The 15 Best Mafia Movies of All Time
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
Movies have often romanticized gunslingers, bank robbers, and wise guys, feeding into our fascination with individuals living outside the law. Crime stories predate cinema itself, in fact, and then when moving pictures started up they were one of the first viable genres. For those looking to take in a wicked world full of steely individuals, creating their own rules, adhering to their own code, then we’ve got a big best o’ the best mob movies list for you.
Organized crime is very much a 20th Century invention so it makes sense that movies would saddle up to the topic and run parallel with the growth of mob syndicates all over the country. A few filmmakers — like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese — became synonymous with the topic because of their legendary handling of the genre while other esteemed directors tried their hand at helming mafia projects, with some extraordinary results.
In the list below you’ll find everything from historical mobsters and the real life cops on their tail to wonderful works of fiction meant to dazzle and delight. Along with directors like David Cronenberg, Brian De Palma, Ridley Scott, the Coens, and, of course, Scorsese and Coppola. Check out the 15 Best Mob Movies ever!
Goodfellas (1990)
Where to Watch: Tubi (w/ adds), or rentable on most platforms.
We’ll kick things off big here with Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, which has been, for 30 years, a heavy favorite for the best mob movie of all time (or at least best non-Godfather mob movie). Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, and Joe Pesci (who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar) headline this amazing, blood-soaked look at the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill (Liotta), over the course of decades. Based on the biography of Hill, Wise Guy, by Nicholas Pileggi, Goodfellas is some of the best work by everyone involved, using Scorsese and De Niro’s already iconic status to make “made men” out of Liotta and Pesci.
Donnie Brasco (1997)
Where to Watch: Netflix, Fubo, or rentable on most platforms.
Another true mafia story here, this time from British director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), Donnie Brasco immerses us in the chaotic life of an FBI agent embedded deep undercover in the Bonanno crime family. Johnny Depp plays the Agent Pistone — underworld name “Donnie Brasco” — while Al Pacino delivers a slight left turn of a performance as a low-level, past-his-prime enforcer, Lefty, who unwittingly brings Pistone into the fold. Based on Pistone’s own autobiography, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia, the film offers up a version that is cool and compelling while also showcasing a different vibe from most other mob films.
A Most Violent Year (2014)
Where to Watch: Max, or rentable on most platforms.
A more modern entry here, and somewhat of a sleeper participant, is A Most Violent Year, starring Oscar Isaacs and Jessica Chastain. Like Donnie Brasco, it presents us with a protagonist who’s mob-adjacent, as Isaacs trucking company owner Abel Morales tries to do his best to navigate his chaotic and corrupt surroundings during 1981, New York City’s most violent and crime-riddled year in history. Abel attempts to remain a moral person in a fiercely immoral business and A Most Violent Year — which also stars David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola, and Albert Brooks — is a thought-provoking thriller that creates a terrific time-capsule of turmoil.
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
Where to Watch: Rentable on most platforms.
During the same year as Goodfellas, the Coen brothers also gave us a superb, yet wholly different, take on organized crime, whisking us back to the Prohibition-era for a stylized, film noir-ish look at the Irish mob and an angsty lieutenant, Tom (Gabriel Byrne), who plays both sides of a mafia war. It’s heightened dialogue, stylish sequences, and riveting performances helped make Byrne a name in the States while also jump-starting the career of Miller’s Crossing (who would top-line the Coens’ next film, Barton Fink). Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden, and Steve Buscemi also star.
Casino (1995)
Where to Watch: Peacock, or rentable on most platforms.
Ah yes, another Scorsese classic on the list (and not the last) as Goodfellas’ De Niro and Pesci reunited for Casino, based on another nonfiction book by Nicholas Pileggi, Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. This time the stars’ characters are “based on” real life people, as De Niro’s Ace is based on casino owner Lefty Rosenthal and Pesci’s Nicky on enforcer Tony Spilotro. Casino is an epic, featuring the two leads at peak performance as they journey from being partners to becoming adversaries. Sharon Stone, as the former dancer helping splinter them apart, earned an Oscar nomination. Being Scorsese’s “mob movie” follow up to Goodfellas — with Cape Fear and The Age of Innocence in between — Casino was met with obvious comparisons at the time but it’s more than capable of standing, and standing tall, on its own.
City of God (2002)
Where to Watch: Paramount+, Fubo, or rentable on most platforms.
