The 30 Best Mob Movies You Need To See Immediately

Mob movies are a popular subgenre of crime cinema that centers around the world of gangster organizations and their operations, and often shed light on the dangerous lifestyles of morally complex characters. Although the genre is commonly associated with the notion of the American mafia, there's a diversity within the protagonists of these films. Mob movies focus on different ethnic groups and their criminal organization, and there's a broad range of international favorites that stand alongside the American classics.

Each generation seems to have its own era of great mob movies, and the perceptions of what the mafia's role is have changed along with the culture. The exciting world has fascinated moviegoers since the 1930s, where films like "Scarface" and "The Public Enemy" shocked the general public with their bleak subject material. Many of the mob movies released in the decades since are now known as classics, and several are rated among the greatest films ever.

Some mob movies are more character-based, while others are heavier on their action sequences. Narrowing down the entire history of the genre is no easy task, and many great films, unfortunately, had to be left off the list. However, any cinephile interested in hitting the classics needs to see these mob movies.

Truly great movie sequels are relatively rare, and the expectations are intensified if a film is following up a beloved classic. The number of sequels to all-time great films that manage to stand alongside, or even surpass, their originals is a rare group; films like "The Empire Strikes Back," "The Dark Knight," "Aliens," "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," and "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" are all contenders. 

However, no sequel completes the saga while providing insight on past events quite like "The Godfather: Part II." Coppola's epic continuation of the Corleone family saga is both a continuation of the story and a window into the past; the film serves as both a sequel and prequel to the 1972 original, telling the intertwined stories of Michael Corleone's expansions of the family business and the journey of a young Vito (Robert De Niro) as he immigrated to the United States from Italy.

Over an epic 200 minutes, Coppola continues his commentary on the faded illusions of the American Dream by showing the corruption of two generations of men who both initially believe they are doing the right thing. Michael sees himself as protecting his family and ensuring their future, but he's haunted by the lie he told to his wife Kay (Diane Keaton) at the end of the first film. Vito enters the new country with hopes of building a better life, but he begins to build his crime family empire.

Although many of the most famous mafia movies of all-time center on the American mob, David Cronenberg's 2007 epic "Eastern Promises" sheds a light on the elusive world of the Russian mob and the attempts by British espionage agents to infiltrate that tightly wound business. Cronenberg's family saga is an epic tragedy that features not one, but two of the most effective plot twists in mob movie history. It was able to show a range of perspectives on the mob world by following both insider and outsider perspectives.

British midwife Anya Ivanovna Khitrova lives with her parents in London as she contemplates her recent marriage. While working an overnight shift, Anya tries to save the life of the 14-year-old prostitute Tatiana (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse). While the girl dies, Anya is able to save her infant child and uncover her secret diary. Seeking a translation of the text, Anya finds the seemingly friendly shopkeeper Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), not realizing he is head of a Russian mafia family. Semyon's enforcer Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen) befriends Anya and attempts to protect her as he rises within the family. Semyon has faith in Nikolai, as his own son Krill (Vincent Cassell) is irresponsible and not suited for leadership. Krill sees Nikolai as a friend, but fears that his father will not make him his heir.

"Eastern Promise" slowly reveals its twists, but it also features truly disturbing moments of violence. Nikolai's nude bathroom brawl, in particular, is a shocking and brutal fight.

While you might not initially think of the mob movie genre as one that can be emotionally impactful, truly great mafia films can find the essence of human tragedy within a violent world without descending into melodrama. Gangster characters don't always relate their feelings well and are often characterized as hyper-masculine, but that doesn't mean that they are emotionless. 1997's "Donnie Brasco" is a thrilling undercover thriller, but it's also a deeply heartbreaking film about a man trapped between two worlds. Based on a true story, the film follows FBI agent Joe Pistone (Johnny Depp) as he goes undercover within the Bonanno crime family in New York City during the 1970s under the alias "Donnie Brasco."

It's challenging for Pistone to establish himself as a believable hoodlum, but he's able to fall under the wing of aging gangster Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino) and gain his trust, becoming one of his right-hand men. Lefty begins to not just respect Donnie, but accept him as part of his family, viewing him as a son. It creates a difficult situation for Pistone; he has a rough marriage and struggles to raise his children, and while he doesn't want to get too connected to the men he's charged with bringing down, Lefty is showing him love when no one else would. Depp and Pacino would both later be known for their more over-the-top and eccentric performances, but they both give more emotional performances for a heartbreaking story.

