Is 'Casino' the best gangster film ever made

Teetonetal

earwighoney said:

A lot of these films are 'mob' films opposed to films dealing with 'organised crime', and the 'mob film' is a largely an Italian American construct.

I've seen most of the films mentioned being the Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas etc, but I prefer some other films out there.

Along the lines of 'Goodfellas' which is aspirational, I prefer 'Animal Kingdom' which is based in fatalism instead.

Even if it's not a 'mob' film but a film concerning organised crime, I think 'The Third Man' is in it's own class.

For modern French films, I'm not a fan of the Mesrine films, I prefer 'A Prophet' & 'The Beat My Heart Skipped'.

The Brazilian film 'City of God' is superb as well.

+1 on the city of God. Amazing film.

sofasteve

A fouvourite of mine is The Untouchables, big cast, got a few Oscar nominations and had a great soundtrack by Morricone.

mudslide73

Stuckfast said:

Can I put in a word for Get Carter?

Now go and get yourself some karate lessons!

musteatbrain

city of god and layer cake are two mentioned here that I really enjoyed.

also like Mean Streets

Ted

guitars4you said:

proggy said:

It's a great film, but The Godfather has to be the best.
The first one that is. The second one wasn't bad and the third one was utter shite.

I like all 3 but agree 1/2 are better  - The idea that the Catholic Church is more corrupt and less honourable than the Mafia is interesting - My gran was about as devout a Catholic as they come - I mentioned this to her one day and expected a ear bashing - She instantly agreed about all the shenanigans - In many ways the church used to perform the functions now carried out by the welfare state so it is perhaps not totally fair to compare them with the Mafia - but given the lack of transparency obviously  possible corrupt tendencies

Johnnyseven

ICBM said:

Once Upon A Time In America

^^^^^ this

Schnozz

Carlito's Way

Legionreturns

Schnozz said:

Carlito's Way

Good shout

guitars4you

Legionreturns said:

Godfather 1 and 2 are correctly lauded as the genre defining gangster films. 

More recently, I would actually say American Gangster with Denzel Washington is an excellent example. 

good shout for American Gangster

Fuengi

I'm a huge fan of Once Upon A Time In America, it is an epic movie in every sense.

Slight change of tack though, I think David Cronenburgs pair of gangster themed films - one Philadelphia, one London based Russians - both with the brilliant Viggo Mortensen in the lead are worthy of mention. 

 I saw both Eastern Promises and A History of Violence at the cinema, both were visceral, challenging and consuming, and I'd put them right up there with any of the gangster films mentioned above. 

"Hey Joey".

earwighoney

Fuengi said:

I'm a huge fan of Once Upon A Time In America, it is an epic movie in every sense.

Slight change of tack though, I think David Cronenburgs pair of gangster themed films - one Philadelphia, one London based Russians - both with the brilliant Viggo Mortensen in the lead are worthy of mention. 

 I saw both Eastern Promises and A History of Violence at the cinema, both were visceral, challenging and consuming, and I'd put them right up there with any of the gangster films mentioned above. 

"Hey Joey".

The Cronenberg films are really good, I forgot about those.

The most shocking film about organised crime I have seen is a documentary called 'Cartel Land'

Mexican organised crime really upped the stakes for violence, eg shitloads of decapitations and so on.

tony99

Fuengi said:

Slight change of tack though, I think David Cronenburgs pair of gangster themed films - one Philadelphia, one London based Russians - both with the brilliant Viggo Mortensen in the lead are worthy of mention. 

See someone above has mentioned Carlito's Way, remember Viggo Mortensen in that?

captainbeeffart

Nah the best was Narcos and the medellin cartel.

Blueingreen

Personally I don’t rate Goodfellas all that highly. I think it’s a good movie and there are some brilliant set pieces in it, but for me it’s not on the same level as the first two Godfather films or The Sopranos.

tony99

I love The Sopranos and it's certainly some of the best TV ever written IMHO, but come on guys, it's not a gangster film

plus The Sopranos wouldn't exist without Goodfellas

Jalapeno

No love for The Long Good Friday ?

vasselmeyer

I think it depends on what you mean by "Gangster" rather than "crime movies involving gangsters". To me, a Gangster movie is a character study of those involved in organised crime as well as needing a plot. If we're just talking films (which excludes The Sopranos), as well as the usual Godfather trilogy, Casino, Goodfellas etc, then the following are definitely worth looking at:

Once Upon a Time in America

Gangs of New York

The Departed

Donnie Brasco

American Gangster

Miller's Crossing

Eastern Promises

sofasteve

Clockers starring Harvey Keitel and directed by Spike Lee is well worth a watch. Some great acting performances and a quality storyline.

ICBM

Fuengi said:

I'm a huge fan of Once Upon A Time In America, it is an epic movie in every sense.

I think it's probably Sergio Leone's greatest film, and that's saying something when he also made Once Upon A Time In The West.

Dopesick

Another one for The Sopranos over here. Yes it’s not a film so obviously it doesn’t really count, but it struck a cord with me more than any other movie could.

For movies, nothing beats Goodfellas for me.