The 25 Best Mobster Movies Ever Made

#1 The Godfather

 It was for a time the highest grossing film in history with an estimated $250-$286 million made at the box office. The Godfather still to this day is the greatest mobster movie ever made. It was based on the best selling book by Mario Puzo. The movie was directed by the legendary Francis Ford Coppola whose career of movies went from 1962 all the way to 2011. 

The big star of the film was obviously Marlon Brando, but the breakthrough star was Al Pacino. It won Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Brando as Vito Corleone won Best Actor at the Academy Awards. The Godfather also won five Golden Globe awards. 

#2 Goodfellas 

This 1990 Scorsese classic features one of the most powerful casts of stars ever assembled in any film ever. Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino and Samuel L. Jackson all starred in the film. The film tells of the life and crimes of notorious mob turncoat Henry Hill. 

While the film was only based on a true story, it played out very accurately with the real life events with the exceptions of actual names. This movie cemented Joe Pesci as an all time great, and he won Best Supporting Actor while the film was nominated for five other awards. 

#3 The Godfather II 

The sequel to the first Godfather pulled in about $55 million at the box office after its’ release in 1974. Francis Ford Coppola was given 100% creative control this time and put the film together on a $13 million dollar budget. This was by all accounts a great movie, hurt only in hindsight when comparing it to the original. 

What was lost by not having Brando back was made up for by the presence of a young Robert DeNiro in only his 3rd role. The Godfather II dominated, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and four other Academy Awards

#4 The Untouchables 

This was a huge success, grossing $106 million at the box office on a $25 million dollar budget. The cast featured three of the absolute best actors of their era: Robert DeNiro, Sean Connery and Kevin Costner. With those stars, it’s not surprising that 50% of the people who went to see the movie in theaters were women, very unusual for a mafia film. 

The film is actually more about Elliot Ness than it is about Al Capone. It shows how his team of Untouchables was built and how they attacked the titan that was Al Capone. There were some fictional extras added, like Ness throwing Frank Nitti off a rooftop to his death. Nitti was played by expert vilain Billy Drago. 

#5 Donnie Brasco 

This 1997 blockbuster was based on the autobiography written by undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone. It turned out to be one of the highest grossing mob movies of the decade, pulling in $125 million at the box office. Al Pacino was brilliant in his role as “Lefty”. Michael Madsen, James Russo and Anne Heche as Mrs. Pistone round out the deep supporting cast. 

This was easily the best performance in a role by Johnny Depp. One of the only complaints you could make is that they strayed off course with the story with the murder of Lefty, which never happened. It was the captain Sonny Black, played by Madsen who left his wallet and jewelry at home in real life. 

#6 Casino 

This movie changed the names but pretty accurately followed the real story of the Chicago Outfit’s operation in Las Vegas. Robert DeNiro plays Sam “Ace” Rothstein, the character based on Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal. Joe Pesci plays Nicky Santoro, who was based on Tony “The Ant” Spilotro. 

The rest of the supporting cast is equally as impressive: Sharon Stone, James Woods, Don Rickles, Kevin Pollak and the legendary Frank Vincent. Pesci and DeNiro were both great as usual, but it was the performance of Stone as Ace’s wife Ginger that really stood out in Casino. She was nominated for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe for her memorable performance. 

#7 On The Waterfront 

This tremendous mob classic has flown under the radar over the years, mainly because Marlon Brando went on to the Godfather fame. On The Waterfront was released all the way back in 1954 with Brando in the lead role as Terry Malloy, It was a monster success, raking in $9.6 million on a $910,000 budget. It won Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Brando won Best Actor at the Academy Awards. 

This movie built the legend of Marlon Brando. His character is a dock worker being harassed by the local mobsters and then gets unintentionally gets caught up in the killing of another dock worker. This film is an absolute must for anyone remotely interested in mob movies. 