Sam Mendes's gripping 2002 adaptation of the DC graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner is an emotional, generational story of the troubled relationship between fathers and sons. It's a tragic depiction of fragile masculinity and how mafia men are forced to give up their sense of family, and the dangers of trying to escape this dangerous lifestyle. It's a gloomy, yet completely gorgeous film featuring incredible cinematography from the late great Conrad L. Hall and one of the best scores of Thomas Newman's career. Mendes crafts a slowly-paced film that can still explode with tension and shocking violence.

Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is one of the top hitmen within the Irish mafia under the boss John Rooney (Paul Newman) in the midst of the Great Depression. Rooney sees Sullivan as a close ally and considers him to be like a son; Rooney's actual son, Connor (Daniel Craig), is a wild and unpredictable hooligan who has only disappointed his father, yet still desperately seeks his approval. Sullivan knows that his violent history would prevent him from ever truly being redeemed, but he wants to save his son Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin) from falling into the same path. He takes his son away from the family business and tries to bond with them, but the father-son duo is pursued by Rooney's forces and the idiosyncratic assassin Harlen Maguire (Jude Law). It ends with a shocking and heartbreaking conclusion on the perpetual state of violence.

Brian De Palma always creates an interesting tone with his crime films, which combine well developed characters with more elaborate stylistic flourishes. "Carlito's Way" is a fascinating look at a gangster's career that features one of Al Pacino's best performances ever; Pacino is known for giving exaggerated performances and can often be quite hammy, but he's remarkably restrained here in his role as Puerto Rican gangster Carlito Brigante. There are obvious similarities within De Palma and Pacino's other famous collaboration, 1983's "Scarface," but "Carlito's Way" is the stronger film.

Carlito has lived a life of violence and decides to go straight and retire to the Caribbean with his girlfriend Gail (Penelope Ann Miller). Carlito's best friend and closest accomplice is his lawyer, David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn), a wild man who's addicted to drugs and prone to shocking bits of rage. Carlito's attempts to escape are threatened by the competition of the Italian mafia, and David's obnoxious behavior causes conflict with Bronx gangsters.

1971's "The French Connection" isn't only one of the most essential mafia films ever made, but one of the most beloved action films, as well. The remarkable car chase sequences are among the best ever filmed, and the film tells an electric story of an investigation that more than justifies the exciting setpieces. Director William Friedkin creates a film with almost documentary-esque precision, following the cops as they piece together clues about a French heroin operation that is taking over New York.

Gene Hackman delivers one of the best performances of his career as NYPD Detective Jimmy Doyle, who teams up with fellow officer Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) to track down the chief French smuggler Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). Charnier plans to bring a massive shipment onto the coast within two weeks, and both Jimmy and Buddy know it gives them a strict timeline to stop the sale before a new wave of narcotics takes over New York. It becomes a personal vendetta for Jimmy as Chanier eludes his pursuits; Rey creates a detestable screen villain.

The late great Mike Hodges' masterpiece, "Get Carter," might be the best British gangster film ever. Giving one of his most impressive, nuanced performances, Michael Caine plays Jack Carter, a cold-blooded London gangster who returns to his hometown of Newcastle in the wake of his brother's death. Upon arrival, he immediately sets to work, questioning old acquaintances to learn exactly what happened and exacting his revenge on those involved.

After making a name for himself playing cheerful, cocky characters, Caine is positively reptilian as Carter. He's measured and controlled in his actions and effortlessly intimidating, with a barely concealed snarl of contempt fixed on his face. He plays the character with a grim determination and without a shred of humor. For Caine, this was intentional as a way to take on more challenging roles. Having a personal connection with the part, Caine stated, "In English movies, gangsters were either stupid or funny. I wanted to show that they're neither."

Hodges makes evocative use of location, showing a city in decline. The dilapidated landscape and the emerging modern, garish architecture are shown as physical manifestations of a city corrupted by the seedy underworld of drugs, pornography, and gambling. A lean, nihilistic revenge thriller, "Get Carter" is a brutal film without a wasted line of dialogue and a characteristically British streak of dark humor.

An underseen masterpiece, Abel Ferrara's "The Funeral" is one of the bleakest films on this list. Unapologetically grim, it opens with the funeral of the murdered Johnny Tempio (Vincent Gallo), the youngest brother of the Tempio crime family. The rest of the film follows his siblings Ray (Christopher Walken) and Chez (Chris Penn) as they hunt for the man who killed their brother and struggle to cope with their grief.

Unfolding predominantly in flashbacks as the family reminisces about happier times, we see the growing tensions that ultimately lead to Johnny's death. Nicholas St. John's thematically dense script is full of religious symbolism and theology but largely avoids sounding preachy or didactic. Instead, "The Funeral" emerges as a thought-provoking take on the Mafia's paradoxical relationship with Catholicism.

