Golden Age Gangsters
by joe_538 | created - 11 May 2013 | updated - 03 Apr 2019 | PublicGangster movies and series set in the 20's, 30's, and 40's.
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1. Underworld (1927)
Not Rated | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Boisterous gangster kingpin Bull Weed rehabilitates his former lawyer from his alcoholic haze, but complications arise when he falls for Weed's girlfriend.
Directors: Josef von Sternberg, Arthur Rosson | Stars: George Bancroft, Clive Brook, Evelyn Brent, Fred Kohler
Votes: 3,475 | Gross: $1.64M
2. Ladies of the Mob (1928)
Passed | 66 min | Drama
A dead criminal's daughter falls in love with a small-time crook and tries to get him to reform before he winds up like her father.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Clara Bow, Richard Arlen, Helen Lynch, Mary Alden
Votes: 49
3. The Racket (1928)
Passed | 84 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An honest police captain vows to bring down a powerful bootlegger who is protected by corrupt politicians and judges.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Thomas Meighan, Louis Wolheim, Marie Prevost, G. Pat Collins
Votes: 1,583
4. Gang War (1928)
Passed | 70 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A saxophone player Clyde, who busks on the San Francisco Bay waterfront. One night, he meets Flowers, and teaches her to dance, but finds that "Blackjack", the leader of a ruthless gang, is also in love with her.
Director: Bert Glennon | Stars: Olive Borden, Jack Pickford, Eddie Gribbon, Walter Long
Votes: 24
5. The Doorway to Hell (1930)
Passed | 78 min | Crime, Drama
Despite his efforts to go straight, a young gangster keeps falling back into crime.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Lew Ayres, James Cagney, Dorothy Mathews, Leon Janney
Votes: 1,322
6. Sinners' Holiday (1930)
Passed | 60 min | Adventure, Crime, Romance
Ma Delano (Lucille LaVerne) runs a boardwalk penny arcade and lives upstairs with her sons Harry and Joe (James Cagney and Ray Gallagher) and daughter Jennie (Evalyn Knapp); their story ... See full summary »
Director: John G. Adolfi | Stars: Grant Withers, Evalyn Knapp, James Cagney, Joan Blondell
Votes: 702
7. Up the River (1930)
Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
When paroled trustee Steve and former inmate Judy who try to put their criminal lives behind them are blackmailed, two career criminals come to their rescue.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Claire Luce, Warren Hymer, Humphrey Bogart
Votes: 1,376
8. City Streets (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Man joins a gang to free his girlfriend from prison.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney, Paul Lukas, William 'Stage' Boyd
Votes: 1,872
9. The Criminal Code (1930)
Passed | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After a failed attempt at running for governor, D.A. Mark Brady is appointed warden of the state prison where many of the criminals he prosecuted are incarcerated.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings, Boris Karloff
Votes: 1,376
10. Graft (1931)
54 min | Crime, Thriller
Cub reporter Dusty investigates the murder of the District Attorney and stumbles into a plot involving a kidnapping and a crooked election.
Director: Christy Cabanne | Stars: Regis Toomey, Sue Carol, Dorothy Revier, Boris Karloff
Votes: 110
11. Little Caesar (1931)
Not Rated | 79 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr.
Votes: 14,518
12. The Public Enemy (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama
An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell
Votes: 23,011 | Gross: $1.01M
13. The Secret 6 (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama
After rising bootlegger Slaughterhouse Scorpio eliminates his gangland competition, two reporters and a cabal of six businessmen work to expose him.
Director: George W. Hill | Stars: Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown, Jean Harlow
Votes: 1,049
14. Smart Money (1931)
Passed | 81 min | Crime, Drama
A Greek barber has uncommon skills in playing poker and soon rises in the seedy world of illegal gambling, but pretty blondes remain his Achilles' heel.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Evalyn Knapp, Ralf Harolde
Votes: 2,234
15. 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
Passed | 78 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Brash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Arthur Byron, Lyle Talbot
Votes: 2,958
16. The Beast of the City (1932)
Passed | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Police Chief Jim Fitzpatrick ruthlessly goes after organized crime and is prepared to use brutal and violent methods to fight it.
Director: Charles Brabin | Stars: Walter Huston, Jean Harlow, Wallace Ford, Jean Hersholt
Votes: 1,420 | Gross: $0.89M
17. Night After Night (1932)
Passed | 73 min | Comedy, Drama
A successful ex-boxer opens a high-class speakeasy in what once was the childhood home of a formerly rich society girl.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: George Raft, Constance Cummings, Wynne Gibson, Mae West
Votes: 1,064
18. Scarface (1932)
PG | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.
