a Yourlist ranking · the crowd decides the order
From Corleone family dinners to Vegas skimming operations, these are the films that defined the gangster genre. Vote for the ones that earned their place in the pantheon.
What counts: Ranked by cultural impact, influence on the genre, and lasting critical reputation. Ratings are approximate critical/audience consensus out of 10; runtimes and box office figures are rounded approximations where exact data is uncertain.
Coppola's 1972 saga turned Mario Puzo's pulp novel into American mythology; Michael Corleone's transformation from reluctant son to ruthless don, capped by the baptism/murder montage, set the template every gangster film since has answered to.
Release Year: 1972Critical Rating: 9.7/10Runtime: 175 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 250 $M
added by IJRin 12 rankings
The rare sequel considered equal or superior to the original, intercutting young Vito's rise with Michael's moral collapse; Fredo's betrayal and 'I know it was you, Fredo' remains the genre's most devastating family scene.
Release Year: 1974Critical Rating: 9.5/10Runtime: 202 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 93 $M
added by IJRin 10 rankings
Scorsese's kinetic, freeze-frame-and-voiceover style redefined how gangster stories move; Henry Hill's 'as far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster' narration and the Copacabana tracking shot are pure cinema.
Release Year: 1990Critical Rating: 9.2/10Runtime: 146 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 47 $M
added by IJRin 7 rankings
Tony Montana's coke-fueled rise and 'say hello to my little friend' finale turned De Palma's remake into a hip-hop and pop-culture touchstone that outgrew its mixed initial reviews.
Release Year: 1983Critical Rating: 8.5/10Runtime: 170 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 65 $M
added by IJRin 2 rankings
Sergio Leone's operatic, decades-spanning epic about Jewish gangsters in New York was butchered on US release but restored as a mournful, elegiac masterpiece about lost friendship and betrayal.
Release Year: 1984Critical Rating: 8.7/10Runtime: 229 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 5 $M
added by IJR
Scorsese finally won Best Picture with this Boston-set cat-and-mouse between mob mole and undercover cop, anchored by Jack Nicholson's unhinged Frank Costello and that gut-punch elevator ending.
Release Year: 2006Critical Rating: 8.9/10Runtime: 151 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 291 $M
added by IJRin 8 rankings
Scorsese and De Niro's Vegas companion piece to Goodfellas traces the mob's corporate takeover of a casino empire, with Sharon Stone's Ginger and Joe Pesci's Nicky supplying the tragedy and menace.
Release Year: 1995Critical Rating: 8.6/10Runtime: 178 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 116 $M
added by IJRin 4 rankings
Fernando Meirelles's frenetic chronicle of Rio's favela drug wars, told through Rocket's eyes and Li'l Zé's rise, proved the gangster saga wasn't just an American or Italian genre.
Release Year: 2002Critical Rating: 9/10Runtime: 130 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 30 $M
added by IJR
Tarantino's nonlinear hitman odyssey redefined crime-movie structure and dialogue, with Jules and Vincent's diner philosophizing becoming instant '90s shorthand for cool.
Release Year: 1994Critical Rating: 8.9/10Runtime: 154 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 213 $M
added by IJRin 11 rankings
Robert De Niro's directorial debut is a coming-of-age gangster story where Sonny (Chazz Palminteri) mentors a kid torn between two father figures, distilling neighborhood mob loyalty into something intimate and personal.
Release Year: 1993Critical Rating: 8/10Runtime: 121 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 17 $M
added by IJR
Johnny Depp's undercover FBI agent and Al Pacino's aging, expendable Lefty Ruggiero create one of the genre's saddest bonds, built on a true story of betrayal from the inside.
Release Year: 1997Critical Rating: 7.9/10Runtime: 127 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 41 $M
added by IJRDonnie Brasco
The Coen brothers' Prohibition-era noir, all clipped dialect and shadowy morality, is the connoisseur's gangster pick—quietly influential despite being a box-office non-event.
Release Year: 1990Critical Rating: 7.9/10Runtime: 115 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 5 $M
added by IJR
Brian De Palma's Chicago showdown between Eliot Ness and Al Capone (Robert De Niro) delivers the genre's most famous set piece, the Union Station baby-carriage shootout homaging Battleship Potemkin.
Release Year: 1987Critical Rating: 8/10Runtime: 119 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 106 $M
added by IJR
Denzel Washington's Frank Lucas and Russell Crowe's dogged detective face off in this Harlem heroin-empire drama, grounded in a real story that made 'Blue Magic' a household phrase.
Release Year: 2007Critical Rating: 7.8/10Runtime: 157 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 266 $M
added by IJRin 2 rankings
Michael Mann's digital-photographed take on John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) modernized the Depression-era outlaw picture, trading sepia nostalgia for cold, procedural violence.
Release Year: 2009Critical Rating: 7/10Runtime: 140 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 214 $M
added by IJR
Sam Mendes's stylish father-son hitman story, shot by Conrad Hall in his final film, turns Prohibition gangsterism into a somber meditation on inherited violence.
Release Year: 2002Critical Rating: 7.6/10Runtime: 117 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 104 $M
added by IJR
James Cagney's breakout as Tom Powers, complete with the infamous grapefruit-to-the-face scene, helped invent the pre-Code gangster picture and made Cagney a star.
Release Year: 1931Critical Rating: 7.6/10Runtime: 83 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): —
added by IJR
Edward G. Robinson's Rico Bandello, dying with 'Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?', set the mold for the rise-and-fall gangster arc that Scarface and countless others would follow.
Release Year: 1931Critical Rating: 7.3/10Runtime: 79 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): —
added by IJR
James Cagney's Cody Jarrett goes out in a literal blaze of glory atop an exploding gas tank, screaming 'Made it, Ma, top of the world!'—the genre's most operatic death scene of its era.
Release Year: 1949Critical Rating: 7.8/10Runtime: 114 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): —
added by IJR
Al Pacino's ex-con Carlito Brigante tries to go straight but can't escape the life, building to a tragic subway-station finale that plays as De Palma's spiritual bookend to Scarface.
Release Year: 1993Critical Rating: 7.9/10Runtime: 144 minBox Office (worldwide, approx.): 36 $M
added by IJR
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