Wednesday, July 29, 2015

My Top Ten Gangster Films of All Time!



My top ten Gangster Movies of all Time! Hey this is an idiosyncratic list because I am an idiot. Heavily weighted to old time movies. But hey I like what I like. 

10. “White Heat.” Jimmy Cagney as the mad Cody Jarrett. The scene on the gas tanks is the spectacular ending of all time. It the consummate depiction of a sociopath. Remember the scene in the prison chow line?  “TOP OF THE WORLD MMMMMAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!.

9. “Scarface” the remake starring Al Pacino. A very good update of the original with Al Pacino as the typical immigrant that Donald Trump was talking about. His most famous line is often echoed by Lem when he is about to have sex.

8. “Angels with Dirty Faces.” I know but I am a sucker for old timey movies with Cagney and Bogart. Plus the Dead End kids. Pat O’Brien as the priest who grew up with the criminal. The priest walking the criminal to the chair while he screams for mercy so the kids won’t go the wrong way. Bogart playing a slimy lawyer (is there any other kind) who gets whacked. A classic in my book.

7. “The Long Good Friday.” A British import starring the great Bob Hoskins as an English gang leader losing his grip. Another gang is moving in on his turf and he doesn’t know why. The meat hook scene is one of the most memorable interrogations you are going to see and has been copied over and over again. Best part of his life as an English gang lord?  A young hot delectable Helen Mirren is his girlfriend. Nice.

6. "Capone" (1975). Ben Gazzara chews the scenery as Big Al. Stallone as Frank Niti. John Cassevettes, Harry Gaurdino, Frank Campanella and every other guinea actor they could find in Hollywood in the 1970’s. I think it is the definitive depiction of Al Capone by a very talented actor. The final scene with Al fishing in a swimming pool is right on the money.

5. “The Harder They Fall” an old timey boxing movie with Humphrey Bogart. It is basically the story of the Mob running the fight game with Frankie Carbo the underboss in charge of boxing. It is the story of Primo Carnera who was heavyweight champ for a minute in the 1930’s. Bogie's portrayal of the cynical jaded journalist who works as a press agent for the mob is a great example of how people sell out their soul for dough. Until they don’t.

4. “Godfather I” is the movie most people put as number one. I think it is somewhat flawed and ponderous in spots. Puzo took famous incidents in Mob history and dumbed them down. But it still holds together and had more influence on the actual behavior of Mob wannabees than is generally acknowledged. I think it is very stylized and a little ponderous in spots. It falls in my estimation because Two is so much better.

3. “Donnie Brasco” is a slice of life of the Mob in the 1970’s. It really caught the day to day life of the wise guy knuckleheads as they lived their lives. I knew a couple of the actual people portrayed in the movie. Well I was introduced to them when I was bouncing around back in the day by some of the knuckleheads I grew up with who were in the life. This is the real deal and you get to see how on the edge these guys were looking over their shoulder and coming to a bad end. Everyone I knew is dead or in jail for twenty years.

2. “Goodfella’s” is another movie that hits the nail on the head. The oft told tale of the life of the low level mobsters is a cautionary tale. Or at least it should have been. Almost everyone in the Lufthansa heist got whacked. Or went to the can. They never got to enjoy the money. The guys who stayed small survived. The ones who shot the moon never lasted. Scorsese should have quit after this movie. After this he is just repeating himself.


1. “Godfather II” is without question the best gangster movie ever made. Far superior to One. The scenes with young Vito are gold. The juxtaposition of young Vito and Michael as he tries to go straight is great stuff. Don Fanucci at the feast. Hyman Roth. Johnny Ola. Fredo in Cuba. Fredo in the boat. “Can of peas. I don’t want a can of peas. Where’s the sausage? Where’s the meatballs?” Frankie Five Angels! It don’t get no better than this! I watch it every time it is on and repeat the dialogue as it unfolds. Simply the best gangster movie ever made!

24 comments:

Amartel said...

"Hey, what's with the food around here? A kid comes up to me in a white jacket, gives me a Ritz cracker, and uh, chopped liver, he says, 'Canapes'. I said, uh, 'can of peas, my ass, that's a Ritz cracker and chopped liver!'
-Frank Pentangeli

Trooper York said...

I run through that routine at every wedding I ever go to.

Until my wife throws a shrimp puff at me and I shut up.

Trooper York said...

"I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!"

Trooper York said...

"If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone."

Trooper York said...

"It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says... like dumb... I'm smart and I want respect!"

