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The Best Crime Movies of All Time

Heists, mobs, cops and consequences: the crime film canon ranked by our composite score across 20+ authoritative lists, awards and polls.

Crime is the genre American cinema perfected and world cinema kept re-arming: the Warner gangster cycle of the 1930s, the noir shadows of the 1940s, Melville's Parisian professionals, and the twin peaks of the modern canon — Coppola's Godfather films and Scorsese's street-level epics. Its sub-genres each earned their own pages here: film noir and neo-noir, the gangster picture, and the heist film, cinema's most perfect clockwork form.

The Godfather (1972) leads with a composite score of 9.75. Top 100 of 739 films in our library.

Masters of the genre

  1. 1
    The Godfather1972 · Francis Ford Coppola · United States / Italy · crime, drama, thriller
    9.75

    Empire 500 (2008) #1 · Oscar Best Picture winner 1972 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #3

  2. 2
    Goodfellas1990 · Martin Scorsese · United States · biography, crime, thriller
    6.33

    BAFTA Best Film winner 1991 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #28 · Empire 500 (2008) #6

  3. 3
    Taxi Driver1976 · Martin Scorsese · United States · film-noir, drama, crime
    6.25

    Palme d'Or winner 1976 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1976 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #12

  4. 4
    Pulp Fiction1994 · Quentin Tarantino · United States · crime, drama, thriller
    5.76

    Palme d'Or winner 1994 · Empire 500 (2008) #9 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1994

  5. 5
    The Godfather Part II1974 · Francis Ford Coppola · United States · drama, crime, thriller
    5.37

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1974 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #26 · Letterboxd Top 250 #8

  6. 6
    Unforgiven1992 · Clint Eastwood · United States · western, drama, crime
    4.96

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1992 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1992 #1 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1993 #1

  7. 7
    Mulholland Drive2001 · David Lynch · United States · mystery, thriller, crime
    4.61

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 2001 #1 · Film Comment year-end poll 2001 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #8

  8. 8
    Chinatown1974 · Roman Polanski · United States · film-noir, mystery, thriller
    4.33

    Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #72 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1974 · AFI 100 (2007) #21

  9. 9
    On the Waterfront1954 · Elia Kazan · United States · drama, crime, thriller
    4.31

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1954 · AFI 100 (1998) #8 · AFI 100 (2007) #19

  10. 10
    The Silence of the Lambs1991 · Jonathan Demme · United States · thriller, horror, crime
    4.23

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1991 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1991 #2 · AFI 100 (2007) #74

  11. 11
    No Country for Old Men2007 · Ethan Coen, Joel Coen · United States · drama, thriller, western
    4.20

    Oscar Best Picture winner 2007 · Film Comment year-end poll 2007 #1 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2008 #1

  12. 12
    The 400 Blows1959 · François Truffaut · France · drama, crime
    4.04

    Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #33 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #50 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1959 #5

  13. 13
    Psycho1960 · Alfred Hitchcock · United States · thriller, horror, mystery
    4.01

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #31 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #46 · AFI 100 (2007) #14

  14. 14
    Breathless1960 · Jean-Luc Godard · France · drama, crime
    3.95

    Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #14 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #38 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1960 #3

  15. 15
    Bonnie and Clyde1967 · Arthur Penn · United States · drama, crime, biography
    3.82

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1968 #1 · Ebert's annual top 10 1967 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1967

  16. 16
    The Conversation1974 · Francis Ford Coppola · United States · thriller, drama, mystery
    3.76

    Palme d'Or winner 1974 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #72 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1974

  17. 17
    The Shawshank Redemption1994 · Frank Darabont · United States · drama, crime
    3.55

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1995 #1 · Empire 500 (2008) #4 · Letterboxd Top 250 #7

  18. 18
    One Battle After Another2025 · Paul Thomas Anderson · United States · drama, thriller, action
    3.50

    Oscar Best Picture winner 2025 · BAFTA Best Film winner 2026 · Film Comment year-end poll 2025 #1

  19. 19
    Some Like It Hot1959 · Billy Wilder · United States · comedy, romance, crime
    3.47

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #38 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #62 · AFI 100 (2007) #22

  20. 20
    The French Connection1971 · William Friedkin · United States · crime, action, thriller
    3.44

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1971 · AFI 100 (2007) #93 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1972 #10

  21. 21
    The Departed2006 · Martin Scorsese · United States / Hong Kong, China · drama, thriller, crime
    3.41

    Oscar Best Picture winner 2006 · Film Comment year-end poll 2006 #1 · Sarris's annual top 10 2006 #1