#8 A Bronx Tale 

This fictional tale of a young Italian boy Calogero Anello who falls under the wing of neighborhood mobster “Sonny” despite the fierce resistance of his father. Of course, Robert DeNiro plays the father, Lorenzo Anello and Joe Pesci appears in a supporting role. The film is diverse, it deals with not only the mafia but involves biker gangs and the black/white violence of the 1960s. 

Calogero was played by Lilo Brancato Jr., a young actor who looked to be on the way to superstardom before going to prison for 10 years for a robbery that ended in the death of an off duty police officer. He has gone on to get released and continue his acting career. 

#9 Black Mass 

Johnny Depp was as much into his groove as Whitey Bulger than he was as Donnie Brasco. He truly immersed himself into the role and brilliantly captured the persona of Whitey. Depp attempted to meet with Whitey but was not granted access, instead he studied all available film and audio. 

Unlike The Departed, Black Mass is a true story with near 100% accuracy to real events. This movie really hits home with Boston residents who lived through this time. It’s one of the most successful mob movies in recent history and grossed nearly $100 million at the box office.

#10 Analyze This 

Of course this is not a serious movie about the mob, but it is a hilarious satirical comedy about mob boss Paul Vitti, played by Robert DeNiro. The 1999 film is hilarious and mostly centers around the tumultuous relationship between Vitti and his psychiatrist Ben Sobel, played by Billy Crystal. 

Vitti is in the middle of a power struggle with rival mob boss Primo Sindone, played by Chazz Palminteri. This was a blockbuster in theaters, grossing nearly $177 million at the box office and spawned a sequel in 2002. DeNiro showed just how talented he was by being very funny while playing the role of a mob boss. 

#11 The Godfather III 

After a few years, fans were thirsty for the third version of The Godfather trilogy. While this one wasn’t as critically acclaimed as the first two, it was massively successful at the box office earning more than $136 million. In this movie, the story of Michael Corleone comes full circle. 

The powerful supporting cast includes Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Diane Keaton, Bridget Fonda, George Hamilton and a young Joe Montegna. The Godfather III was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. 

#12 American Gangster 

This 2007 blockbuster film created a few new faces in great gangster roles. Danzel Washington plays 1970s Harlem gangster and heroin trafficker Frank Lucas and Cuba Gooding Jr. played his rival in the heroin game, Leroy “Nicky” Barnes. Russell Crowe is detective Richie Roberts, who convicted and made a deal with Lucas to turn in crooked cops who were involved with the drug trade. 

Some of the facts were mixed up in the movie which drew criticism from Lucas and Barnes who both were alive at the time of the film’s release. Regardless, it was a mega success, drawing in over $266 million dollars at the box office, making it one of the highest grossing mobster films of all time. American Gangster is 158 minutes long and covers a ton of ground.

#13 The Departed 

This fictional tale is very loosely based on actual Boston mob events. Jack Nicholson is mob boss “Frank Costello” who plants a mole, Matt Damon, in the police department. Leonardo DiCaprio simultaneously is an undercover cop infiltrating Costello’s circle. It  was a smashing success at the box office, reeling in a massive $293 million dollars. 

The film won tons of awards including Best Picture, Martin Scorcese as Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay. Scorcese had been nominated six times previously. Mark Walhberg was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Veteran actors Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin played supporting roles, adding to the star power. 

#14 Angels With Dirty Faces 

This is the 1938 movie that made the legend of James Cagney. He was nominated for Best Actor and the film was nominated for Best Story. Cagney plays “Rocky Sullivan”, a mobster fresh out of prison eager to climb the ranks. The well traveled Pat O’Brien played Jerry Connolly, Rocky’s former partner in crime turned Catholic priest. 

The legendary Humphry Bogart plays the part of Jim Frazier, another former partner in crime turned nemesis. While Rocky is busy eliminating his enemies, it was his old friend Jerry who decided that he needed to turn him in. 