Directors: Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson | Stars: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins
Votes: 30,288
19. Lady Killer (1933)
Passed | 76 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
A former gangster makes it big in Hollywood, but his old life catches up with him.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay, Leslie Fenton
Votes: 1,883
20. The Little Giant (1933)
Passed | 76 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
When Prohibition ends, a beer baron sees the writing on the wall, quits the rackets, and tries to break into California society.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Mary Astor, Helen Vinson, Russell Hopton
Votes: 1,441
21. Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
Passed | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.
Directors: W.S. Van Dyke, Jack Conway, George Cukor | Stars: Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Leo Carrillo
Votes: 4,804
22. 'G' Men (1935)
Approved | 85 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
James Cagney helped jump-start the gangster genre as The Public Enemy. Outcries against movies that glorified underworld criminals put Cagney on the side of the law in 'G' Men.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Ann Dvorak, Robert Armstrong
Votes: 4,357
23. The Whole Town's Talking (1935)
Approved | 93 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A meek milquetoast clerk is mistaken for public enemy N° 1, and the notorious killer takes advantage of the situation.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, Arthur Hohl, James Donlan
Votes: 3,204
24. Bullets or Ballots (1936)
Passed | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When a crusader against rackets is murdered, a grand jury battles the rackets by promoting McLaren to be in charge of the cleanup. He fires NYPD Detective Blake, who punches him and joins the racket.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton MacLane, Humphrey Bogart
Votes: 3,494
25. The Petrified Forest (1936)
Passed | 82 min | Drama, Thriller
A waitress, a hobo and a bank robber get mixed up at a lonely diner in the desert.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin
Votes: 14,922
26. Dead End (1937)
Approved | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The lives of a young man, a young woman, an notorious gangster, and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart, Wendy Barrie
Votes: 8,581
27. Dick Tracy (1937)
Approved | 70 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A master criminal called The Spider puts the famous detective's brother under a hypnotic spell and turns him against Dick.
Directors: Alan James, Ray Taylor | Stars: Ralph Byrd, Kay Hughes, Smiley Burnette, Lee Van Atta
Votes: 652
28. The Last Gangster (1937)
Passed | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A gangster is jailed for ten years after his wife becomes pregnant. He becomes bitter when she divorces him and remarries.
Director: Edward Ludwig | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, James Stewart, Rose Stradner, Lionel Stander
Votes: 1,746
29. Marked Woman (1937)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller
A crusading district attorney persuades a clip joint hostess to testify against her mobster boss after her innocent sister is accidentally murdered during one of his unsavory parties.
Directors: Lloyd Bacon, Michael Curtiz | Stars: Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell
Votes: 4,828
30. Pépé le Moko (1937)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A wanted gangster is both king and prisoner of the Casbah. He is protected from arrest by his friends, but is torn by his desire for freedom outside. A visiting Parisian beauty may just tempt his fate.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Jean Gabin, Gabriel Gabrio, Saturnin Fabre, Fernand Charpin
Votes: 8,069 | Gross: $0.15M
31. San Quentin (1937)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An army trainer becomes captain of the prison yard and in time, falls for the sister of a hardened inmate.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart, Barton MacLane
Votes: 2,236
32. That I May Live (1937)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Crooks use a man's safe-cracking skills then involve him in more crime after he spends three years in jail. He falls in love with a waitress and they go to work for a traveling salesman.
Director: Allan Dwan | Stars: Rochelle Hudson, Robert Kent, J. Edward Bromberg, Jack La Rue
Votes: 26
33. Underworld (1937)
95 min | Crime, Drama
A young college student falls under the influence of a murderous gambler.
Director: Oscar Micheaux | Stars: Bee Freeman, Sol Johnson, 'Slick' Chester, Ethel Moses
Votes: 47
34. The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)
Approved | 87 min | Crime, Drama
A brilliant Park Avenue doctor becomes a criminal in order to do research into the criminal mind.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Claire Trevor, Allen Jenkins
Votes: 2,982
35. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Passed | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan
Votes: 23,191
36. Crime School (1938)
Passed | 85 min | Crime, Drama
A gang of underprivileged teenagers are sentenced to serve two years in a reform school after almost killing a criminal fence who attacked them.