Walken gives an uncharacteristically understated performance, and his final confrontation with his brother's murderer is a bleak rejoinder to the redemptive ending of Ferrara's "Bad Lieutenant." There are powerful performances from the entire cast, which includes Benicio Del Toro, Isabella Rossellini, and the phenomenal Annabella Sciorra as Ray's world-weary wife.

However, Chris Penn steals the film as the emotionally stunted Chez. Alternately monstrous and vulnerable, he carries an overwhelming sadness on his shoulders that goes beyond grief, and the scene where he pays a young girl for her soul is appropriately terrifying. Chez is a horrific creation, but Penn makes him all too human. If we hate Chez, that's nothing compared to how he feels about himself.

At over three hours long, "Once Upon A Time In America" is a genuine gangster epic. Sergio Leone's most ambitious film is a sweeping narrative with beautiful cinematography and a truly evocative score from Ennio Morricone. Yet, it never made the same cultural impact as the superficially similar "The Godfather" or "Goodfellas." This may be due to the horrendous cuts made ahead of its original release or because of the extremely unsympathetic characters.

Robert DeNiro plays a very different kind of gangster compared to the charming Jimmy Conway of "Goodfellas" or the principled Vito Corleone of "The Godfather Part II." David "Noodles" Aaronson is quiet and thoughtful, leading you to believe he's halfway decent until he's revealed to be truly monstrous. He and the rest of the gang are utterly reprehensible, and yet, as Quentin Tarantino puts it, "The weight of what they're doing never rests completely in your heart." Indeed, it's telling that despite Noodles' abhorrent actions, the cultivated Max (James Woods) is portrayed as the worse of the two. Themes of loyalty and friendship permeate the film, and despite the numerous transgressions committed by the gang, for Leone, personal betrayals matter most.

DeNiro and Woods inhabit their roles beautifully, and the whole film is peppered with vivid character sketches from the likes of Joe Pesci, Richard Bright, and Burt Young. Depicting beauty and brutality in epic proportion, Leone constructs the film meticulously, using iconic imagery and a non-linear, almost ethereal, narrative to create a mesmerizing masterpiece.

Kim Jee-woon's revenge thriller, "A Bittersweet Life," is a great cautionary tale about the perils of being seduced by the gangster lifestyle. Lee Byung-hun plays Sun-woo, a hotel manager who moonlights as a Mob enforcer. Fastidious and immaculately dressed, he takes pride in his work and has a good relationship with gangster boss Mr. Kang (Kim Yeong-cheol). Assigned to watch over Kang's mistress, Hee-soo (Shin Min-a), while he's away, Sun-woo discovers her having an affair, but his complicated feelings for her prevent him from reporting it, leading to an abrupt fall from grace.

While Sun-woo diligently works for the Mob, he isn't a gangster himself, even though he aspires to be, emulating Christopher Walken in "King Of New York" as he gazes at the cityscape. Other gangster characters commit more significant transgressions, but because they are connected, they are quickly forgiven. Sun-Woo has no such connections, so when he finds himself out of favor with the boss, he is on his own and is forced to rely on his wits to survive.

"A Bittersweet Life" is a slick, stylish revenge thriller with a colorful rogues gallery of villains, each of whom has a moment to shine. The scene where both Sun-woo and a villain race to assemble their guns is a stand-out, as is the explosive finale in which all debts are settled in a brutal shootout.

One of the few times Richard Attenborough was truly menacing onscreen, his turn as Pinkie Brown in this adaptation of Graham Greene's classic crime novel "Brighton Rock" is utterly chilling. Set in the seaside town of Brighton, the film is the story of Pinkie, a juvenile psychopath devoid of compassion and warmth. When Pinkie murders a journalist in cold blood, he sets in motion a chain of events that leads to his downfall. Complicating matters is Rose (Carol Marsh), a waitress and potential witness, whom Pinkie plans on murdering.

What makes this film more effective than other depictions of youthful gangsters is that despite Pinkie's outwardly disquieting demeanor, he's not some ice-cold gangster prodigy. When the chips are down, and he's confronted by more physically imposing gangsters, his facade crumbles, and he's revealed for who he is — a sniveling, cowardly child.

Compelled by the censors to alter the book's ending, Greene penned a compromise that is possibly more haunting than "the worst horror of all," as stated in the novel. In the film, rather than having Rose listen to the record of Pinkie's hate-filled diatribe, the record gets scratched, so when she goes home and listens to it, it catches on Pinkie's sardonic "I love you," leading her to believe his feelings for her were genuine.

