Gangster Cinema Essentials (Vol 2)
Some of the most celebrated movies in the history of cinema belong to the crime genre. No matter how many titles one has seen, a gangster cinema aficionado is always likely to stumble upon a never-seen-before title.
Le Doulos (The Finger Man)
Jean-Pierre Melville's film, with its superlative screenplay that features dubious characters and serves delightful double and triple crosses, aside from phenomenal camera work, stars French cinema icon Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Le deuxieme Souffle (Second Breath)
French crime cinema veteran Lino Ventura stars in another great Jean-Pierre Melville film where the former plays a criminal who breaks out of prison only to get involved in events that further complicate his life.
Violent Streets
Japanese director Hideo Gosha's crime film features yakuza members with no redeemable qualities. When they rise, they do so with aplomb. But when they fall, the resulting devastation is of earth-shattering proportions.
Scarface
What's there to say about an iconic, blood and cocaine-smeared gangster classic that hasn't already been said? One of Al Pacino's greatest achievements, with many memorable lines, most notably, "Say hello to my little friend."
Get Carter
Arguably the darkest gangster film in cinema history, Mike Hodges' Michael Caine-starrer has a deeply cynical and pessimistic air about it. An example of crime storytelling that's as gritty and dirty as it gets.
Dillinger
'Apocalypse Now' screenwriter John Milius made his directorial debut with an extremely bloody portrait of infamous gangster John Dillinger, which can be regarded as among the finest works to come out of 1970s Hollywood.
Layer Cake
A pre-Casino Royale Daniel Craig. A younger, not-yet popular Tom Hardy. Impeccable direction from Mathew Vaughn, who, prior to making his directorial debut, produced Guy Ritchie's early films.
A History of Violence/Eastern Promises
David Cronenberg proved himself as adept at making a lean and mean crime drama as at the craziest body horror adventures. He collaborated with actor Viggo Mortensen again on another notable crime film 'Eastern Promises'.