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So what are some of the best gangster films out there?


Guest Son of ShortAxe

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Secret Executioner

I'm no gangster movie fan, but Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In America is a masterpiece.

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OpiumKungFuCracker
I'm no gangster movie fan, but Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In America is a masterpiece.

That's an excellent choice sir.

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Secret Executioner
That's an excellent choice sir.

Well, that's about the only gangster film I have in my collection I was sure about.

Maybe Shangai Triad counts as well ? I have the DVD but haven't seen it, so I don't know. Not sure either about Triangle.

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My personal list of favorite gangster films:

USA

Goodfellas

Casino

The Departed

Brother (a Japan/USA co-production)

The Yakuza Way (a Japan/USA co-production)

American Yakuza

Japan

Minbo: The Art of Extortion (a satire on the Yakuza that caused the film's director to get his ass kicked by the real life Yakuza)

Outrage

Beyond Outrage

Fudoh: The New Generation

Hong Kong/China

The original Young and Dangerous films and its spinoffs (stay the hell away from the reboot!)

Johnnie To's Election films

Century of the Dragon

Jiang Hu

Jiang Hu: The Triad Zone

As Tears Go By

The Infernal Affairs trilogy

War of the Underworld

Street of Fury

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Morgoth Bauglir

I don't know why but whenever I think of what's a good gangster movie, The Rules of the Game is the first to come to mind. Not a great movie, but my favorite performance of Louis Koo's career.

A Hero Never Dies- when I first saw this years ago I liked it, but it didn't do much for me. But I don't know what I was thinking. It's a great movie. I wish there were more movies with rivals like this. The only one I can think of is an episode of Tales From the Crypt- Cutting Cards.

And of course there's The Longest Nite, one of the best movies ever made.

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masterofoneinchpunch

Now the difficulty for me is trying to keep the crime film that is not “organized” out of this list somewhat like Mean Streets or The Pope of Greenwich Village. Since “heist” films tend to be organized I can see their inclusion on a list like this. The same goes for psychotic loner subgenre like Le Samourai or Ghost Dog.

I have many more which I’ll add Monday when I get back.

My personal favorites:

US

The Public Enemy (1931: William A. Wellman)

Little Caesar (1931: Mervyn LeRoy)

White Heat (1949: Raoul Walsh)

The Godfather (1972: Francis Ford Coppola)

The Godfather II (1974: Francis Ford Coppola)

Goodfellas (1990: Martin Scorsese)

Donnie Brasco (1997: Mike Newell)

France

Rififi (1955: Jules Dassin)

Bob le Flambeur (1956: Jean-Pierre Melville)

Le Doulos (1962: Jean-Pierre Melville)

Cercle rouge, Le (1970: Jean-Pierre Melville)

Japan

Youth of the Beast (1963: Seijun Suzuki)

Tokyo Drifter (1966: Seijun Suzuki)

Sonatine (1993: Takeshi Kitano)

Hong Kong

A Better Tomorrow (1986: John Woo)

The Mission (1999: Johnnie To)

Infernal Affairs (2002, Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, Alan Mak Siu-Fai)

Infernal Affairs II (2003, Hong Kong, Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, Alan Mak Siu-Fai)

Election (2005: Johnnie To)

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The first Asian gangster movie that comes into my mind is A Better Tomorrow. It's a fantastic movie and it's so fast-paced that I've probably seen it 8 times in the past year. I've noticed that not one person has brought up City on Fire. Come on, guys! City on Fire is a really good movie, not as good as ABT, but it was very compelling and interesting. The ending was great as well. I'd even say it's a good enough movie to name a website after (wink :wink:). Ooh, that's subtle.

And of course, The Longest Nite. As messed up as the movie may be at times, I was smiling because of how incredibly engrossing it was, especially during the mirror finale. When I wasn't smiling, my face would look something like this: :ooh:

Definitely a fantastic movie.

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