It's telling that posters for Brian De Palma's florid remake of Howard Hawks' seminal gangster film adorn the walls of teenagers the world over. More than in any other movie on this list, the characters in "Scarface" are self-consciously styled gangsters, seduced by the gaudy opulence of a life of crime. As Michelle Pfeiffer's Elvira says, "Nothing exceeds like excess," and "Scarface" is an exercise in decadence from its depiction of the vulgar hedonism of the gangster lifestyle to Al Pacino's larger-than-life performance as Tony Montana. Pacino almost defies us to root for the brutish Tony. He's arrogant, crude, and ruthless, but in Pacino's hands, he's also a magnetic, irrepressible character.

De Palma's depiction of gangster life verges parody, but "Scarface" remains a technical marvel of a film. From the infamous chainsaw scene to Tony's magnificent final stand, there are many iconic sequences, but through it all is a fatalism and cynicism that is hard to shake. The American Dream that Tony chases is a fantasy. By the film's conclusion, the world is his, and all he has to show for it is a mountain of white powder and a Colombian hit squad coming for him.

"Le Doulos" is possibly Jean Pierre Melville's first wholly successful attempt at a gangster film. The "Le Doulos" of the title refers to a name for an informant, or a "finger man," and a type of fedora worn by most of the characters. Melville was a fan of the film noir style, and he emulates it perfectly, recreating the aesthetic of 1940s cinema through the use of trenchcoats, cigarette smoke, and shadows ... so many shadows. Melville makes strikingly modern use of black and white cinematography, with characters' faces hidden in shadow beneath the brims of their hats. The preoccupation with self-image is a throughline in all of his films, with characters often checking their reflections or adjusting their hats. Melville's characters are all too aware that they are in a film.

The twisting plot of "Le Doulos" does make sense, but it's a lot more fun to just let it wash over you. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays the charming Silien, who is determined to protect the dour Maurice (Serge Reggiani), newly released from prison, from the numerous heavies heading his way. Of course, a series of betrayals and misunderstandings leads Maurice to believe Silien is an informant, setting the scene for a tragic conclusion.

"Le Doulos" is more than just a pastiche. Melville understands the mythic figures of noir better than anyone, exploring ideas of betrayal and the persistent myth of "honor among thieves." In Melville's films, honor is all the characters care about.

You can be forgiven for dismissing this gangster biopic from John Milius as one of the many exploitation crime films like "Bloody Mama," "Boxcar Bertha," and "The Grissom Gang" released in the early 1970s. However, "Dillinger" is a cut above these. It's a lean, subversive film that romanticizes its subjects while never shying away from depicting the brutality of the criminal lifestyle.

Warren Oates is a suitably grizzled Dillinger and more convincing as the career criminal than Johnny Depp in "Public Enemies." Unapologetically callous yet undeniably charismatic, Oates doesn't have much physical resemblance to the bank robber (Milius doesn't let the facts get in the way of a good story). Still, the film captures the public perception of him well and features colorful supporting roles for the likes of Harry Dean Stanton, Geoffrey Lewis, and an impossibly young Richard Dreyfuss as the psychopathic Baby Face Nelson.

Responsible for a handful of cult films and some of the most iconic screenplays in film history like  "Apocalypse Now," as well as being credited as the author of the Indianapolis speech from "Jaws," Milius is an enigmatic figure in film history. "Dillinger," his directorial debut, might have the feel of a B movie, but it has some exceptional moments and striking shot composition that belies its low-budget aesthetic. The death of Pretty Boy Floyd (Steve Kanaly), for instance, has no business looking as beautiful as it does, and the climactic shootout at the gang's safe house seems like a pared-down Sam Peckinpah set piece.

Released the same year as "Goodfellas," Phil Joanou's Irish gangster film is relatively standard fare. However, it boasts an impressive cast, including Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, Robin Wright, John Turturro, and John C. Reilly.

Sean Penn plays Terry Noonan, an undercover cop who uses his history growing up in Hell's Kitchen to infiltrate the Irish Mafia, led by the calculating Frankie Flannery (Harris) and his impetuous younger brother, Jackie (Oldman). So far, so conventional, but the performances elevate the story, none more so than Oldman, who walks away with every scene in which he appears.

Decked out in a black leather jacket, with lank hair falling over his face, Oldman brings a nuanced vulnerability and a sense of pathos to what could easily have been a one-note character. Rather than a play on Joe Pesci's "Goodfellas" character, Jackie is fiercely loyal to his family. When he overhears Italian gang members joking about his friend's death, he doesn't even blink before gunning them down.

While Oldman gives a firey performance, Harris is at the other extreme, portraying an ice-cold, pragmatic Mob boss who is more interested in expanding his partnership with the Italian Mob than taking care of his men. Things come to a head with a brilliantly edited shootout that unfolds alongside the St Patrick's Day Parade, a stunning sequence that pays homage to Sam Peckinpah, Francis Ford Coppola, and John Woo.