Favorite Gangster Movies, etc?

I love gangster fiction, I really do. This could possibly stem from my upbringing, mostly because pretty much every dude I grew up with became a criminal (also, my uncle had a lucrative career in the cocaine/meth trade, along with a whore house he inherited from his similarly gangster brother; supposedly, my uncle's brother's crew had a beef with the South Philly Mafia back in the '70s, stemming from a guido's attempt to extort an Irish bar owner...who was already being extorted by my uncle lol).

Anyway, the mobster/gangster genre is consistently my favorite as long as it's done right...

GoodFellas -- The greatest gangster flick ever, IMO. It's greatness doesn't stem from it's violence, rather than it's humor. Although I have to turn it off before the last 15 mins of the movie. (I won't provide any spoilers, but if you hate informants, you'll understand my logic.)

The Sopranos -- Okay, it's not a movie. But mixing a Mafia story with strong family undertones, not to mention the backdrop of mainstream America (middle class, big suburban home) for a story about murderers and gangsters, made this series legendary.

Pulp Fiction -- I'd go as far to say that, as far as iconic gangster duos go, Travolta and Jackson in Pulp Fiction are almost equal to Pesci and Bobby D in Goodfellas.

Angels With Dirty Faces -- Cagney, bitches. The original movie gangster. And this flick had an ending that challenged you a bit.

The Public Enemy -- Another Cagney flick. Jimmy was the shit.

But the worst? Any of those cruddy flicks starring Beanie Siegal. Beanie's a good rapper...but what the fuck was that crap?

 

The Godfather Parts 1-3

 

Goodfellas: Hands down my favorite gangster flick; The Godfather was too ethnic for my taste.

The Sopranos: fantastic for a TV series

Angels with Dirty Faces & Public Enemy: Didn’t see either movie but I did see ‘White Heat’ which was great – "Top of the World, Ma”

The Departed: An absolutely great movie with a star studded cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Mark Walhberg, along with Jack Nicholson whose role was essentially modeled after Whitey Bulger who led the notorious Winter Hill Gang in Boston

Gangs of New York: Every time I see that movie it gets better and so does the performance of Daniel Day-Lewis

Hotwater

 

@ Hotwater

Yeah Bulger was insane. He practically owned the Feds in Boston. Ridiculous. He's still the 2nd most wanted man by the FBI, right behind Osama bin Laden. Crazy for some whacko Irish fuck from South Boston.

 

Scarface, eventhough it's a bit more cheesy then some movies like GoodFellas and Reservoir Dogs it's still amazing and my favorite.

 

Reservoir Dogs is defiantly on my top five list.

There are also a number of martial arts movies with 'The Big Boss' who gets taken down by a Kung Fu Master like Sonny Chiba in Karate Warriors or Bruce Lee in Fists of Fury


Hotwater

 

goodfellas ftw!!

american gangster was decent too;.

 

I was tempted to put American Gangster as one of my favorites. It's a great movie but, like the Godfather, there's not much humor to it. Gangsters and mobsters tend to be likable guys and, consequently, pretty funny. A gangster movie without humor just doesn't feel right.

And, like the Sopranos, I know this isn't a movie (or even a full-on 'gangster' story) but The Wire had lots of memorable gangsters. Avon, Stringer, Prop Joe, Omar, Vondas, The Greek, Cheese, Snoop, Chris, the Sobotka family (sort of gangster)...I could go on. Even McNulty, Greggs, and Bunk were sorta gangster as far as detectives go lol

 

He has a two million dollar reward on his head and still hasn’t been spotted, so I’m guessing he’s either dead or hiding out at Tora Bora with Bin Laden


Hotwater

 

They ain't going to find him. It's in their best interest not to. Think about it: Dude had all these FBI agents on his payroll, then evaded the massive backlash. You really think the Obama White House-- fragile as the Tea Bagging Public thinks it is on national security -- is going to break it's balls looking for a man who subverted the goddamn FBI?

We have a better chance of finding bin Laden. Bin Laden, at least, is the child of a very wealthy family, born into money, with enough cash to spirit himself around the Mid East easily. The public can understand, to an extent, why we haven't caught him. But a gangster who manipulated the face of national security? Some pissant fuck from the housing projects of South Boston? Please.

Bulger's probably already dead of a heart attack in Northern Europe or something. (And as an Irish-American in good standing, coming from a neighborhood just like South Boston, I say good for Bulger. Fuck the system...in regards to embarrassing the hell out of it.)

 

It is a toss up b/n Reservoir Dogs and Goodfella's.

A couple of lesser known good ones I enjoyed were Donnie Brasco (Johnny Depp), Find Me Guilty (Vin Diesel),

 

I've been watching a lot of gangster films recently thanks to a little obsession I've had with the Sopranos over the last few months. I'd second Ivana13's shout:

 

Goodfellas, Godfather 1-3, Casino, Redsevoir dogs

 

Gangs of New York!

 

The Untouchables

 

has to be scarface for me, remember that one "once upon a time in America" that film goes on for ever.......

 

The Untouchables

The Departed

Goodfellas

The Godfather

 

I have to mention "Gomorra". Naturalistic film about Camorra (crime organization from Napoli, more powerful than Cosa Nostra yet more disorganized).
Absolutely no glamorization. Focusing more on the street level crime. It portrays the criminals just the way they are. Without big mansions and custom tailored Zegna suits.