  22. 22
    Rashomon1950 · Akira Kurosawa · Japan · drama, crime
    3.38

    Venice Golden Lion winner 1951 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #20 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #41

  23. 23
    Anatomy of a Fall2023 · Justine Triet · France · thriller, crime, drama
    3.33

    Palme d'Or winner 2023 · César Best Film winner 2024 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 2023 #3

  24. 24
    Au Hasard Balthazar1966 · Robert Bresson · Sweden / France · drama, crime
    3.29

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1966 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #25 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #37

  25. 25
    West Side Story1961 · Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins · United States · musical, romance, drama
    3.20

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1961 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1961 #4 · AFI 100 (2007) #51

  26. 26
    Blue Velvet1986 · David Lynch · United States · mystery, thriller, drama
    3.13

    Hoberman's annual top 10 1986 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #72 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #85

  27. 27
    In the Heat of the Night1967 · Norman Jewison · United States · crime, drama, mystery
    3.12

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1967 · AFI 100 (2007) #75 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1967 #8

  28. 28
    Double Indemnity1944 · Billy Wilder · United States · crime, film-noir, drama
    3.11

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1944 · AFI 100 (2007) #29 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #196

  29. 29
    A Clockwork Orange1971 · Stanley Kubrick · United Kingdom / United States · drama, crime, thriller
    3.06

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1971 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1972 #4 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #243

  30. 30
    Fargo1996 · Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · United States / United Kingdom · crime, drama, film-noir
    3.02

    Ebert's annual top 10 1996 #1 · Siskel's annual top 10 1996 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1996

  31. 31
    Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri2017 · Martin McDonagh · United States / United Kingdom · drama, comedy, mystery
    3.00

    BAFTA Best Film winner 2018 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2018 #1 · TIFF People's Choice winner 2017

  32. 32
    Atlantic City1980 · Louis Malle · Canada / United States / France · romance, drama, crime
    2.92

    Venice Golden Lion winner 1980 · Sarris's annual top 10 1981 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1981

  33. 33
    L'Argent1983 · Robert Bresson · France · drama, crime
    2.83

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1983 #1 · Kehr's annual top 10 1984 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #72

  34. 34
    L.A. Confidential1997 · Curtis Hanson · United States · crime, film-noir, mystery
    2.82

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1998 #1 · Sarris's annual top 10 1997 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1997

  35. 35
    Rear Window1954 · Alfred Hitchcock · United States · crime, mystery, thriller
    2.79

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #38 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1955 #5 · AFI 100 (2007) #48

  36. 36
    Joker2019 · Todd Phillips · United States · crime, thriller, drama
    2.75

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2019 #1 · Venice Golden Lion winner 2019 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 2019

  37. 37
    Hana-bi1997 · Takeshi Kitano · Japan · crime, drama
    2.68

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1997 #1 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1998 #1 · Venice Golden Lion winner 1997

  38. 38
    Slumdog Millionaire2008 · Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan · United Kingdom · romance, drama, crime
    2.65

    Oscar Best Picture winner 2008 · BAFTA Best Film winner 2009 · TIFF People's Choice winner 2008

  39. 39
    All the President's Men1976 · Alan J. Pakula · United States · crime, drama, thriller
    2.60

    Siskel's annual top 10 1976 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1976 · AFI 100 (2007) #77

  40. 40
    The Night of the Hunter1955 · Charles Laughton · United States · film-noir, thriller, crime
    2.54

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #25 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #41 · Empire 500 (2008) #71

  41. 41
    Blade Runner1982 · Ridley Scott · United States / Hong Kong, China · thriller, film-noir, sci-fi
    2.51

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #54 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #62 · Empire 500 (2008) #20

  42. 42
    Crash2004 · Paul Haggis · Germany / United States · drama, crime
    2.48

    Oscar Best Picture winner 2005 · Ebert's annual top 10 2005 #1 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2006 #8

  43. 43
    Touch of Evil1958 · Orson Welles · United States · crime, drama, film-noir
    2.41

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1958 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #108 · National Film Registry (inducted 1993)

  44. 44
    The Sting1973 · George Roy Hill · United States · crime, comedy, drama
    2.37

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1973 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1974 #4 · National Film Registry (inducted 2005)

  45. 45
    The Irishman2019 · Martin Scorsese · United States · crime, drama, biography
    2.33

    Film Comment year-end poll 2019 #2 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2019 #3 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 2019

  46. 46
    The Wild Bunch1969 · Sam Peckinpah · United States · crime, western
    2.30

