Godfathers and Goodfellas: The 18 Best American Mob Movies
Gross: $134,821,952
The big dog, the “I-ching” of gangster movies. Its celebrated sequel may be the greater artistic accomplishment, but both for originality and re-watchability, there is no beating The Godfather. From “I Believe in America” to the door shutting on Kay, the film defined the American gangster for eternity. One of the few films to hold its own with Citizen Kane on any list.
Paramount Pictures
Gross: $46,836,394
If The Godfather is about the king, Goodfellas is about the soldiers. Taking a street-level view of the life of a mobster (and notably giving almost equal time to his wife), Goodfellas showed the grit under the grandeur of The Godfather and even 25 years later it is a breathtakingly exciting celebration of cinema.
Warner Bros.
Gross: $57,300,000
With the wild success of the first film, Francis Ford Coppolla was able to give his greater ambitions flight, taking the Corleone family out of New York and out to Nevada, to Cuba at the dawn of the revolution, back to Sicily and an even older NYC. Throw in dynamite performances from Lee Strasberg, Robert De Niro (as the young Don) and of course Al Pacino and you have a film that surpasses its predecessor in everything but heart.
Paramount Pictures
Gross $5,080,409
The Coen Brothers somewhat neglected third film had the misfortune of being the “other gangster” film the same year as Goodfellas (and both famously had the misfortune of squaring off against Dances with Wolves come award season). The beautifully and elegiac film traces the path of an Irish gangster who relies on his wits more than a gun as he gets caught in a war between his pigheaded boss (and best friend), an equally stubborn Italian gangster. Like most Coen Bros films, the plot is wonderfully labyrinthine and the “Oh Danny Boy”, sequence will never stop being awesome.
20th Century Fox
Though there were certainly gangster movies in the silent era, the three that came out in 1931 (Little Caesar and Scarface are the other two) are generally considered the true beginning of the genre. Of the three, this is the best, with James Cagney providing a live wire performance that still holds up today.
Warner Bros.
Gross: $32,645 (Original Run)
A sort of prototype for Goodfellas, Mean Streets was one of the very first films to tackle the life of low-level mobsters. Decades of imitators and our familiarity with the actor has diminished a bit of the effect of De Niro in this film, but at the time, he seemed only a step or two shy of Heath Ledger’s Joker, a wild card who sowed chaos for fun and could blow up in your face at the drop of a hat. In an instant (and the power chords of Jumpin’ Jack Flash), a star and a star director were born.
Warner Bros.
Gross 132,373,442:
For a variety of reasons (worse food, mostly) the Irish mob doesn’t get the love Italian one does, but leave it to the master of the mob movie to shift his view north and remake a cracker jack Hong Kong police thriller as a take on the tale of Whitey Bulger.
Warner Bros.
Gross: 76,270,454
Arguably the most famous gangster of all time, Al Capone, gets the De Niro treatment here. Despite some of its odd 80’s production choices (Synth horns…ugh), this adaptation of the classic television show gets the action movie moves just right. And De Niro’s baseball speech is always fun.
Paramount Pictures
Gross: $64,604,977 – The mafia could never really take hold in LA, and a big part of the reason was that the cops became a mafia of their own, getting dirty to keep the city clean. Despite their later stardom, it’s arguable that Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey and Guy Pearce have never been better than in this film.
Warner Bros.
Gross $3,834,340
The follow up to Goodfellas isn’t as well loved. It lacks the fun and the surprise. At times it feels like a retread, but for the sheer breadth of information the film gives you, at a breakneck pace and delivered by actors at the top their game, Casino remains a can’t-miss mob film.
Universal Pictures
Gross: $44,700,000
The original Scarface was one of the classics of the genre, but is the Al Pacino/Brian De Palma remake from the 80’s that has taken hold of pop culture. Honestly, the film itself hasn’t aged all that well, but for the sheer bulk of dorm room posters, Hip-hop references and WAYYYYYYY OVER THE TOP set pieces, it is essential viewing for anyone studying the genre.
Universal Pictures
Gross: $10,734320
A most peculiar gangster movie to be sure. The gang is LA-based and multi-ethnic and the closest you can come to a plot summary is “a double-crossing boxer tries to escape the mob” doesn’t really get the point across. Lost in the shuffle of time was Tarantino’s greatest innovation, the knowledge that sometimes even gangsters talked about some mundane crap like cheeseburgers, drug laws in Amsterdam and the etiquette of giving a married woman a foot massage.
Miramax Pictures
Coming back to the genre as a middle aged man, Cagney still has all of the fire that made his Public Enemy so potent. As a gangster just released from prison and ready to get back to the game, Cagney does first-rate crazy here, and his final scene is one of the classic endings in Hollywood.
Warner Bros
Another of the classics from the Prohibition days. The film doesn’t hold up super well, but for the simple fact that any time anyone does an impression of a gangster from the 30’s, they are almost certainly doing an Edward G. Robinson impression…probably without any clue that that is what they are doing.
First National Pictures
Easily (and appropriately for 1967) the most psychedelic of the gangster films, John Boorman’s Point Blank takes the viewpoint of a hitman who’s been left for dead by his double-crossing employers and now wants his revenge. The otherworldly tone increasingly gives credence to the reading that we are actually watching the fantasies of a dying man. Idiotically, this was remade in the late 90’s by Mel Gibson (as Payback) in a version that strips away that reading and all of the psychedelia that make the original a work of art.
MGM
Gross $5,300,000
Sergio Leone had elevated the Western to art with his series of “Spaghetti Westerns” in the 60’s. Coming to the states, he takes a stab at the gangster movie with a specifically Jewish take on the mob film. The film is seriously bloated and never really feels authentically Jewish (as opposed to an Italian mob movie done up in…Matzoh-face?) but between the performances and some dreamlike imagery the film is still worth a watch.
Embassy International Pictures
An early take on the story of a cop becoming dirty in order to take down the mob, Fritz Lang brings all of his German expressionist talent to bear on the gritty and gripping thriller. Today it’s most remembered for the truly shocking scene when Lee Marvin, as a terrifying mob enforcer, throws a pot of hot coffee on a beautiful woman’s face.
Columbia Pictures
Another excellent street-level view of the mob. With its melancholy meditation on mortality, the film follows the real life exploits of undercover officer Joseph Pistone and his ill-fated friendship with midlevel mobster Lefty Ruggiero. High on tension, but low on action, it’s definitely a slow burn…but a worthwhile one both for its performances and its masterful tone.
Mandalay Entertainment
Gross $21,460,601
Of all of the parodies of mob movies, none have even half the quality of this hidden gem. On top of getting Brando to come out of semi-retirement to recreate his most iconic role, the film also contains great performances from Matthew Broderick, Bruno Kirby, Penelope Anne Miller, B.D. Wong, and so many other great character actors. It endlessly shouts out to its mobster movie roots (including the constant observation that the main character looks EXACTLY like Don Corleone) and 25 years later remains laugh-out-loud funny. My heart swims in blood.
Tri Star Pictures