Top 20 Crime Movies of All-Time

[Smokey]

This list is from IGN Entertainment. Although they missed some of classic crime movies from the past (such as Concrete Jungle), they did include few that deserve such an honor.

Ranked accordingly:

20. Ocean's 11
Steven Soderbergh's excellent remake is unquestionably better than the original film it takes as a jump off point.


19. Leon (The Professional)
Leon and Portman make an indelible, sometimes even sweet team, even when Gary Oldman's monstrously entertaining overacting claims possession of the entire film.


18. Heat
Featuring a historic showdown between Robert De Niro and Al Pacino


17. The Maltese Falcon
John Huston's first film and one of the first films to bring the larger-than-life Bogart from bad guy to superstar leading man, Falcon remains one of the great noir pictures of all time.


16. Scarface
Written by Oliver Stone and starring Al Pacino as Miami crime lord Tony Montana, the film chronicles his rise to power amid the cocaine-obsessed Eighties. The film also helped to launch Michelle Pfeiffer into the limelight.


15. LA Confidential
The film deals with Los Angeles police corruption and the lives of celebrities in the 1950s, stars Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito.


14. Once Upon a Time in America
Robert De Niro, sharing the screen with James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern and Treat Williams among others, offers a muted but not joyless performance as Noodles, the nucleus of a crew of criminals who make a meteoric rise to the top of the New York underworld.


13. The French Connection
The French Connection was the first R-rated flick to win the Oscar for Best Picture.


12. Chinatown
Featuring Academy Award-winning screenplay by Robert Towne, Roman Polanski's Chinatown follows private detective J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) as he investigates a murder and stumbles onto a conspiracy involving the future of Los Angeles.


11. Casino
The story is drawn from true events in the life of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who ran a number of casinos in Las Vegas for the mob in the 1970s and '80s.

[Smokey]

10. Touch of Evil
Featuring one of the most impressive opening shots in cinema history, Touch of Evil proved yet again that Welles was a visionary filmmaker; one who could balance the technical with the creative to achieve greatness.


9. Bonnie and Clyde
Brutal, violent and…romantic? Bonnie and Clyde was based on two of history's most storied criminal legends: the young couple that went on a murderous crime spree across the countryside in the 1930's.


8. The Sting
Robert Redford and Paul Newman star in this 1973 flick about 1930s con men who plan the biggest con of their careers to avenge the death of one of their friends.


7. Reservoir Dogs
Directed by Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, a compelling character actor who went largely unappreciated for decades, finally found a lead role worthy of his talent.


6. The Usual Suspects
Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Stephen Baldwin, and Chazz Palminteri all turn in great performances in this 1995 flick directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie.


5. City of God
The story portrays the brutal and often short-lived lifespan of the gangland that is Rio De Janiero, where children are taught to use guns before they can read.


4. Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino's interwoven, out-of-order noir tale of a group of LA gangsters is one of the tightest, most savvy crime pictures ever made.


3. The Godfather: Part II
Arguably the best sequel ever made, The Godfather: Part II tells two tales: the beginnings of Don Vito Corleone's (Robert De Niro) life and career in the mafia, and the rise of Vito's son, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) as he takes over the family business.


2. The Godfather
Perhaps an easy but no less deserving choice in the pantheon of all-time greatest pictures, Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of the Mario Puzo novel of the same name still retains its austere authority and unparalleled excellence more than thirty years after its initial release.


1. GoodFellas
Featuring incredible performances from a very strong cast, innovative camerawork, and a tight script, GoodFellas showed the dichotomy of the mob just as effectively as the Godfather films without being derivative in any way.


Top 25 Crime Movies of All-Time - Movies Feature at IGN

[Feanor]

Darned good list, Smoke!

There's a couple I haven't seen (City of God that I'll likely watch this week, and Touch of Evil) but excepting those ... I'd only take exception to Leon which didn't impress me much.

Godfather I & II are my favourites. Goodfellas is high for me too. The Shawshank Redemption is an obvious omission, IMO; another is probably Fargo.

[Smokey]

Darned good list, Smoke!

This is probably one of few "best" list I've seen that include Scarface-as that movie tend to get overlooked. But as you said, some good ones are missing such as Fargo. or Couple of films from Hitchcock.

I have not seen City of God either

[Feanor]

Al Pacino could have his own Top 20 Crime. Pacino is a great actor but one whose his director should not indulge him to go over the top. By "over the top" I'm thinking of say Scarface for sure and maybe Heat. Almost different actor than the one that played Michael Corleone in Godfather.

[Worf101]

But I will. There's some missing on this list:

White Heat
Cotton Club
New Jack City
The Town
Little Caeser
Scarface (Paul Muni's tour de force)
On the Waterfront
Roaring 20's
Public Enemy
The Third Man
Kiss me Deadly
In the Heat of the Night

And this is all just off the top of my head. And I would never put Goodfellahs ahead of The Godfather. Just can't be done.

Worf

[Smokey]

Worf, that list is definitely old school

Older B&W crime movies probably should have its own list since there are so many excellent crime films from that era. The greats actors such as Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and Bogart practically owned the early period of that genre.

Pacino is a great actor but one whose his director should not indulge him to go over the top. By "over the top" I'm thinking of say Scarface for sure and maybe Heat. Almost different actor than the one that played Michael Corleone in Godfather.

Michael Corleone is probably his benchmark charactor as other charactors he played are measured against. But his role in Scarface seem to be more of a toss up as some like "over the top" Montana charactor and some didn't. Put me in the former catagory.

[recoveryone]

American Gangster
Road to Perdition
Takers
The Departed

[RGA]

City of God is a masterpiece - definitely worth watching.

I also like Goodfellas more than the Godfather movies which always just seem a little too Mob soap opera ish to me. I like Pulp Fiction best overall but I liked every movie on the list that I have seen. I would take the original Ocean's 11 but the remake was fun too.

There are others I can't think of at the moment that I would add here - for the life of me I can't remember them.

[Smokey]

I also like Goodfellas more than the Godfather movies which always just seem a little too Mob soap opera ish to me.

Given that Goodfellas is based on real events and Godfather based on a novel, some do like the vividness and true to life violence in Goodfellas-where Godfather was more laid back in that regard. But IMO Goodfellas did not have the scope and atmosphir that Godfather had.

For example in Godfather II, portray of early 20th century New York city where Corleone (Deniro) family get started look so real that viewers feel it was shot in that period. Not to mention so many great actor/actresses in that film.