#15 Lansky 

This 1999 film starred Richard Dreyfuss as Meyer Lansky and Eric Roberts as Bugsy Siegel. Lansky fully covers the cast of characters who were dominant in this era: Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Albert Anastasia, Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis and Arnold Rothstein. It’s a reflective story that tells the tale of Meyer and Bugsy’s childhood rise from young hoodlums to becoming the most powerful Jewish mobsters in the country. 

Meyer possessed the business smarts while “Benny” was feared for his ruthlessness. After initially being rivals with Luciano, they eventually join forces and take over the New York mob. Eventually, Bennie is sent out to Las Vegas to run the Flamingo, a situation that would eventually cost him his life. 

#16 Scarface 

When it came to playing gangster roles in the 1930s and 1940s, no one was better than the legendary actor George Raft. He starred in dozens of great films but it was this one that put his name on the map. Scarface is based of course on the famous bootlegger Al Capone and the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s. 

Names and places are only slightly altered. In the years after its release, Scarface became one of  the most censored and altered movies ever. It was considered to be too glorifying of the lifestyle when it came out in 1932. Despite the resistance, it was one of the most discussed movies of the year and is considered a classic now. 

#17 The Iceman 

This was a dark and sinister thriller about the crimes of notorious mob hitman Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski. Michael Shannon gave a memorable performance as Kuklinski while Winona Ryder played his wife. The movie was a box office flop but very entertaining. 

Ray Liotta plays the part of feared mafia hitman Roy DeMeo. The Iceman stays closer to the factual story than Richard Kuklinski himself did, but still displayed the evil of him appropriately due to the skills of Shannon. The movie did flop making only $4.4 million on a $10 million dollar budget. 

#18 Murder Inc. 

This 1960 film was based on the book Murder Inc. which was written by prosecutor Burton Turkus who prosecuted the group for various murders. Peter Falk who would go on to Columbo fame stood out in his role as Abe “Kid Twist” Reles. 

For his performance, Falk was nominated as Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards and many people claim that this was the original great gangster role. Murder Inc. is a very dark movie and stayed true to actual events. Like some others sleepers, it performed poorly at the box office.  

#19 Analyze That 

While the original act was tough to follow, Analyze That didn’t miss the mark by much. DeNiro and Crystal were just as enjoyable in their roles as mob boss Paul Vitti and psychiatrist Ben Sobel but the film was criticized for recycling a very similar storyline. 

This time Vitti is fresh out of prison and contemplating his life in the mafia in the midst of a street war. A good addition to this version was Joey “Coco” Diaz, who played the meathead enforcer known as “Ducks”. It made $55 million at the box office but that was only good enough to break even with the huge budget they had. 

#20 Underworld USA 

Underworld USA is a neo-noir mobster flick starring Cliff Robertson and Delores Dorn, two of the most well known actors of the era. The film made a healthy $1 million at the box office, not bad for 1961. Robertson plays Tolly Devlin, whose father was beaten to death by a group of young thugs who later became high level mobsters. 

Tolly swears revenge against the men and goes after them years later. Dern plays his girlfriend Cuddles. Tolly resorts to criminal behavior and becoming an informant to succeed in taking out his rivals. 

#21 Once Upon A Time In America 

It is a shame that this movie flopped so miserably at the box office. It starred Robert DeNiro, but this was 1984 before The Untouchables, Goodfellas and Casino so it wasn’t carrying as much weight at the time. This movie is a story of two young hoods Deniro and James Woods as they rise through the ranks of the very powerful Jewish mafia. 

Joe Pesci, Danny Aiello, Burt Young and William Forsythe all appear in the movie making for a powerful cast. The original version of this movie is nearly 4 hours long and revered as a great movie but the 139 minute edited version received heavy criticism. 

#22 The Public Enemy 

This was another classic gem from the original Hollywood gangster James Cagney, released all the way back in 1931. Cagney plays Chicago bootlegger Tom Powers who rose to the top of the underworld. Jean Harlow, who is the most legendary sex symbol in movie history plays Tom’s girlfriend Gwen Allen. 