Directors: Lewis Seiler, William Clemens | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, The Dead End Kids, Gale Page, Billy Halop
Votes: 1,400
37. Dick Tracy Returns (1938)
Approved | 260 min | Drama
Dick Tracy battles spies and saboteurs in his efforts to bring to justice the Stark gang, a criminal family led by the vicious Pa Stark.
Directors: John English, William Witney | Stars: Ralph Byrd, Lynne Roberts, Charles Middleton, Jerry Tucker
Votes: 440
38. Gang Bullets (1938)
Approved | 63 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A ruthless but clever gangster who knows every loophole in the law has the tables turned by a dedicated District Attorney and his assistant.
Director: Lambert Hillyer | Stars: Anne Nagel, Robert Kent, Charles Trowbridge, Morgan Wallace
Votes: 214
39. I Am the Law (1938)
Approved | 83 min | Crime, Drama
Law professor John Lindsay is asked by a civic leader to become a special prosecutor to go after the racketeers in town.
Director: Alexander Hall | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Barbara O'Neil, John Beal, Wendy Barrie
Votes: 498
40. Racket Busters (1938)
Passed | 71 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
Manhattan gangster John "Czar" Martin enters the trucking business in an effort to control the produce market. When he catches popular trucker Danny Jordan robbing the gang's office to ... See full summary »
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, George Brent, Gloria Dickson, Allen Jenkins
Votes: 807
41. A Slight Case of Murder (1938)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Crime
Former bootlegger Remy Marco has a slight problem with forclosing bankers, a prospective son-in-law, and four hard-to-explain corpses.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Jane Bryan, Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly
Votes: 2,568
42. Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)
Approved | 86 min | Drama, Romance
A young man just released from a reformatory moves to a new neighborhood with his sister, intending to start a new life, but he gets mixed up with the local mob boss and corrupt politicians... See full summary »
Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Ann Sheridan, Billy Halop, Bernard Punsly, Leo Gorcey
Votes: 571
43. Dick Tracy's G-Men (1939)
Passed | 302 min | Mystery
A mad doctor named Zanoff uses a drug to bring himself back from the dead after his execution in prison. Dick Tracy sets out to capture Zanoff before he can put his criminal gang back together again.
Directors: John English, William Witney | Stars: Ralph Byrd, Irving Pichel, Ted Pearson, Jennifer Jones
Votes: 363
44. Each Dawn I Die (1939)
Approved | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A corrupt D.A. (Thurston Hall) with political ambitions is angered by news stories implicating him in criminal activity and decides to frame the reporter (James Cagney) for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: James Cagney, George Raft, Jane Bryan, George Bancroft
Votes: 3,731
45. Invisible Stripes (1939)
Passed | 81 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ex-con who wants to go straight has difficulties trying to reintegrate into society while on parole.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: George Raft, Jane Bryan, William Holden, Humphrey Bogart
Votes: 1,921 | Gross: $0.11M
46. King of Chinatown (1939)
Passed | 57 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Violence and death stalk the Chinese of a big American city, but one man, Dr. Chang Ling, and his daughter, Dr. Mary Ling, defy the racketeers who are responsible, and, against terrific odds, bring peace to their oppressed neighbors.
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Anna May Wong, Akim Tamiroff, J. Carrol Naish, Sidney Toler
Votes: 272
47. King of the Underworld (1939)
Passed | 67 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After the killing of her husband by friendly fire during a police raid, Dr. Carole Nelson tries to find gangster Joe Gurney to clear her name with the medical board.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Kay Francis, James Stephenson, John Eldredge
Votes: 1,596
48. The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Passed | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Priscilla Lane, Gladys George
Votes: 15,499
49. You Can't Get Away with Murder (1939)
Approved | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Youthful tough Johnnie Stone has fallen under the influence of petty crook Frank Wilson, who involves him and robbery and murder using his sister's boyfriend's stolen gun.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Billy Halop, John Litel
Votes: 1,286
50. Brother Orchid (1940)
Passed | 88 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
When retired racket boss John Sarto tries to reclaim his place and former friends try to kill him, he finds solace in a monastery and reinvents himself as a pious monk.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sothern, Donald Crisp
Votes: 3,169
51. Castle on the Hudson (1940)
Approved | 77 min | Crime, Drama
An arrogant mobster, sentenced to a long prison term in Sing Sing, becomes a changed man when given a chance by the fair and progressive warden.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: John Garfield, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Burgess Meredith
Votes: 857
52. Forgotten Girls (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Drama
A young woman is sentenced to prison for a murder she didn't commit. Her stepmother's gangster friends break her out, but it turns out that her problems are only beginning.