Trooper York said...

"IN MY HOME! IN MY BEDROOM! Where my wife sleeps... and my children play with their toys."

Trooper York said...

"I don't trust a doctor who can hardly speak English."

Amartel said...

I don't understand people who think the first one was better. It does have better quotes (leave the gun, take the cannoli) and Tessio gets whacked for his betrayal.
The third one was just a curiosity. I wanted to see how it all ended. (Not well, and Al was gearing up to go full Hoo-ah Overactor in "Scent of Woman.")

ricpic said...

Humphrey Bogart looks ghastly in The Harder They Fall. I think he was gone within a year. Interesting stock footage of the way New York looked in the late forties. Steiger has all the demonic energy in that film but Bogart is little more than a ghost.

ricpic said...

The first Godfather was a larger film. A bigger canvas. Crime but also family, the Brando-Pacino dynamic. And the crazy energy of James Caan. What about when Moe Green gets it in the eye? Ya can't top that! Or was that Godfather 2?

AllenS said...

Dialog? How about the horse head in the bed?

Amartel said...

II was a pretty big canvas what with all the switching back and forth between the two time periods.

rcocean said...

I love II and lot better then I. Lots more Michael Gazzo - and no James Caan. Did you know the Studio Suits wanted Caan instead of Pacino?

Michael kills Fredo, I often wonder if it was justified. Sure he was involved in the Hit but he WAS pretty stupid.

Some others I like:

-Goodfellas
-Key Largo
-St. Valentines Day Massacre

Amartel said...

Fredo knew enough to do a lot of damage. Not smart enough to know he had to go.

Amartel said...

Fredo = Dunning-Kruger effect.
The wrong family to have that in.
Poor guy.

Third Coast said...

Donnie Brasco the book is highly recommended. The movie wasn't too bad either. Whatever the FBI was paying Pistone to work undercover with that crew, it wasn't nearly enough. Troop, out of curiosity, can you say who the wise guys were that you were introduced to? I'm glancing through the book as I type.

Trooper York said...

Sonny Red.

ampersand said...

"The St Valentine's Day Massacre" is supposed to be close to the real facts. It's too bad it wasn't better written and directed.

Frank Nitti is an interesting case. Although put up as head of the mob he was just a frontman for Paul Ricca and Tony Accardo.
You can tell his place in the world just by comparing his modest home to the mansions Ricca and Accardo lived in.

He would have made an interesting Hollywood movie except for the fact that while he was shaking down Hollywood ,by controlling IATSE, Hollywood was making out like bandits by relatively small payouts to the mob instead of higher wages to the workers. You ain't gonna see any anti-corporate movies where the corporation is the Movie industry.
Nitti would have been a great part for DeNiro , they somewhat share a resemblance.

When the shakedown scheme was exposed, the big boys told Nitti he would have to take the rap, Nitti , a claustrophobic, shot himself in the head a few days later rather than go to jail again.

Methadras said...

What? No. Godfather 2, Godfather 1, Goodfellas, Donny Brasco, Casino. In that order.

Third Coast said...

Probably not the type of gangster film Troop would consider, but one of my all time favorites is the film noir classic, Asphalt Jungle, directed by John Huston. Maybe Troop would have included it if he knew a young Marilyn Monroe played the sex object. Sterling Hayden, an actual bad ass in real life (read his bio) was one of the stars.

William said...

Donny Brasco was a good movie, but the gangsters were so down market, the movie didn't have the kick of the best gangster movies......Giuliani said that Goodfellas was the most accurate representation of mob life he ever saw on the screen. Godfather was a great movie. So was Gone With The Wind. Both films glossed over what lied beneath......In an extremely peripheral way, I knew some gangsters back in the seventies. They were nowhere near as courtly and intelligent as seen in the Godfather films. They wore black leather coats, pork pie hats, and were nearly all overweight. They projected an air of menace which they used as a negotiating tactic. They were uncomfortable to be around. There was a lot of physical abuse in their homes, and their kids were fairly screwed up.

ndspinelli said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rcocean said...

"The St Valentine's Day Massacre" is just a fun movie. You got the narration, you got good supporting roles and above you got Jason Robards mugging it up for all he's worth as the most Irish looking Al Capone ever.

Plus, it moves at a good clip and doesn't have a dull moment.

windbag said...

I can't believe "Johnny Dangerously" didn't get a mention. I mean, Joe Piscopo for crying out loud. Does it get any better than that?