The film was produced on a $150,000 budget and made $557,000 at the box office, a tremendous success. This film is notorious for the controversial “grapefruit scene” and didn’t glamorize the gangster lifestyle. 

#23 State Of Grace 

This 1990 movie starring Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris and a young John Turturro is loosely based on the story of Mickey Featherstone and the Westies. The movie got tremendous reviews but was a disaster at the box office, bringing in less than $2 million. It didn’t help that it came out right around the same time as other mob hits like Goodfellas. 

All of the names are changed which takes away from the overall experience, and if anything, the theme of the movie was toned down from the real story. Penn was decent as Terry Noonan the undercover cop. Gary Oldman like usual was excellent and stood out, nailing the gangster role.  

#24 The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre 

This very good but forgotten 1967 film is based on the Chicago mob war of the 1920s and the killing of 7 Capone rivals in one incident in 1929. It’s essentially as close to a true story as you could get as far as the Capone war with George “Bugs” Moran. The cast was solid with noted actor Jason Robards playing Al Capone. 

Several talented young actors like Alex Rocco, Bruce Dern and Jack Nicholson played supporting roles. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was narrated by the legendary “man of a thousand voices” voice actor Paul Frees. Frees does a tremendous job narrating the transition from scene to scene and telling the story. 

#25 Witness To The Mob 

This originally made for television 1998 film stars Nicholas Turturro as Sammy “The Bull” Gravano. The cast was very strong. Tom Sizemore played John Gotti and the one and only Frank Vincent was cast as Gotti’s original underboss Frankie DeCicco. The beautiful Debi Mazar was great in the role of Sammy’s wife Karen. 

Vincent Pastore of the Sopranos played Gravano victim Mickey DeBatt. Witness To The Mob is the most comprehensive story and maybe the best when it comes to Gotti films. It runs a full 240 minutes.  

****Didn’t Quite Make The Cut****

Kill The Irishman 

Released in 2011, Kill The Irishman is based on the life and crimes of 1970s Cleveland mobster Danny Greene. Greene is one of the few Irish mobsters to take on the Italian mafia and have any success. He terrorized the Cleveland mafia for years before they killed him via remotely detonated car bomb in 1977. 

The story itself is very interesting but the movie somewhat fails to meet the standard even though it certainly was entertaining. Ray Stevenson plays the role of Danny Greene with Val Kilmer and Christoper Walken in supporting roles. 

Legendary mob actor Paul Sorvino plays a memorable role as the cigar chomping Genovese boss Fat Tony Salerno. Kill The Irishman was about a somewhat obscure real life mob story and didn’t have a powerhouse lead actor, and thus it flopped hard at the box office.  

Mobsters 

This 1991 film is based on Lucky Luciano and the making of the commission. Lots of young blood was used in Mobsters. Christian Slater starred as Lucky Luciano and Patrick Dempsey played the role of Jewish kingpin Meyer Lansky. Richard Greico of 21 Jump Street fame played Bugsy Seigel. 

Mobsters made $20 million at the gates but that was just shy of breaking even so it wasn’t considered a success. The young cast brought a great energy but the criticism that came involved the accuracy and scope of the story. The film was only 104 minutes long which is way too short to tell such a tale, thus many things were downsized or omitted. 

Mean Streets 

This was only the second role in the epic career of Robert DeNiro and this one validated him as a future star. Harvey Keitel starred as Charlie Chappa, a well connected mobster with a reckless friend “Johnny Boy”, played by DeNiro. Martin Scorcese the legendary filmmaker played the role of rival mobster “Jimmy Shorts”. The theme of the movie is Charlie protecting his vulnerable friend from other mobsters who want Johnny Boy dead. Mean Streets was released in 1973 on just a $500,000 budget. It was a big success, raking in $3 million dollars at the box office and launching the careers of DeNiro, Keitel and David Carradine. 