Director: Phil Rosen | Stars: Louise Platt, Donald Woods, Wynne Gibson, Robert Armstrong
Votes: 43
53. Gang War (1940)
Approved | 63 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Two mobs fight for control of the jukebox racket.
Director: Leo C. Popkin | Stars: Ralph Cooper, Gladys Snyder, Reginald Fenderson, Laurence Criner
Votes: 140
54. Gangs of Chicago (1940)
66 min | Crime, Drama
A criminal uses his knowledge of the law for his not-very-legal purposes, betraying friends along the way.
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Lloyd Nolan, Barton MacLane, Lola Lane, Ray Middleton
Votes: 100
55. The House Across the Bay (1940)
Approved | 88 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
An aircraft designer falls for the wife of an imprisoned gangster. All goes well until the gangster gets out of prison...
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: George Raft, Joan Bennett, Lloyd Nolan, Walter Pidgeon
Votes: 661
56. It All Came True (1940)
Approved | 97 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
After crooked nightclub owner Chips Maguire murders a police informant, he blackmails his piano player to allow him to stay at his eccentric mother's boarding house.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart, Jeffrey Lynn, Zasu Pitts
Votes: 1,467
57. Johnny Apollo (1940)
Approved | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The son of a jailed Wall Street broker turns to crime to pay for his father's release.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Tyrone Power, Dorothy Lamour, Edward Arnold, Lloyd Nolan
Votes: 1,500
58. Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941)
Passed | 263 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Dick Tracy goes up against a villain known as The Ghost, who can turn himself invisible.
Directors: John English, William Witney | Stars: Ralph Byrd, Michael Owen, Jan Wiley, John Davidson
Votes: 324
59. High Sierra (1940)
Passed | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After being released from prison, notorious thief Roy Earle is hired by his old boss to help a group of inexperienced criminals plan and carry out the robbery of a California resort.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis, Arthur Kennedy
Votes: 19,223
60. Johnny Eager (1941)
Passed | 107 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
The step-daughter of a district attorney falls in love with a gangster on parole who her father originally imprisoned.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, Edward Arnold, Van Heflin
Votes: 3,419
61. Lady Scarface (1941)
Approved | 66 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Lieutenant Bill Mason (Dennis O'Keefe) pursues a Chicago gang to New York City, unaware that its scar-cheeked leader, Slade (Dame Judith Anderson), is a woman.
Director: Frank Woodruff | Stars: Dennis O'Keefe, Judith Anderson, Frances E. Neal, Mildred Coles
Votes: 309
62. Paper Bullets (1941)
Approved | 72 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Circumstances force naive Dorothy Adams into serving an unjust prison term, but she emerges from it a cynical criminal who rises to power in the local crime organization.
Director: Phil Rosen | Stars: Joan Woodbury, Jack La Rue, Linda Ware, John Archer
Votes: 355
63. Public Enemies (1941)
Passed | 68 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Bill Raymond, a hotshot newspaper reporter will all the trappings, is following a story about and looking for the leaders of an alien smuggling gang. Along the way he gets the aid of a ... See full summary »
Director: Albert S. Rogell | Stars: Wendy Barrie, Phillip Terry, Edgar Kennedy, William Frawley
Votes: 32
64. Tall, Dark and Handsome (1941)
Approved | 78 min | Comedy, Crime
Robin Hoodish gangster in 1929 Chicago is an object of affection, kind to New York hood and bad to a bad crook.
Director: H. Bruce Humberstone | Stars: Cesar Romero, Virginia Gilmore, Milton Berle, Charlotte Greenwood
Votes: 266
65. Eyes of the Underworld (1942)
Approved | 61 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Blackmail and murder in a tale of an auto-theft ring.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Richard Dix, Wendy Barrie, Lon Chaney Jr., Lloyd Corrigan
Votes: 136
66. Gang Busters (1942)
Approved | 251 min | Drama
Detective lieutenant Bill Bannister is assigned to run down an unknown gang of terrorists who have spread a net of crime over the city.
Directors: Noel M. Smith, Ray Taylor | Stars: Kent Taylor, Irene Hervey, Ralph Morgan, Robert Armstrong
Votes: 130
67. A Gentleman at Heart (1942)
Passed | 70 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
A bookie (Cesar Romero) takes over a bankrupt art gallery and falls in love with a beautiful blonde (Carole Landis)
Director: Ray McCarey | Stars: Cesar Romero, Carole Landis, Milton Berle, J. Carrol Naish
Votes: 148
68. Larceny, Inc (1942)
Passed | 95 min | Comedy
Three ex-cons buy a luggage shop to tunnel into the bank vault next door. But despite all they can do, the shop prospers...
