The crime genre film has been one of the most popular forms of cinema since the early days of Hollywood. These kinds of heightened, dramatic, violent stories about outsiders in society who live on their own terms have always captivated filmgoers. In the 1930s and 40s gangster pictures were all the furious rage. Actors like James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Muni and Humphrey Bogart gained popularity in roles as psychotic gangsters who would rather shoot you fulla lead than look at you. Through the 40s and 50s a new subgenre of crime cinema known as film noir (a term coined for movies that were both dark in their subject matter and visual aesthetic) took the genre down another path.
From the 1960s to the 90s crime films were being made in the UK, Europe and Asia taking inspiration from the earlier Hollywood movies while infusing them with their own unique cultural attributes. Another layer was added giving the films a new gritty realism and post-modern sensibility. These groundbreaking international gems would go on to influence a whole new wave of filmmakers from all over the world ultimately creating a cross-cultural connection that still impacts modern crime cinema in the 21st century.
For our latest furious list we’ve picked 50 of our favorite films that take us through all the exciting subgenres of crime cinema such as movies about gangsters & mobsters, heists, police procedurals, revenge and corruption. As you may know, this genre in particular contains thousands of titles, so we’ve tried to filter them down as much as we could into a customized compilation of “crown crime film jewels”.
White Heat (1949, Dir: Raoul Walsh/gangsters)
Scarface (1932, Dir: Howard Hawks/gangsters)
Touch of Evil (1958, Dir: Orson Welles/police-corruption)
GoodFellas (1990, Dir: Martin Scorsese/mobsters)
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Heat (1995, Dir: Michael Mann/robbery)
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The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973, Dir: Peter Yates/rat em out-police)
The French Connection (1971, Dir: William Friedkin/drug dealers-police)
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Gambit (1966, Dir: Ronald Neame/heist)
Hoodlum (1997, Dir: Bill Duke/gangsters-true story)
The Anderson Tapes (1971, Dir: Sidney Lumet/heist)
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The Hot Rock (1972, Dir: Peter Yates/heist)
Scarface (1983, Dir: Brian DePalma/drug dealers-gangsters)
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At Close Range (1986, Dir: James Foley/robbery-true story)
The Killers (1964, Dir: Don Siegel/hitmen-revenge)
Point Blank (1967, Dir: John Boorman/revenge)
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Last Man Standing (1996, Dir: Walter Hill/mobsters)
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King of New York (1990, Dir: Abel Ferrara/gangsters)
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New Jack City (1991, Dir: Mario Van Peebles/drug dealers-gangsters)
Bonnie & Clyde (1967, Dir: Arthur Penn/gangsters-robbery-true story)
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The Getaway (1972, Dir: Sam Peckinpah/heist-mobsters)
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The Killer (1989, Dir: John Woo/assassin)
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Reservoir Dogs (1992, Dir: Quentin Tarantiono/heist)
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The Killing (1956, Dir: Stanley Kubrick/heist)
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The Asphalt Jungle (1950, Dir: John Huston/heist)
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The Outfit (1973, Dir: John Flynn/revenge-mobsters)
The Departed (2006, Dir: Martin Scorsese/undercover cop-mobsters)
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Chinatown (1974, Dir: Roman Polanski/private eye-corruption)
The Italian Job (2003, Dir: F. Gary Gray/heist)
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Straight Time (1978, Dir: Ulu Grosbard/professional criminals)
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Charley Varrick (1973, Dir: Don Siegel/robbery-mobsters)
Death Wish (1974, Dir: Michael Winner/revenge-vigilante)
Hard To Kill (1990, Dir: Bruce Malmuth/revenge-corruption)
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Kill Bill (2003-04, Dir: Quentin Tarantino/revenge-assassins)
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Ichi The Killer (2001, Dir: Takashi Miike/yakuza)
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To Live and Die in L.A. (1985, Dir: William Friedkin/counterfeiter-police)
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Donnie Brasco (1997, Dir: Mike Newell/mafia-true story)
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The Godfather Trilogy (1972- 1974-1990 – Director: Francis Ford Coppola/mafia)
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The Don is Dead (1973, Dir: Richard Fleischer/mobsters)
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The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984, Dir: Stuart Rosenberg/mobsters-heist)
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Dirty Harry (1971, Dir: Don Siegel/police-serial killer)
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Point Break (1991, Dir: Kathryn Bigelow/undercover cop-robbery)
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Pulp Fiction (1994, Dir: Quentin Tarantino/gangsters)
Night Moves (1975, Dir: Arthur Penn/private eye)
Mobsters (1991, Dir: Michael Karbelnikoff/mafia-true story)
Casino (1995, Dir: Martin Scorsese/mobsters)
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Bullitt (1968, Dir: Peter Yates/police-corruption)
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Breathless (1960, Jean Luc Godard/criminal on the lam)
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Blow (2001, Dir: Ted Demme/drugs-true story)
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Once Upon a Time in America (1984, Dir: Sergio Leone/gangsters)
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The Usual Suspects (1995, Dir: Bryan Singer/robbery-revenge)
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Check out our other furious film lists for:
FILMS OF THE 1970s / FILMS OF THE 1980s / WAR FILMS / FILM FIENDS / FEMALES / ESSENTIAL BLU RAYS VOLUME 1 – VOLUME 2
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