Gotti 

What killed this movie from the start was the sky high expectations that it came with. John Travolta played John Gotti and his real life wife Kelly Preston plays Gotti’s wife Victoria. Travolta didn’t fall completely flat but this was not one of his better performances and the critics roasted the movie relentlessly. 

One of the big problems is that the movie did not reveal anything new about an aging story that’s been told in many forms before. The lack of new plot twists caused the film to just become one of many about Gotti and it died a quick death in theaters, making only $6 million. 

Wiseguys 

This was the original mob comedy when it was released in 1986. Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo play Harry Valentini and Moe Dickstein, two friends and low level mob associates who keep finding themselves in trouble with the boss. After losing the bosses’ money at the race track, Harry and Moe are both told that they need to kill the other. 

They go on the run and the shenanigans ensue. Legendary pro wrestling manager Captain Lou Albano was a perfect fit for the role of “Frank the Fixer”, Harry and Moe’s main mob contact. Harvey Keitel was great in Wiseguys as local mob boss Bobby DiLea, unfortunately the film only made $8.5 million while having a $13 million dollar budget. 

The Revenge Of Al Capone 

This 1989 made for television movie starring Keith Carradine is a very different flavor than most mobster flicks. It’s essentially a fictional continuation of Al Capone’s criminal activities after he went to prison. “Scarface” was played by the very talented actor Ray Sharkey Jr. who passed away in 1993. 

The movie follows what has always been a conspiracy, that Capone and Frank Nitti were responsible for the attempted assasination of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. Very little of what is in the film is factual but it is a fun trip into the land of “what if?”. 

Road To Perdition 

A couple of legends, Tom Hanks and Paul Newman both received tremendous reviews although stepping out of their realm into something new. Hanks plays “Michael Sullivan”, an Irish mobster who works for a boss named “John Rooney”, played by Newman in the 1930s. The two have a major falling out, leading to a bloody war. 

The movie was a huge hit grossing a very impressive $181 million at the box office. It was nominated for five Academy Awards and won Best Cinematography. Newman was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. It was not a true story but did mix in some real life mobsters, like Frank Nitti.

The Cotton Club 

This memorable film was based on the happenings at the famous Cotton Club, the famous New York nightclub in the 1930s. Like many others, this film is not a true story but does include many real mobsters from the day: Lucky Luciano, Dutch Schultz, Owney Madden and Mad Dog Coll. 

Richard Gere stars as “Dixie Dwyer”, a musician/actor who mingles with mobsters. Dixie becomes involved with the girlfriend of notorious killer Dutch Schultz, played by the underrated James Remar. Nicholas Cage, Dianne Lake, Laurence Fishburne and Jennifer Grey also appear in The Cotton Club. Very good movie but it fizzled out making only $26 million on a $58 million dollar budget. 

Johnny Dangerously 

This movie is simply a mob parody, but a very funny one at that. Michael Keaton is Johnny Kelly, a man forced into a life of organized crime to find a way to pay for his ailing mother’s medical bills. His younger brother becomes the new District Attorney and this draws the ire of Danny Vermin, who was well played by Joe Piscopo. 

Johnny Dangerously is based on the 1920s and does a great job of capturing the styles of the time. Richard Dimitri nearly steals the entire movie with his portrayal of “Roman Moronie” the foul mouthed rival mob boss. Peter Boyle, Marilu Henner, Dom DeLuise, Danny Devito, Dick Butkus and Griffin Dunne make up one of the strongest supporting casts in any mob film. 

Bugsy 

Warren beatty was revered for his great performance as 1940s high flying Jewish gangster Bugsy Siegel. He was nominated for Best Actor and the film itself was nominated for ten Academy Awards. Annette Bening plays Virginia Hill and the core of the movie revolves around the relationship between Bugsy and Virginia. 

Harvey Keitel plays Jewish mob boss Mickey Cohen and Ben Kingsley plays the legendary Meyer Lansky, both were nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The film did good but not great at the box office, making $49 million on a $30 million dollar budget.