Favorite Gangster Movies, etc?

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Everyone has already said it, but what the fuck here it is again: Goodfellas, The Godfather, and Scarface. I fell asleep during Reservoir Dogs.

 

Get rich or die tryin

 

Once Upon A Time In America.

I enjoy the fact that the secondary character in the movie "wants to die after having accomplished everything" (extorting the Fed).

French Connection, though not strictly a gangster movie.

 

Italian gangster movies..
1.Goodfellas
2.Casino
3.Witness to the mob (made for tv movie about Don Gottis rise and fall)

Black urban gangta movies
1.Get rich or die trying (50cents, based on true events)
2.American Gangter (Denziel)
Although this film felt more like a lesson in history...
3.Boys in the Hood, as a notible mention...since it started the whole inner city genre
thing...
And many more who's titles just slip my mind right now...

Latino gangster films
1. Scarface...(so many parallel lessons to be learned from this film about trust, power and greed)...

And the title slips my mind...but recently I saw a gangsta film with a interesting twist...
Where a ex LA Latino gangster finds out his son is gay...talk about a interesting twist...

It was a really good movie though...delt with some powerful issues in the Latino community with the whole macho thing, and being gay...and gangs...
I'll try to get the name of this movie and report back...

 

La Mission...



Ok, I found it...it's called 'La Mission'...
And is a really good watch...it's a gangsta film with a different twist...about a once powerful, and still respected Latino gangster...who finds out his son is gay...

There is a lot of tension in this movie...at times you want to pause it or turn away, cause it feels so real...and the pressures to be 'macho'...are pressures that most guys can relate too...

It's a heart warming film though...and very realistic...there is no Walt Disney happy ending...just reality....
This film will really make you think about your own relationship with your father...whether gay or hippie or any other vibe, the older or traditional generation might not be down with...

 

uuuh where the hell is scarface on your list bro? especially if you like humor. If you like organized crime check out "Brotherhood", it was a showtime show than ran from 2006-2008 about the Irish mafia in providence. I like to compare it to the Sopranos except much better.

 

I just watched American Gangster again on DVD....
There is humor in the movie...but much of it comes through the performance of Russel Crow...The 'honest cop' turned Defense attorney...

Following his life, his 'honest cop' stigma and what he goes through with his ex-wife..is kind of the dual plot in this film and provides a kinda needed comic relief...



Also I love all the classic factory cars they were able to use in all the scenes from that time period...for classic car lovers it's a must...that must of been some feat in and of it'self to get all those old cars gathered up...

When Lucas, the dealer went down...the guy had over $250 million dollars of assets seized in over seas accounts...he had an empire...and had cops on his payroll, judges, lawyers...and other crime families...

All this was based on a true story...he had a 70 year sentence cut down to 15 after helping bring down over 3/4 corrupt cops in the New York area...

He was released in 1991, and has lived a quite life sense....

 

Yeah, I can agree with you. I watched it again the other day, and I did chuckle at him a few times.

But my main gripe was that Lucas and the other gangsters weren't particularly fun to watch. You can always make cops interesting and funny; given their trade, detectives look at disgusting and vile acts and smirk at them, sorta like a defense mechanism. That in and of itself makes for incredible dark humor.

Read Homicide by David Simon -- same dude who co-created The Wire -- for some really diseased cop humor. Amazing book, all around.

I do, alas, like watching gangsters who I think I'd have a good time with at the bar. Denzel's Lucas just seemed way too serious for my taste. I never really enjoyed watching him, which is a shame, because Denzel is talented enough to play a likeable gangster. Plus -- and this is my inner corner kid speaking -- it's kinda tough to watch a guy act like such a bad ass...only to turn snitch at the end of the flick.

 

Hi,

Yes I dig and hear what your saying...

Some insight: On the DVD I have, there's a director commentary section...and when you hear the director or writer, speak about their real life interview with Lucas...they said he came off as kind of a unremorceful 'phycopath'...

In other words, in real life, in order to do what he did, he was 'hardened' and devioud of much 'color'...a very basic business man that single handedly built a $250,000,000 + empire....

So Denziel was just being true to the guys real life character...actually Denziel probablly made him seem much more likeable than he really was in real life...

But I dig what your saying...The classic Italian mafia portrayal has kinda got us all conditioned to the 'Honey mooners' type character...charming yet deadly...

Also real life Russian mafia guys are pretty cold also...

Think what it took to get all those classic cars lined in every scene also...I think in one scene, way off in the distance...you could see like a modern car go through the intersection...