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford, Jack Carson
Votes: 3,144
69. Dick Tracy (1945)
Passed | 61 min | Action, Crime, Family
Police detective Dick Tracy must identify and apprehend a serial killer known as Splitface.
Director: William Berke | Stars: Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Mike Mazurki, Jane Greer
Votes: 1,634
70. Dillinger (1945)
Passed | 70 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
John Dillinger begins his life of crime as a petty thief, meets his future gang in prison and eventually masterminds a series of daring robberies.
Director: Max Nosseck | Stars: Lawrence Tierney, Edmund Lowe, Anne Jeffreys, Eduardo Ciannelli
Votes: 2,140 | Gross: $4.00M
71. Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946)
Approved | 62 min | Action, Crime, Family
Expensive diamonds are stolen but before the thief can fence them he is strangled by ex-con Cueball, who then takes the gems and continues murdering people he believes are trying to swindle him.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Lyle Latell, Paula Corday
Votes: 1,436
72. The Killers (1946)
Passed | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Hit men kill an unresisting victim, and investigator Reardon uncovers his past involvement with beautiful, deadly Kitty Collins.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Albert Dekker
Votes: 23,619
73. Brighton Rock (1948)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
In Brighton in 1935, small-time gang leader Pinkie Brown murders a journalist and later desperately tries to cover his tracks but runs into trouble with the police, a few witnesses, and a rival gang.
Director: John Boulting | Stars: Richard Attenborough, Hermione Baddeley, William Hartnell, Harcourt Williams
Votes: 6,818 | Gross: $0.22M
74. Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)
Approved | 65 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Dick Tracy goes up against a villain who robs banks using a nerve gas.
Director: John Rawlins | Stars: Boris Karloff, Ralph Byrd, Anne Gwynne, Edward Ashley
Votes: 1,920
75. Dick Tracy's Dilemma (1947)
Approved | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Dick Tracy investigates the theft of a fortune of fur coats, a possible insurance swindle and several murders, all linked to a huge thug who wears a hook in place of his right hand.
Director: John Rawlins | Stars: Ralph Byrd, Lyle Latell, Kay Christopher, Jack Lambert
Votes: 1,091
76. Road to the Big House (1947)
Approved | 74 min | Crime, Drama
In 1929, middle-class bank clerk Eddie Clark, unhappy with his lot in life and jealous of prosperous George Bates, an ex-suitor of his loyal wife Agnes, steals $200,000 from his bank, with ... See full summary »
Director: Walter Colmes | Stars: John Shelton, Ann Doran, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, Richard Bailey
Votes: 34
77. Raw Deal (1948)
Approved | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe) has taken the rap for Rick (Raymond Burr), who double-crosses him with a flawed escape plan and other means intended to get rid of him.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt, John Ireland
Votes: 5,605
78. I Walk Alone (1947)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Frankie Madison leaves prison expecting a share from his ex-partner. But Prohibition bootlegging didn't prepare Frankie for Big Business.
Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey
Votes: 3,286
79. Key Largo (1948)
Approved | 100 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A man visits his war buddy's family hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore
Votes: 43,954
80. Sorrowful Jones (1949)
Not Rated | 88 min | Comedy, Drama
A young girl is left with the notoriously cheap Sorrowful Jones as a marker for a bet. Her father disappears and he learns that taking care of her cramps his free-wheeling life. Sorrowful must evade gangsters and do some horse-thieving.
Director: Sidney Lanfield | Stars: Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, William Demarest, Bruce Cabot
Votes: 856
81. White Heat (1949)
Not Rated | 114 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly
Votes: 35,718
82. Gun Crazy (1950)
Passed | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Two disturbed young people release their fascination with guns through a crime spree.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis | Stars: John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky
Votes: 14,823
Two people don't constitute a gang... but I love this movie.
83. Love That Brute (1950)
Approved | 86 min | Comedy, Crime, Film-Noir
A Chicago mobster falls in love with a principled young governess, but he must keep up the appearances of being an honest businessman and a dedicated single dad if he hopes to woo her.
Director: Alexander Hall | Stars: Paul Douglas, Jean Peters, Cesar Romero, Keenan Wynn
Votes: 183
84. The Lemon Drop Kid (1951)
Approved | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Music
A New York City swindler has until Christmas to come up with the $10,000 he owes a gangster, prompting him to go into scamming overdrive.