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #136 · AFI 100 (2007) #79 · AFI 100 (1998) #80

  47. 47
    Traffic2000 · Steven Soderbergh · United States / Germany / Mexico · crime, drama, thriller
    2.28

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2001 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 2000 · Film Comment year-end poll 2000 #16

  48. 48
    A Prophet2009 · Jacques Audiard · France / Italy · drama, crime, thriller
    2.25

    Cannes Grand Prix winner 2009 · César Best Film winner 2010 · Film Comment year-end poll 2010 #5

  49. 49
    A History of Violence2005 · David Cronenberg · Germany / United States · thriller, crime, drama
    2.24

    Film Comment year-end poll 2005 #1 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 2005 #2 · Hoberman's annual top 10 2005 #1

  50. 50
    The Dark Knight2008 · Christopher Nolan · United States / United Kingdom · action, film-noir, thriller
    2.18

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2008 #3 · Empire 500 (2008) #15 · Letterboxd Top 250 #25

  51. 51
    North by Northwest1959 · Alfred Hitchcock · United States · crime, thriller, mystery
    2.15

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #45 · AFI 100 (2007) #55 · AFI 100 (1998) #40

  52. 52
    Once Upon a Time in America1984 · Sergio Leone · United States / Italy / France · crime, drama, thriller
    2.14

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1984 #1 · Siskel's annual top 10 1984 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #157

  53. 53
    Miller's Crossing1990 · Ethan Coen, Joel Coen · United States · film-noir, crime, drama
    2.13

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1991 #2 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1991 #3 · TIME All-TIME 100

  54. 54
    City of God2002 · Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund · Brazil / France · drama, crime
    2.13

    Letterboxd Top 250 #10 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2003 #6 · Ebert's annual top 10 2002 #2

  55. 55
    Pierrot le Fou1965 · Jean-Luc Godard · France / Italy · romance, drama, comedy
    2.13

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1965 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #85 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1967 #5

  56. 56
    Gloria1980 · John Cassavetes · United States · crime, drama
    2.12

    Venice Golden Lion winner 1980 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1981 #5 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1981 #10

  57. 57
    The Maltese Falcon1941 · John Huston · United States · crime, mystery, film-noir
    2.11

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1941 · AFI 100 (2007) #31 · AFI 100 (1998) #23

  58. 58
    The Crying Game1992 · Neil Jordan · United Kingdom / Japan / Ireland · drama, romance, thriller
    2.10

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1992 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1993 #4 · BFI Top 100 British films #26

  59. 59
    Once Upon a Time in Hollywood2019 · Quentin Tarantino · United States / United Kingdom · comedy, drama, crime
    2.06

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2019 #2 · Film Comment year-end poll 2019 #3 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 2019

  60. 60
    Bande à part1964 · Jean-Luc Godard · France · crime, romance, drama
    2.05

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1964 #1 · TIME All-TIME 100 · Scorsese's 39 essential foreign films

  61. 61
    Vengeance Is Mine1979 · Shohei Imamura · Japan · drama, crime
    2.04

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1979 #1 · Japan Academy Prize winner 1980 · Criterion Collection spine #384

  62. 62
    Dog Day Afternoon1975 · Sidney Lumet · United States · crime, action, drama
    2.04

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1975 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1976 #5 · National Film Registry (inducted 2009)

  63. 63
    Pickpocket1959 · Robert Bresson · France · drama, crime
    2.02

    Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #93 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1959 #4 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #136

  64. 64
    High and Low1963 · Akira Kurosawa · Japan · drama, film-noir, crime
    2.01

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1963 #2 · Letterboxd Top 250 #6 · Scorsese's 39 essential foreign films

  65. 65
    Chicago2002 · Rob Marshall · United States / Canada / Germany · musical, comedy, drama
    1.98

    Oscar Best Picture winner 2002 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2003 #8 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  66. 66
    Winter's Bone2010 · Debra Granik · United States · drama, crime
    1.98

    Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner 2010 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 2010 · Film Comment year-end poll 2010 #6

  67. 67
    The Grand Budapest Hotel2014 · Wes Anderson · United States / Germany · comedy, drama, adventure
    1.96

    Film Comment year-end poll 2014 #3 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 2014 · Rolling Stone 100 Best of the 21st Century #25

  68. 68
    Mystic River2003 · Clint Eastwood · United States / Australia · mystery, thriller, crime
    1.95

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2004 #1 · Film Comment year-end poll 2003 #2 · Kehr's annual top 10 2003 #1

  69. 69
    Chungking Express1994 · Wong Kar-wai · Hong Kong, China · comedy, drama, romance
    1.92

