Every decade of cinema has provided movie lovers with tales of humanity's dark side. This is never more prevalent than in the crime movie, where central characters go down paths that most people would avoid like the plague.
As far as Redditors are concerned, the best years for crime movies can mostly be narrowed down to between the 1960s and the 2010s. The '90s, in particular, featured a glut of classics from directors such as Michael Mann and Martin Scorsese. Even still, some years have contributed to the crime genre more than others.
1967
Perhaps Bonnie And Clyde is an iconic biopic about some not-so-great people. KeMHill put the movie's mixture of controversy and success as such: "Iconic movie. I how utterly shocking the violence of the ending was considered at the time."
Featuring Lee Marvin at his best, Point Blank is an expertly-paced story of a man who will stop at nothing to get his $93,000. As NostalgiumDirective wrote, "I only discovered this film a few months ago and it has since become an absolute, all-time favorite of mine, both as far as my love of noir-crime films and my overall favorite films."
1974
Both The Godfather (1973) and The Godfather Part II (1974) are undisputed masterpieces and are often cited as two of the greatest films ever made. OmnivorousWelles said of the flawless films: "The Godfather and The Godfather Part II: The first is a masterpiece of storytelling, the second a near-experimental response, and together they play off and enrich each other like no other popular movie before or since."
It's not well-aged by any stretch of the imagination, but Death Wish is a solid and important film in its own right. It's the definitive Charles Bronson role, and while it is an unsettling watch, it's emblematic of the mindset of its time. PantaloonsofJUSTICE summarized the movie with "Bronson is consumed by his desire for revenge, and the film reflects that."
1983
Brian De Palma's gangster epic Scarface is one of the more famous and quoted Hollywood films of the '80s, if not of all time. Pacino's performance is a tour-de-force, and the script is peppered with some very iconic, obscene dialogue. One Redditor, irontap, mentioned the De Palma film by name, to which kasetti responded with "I was going to say just that. I think Scarface (1983) is the best gangster movie."
Bad Boys was an early Sean Penn showcase and he didn't disappoint. He plays a low-level purse snatcher who decides to up the ante in his career. Unfortunately, he runs over a child when the deal goes wrong and finds himself locked up in a prison where crime is king and the weak don't live long. As a now-deleted put it: "I rewatched this underrated prison movie last night and it still holds up very well."
1986
River's Edge was Crispin Glover's showcase, even if he played second fiddle to Keanu Reeves in of billing. It's a low-budget movie about morality and murder, with a plot that goes in some devastating directions. VoteForGiantMeteor described the movie as "An all-time GenX cult classic. Hard to find and always checked out at the video rentals back in the day."
Based on a true story, At Close Range is a vastly underseen movie that forgoes the expansive nature of the crime film in favor of an intimate snapshot of a broken family. Featuring phenomenal performances from Christopher Walken and Sean Penn, the movie has a staggering ing cast: David Strathairn, Kiefer Sutherland, Crispin Glover, Chris Penn, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Candy Clark. Killedbygavrilo started a thread to sing the movie's praises, writing "Watched it, loved it, never heard of it before...."
1990
Miller's Crossing is widely considered one of the Coen brothers' best films. Featuring beautiful performances from Marcia Gay Harden and John Turturro, it's one of the most memorable movies about a gang war ever made. Grokfest put it simply: "Miller's Crossing is the best, man!" Neckowolf was even more effusive with their praise: "Miller's Crossing is not only my favorite gangster movie, it's my favorite Coen Brothers movie, and probably my favorite movie overall."
Entertaining, realistic, intricately constructed, and perfectly paced, Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas is perhaps the best movie in a filmography filled with classics. As qwdsa123 put it, "Goodfellas is a d*** near-perfect movie."
1994
Boasting a top-tier script and uniformly astounding performances, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction blew off the doors in Hollywood and announced him as a writer and director worth watching. As butchjiii put it, "Dialogue drives Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction...QT finds a way to make the words humorous without ever seeming to ask for a laugh."
Movies like Leon: The Professional do best when they have a great villain. The assassin hero is interesting, particularly his interactions with an unexpected protege, but the villain elevates the story to unexpected heights. In that lies the appeal to Gary Oldman's take on his role in The Professional. Natalie Portman's performance as Leon's protege is equally compelling. Or, as johnnytightlips2 put it, "Natalie Portman gives a very impressive performance, regardless of her age; considering this was her debut, it's even more striking."
1995
Michael Mann's Heat could very easily be called the Miami Vice creator's magnum opus. Pitting De Niro and Pacino against one another for the first time deserved a great script, and this crime epic has one. Polar-bear-club mentioned the Mann film by name and Retro21 replied with "Another classic."
After Goodfellas, Scorsese and De Niro went into remake territory with Casino was an excellent return to form, even if it didn't quite measure up to the actor and director's previous crime collaborations. Supermant brought up the film alongside a dreadful Bruce Willis actioner, writing "Casino with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. Also, Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis." Retro21 then came in and said the Willis movie is decent, but, "Casino is a classic!"
1997
Donnie Brasco is a heartbreaking true story about a cop (Johnny Depp) who goes undercover within a sprawling gangster organization. But he meets one soft-spoken hitman named Lefty (Al Pacino) who makes him question what he's doing. Eastern Promises, and Layer Cake, writing "Been a while but I really liking Donnie Brasco."
After Quentin Tarantino had made it big with the original films Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, he tackled an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch. As rhythm_n_jumps wrote, "I really loved this film. From the very opening shot on the conveyor belt with the multi-colored tiles gliding by in the background, I knew I was going to like it."
2001
Featuring a performance so intense it earned Denzel Washington his second Oscar, Training Day is a gritty, up-close-and-personal tale of police corruption. Becksploder started a thread to discuss the film after watching it for the first time in 2021: "I thought it was gone be a standard police film, but it is much more than that."
rewatchable crime movie. Redditor ADAMBUNKER started a discussion just to ask why the movie isn't seen as a classic. They it it's very popular, but add that "it's a really fantastic movie. The pacing is rapid, the performances (Don Cheadle's 'mockney' aside) are great, the writing is constantly amusing and Soderbergh's direction is really smart and stylish...."
2011
A Southern crime film akin to a tea kettle boiling over, William Friedkin's (The Exorcist) Killer Joe is his last released film to this day, and if it remains as such it will be an excellent end to a phenomenal career. Sophiepritch5 summarized Friedkin's film well with "Thought it was a really good film, enjoyed watching it. I liked how f***ed up parts of it were, sets it apart from otherwise similar films."
Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive most mainstream film to date is also his best. The opening scene of Drive alone is enough to consider it an excellent film, crime or otherwise. It's not the average crime film, which lwmusik summarized well with "It is a love story, in a way, but it is not sappy...The movie has brutal scenes, but the viewer can understand the cause of the brutality...The soundtrack really sets the mood as well...."
