Greatest Crime Movies (1931-2019)

by cesser00 | created - 17 Aug 2020 | updated - 2 weeks ago | Public

I've watched well over a thousand movies the last five years, ranging from the silent era to today, and these are what I consider the best Crime films, and ones that I would watch again

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1. Blonde Crazy (1931)

TV-G | 79 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

The adventures of an egoistic con man and his glamorous accomplice.

Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern, Noel Francis

Votes: 2,324

2. Night Nurse (1931)

Passed | 72 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

A nurse enlists the help of a petty criminal to foil a sinister plot to murder two children.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell, Clark Gable

Votes: 4,491

3. The Public Enemy (1931)

Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama

80 Metascore

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: 23,024 | Gross: $1.01M

4. 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: 2,238

5. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Wrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis

Votes: 14,438 | Gross: $1.42M

6. Picture Snatcher (1933)

Not Rated | 77 min | Crime, Drama

Ex-convict Danny Kean decides to become honest as a photographer for a paper. He falls in love with Patricia, the daughter of the policeman who arrested him. Mr Nolan, her father, doesn't ... See full summary »

Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: James Cagney, Ralph Bellamy, Patricia Ellis, Alice White

Votes: 1,746

7. 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: 8,588

8. Kid Galahad (1937)

Passed | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Fight promoter Nick Donati grooms a bellhop as a future champ, but has second thoughts when the 'kid' falls for his sister.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Wayne Morris

Votes: 3,933

9. 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: 15,533

10. This Gun for Hire (1942)

Passed | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

When assassin Philip Raven shoots a blackmailer and his beautiful female companion dead, he is paid off in marked bills by his treasonous employer who is working with foreign spies.

Director: Frank Tuttle | Stars: Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar

Votes: 10,621

11. Double Indemnity (1944)

Passed | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

95 Metascore

A Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.

Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Byron Barr

Votes: 167,496 | Gross: $5.72M

12. The Woman in the Window (1944)

Passed | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

When a conservative middle aged professor engages in a relationship with a femme fatale, he's plunged into a nightmarish world of blackmail and murder.

Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, Edmund Breon

Votes: 17,785

13. Fallen Angel (1945)

Approved | 98 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery

A slick con man arrives in a small town looking to make some money, but soon gets more than he bargained for.

Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Alice Faye, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Charles Bickford

Votes: 6,515

14. Mildred Pierce (1945)

Approved | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

88 Metascore

A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden

Votes: 28,672

15. The Big Sleep (1946)

Passed | 114 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery

86 Metascore

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail and what might be love.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers

Votes: 90,533 | Gross: $6.54M

16. The Blue Dahlia (1946)

Passed | 96 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery

An ex-bomber pilot is suspected of murdering his unfaithful wife.

Director: George Marshall | Stars: Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva

Votes: 9,667 | Gross: $2.70M

17. Green for Danger (1946)

Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery

After the nurse who declares that a recent surgical death was a murder also dies, an enigmatic Scotland Yard inspector arrives to investigate.

Director: Sidney Gilliat | Stars: Alastair Sim, Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Leo Genn

Votes: 5,619

18. 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: 23,637

19. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

Passed | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

84 Metascore

A married woman and a drifter fall in love and then plot to murder her husband.

Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn

Votes: 22,891 | Gross: $8.33M

20. I Walk Alone (1947)

Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

55 Metascore

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: 3,291

21. Kiss of Death (1947)

Approved | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A crook arrested for a jewelry heist initially refuses to give up his accomplices, but he changes his mind once his wife dies under worrying circumstances.

Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, Richard Widmark

Votes: 9,574

22. I Became a Criminal (1947)

Approved | 78 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

After WW2, former RAF airman Clem Morgan joins a gang of black-market smugglers-thieves but when a robbery goes wrong, Clem is caught , framed for a policeman's murder, and is sent to prison where he plots his escape and revenge.

Director: Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Griffith Jones, Rene Ray

Votes: 1,917

23. The Big Clock (1948)

Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A magazine tycoon commits a murder and pins it on an innocent man, who then tries to solve the murder himself.

Director: John Farrow | Stars: Ray Milland, Maureen O'Sullivan, Charles Laughton, George Macready

Votes: 9,538

24. 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: 6,824 | Gross: $0.22M

25. Cry of the City (1948)

Passed | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Police Lieut. Candella, longtime friend of the Rome family, walks a tightrope in the case of cop-killer Martin Rome.

Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Fred Clark, Shelley Winters

Votes: 3,735

26. 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: 43,985

27. Pitfall (1948)

Not Rated | 86 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller

Married insurance adjuster John Forbes falls for femme fatale Mona Stevens while her boyfriend is in jail and all suffer serious consequences as a result.

Director: André De Toth | Stars: Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr

Votes: 4,543

28. Rope (1948)

Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

73 Metascore

Two men attempt to prove they committed the perfect crime by hosting a dinner party after strangling their former classmate to death.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Dick Hogan

Votes: 153,692

29. Yellow Sky (1948)

Approved | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Western

A pistol-packing tomboy and her grandfather discover a band of bank robbing bandits taking refuge in the neighboring ghost town.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark, Robert Arthur

Votes: 5,765

30. House of Strangers (1949)

Approved | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

After years in prison, Max promises revenge on his brothers for their betrayal. His lover Irene and memories of his past yield him a broader perspective.

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, Richard Conte, Luther Adler

Votes: 4,188

31. The Set-Up (1949)

Approved | 73 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Sport

Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias, Alan Baxter

Votes: 10,088

32. Too Late for Tears (1949)

Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Film-Noir

Through a fluke circumstance, a ruthless woman stumbles across a suitcase filled with $60,000, and is determined to hold onto it even if it means murder.

Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea, Arthur Kennedy

Votes: 5,695

33. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Passed | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

85 Metascore

A major heist goes off as planned, but then double crosses, bad luck and solid police work cause everything to unravel.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore

Votes: 29,965

34. The Breaking Point (1950)

Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

An otherwise moral captain of a charter boat becomes financially strapped and is drawn into illegal activities in order to keep up payments on his boat.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter, Juano Hernandez

Votes: 4,403

35. House by the River (1950)

Approved | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A deranged writer murders a maid after she resists his advances. The writer engages his brother's help in hiding the body, causing unexpected problems for both of them.

Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Louis Hayward, Lee Bowman, Jane Wyatt, Dorothy Patrick

Votes: 4,169

36. Night and the City (1950)

Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery

A small-time grifter and nightclub tout takes advantage of some fortuitous circumstances and tries to become a big-time player as a wrestling promoter.

Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe

Votes: 15,283 | Gross: $3.60M

37. The Sound of Fury (1950)

Approved | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A man who is down on his luck falls in with a criminal.

Director: Cy Endfield | Stars: Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson, Lloyd Bridges

Votes: 1,943

38. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Det. Sgt. Mark Dixon wants to be something his old man wasn't: a guy on the right side of the law. Will Dixon's vicious nature get the better of him?

Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Bert Freed

Votes: 9,966

39. Woman in Hiding (1950)

Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

After her father is killed in an accident, mill heiress Deborah Chandler marries the plant manager, Selden Clark, but his motives are suspicious.

Director: Michael Gordon | Stars: Ida Lupino, Stephen McNally, Howard Duff, Peggy Dow

Votes: 1,514

40. Cry Danger (1951)

Passed | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Ex-con Rocky Mulloy seeks the real culprit in the crime for which he was framed in a night world of deceptive dames and double crosses.

Directors: Robert Parrish, Dick Powell | Stars: Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Erdman, William Conrad

Votes: 2,737

41. He Ran All the Way (1951)

Passed | 77 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Nick and his partner Al stage a payroll holdup. Al is shot, and Nick kills a policeman. Nick hides out at a public pool, where he meets Peg Dobbs. They go back to her apartment, and he forces her family to hide him from the police manhunt.

Director: John Berry | Stars: John Garfield, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford, Selena Royle

Votes: 3,020

42. Pool of London (1951)

Approved | 85 min | Crime, Drama

When their ship docks the crew disembark as usual to pick up their lives in postwar London. For one of them his petty smuggling turns more serious when he finds himself caught up with a robbery in the City.

Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Bonar Colleano, Susan Shaw, Renée Asherson, Earl Cameron

Votes: 1,183

43. Kansas City Confidential (1952)

Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

An ex-con trying to go straight is framed for a million dollar armored car robbery and must go to Mexico in order to unmask the real culprits.

Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: John Payne, Coleen Gray, Preston Foster, Neville Brand

Votes: 8,143

44. The Narrow Margin (1952)

Approved | 71 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A woman planning to testify against the mob must be protected against potential assassins on the train trip from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Directors: Richard Fleischer, William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, Jacqueline White, Gordon Gebert

Votes: 8,658

45. The Big Heat (1953)

Passed | 89 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller

Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.

Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby

Votes: 29,182

46. The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

Approved | 71 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Two fishermen pick up a psychopathic escaped convict who tells them that he intends to murder them when the ride is over.

Director: Ida Lupino | Stars: Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman, José Torvay

Votes: 10,528

47. Inferno (1953)

Approved | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

A tough, hard-driving business tycoon suffers a broken leg and is left to die in the desert by his scheming wife and her greedy lover.

Director: Roy Ward Baker | Stars: Robert Ryan, Rhonda Fleming, William Lundigan, Larry Keating

Votes: 1,800

48. Pickup on South Street (1953)

Passed | 80 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery

A pickpocket unwittingly lifts a message destined for enemy agents and becomes a target for a Communist spy ring.

Director: Samuel Fuller | Stars: Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter, Murvyn Vye

Votes: 16,156

49. Dial M for Murder (1954)

PG | 105 min | Crime, Thriller

75 Metascore

A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams

Votes: 188,855 | Gross: $0.01M

50. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

Passed | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A one-armed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary.

Director: John Sturges | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Dean Jagger

Votes: 24,267

51. The Big Knife (1955)

Passed | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Hollywood actor Charles Castle is pressured by his studio boss into a criminal cover-up to protect his valuable career.

Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen

Votes: 4,264

52. Illegal (1955)

Approved | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

After an overly aggressive district attorney unknowingly sends an innocent man to the chair, he resigns, turns to drinking, and acquires a criminal clientèle.

Director: Lewis Allen | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe, Jayne Mansfield

Votes: 2,335

53. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Not Rated | 106 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery

A doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious "great whatsit".

Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez

Votes: 22,089

54. The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)

Passed | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

63 Metascore

A junkie must face his true self to kick his drug addiction.

Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak, Eleanor Parker, Arnold Stang

Votes: 12,218

55. The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

97 Metascore

A self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.

Director: Charles Laughton | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason

Votes: 97,383 | Gross: $0.65M

56. The Killing (1956)

Approved | 84 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

91 Metascore

Crook Johnny Clay assembles a five-man team to plan and execute a daring racetrack robbery.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen

Votes: 97,552

57. Ransom! (1956)

Approved | 109 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

After the child of wealthy parents gets abducted, the police and a member of the press intervene to assist the parents in their search but end up complicating their impending decisions.

Director: Alex Segal | Stars: Glenn Ford, Donna Reed, Leslie Nielsen, Juano Hernandez

Votes: 2,330

58. 12 Angry Men (1957)

Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama

97 Metascore

The jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, John Fiedler

Votes: 865,430 | Gross: $4.36M

59. Across the Bridge (1957)

103 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

A wealthy businessman attempts to run to Mexico to escape capture for embezzlement. On the way, he switches identities for a visa but that only complicates matters.

Director: Ken Annakin | Stars: Rod Steiger, David Knight, Bernard Lee, Noel Willman

Votes: 994

60. Hell Drivers (1957)

Approved | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A rookie trucker tries to expose his boss' rackets.

Director: Cy Endfield | Stars: Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan

Votes: 4,054

61. Plunder Road (1957)

Approved | 72 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Five men rob a train in Utah of 10 million dollars in gold and head to Los Angeles in 3 trucks hoping to meet up with their beautiful accomplice and leave the country.

Director: Hubert Cornfield | Stars: Gene Raymond, Jeanne Cooper, Wayne Morris, Elisha Cook Jr.

Votes: 1,295

62. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Approved | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

76 Metascore

A veteran British barrister must defend his client in a murder trial that has surprise after surprise.

Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester

Votes: 137,898 | Gross: $8.18M

63. The Lineup (1958)

Approved | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

In San Francisco, a psychopathic gangster and his mentor retrieve heroin packages carried by unsuspecting travelers.

Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Eli Wallach, Robert Keith, Richard Jaeckel, Mary LaRoche

Votes: 4,427

64. Murder by Contract (1958)

Approved | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer - until he finds his next target is a woman.