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #88 · Hoberman's annual top 10 1994 #2 · TIME All-TIME 100

  70. 70
    Oliver!1968 · Carol Reed · United Kingdom · musical, drama, crime
    1.91

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1968 · BFI Top 100 British films #77 · Ebert's annual top 10 1968 #7

  71. 71
    Gosford Park2001 · Robert Altman · United States / Italy / United Kingdom · crime, mystery, comedy
    1.89

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 2001 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2002 #7 · Sarris's annual top 10 2001 #2

  72. 72
    Badlands1973 · Terrence Malick · United States · drama, crime
    1.87

    San Sebastián Golden Shell winner 1974 · National Film Registry (inducted 1993) · Empire 500 (2008) #155

  73. 73
    JFK1991 · Oliver Stone · United States · drama, crime, mystery
    1.86

    Ebert's annual top 10 1991 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1991 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1992 #9

  74. 74
    Zodiac2007 · David Fincher · United States · thriller, crime, drama
    1.82

    Film Comment year-end poll 2007 #3 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 2007 #5 · Rolling Stone 100 Best of the 21st Century #19

  75. 75
    Die Hard1988 · John McTiernan · United States · action, thriller, crime
    1.81

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1989 #1 · Empire 500 (2008) #29 · National Film Registry (inducted 2017)

  76. 76
    Notorious1946 · Alfred Hitchcock · United States · thriller, film-noir, drama
    1.81

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #133 · TIME All-TIME 100 · National Film Registry (inducted 2006)

  77. 77
    To Kill a Mockingbird1962 · Robert Mulligan · United States · drama, crime
    1.76

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1962 · AFI 100 (2007) #25 · AFI 100 (1998) #34

  78. 78
    La Haine1995 · Mathieu Kassovitz · France · drama, crime
    1.73

    César Best Film winner 1996 · Letterboxd Top 250 #21 · Empire 500 (2008) #170

  79. 79
    Shoot the Piano Player1960 · François Truffaut · France · film-noir, drama, crime
    1.70

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1960 #4 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1963 #9 · Scorsese's 39 essential foreign films

  80. 80
    Dheepan2015 · Jacques Audiard · France · drama, crime
    1.66

    Palme d'Or winner 2015 · Criterion Collection spine #871

  81. 81
    Alphaville1965 · Jean-Luc Godard · France / Italy · sci-fi, drama, crime
    1.66

    Berlin Golden Bear winner 1965 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1965 #5 · Criterion Collection spine #25

  82. 82
    Kind Hearts and Coronets1949 · Robert Hamer · United Kingdom · crime
    1.65

    BFI Top 100 British films #6 · Empire 500 (2008) #42 · TIME All-TIME 100

  83. 83
    Manon1950 · Henri-Georges Clouzot · France · romance, drama, crime
    1.63

    Venice Golden Lion winner 1949 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1950 #2

  84. 84
    Drugstore Cowboy1989 · Gus Van Sant · United States · drama, crime, comedy
    1.61

    Ebert's annual top 10 1989 #2 · Siskel's annual top 10 1989 #3 · Hoberman's annual top 10 1989 #4

  85. 85
    Wild at Heart1990 · David Lynch · United States · crime, drama, romance
    1.61

    Palme d'Or winner 1990 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

  86. 86
    House of Games1987 · David Mamet · United States · film-noir, crime
    1.58

    Ebert's annual top 10 1987 #1 · Siskel's annual top 10 1987 #3 · NYT Best 1,000 Movies

  87. 87
    Emilia Pérez2024 · Jacques Audiard · France · musical, comedy, crime
    1.56

    César Best Film winner 2025 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 2024 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2025 #6

  88. 88
    Prizzi's Honor1985 · John Huston · United States · comedy, romance, drama
    1.55

    Sarris's annual top 10 1985 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1985 · Ebert's annual top 10 1985 #4

  89. 89
    The King of Comedy1982 · Martin Scorsese · United States · drama, comedy, crime
    1.53

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1983 #5 · Empire 500 (2008) #87 · Sarris's annual top 10 1983 #5

  90. 90
    Dogville2003 · Lars von Trier · France / Germany / United Kingdom · drama, thriller, mystery
    1.51

    Hoberman's annual top 10 2004 #2 · Kehr's annual top 10 2004 #2 · Film Comment year-end poll 2004 #9

  91. 91
    A Perfect World1993 · Clint Eastwood · United States · adventure, crime, drama
    1.50

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1993 #1 · Kehr's annual top 10 1993 #1 · Sarris's annual top 10 1993 #12

