My Favorite Gangsters, Criminals and Killers.
The best of the bad from movies and TV.
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- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.The Corleone's are the kings, no one before or since has done it better.
Every scene and line of dialogue is classic, a damn near perfect American epic. - CreatorVince GilliganStarsBryan CranstonAaron PaulAnna GunnA chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with a former student in order to secure his family's future.Walter White and Jessie Pinkman proved that necessity and desperation can drive men to greatness...or something much worse. TV as good as great literature
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsAl PacinoRobert De NiroRobert DuvallThe early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.The great exception to the rule about sequels not being as good or better than the original.
- CreatorDavid ChaseStarsJames GandolfiniLorraine BraccoEdie FalcoNew Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano deals with personal and professional issues in his home and business life that affect his mental state, leading him to seek professional psychiatric counseling.Tony Soprano was the ultimate anti-hero, but we were always rooting for him.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroRay LiottaJoe PesciThe story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.Martin Scorsese's masterpiece and a far more realistic look at the Mob than the Coppola's epic's.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroSharon StoneJoe PesciIn Las Vegas, two best friends - a casino executive and a mafia enforcer - compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.It's as good as Goodfellas in my book and even more enjoyable. A great inside view of how the Mob works.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsHarvey KeitelTim RothMichael MadsenWhen a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.Still think this might be Tarantino's best film to date.
- CreatorJames Manos Jr.StarsMichael C. HallJennifer CarpenterDavid ZayasHe's smart. He's lovable. He's Dexter Morgan, America's favorite serial killer, who spends his days solving crimes and nights committing them.A show about a serial killer; Dexter Morgan did what many wish they could do and got away with it.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsWarren BeattyFaye DunawayMichael J. PollardBored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.The best movie ever made on the theme of outlaws as rebels.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsCharlton HestonOrson WellesJanet LeighA stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping and police corruption in a Mexican border town.Orson Welles's Hank Quinlan is the greatest crooked cop of all time.
- CreatorTerence WinterStarsSteve BuscemiKelly MacdonaldMichael ShannonAn Atlantic City politician plays both sides of the law by conspiring with gangsters during the Prohibition era.A great history lesson on how organized crime came to have so much power in 20th Century America.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsSteve McQueenAli MacGrawBen JohnsonA recently-released ex-con and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes awry.Sam Peckinpah directs a heist movie and creates a classic with Steve McQueen at his coolest.
- DirectorCurtis HansonStarsKevin SpaceyRussell CroweGuy PearceAs corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.Great cast in a great story of police corruption in post war Los Angeles; it should have won the Oscar for Best Picture.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsWoody HarrelsonJuliette LewisTom SizemoreTwo victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.One of the most rancid and evil movies ever made by Hollywood.
- DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsPatrick SwayzeKeanu ReevesGary BuseyAn F.B.I. Agent goes undercover to catch a gang of surfers who may be bank robbers.The Ex-Presidents, Keanu and Swayze, a great chase scene, throw in Gary Busy and it's an instant classic.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsJohn TravoltaUma ThurmanSamuel L. JacksonThe lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.The movie that brought back John Travolta and made Samuel L. Jackson a star.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSusan SarandonGeena DavisHarvey KeitelTwo best friends set out on an adventure, but it soon turns around to a terrifying escape from being hunted by the police, as these two women escape for the crimes they committed.Proved that women on the run can make bad choices and foolish mistakes just like men.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsKirk DouglasHenry FondaHume CronynA charming but totally ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison. He enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.Kirk Douglas at his most charming and deadly as he plots a prison break in the Old West with the help of Warren Oates, Burgess Meredith and Hume Cronyn. But it's Henry Fonda's honest Warden who puts the final twist on the tale.
- DirectorTony ScottStarsChristian SlaterPatricia ArquetteDennis HopperIn Detroit, a pop-culture nerd steals cocaine from his new wife's pimp and tries to sell it in Hollywood, prompting the mobsters who own the drugs to pursue the couple.An all star cast of mobsters and lowlifes chase after fugitive loves Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette with particularly nasty performances by Gary Oldman and James Gandolfini. Kevin McCarthy's favorite movie and he's onto something.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsKevin CostnerSean ConneryRobert De NiroDuring Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.Robert DeNiro's Al Capone is his best gangster.
- DirectorGuy RitchieStarsJason StathamBrad PittStephen GrahamUnscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.Bad boys in London, and not just Statham and Pitt.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioMatt DamonJack NicholsonAn undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.Scorsese proves the Irish Mob in Boston is just as ruthless as their Italian cousins in NYC.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsDenzel WashingtonRussell CroweChiwetel EjioforAn outcast New York City cop is charged with bringing down Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, whose real life inspired this partly biographical film.Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe go to war in 1970's New York.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyPat O'BrienHumphrey BogartA priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.Cagney and Bogart, with Pat O'Brien as a priest, not to mention the Bowery Boys. The best of the Old School.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsWilliam H. MacyFrances McDormandSteve BuscemiMinnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.The Coen brothers look at crime in Minnesota; William H. Macy is the complete weasel.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsAnjelica HustonJohn CusackAnnette BeningA small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.Con men are bad enough, but their mothers and girlfriends are worse,
- DirectorMichael MannStarsAl PacinoRobert De NiroVal KilmerA group of high-end professional thieves start to feel the heat from the LAPD when they unknowingly leave a verbal clue at their latest heist.There's much more going on here than DeNiro and Pacino's great confrontation; how did this not get a nomination for Best Picture.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsGabriel ByrneAlbert FinneyJohn TurturroTom Reagan, an advisor to a Prohibition-era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties.The Coen Brothers version of Prohibition.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsLana TurnerJohn GarfieldCecil KellawayA married woman and a drifter fall in love and then plot to murder her husband.A great film noir with a great pair of almost sympathetic murderers.
- DirectorBurt KennedyStarsJohn WayneKirk DouglasHoward KeelThe story of a man who was shot, robbed and imprisoned who returns to steal a large gold shipment from the man who wronged him. The gold is transported in an armored stage coach, the War Wagon.John Wayne is an un-redeemed outlaw for the only time in his career; a western-heist film where the Duke, with the help of Kirk Douglas and a motley band of criminals plots to steal the title wagon filled with gold.
- DirectorGiuliano MontaldoStarsJanet LeighRobert HoffmannKlaus KinskiTo pull off a daring diamond heist in Rio during Carnival, a retired schoolteacher hires four professionals who must contend with a revolutionary alarm system and a taciturn secretary.Edward G. Robinson was still getting it done this late in his career, as he plots a diamond robbery during carnival in Rio by using Janet Leigh. There is a great double twist at the end.
- DirectorDavid O. RussellStarsChristian BaleAmy AdamsBradley CooperA con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild F.B.I. Agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the Mafia.A long forgotten scandal of the 1970's reminds us that things haven't changed very much in the years since then.
- DirectorWallace WolodarskyStarsJason PriestleyKimberly Williams-PaisleyPeter RiegertA bookie is promoted to Hitman and seemingly excels at his new found job.Jason Priestley's hitman turns out to be quite the prodigy, much to the delight of Robert Loggia's Mob Boss. A neglected gem.