of infamous UK criminal John McVicar, this gritty thriller stars Daltrey as the bad boy sent to a maximum security prison…
Best French Crime Flicks (1975-1981): Dir. Georges Lautner, Jose Giovanni, Alain Corneau
Feat. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Yves Montand; Three seminal French crime dramas in one collection: THE PROFESSIONAL (1981), THE GYPSY (1975), and CHOICE OF ARMS (1981).
Godfather Part 2, The (1974): Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Feat. Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton…; The Corleone saga continues with the same passion and exacting standards, it both broadens the scope and bolsters the stature of the original. Hailed…
Cauldron Of Death (Ricco) (1973): Dir. Tulio DeMicheli
Feat. Christopher Mitchum, Barbara Bouchet, Malisa Longo; Masquerading as a B–grade horror, this is actually a melodramatic Italian revenge thriller concerning the son of a murdered mobster who is…
Dillinger (1973): Dir. John Milius
Feat. Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman…; A tough portait of the Depression–era bank robber that like BONNIE AND CLYDE, invests the criminal with the mythic qualities of the outlaw.…
Don is Dead, The (1973): Dir. Richard Fleischer
Feat. Anthony Quinn, Frederic Forrest, Robert Forster; A botched drug deal is at the centre of this competent mafioso film, one of many spawned in the wake of THE GODFATHER's success.
Seven-Ups, The (1973): Dir. Philip D' Antoni
Feat. Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Victor Arnold…; Underrated action flick with Roy Scheider on as a tough NYC cop on the trail of his partner's killers. Salty thriller has atmosphere to spare and…
Godfather, The (1972): Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Feat. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro…; Adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel is a vivid and immaculately staged chronicle of a Sicilian family's ascension to NY gangland dominance. Seamlessly…
Prime Cut (1972): Dir. Michael Ritchie
Feat. Lee Marvin, Gene Hackman, Sissy Spacek; Gritty underworld thriller set in the fields and meat–packhouses of Kansas, where mob enforcer Marvin is sent to collect money from local…
Get Carter (1971): Dir. Mike Hodges
Feat. Michael Caine; A small–time London hood takes on tough Northerners while investigating his brother's death. Exciting, violent thriller shows off the once…
Grissom Gang, The (1971): Dir. Robert Aldrich
Feat. Kim Darby, Scott Wilson, Tony Musante…; Crime noir set in Missouri during the Depression, following the kidnapping of a priviledged meat heiress by notorious amateur hoodlums the Grissom…
American Soldier, The (Der Amerikanische Soldat) (1970): Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Karl Scheydt, Elga Sorbas, Jan George…; The third in a loose trilogy of gangster films directed by prolific German iconoclast Rainer Werner Fassbinder early in his career. A…
Borsalino (1970): Dir. Jacques Deray
Feat. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Michel Bouquet; Delightful seriocomic film of two likeable hoods who become gangland chieftains in 1930s Marseilles. Music by Claude Bolling.
Gods of the Plague (Götter der Pest) (1970): Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Hanna Schygulla, Margarethe von Trotta, Harry Baer…; The second in a loose trilogy of gangster films directed by prolific German iconoclast Rainer Werner Fassbinder early in his career. In this…
Love is Colder Than Death (Liebe ist kälter als der Tod) (1969): Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Ulli Lommel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Hanna Schygulla…; The first in a loose trilogy of gangster films directed by prolific German iconoclast Rainer Werner Fassbinder early in his career. Fassbinder…
Coogan's Bluff (1968): Dir. Don Siegel
Feat. Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb; Pre–DIRTY HARRY thriller has tough Arizona ranger Clint Eastwood dealing out the law his way in pursuit of an escaped suspect. Exciting action,…
Point Blank (1967): Dir. John Boorman
Feat. Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn…; Fascinating, at times jarring, thriller has underworld hitman Lee Marvin hunting for those who double–crossed him in The Organisation, only to…
Classe Tous Risques (Consider All Risks) (1960): Dir. Claude Sautet
Feat. Lino Ventura, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Sandra Milo; French–Italian gangster film following the exploits of a French mobster (Lino Ventura, based on a real life henchman for the French Gestapo)…
Murder, Inc. (1960): Dir. Stuart Rosenberg, Burt Balaban
Feat. Stuart Whitman, Peter Falk, Simon Oakland; Cinemascope gangland film based on the true story of the eponymous Brooklyn gang that operated in the 1930s. It launched the careers of both Stuart…
Rise and Fall of 'Legs' Diamond, The (1960): Dir. Budd Boetticher
Feat. Ray Danton, Karen Steele, Elaine Stewart…; A professionally–shot thriller about the career of New York gangster Jack 'Legs' Diamond, who rose to prominence in the 1920s and maintained…
Untouchables, The (TV Series) (1959-1963): Feat. Robert Stack, Paul Picerni; An iconic crime series that once baited controversy for its escalation of television violence, this pulled out the stops to authentically…
Party Girl (1958): Dir. Nicholas Ray
Feat. Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse, Lee J. Cobb…; Delicious Nicholas Ray–directed potboiler finds bum–legged Robert Taylor trying to cut ties with the mob. A slinky Cyd Charisse (tearing…
Vicious Circle, The (Circle) (1957): Dir. Gerald Thomas
Feat. John Mills, Derek Farr, Lionel Jeffries; Neatly convoluted mystery has John Mills play an eminent medical specialist who is implicated in a murder when the body of a German actress turns up…
I Died A Thousand Times (1955): Dir. Stuart Heisler
Feat. Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lee Marvin…; Enjoyable remake of High Sierra that benefits from a fantastic cast and a rousing finale. Look for a young and uncredited Dennis Hopper.
Pete Kelly's Blues (1955): Dir. Jack Webb
Feat. Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien…; Musical set in 1920's Kansas which blends jazz, gangsters and political corruption. Directed by and starring Jack Webb as a cornet player who is…
Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi) (1948): Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura; The film that made Toshiro Mifune a star – playing a petty gangster with TB, who turns to an alcoholic doctor for help after a shoot–out.…
Dillinger (1945): Dir. Max Nosseck
Feat. Lawrence Tierney; Lawrence Tierney stars in this robust B–Movie biopic as the notorious gangster who declared war on America's banking system.
Roaring Twenties, The (1939): Dir. Raoul Walsh
Feat. James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Priscilla Lane…; Seminal gangster drama, paired screen–tough Cagney with a then lesser–known Bogart. Becoming buddies during WWI, they later enter and…
Regeneration (w/ Young Romance) (1915): Dir. Raoul Walsh
Feat. Anna Q. Nilsson, Carl Harbaugh, Rockliffe Fellowes…; The debut feature of director Raoul Walsh is an early gangster film following the trajectory of a poor orphan who grows up to assume a powerful…

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