  92. 92
    Gran Torino2008 · Clint Eastwood · United States / Australia / Germany · drama, crime
    1.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2009 #1 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 2009 #4 · Film Comment year-end poll 2008 #32

  93. 93
    The Ghost Writer2010 · Roman Polanski · France / United Kingdom / Germany · drama, crime, thriller
    1.50

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2011 #1 · Film Comment year-end poll 2010 #4 · Ebert's annual top 10 2010 #10

  94. 94
    Wanda1970 · Barbara Loden · United States · crime, drama
    1.49

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #48 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #93 · National Film Registry (inducted 2017)

  95. 95
    Rocco and His Brothers1960 · Luchino Visconti · France / Italy · drama, crime
    1.47

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1961 #4 · Scorsese's 39 essential foreign films · Letterboxd Top 250 #129

  96. 96
    Lust, Caution2007 · Ang Lee · China / Taiwan, China / United States · crime, thriller, drama
    1.43

    Venice Golden Lion winner 2007 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2008 #4

  97. 97
    Capote2005 · Bennett Miller · Canada / United States · biography, drama, crime
    1.43

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 2005 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 2006 #6 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2006 #7

  98. 98
    BlacKkKlansman2018 · Spike Lee · United States · biography, crime, drama
    1.43

    Cannes Grand Prix winner 2018 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 2018 · Film Comment year-end poll 2018 #20

  99. 99
    Out of the Past1947 · Jacques Tourneur · United States · film-noir, crime, drama
    1.42

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #157 · TIME All-TIME 100 · National Film Registry (inducted 1991)

  100. 100
    Eastern Promises2007 · David Cronenberg · Canada / United Kingdom / United States · crime, drama, mystery
    1.42

    TIFF People's Choice winner 2007 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 2008 #6 · Film Comment year-end poll 2007 #8

Crime is the one genre that has never needed a revival. Other genres run in cycles; the crime film, popular since the dawn of the sound era, has never once fallen out of favour. The reason, I'd argue, is that it is where cinema negotiates with its audience over what the rules are worth: every heist, mob saga and manhunt is a small referendum on the social order. That is what any honest list of the best crime movies has to measure — not just craft, but a century of moral argument.

A running fight with the censor

The genre's history is a running fight with the censor. The Warner gangster cycle — Little Caesar (1931), The Public Enemy (1931), Scarface (1932) — put the killer at the centre of the frame so successfully that the Hays Code office shut the cycle down in the mid-1930s. The energy resurfaced a decade later as film noir: fatalistic crime pictures like Double Indemnity (1944), many made by émigré directors who had fled Nazism, and christened only afterwards by French critics. When the Code finally collapsed, the genre threw its counter-punch: Bonnie and Clyde (1967) remade the outlaw picture as anti-establishment romance, In the Heat of the Night (1967) became the first crime film to win the Best Picture Oscar, The French Connection (1971) made the cop as morally compromised as his quarry, and The Godfather (1972) — #1 in our entire library — rebuilt the gangster film as national epic.

The families that run it

Two Americans hold the modern canon's twin peaks. Francis Ford Coppola places The Godfather, The Godfather Part II (1974) and the paranoid, small-scale The Conversation (1974) all inside our library's top 75; Martin Scorsese answers with Goodfellas (1990), Taxi Driver (1976), The Departed (2006) and The Irishman (2019). Behind them, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) and the Joel Coen–Ethan Coen pair of No Country for Old Men (2007) and Fargo (1996) mark the postmodern turn, while Europe keeps its own count: Jean-Luc Godard smuggled the American crime picture into the New Wave with Breathless (1960), and Jacques Audiard — three films on this page, led by A Prophet (2009) — is arguably the genre's most vital living European practitioner. And Alfred Hitchcock lands four films here, Psycho (1960) the highest of them — a reminder that the genre's borders with the thriller have always been open.

How to read our list

Membership here is mechanical, and we prefer it that way: a film appears because the genre tags in our data pipeline — mapped from Wikidata's genre field — include crime, and the order is set purely by composite score across 20+ authoritative lists, awards and polls; the page carries the top 100. A database casts a wider net than a critic would. That is why Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992) — a film most people would shelve under Western — sits sixth on the page, and why West Side Story (1961) and François Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959), films nobody reaches for first when they think of the genre, appear at all. Read those edge cases as a feature: they show how much of cinema runs on the genre's engine. When you want the tighter cut, the sub-genres each have their own ranked pages — film noir, neo-noir, the gangster picture and the heist film.