Directors: Sidney Lanfield, Frank Tashlin | Stars: Bob Hope, Marilyn Maxwell, Lloyd Nolan, Jane Darwell
Votes: 2,257
Damon Runyon story, set in the early fifties.
85. Gang Busters (1952– )
30 min | Crime, Drama
True crime stories and their investigations are dramatized.
Stars: Robert Bice, Mike Ragan, Myron Healey, Don C. Harvey
Votes: 87
86. Loan Shark (1952)
Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
At the request of factory owners and union leaders, a tough ex-con infiltrates a gang of loan sharks who are preying on financially desperate factory workers.
Director: Seymour Friedman | Stars: George Raft, Dorothy Hart, Paul Stewart, John Hoyt
Votes: 769
Set in early fifties.
87. Guys and Dolls (1955)
Not Rated | 150 min | Comedy, Crime, Musical
In New York, a gambler is challenged to take a cold female missionary to Havana, but they fall for each other, and the bet has a hidden motive to finance a crap game.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine
Votes: 19,347 | Gross: $13.00M
88. Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
Passed | 122 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom.
Director: Charles Vidor | Stars: Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Keith
Votes: 4,736
89. Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Music
In 1927, a Kansas City, Missouri cornet player and his band perform nightly at a seedy speakeasy until a racketeer tries to extort them in exchange for protection.
Director: Jack Webb | Stars: Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien, Peggy Lee
Votes: 1,502
90. Baby Face Nelson (1957)
Approved | 85 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
George "Babyface" Nelson became one of the most important gangsters of 1930's Chicago by making brutal robberies. In order to compete with Al Capone, he allied himself with John Dillinger.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Carolyn Jones, Cedric Hardwicke, Leo Gordon
Votes: 780
91. Guns Don't Argue (1957)
Approved | 92 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A composite of three re-edited episodes from the 1952 TV series, Gangbusters, released to theatres in 1957 as a feature film. Gang Busters (1954) was a similar effort.
Directors: Richard C. Kahn, Bill Karn | Stars: Myron Healey, Jean Harvey, Paul Dubov, Sam Edwards
Votes: 124
92. The Bonnie Parker Story (1958)
Approved | 79 min | Biography, Crime, Film-Noir
In the 1930s, amoral blonde tommy-gun girl Bonnie Parker cut a swath of bodies across the South-West. Starting out on gas stations and bars with side-kick Guy Darrow she graduated to bank ... See full summary »
Director: William Witney | Stars: Dorothy Provine, Jack Hogan, Richard Bakalyan, Joe Turkel
Votes: 469
93. Machine-Gun Kelly (1958)
Unrated | 80 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The criminal exploits of Public Enemy number 1, George 'Machine-Gun' Kelly, during the 1930s.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: Charles Bronson, Susan Cabot, Morey Amsterdam, Richard Devon
Votes: 1,979
94.
Playhouse 90 (1956–1961)
Episode:
Seven Against the Wall
(1958)
90 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
The story of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Joe Abdullah, Tige Andrews, Phil Arnold, Walter Barnes
95. Al Capone (1959)
Approved | 104 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A chronicle of the rise and fall of Chicago crime boss Al Capone during the Prohibition era.
Director: Richard Wilson | Stars: Rod Steiger, Martin Balsam, Fay Spain, James Gregory
Votes: 1,906
96. The FBI Story (1959)
Approved | 149 min | Crime, Drama, History
A dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: James Stewart, Vera Miles, Murray Hamilton, Larry Pennell
Votes: 3,877
97. The Lawless Years (1959–1961)
30 min | Crime, Drama
Barney Ruditsky is a New York City police officer in the Roaring '20s who fights organized crime. The show was loosely based on the real life Rudisky who was a New York police officer during the period.
Stars: James Gregory, Robert Karnes, John Dennis, Norman Alden
Votes: 110
98. The Purple Gang (1959)
Not Rated | 85 min | Crime, Drama
The story of the infamous Purple Gang, a ring of bootleggers, hijackers and killers in 1920s' Detroit.
Director: Frank McDonald | Stars: Barry Sullivan, Robert Blake, Elaine Edwards, Marc Cavell
Votes: 336
99. The Scarface Mob (1959 TV Movie)
102 min | Drama, Crime
Story of how a group of incorruptible federal lawmen helped put 1920s' Chicago gangster Al Capone in prison.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Robert Stack, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Nichols, Pat Crowley
Votes: 283
100. Some Like It Hot (1959)
Passed | 121 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft
Votes: 283,383 | Gross: $25.00M
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