Director: Irving Lerner | Stars: Vince Edwards, Phillip Pine, Herschel Bernardi, Caprice Toriel

Votes: 4,368

65. Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)

Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

In need of quick money, a fallen former cop recruits a hard-bitten ex-con and a debt-ridden nightclub singer to pull off a bank job. But as the animosity between them boils over, the entire plan threatens to implode.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Shelley Winters

Votes: 5,565

66. Sapphire (1959)

Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

The murder of a young woman in London exposes deep racial tensions and prejudices inherent in the area.

Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Nigel Patrick, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Paul Massie

Votes: 2,308

67. Tiger Bay (1959)

Not Rated | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

A twelve-year-old tomboy witnesses the murder of a woman by her Polish merchant marine boyfriend, but bonds with him and thwarts the police in their investigation.

Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Hayley Mills, Horst Buchholz, John Mills, Yvonne Mitchell

Votes: 3,164

68. The Hole (1960)

Not Rated | 131 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

Distrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.

Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: André Bervil, Jean Keraudy, Michel Constantin, Philippe Leroy

Votes: 20,379 | Gross: $0.03M

69. The League of Gentlemen (1960)

Unrated | 116 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

A disgruntled veteran recruits a group of disgraced colleagues to perform a bank robbery with military precision.

Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey, Richard Attenborough

Votes: 5,277

70. Cash on Demand (1961)

Not Rated | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A charming but ruthless criminal holds the family of a bank manager hostage as part of a cold-blooded plan to steal 97,000 pounds.

Director: Quentin Lawrence | Stars: Peter Cushing, André Morell, Richard Vernon, Norman Bird

Votes: 2,885

71. I Promised to Pay (1961)

94 min | Crime, Drama

A gang plans to steal a factory's wages, but an armored van foils them. They rob anyway, killing the driver. His vengeful wife and encroaching police make the gang betray each other.

Director: Sidney Hayers | Stars: Michael Craig, Françoise Prévost, Billie Whitelaw, William Lucas

Votes: 894

72. Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)

Not Rated | 147 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

76 Metascore

A surly convicted murderer held in permanent isolation redeems himself when he becomes a renowned bird expert.

Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand

Votes: 19,314

73. Lolita (1962)

Not Rated | 153 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

79 Metascore

A middle-aged college professor becomes infatuated with a 14-year-old girl.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon, Gary Cockrell

Votes: 108,828 | Gross: $9.25M

74. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Approved | 129 min | Crime, Drama

88 Metascore

Atticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.

Director: Robert Mulligan | Stars: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy

Votes: 332,954

75. High and Low (1963)

Not Rated | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

90 Metascore

An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.

Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yutaka Sada, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa

Votes: 53,229

76. Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

115 min | Crime, Drama

A medium and her husband stage a kidnapping in order for her to pretend to solve the crime and achieve fame.

Director: Bryan Forbes | Stars: Kim Stanley, Richard Attenborough, Margaret Lacey, Marie Burke

Votes: 7,461

77. Second Wind (1966)

Not Rated | 150 min | Crime, Drama

A gangster escapes jail and quickly makes plans to continue his criminal ways elsewhere, but a determined inspector is closing in.

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Raymond Pellegrin, Christine Fabréga

Votes: 6,638

78. Cool Hand Luke (1967)

GP | 127 min | Crime, Drama

92 Metascore

A laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.

Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D. Cannon

Votes: 188,578 | Gross: $16.22M

79. In Cold Blood (1967)

R | 134 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

89 Metascore

Two ex-cons murder a family in a robbery attempt, before going on the run from the authorities. The police try to piece together the details of the murder in an attempt to track down the killers.

Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe, Paul Stewart

Votes: 29,152

80. In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Approved | 110 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

76 Metascore

A black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.

Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant

Votes: 83,582 | Gross: $24.38M

81. The Incident (1967)

Approved | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

Late one night, two young toughs hold hostage the passengers in one car of a New York subway train.

Director: Larry Peerce | Stars: Tony Musante, Martin Sheen, Beau Bridges, Brock Peters

Votes: 4,828

82. The Samurai (1967)

GP | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

90 Metascore

After professional hitman Jef Costello is seen by witnesses his efforts to provide himself an alibi drive him further into a corner.

