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Best 10 Gangster Movies

Westside Steve's Movie Reviews
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  • The GipperT The Gipper wrote on
    #1

    OK, Slowburn brought it up elsewhere: What are your Top 10 Gangster Movies?

    Godfather I

    Godfather II

    GoodFellas

    The Sting

    Pulp Fiction

    Snatch

    Once Upon a Time in America

    The Departed

    Reservoir Dogs

    Either The Untouchables or Donnie Brasco, I can't decide this last one.

    (I did not go for Scarface...and Road to Perdition would be outside my top ten, nor Bonnie and Clyde.)

    I should also say that I didn't include anything pre 1960s. Old Gangster movies almost are a separate genre.

    I also know there may be some very good foreign gangster movies.

  • The GipperT The Gipper wrote on
    #2

    Somehow I think I should get The Usual Suspects in there. Wouldn't that be considered a Gangster Movie?

    Question on the genre: If the main character is a cop or a PI, is that considered a Gangster Movie.

    Say, French Connection, or a Maltese Falcon, or some other Bogie movie?

    Or would that be considered a "Mystery" or something else?

  • The Cysko KidT The Cysko Kid wrote on
    #3

    1. Goodfellas

    2. Godfather

    3. Scarface is usually thought of as a gangster flick so ill put that as my 3.

    4. Casino

    5. Donnie Brasco

    Turns out I don't like that many gangster movies.

    This shit ain't nothing to me, man.
  • The Cysko KidT The Cysko Kid wrote on
    #4

    Usual suspects and Fargo are both kinda sorta. Boondock saints too. I'd put all three of those in my top ten. Kill the Irishmen and American gangster maybe too

    This shit ain't nothing to me, man.
    The GipperT 1 Reply
  • Browns149B Browns149 wrote on
    #5

    American Gangster is a very good movie.

    "And they don't really know even what they're talkin' about And I can't imagine what empty heads can achieve."
    The GipperT 1 Reply
  • gftChrisG gftChris wrote on
    #6

    Layer Cake is another great british gangster movie along the lines of snatch and lock stock. Plus it has James Bond and Bane as leads.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375912/

  • gftChrisG gftChris wrote on
    #7

    Also, Leon:

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/?ref_=tt_rec_tti

  • slowburnS slowburn wrote on
    #8

    Donnie Brasco Al and Johnny Depp nailed it

    The Departed love the irish mob

    The Road to Perdition Forest.Gump learns how to be an irish badass

    Eastern Pormises The Ruskkies should not be messed with

    Pulp Fiction QT's forray in the genre

    Gomorrah released in 08....

  • BadNewsBrownsB BadNewsBrowns wrote on
    #9

    Godfather 1 & 2
    Goodfellas
    Scarface
    The Departed
    American History X
    Casino
    A Bronx Tale
    American Me

    Inside Job (2010) If that's not a movie about a certain ethnic Mafia,organized crime and crooks I don't know what is...

    "All Truth Passes Through Three stages. First, It Is Ridiculed, Second It Is Violently Opposed, And Third, It Is Accepted As Self-Evident" ~Arthur Schopenhauer
  • The Cysko KidT The Cysko Kid

    Usual suspects and Fargo are both kinda sorta. Boondock saints too. I'd put all three of those in my top ten. Kill the Irishmen and American gangster maybe too

    The GipperT The Gipper wrote on
    #10

    @the-cysko-kid said:

    Usual suspects and Fargo are both kinda sorta. Boondock saints too. I'd put all three of those in my top ten. Kill the Irishmen and American gangster maybe too

    I have never seen Boondock Saints. But I hear good things about it. It is obviously possible that I haven't seen all gangster movies.

  • Browns149B Browns149

    American Gangster is a very good movie.

    The GipperT The Gipper wrote on
    #11

    @browns149 said:

    American Gangster is a very good movie.

    Oh, yea, the Denzel Washington movie. I liked it. Would not make it Top Ten though. It was kind of a upgraded New Jack City.

  • slowburnS slowburn wrote on
    #12

    Look for a Whitey Bulger gansta flick in the near future.

  • slowburnS slowburn

    Look for a Whitey Bulger gansta flick in the near future.

    The GipperT The Gipper wrote on
    #13

    @slowburn said:

    Look for a Whitey Bulger gansta flick in the near future.

    The Departed was loosely a fictional version of the Whitey Bulger story, essentially. Jack Nicholson playing the role.

  • slowburnS slowburn wrote on
    #14

    Yep, forgot all about that. Of course, the demise of "Whitey" in The Departed is vastly different than the fate of the real Bulger.

  • slowburnS slowburn

    Yep, forgot all about that. Of course, the demise of "Whitey" in The Departed is vastly different than the fate of the real Bulger.

    The GipperT The Gipper wrote on
    #15

    @slowburn said:

    Yep, forgot all about that. Of course, the demise of "Whitey" in The Departed is vastly different than the fate of the real Bulger.

    Yea, he went and lived in Santa Monica right near the beach for like 10-15 years until he was caught recently.

    Many think the FBI knew just where he was and let him be.

  • slowburnS slowburn wrote on
    #16

    Actually I read where the FBI had a huge hard on for him after he had been protected by a rouge FBI agent during his run in Beantown. He was a cold blooded killer but had no vices (drugs, gambling) to trip him up. Clean living enabled him to be on the lam for 15 years.

  • miktoxicM miktoxic wrote on
    #17

    i would ask what do you consider gangster films? do the main actors have to be affiliated with an gang (no matter what kind) in order to justify them on this list? what about a gang of dirty cops?

    1. godfather

    2. goodfellas

    3. the departed

    4. bronx tale

    5. cop land

    6. eastern promises

    7. road to perdition

    8. a prophet

    9. the warriors

    10. training day

  • W Westside Steve wrote on
    #18

    I love just about every gangster movie. I don't know that I would call Copland or American History X a gangster movie but I recently watched Copland again on PPV. Very good. And good call on the Warriors, the original, that was an outstanding film.

    Anybody remember the Pope of Greenwich Village?

    Mean Streets? Angels with dirty faces? Little Caesar?

    WSS

    www.westsidesteve.com www.myspace.com/westsidestevemusic www.cdbaby.com/artist/westsidestevesimmons
    The GipperT miktoxicM 2 Replies
  • W Westside Steve

    I love just about every gangster movie. I don't know that I would call Copland or American History X a gangster movie but I recently watched Copland again on PPV. Very good. And good call on the Warriors, the original, that was an outstanding film.

    Anybody remember the Pope of Greenwich Village?

    Mean Streets? Angels with dirty faces? Little Caesar?

    WSS

    The GipperT The Gipper wrote on
    #19

    @westside-steve said:

    I love just about every gangster movie. I don't know that I would call Copland or American History X a gangster movie but I recently watched Copland again on PPV. Very good. And good call on the Warriors, the original, that was an outstanding film.

    Anybody remember the Pope of Greenwich Village?

    Mean Streets? Angels with dirty faces? Little Caesar?

    WSS

    Yea, as I said, I kept my list to just post 1960s. Prior to that you have a ton of them with Cagney, E.G. Robinson, Bogart, George Raft etc. And the whole Film Noir genre

  • D Dste Ace wrote on
    #20

    In no particular order:

    Godfather I and II

    Goodfellas

    Donnie Brasco

    Casino

    Eastern Promises

    The Town

    Usual Suspects

    Pulp Fiction

    Reservoir Dogs

    The GipperT 1 Reply
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