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, Cathy Rosier

Votes: 57,190 | Gross: $0.04M

83. The Night of the Generals (1967)

Not Rated | 148 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

In 1942, a Polish prostitute and German Agent is murdered in Warsaw. Suspicion falls on three Generals, and Major Grau of German Intelligence seeks justice which ends up taking decades.

Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence

Votes: 8,781

84. Bullitt (1968)

M/PG | 114 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

81 Metascore

A nonconformist San Francisco cop is determined to find the underworld kingpin who killed the witness under his protection.

Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Vaughn, Don Gordon

Votes: 75,859 | Gross: $42.30M

85. Pretty Poison (1968)

Approved | 89 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance

When a mentally-disturbed young man tells a pretty girl that he's a secret agent, she believes him; murder and mayhem ensue.

Director: Noel Black | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph

Votes: 3,980

86. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

PG | 110 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

66 Metascore

In 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid lead a band of outlaws. When a train robbery goes wrong, they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels. After considering their options, they escape to South America.

Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin

Votes: 226,762 | Gross: $102.31M

87. Take the Money and Run (1969)

PG | 85 min | Comedy, Crime

67 Metascore

The life and times of Virgil Starkwell, inept bank robber.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Janet Margolin, Marcel Hillaire, Jacquelyn Hyde

Votes: 31,465 | Gross: $0.72M

88. Z (1969)

M/PG | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

86 Metascore

The public murder of a prominent politician and doctor amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials. A tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get away with it.

Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, François Périer

Votes: 31,357 | Gross: $0.08M

89. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi

77 Metascore

In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke

Votes: 881,510 | Gross: $6.21M

90. Dirty Harry (1971)

R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

87 Metascore

When a man calling himself "the Scorpio Killer" menaces San Francisco, tough-as-nails Police Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan is assigned to track down the crazed psychopath.

Directors: Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Andrew Robinson, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni

Votes: 168,334 | Gross: $35.90M

91. The French Connection (1971)

R | 104 min | Action, Crime, Drama

94 Metascore

A pair of NYPD detectives in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a heroin smuggling ring based in Marseilles, but stopping them and capturing their leaders proves an elusive goal.

Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco

Votes: 135,743 | Gross: $15.63M

92. Get Carter (1971)

R | 112 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

80 Metascore

When his brother dies under mysterious circumstances in a car accident, London gangster Jack Carter travels to Newcastle to investigate.

Director: Mike Hodges | Stars: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland, John Osborne

Votes: 36,791 | Gross: $0.39M

93. The Getaway (1972)

PG | 123 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

55 Metascore

A recently-released ex-con and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes awry.

Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Sally Struthers

Votes: 35,699 | Gross: $36.73M

94. The Godfather (1972)

R | 175 min | Crime, Drama

100 Metascore

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton

Votes: 2,013,217 | Gross: $134.97M

95. The Hot Rock (1972)

PG | 101 min | Action, Comedy, Crime

65 Metascore

Dortmunder and his pals plan to steal a huge diamond from a museum. But this turns out to be only the first time they have to steal it...

Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman, Paul Sand

Votes: 6,946 | Gross: $2.54M

96. The Mechanic (1972)

PG | 100 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

51 Metascore

An aging hitman befriends a young man who wants to be a professional killer. Eventually it becomes clear that someone has betrayed them.

Director: Michael Winner | Stars: Charles Bronson, Jan-Michael Vincent, Keenan Wynn, Jill Ireland

Votes: 15,756 | Gross: $7.30M

97. Charley Varrick (1973)

PG | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

76 Metascore

A man, his wife and their friend stage a bloody bank robbery without realizing they are stealing from the Mob.

Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Felicia Farr, Andrew Robinson

Votes: 14,125

98. Executive Action (1973)

PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama, History

Rogue intelligence agents, right-wing politicians, greedy capitalists, and free-lance assassins plot and carry out the JFK assassination.

Director: David Miller | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Will Geer, Gilbert Green

Votes: 3,245

99. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

R | 102 min | Crime, Drama

84 Metascore

After his last crime has him looking at a long prison sentence for repeat offenses, a low level Boston gangster decides to snitch on his friends to avoid jail time.

Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, Steven Keats

Votes: 12,203

100. The Long Goodbye (1973)

R | 112 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

87 Metascore

Private investigator Philip Marlowe helps a friend out of a jam, but in doing so gets implicated in his wife's murder.

Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell

Votes: 37,296 | Gross: $0.96M



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