Stepping outside American cinema here, City of God is a tour de force Brazilian crime drama that spans decades, displaying the growth of organized crime in the Cidade De Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro, between 1960s and the 1980s. Loosely based on real events, City of God is a shocking look at the violence of the era, given a more authentic flare due to most of the cast not being actual experienced actors, but instead residents from actual low-income neighborhoods near Rio. Directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, the film also spawned a spin-off TV series, City Of Men (and a film adaptation of that six season series).
Read IGN’s review of City of God here.
The Untouchables (1987)
Where to Watch: Prime Video, Paramount+, Fubo, or rentable on most platforms.
The crowd-pleasing, slightly comic-booky Brian De Palma hit The Untouchables dropped us in 1930s Chicago for famed crime-buster Eliot Ness’ (Kevin Costner) violent campaign to take down equally famous gangland kingpin Al Capone (Robert De Niro). Nothing is played subtly in this slick shoot-em-up as Ness forms his brigade of incorruptible lawmen, the “untouchables,” to go after the seemingly-invulnerable Capone. Sean Connery won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor here as a veteran police officer who’s convinced to join the fight despite so many of his fellow officers being on Capone’s payroll.
The Departed (2006)
Where to Watch: Rentable on most platforms.
A remake of 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, Martin Scorsese’s The Departed was reworked to fit around real life Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger and two cops from separate sides of the city — one on the rise in the force as a mole for Bulger (Matt Damon) and the other a deep undercover operative in Bulger’s own ranks (Leonardo DiCaprio). Each of them is tasked with uncovering the identity of the other, all while Bulger (Jack Nicholson) is suspiciously two steps ahead of everyone. It’s a labyrinthine ensemble film with teeth, heart, and humor. Also starring Vera Farmiga, Mark Wahlberg (who got an Oscar nomination), Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, and Ray Winstone.
Read IGN’s review of The Departed here.
Eastern Promises (2007)
Where to Watch: Max, or rentable on most platforms.
During the 2000’s, not only was Viggo Mortensen saving Middle Earth’s ass as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy but he was also the muse for director David Cronenberg, becoming his lead for two back-to-back crime films – A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Both of which, honestly, could be on this list. To tighten things up though, we’ve chosen only one of the Viggo/Cronenberg flicks, Eastern Promises, in which a Russian mob enforcer in London (Mortenson) must navigate the tricky waters between his boss (Armin Mueller-Stahl), the boss’ unhinged son (Vincent Cassel), and a midwife desperate to protect a baby (Naomi Watts). Again, it could have been either flicks on here but only one of them has a naked and brutal bathhouse knife fight.
Read IGN’s review of Eastern Promises here.
The Godfather (1972)
Where to Watch: Paramount+, or rentable on most platforms.
Here we go. Considered by many fans to be the best mob movie ever made (though some also favor Part II), Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather was a game-changer for the genre. Starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Diane Keaton, The Godfather, based on the novel by Mario Puzo, broke box office records and became the biggest film of 1972. One of the most stunning and influential movies ever, it chronicles the Corleone crime family under patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando) and the frightening transformation of his youngest son, Michael (Pacino), as he changes from reluctant family outsider to ruthless heir willing to become a mob boss.
The Godfather II (1974)
Where to Watch: Paramount+, or rentable on most platforms.
Whoops, not so fast, first Godfather film. You’ve got direct competition for Number One Mob Movie from your sequel, The Godfather Part II, which is also part prequel, picks things up with Al Pacino’s Michael as the new Don of the Corleone family as he deals with an attempt on his life that reveals a traitor close to him while a separate parallel story tracks the journey of his father, Vito (Robert De Niro), from his traumatic Sicilian childhood to arriving in America and founding his mafia crime syndicate in New York. Also starring Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and John Cazale.
Road to Perdition (2002)
Where to Watch: Fubo, Showtime apps/add-ons, or rentable on most platforms.
Unlikely elements combined perfectly for this unique mobster flick, based on a graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner, as Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig and a young Tyler Hoechlin joined British director/writer Sam Mendes (Skyfall, 1917) for the 1931 story of an Irish mob enforcer, Michael Sullivan, (Hanks) and his son (Hoechlin) who go on the run after his boss’ jealous son (Craig) has the rest of their family killed. It’s a revenge odyssey as well as a father/son road trip featuring a few stars nicely playing against type. Road to Perdition is beautiful and brutal, unfolding in many ways like the pages and panels of a comic.
Read IGN’s review of Road to Perdition here.
Scarface (1932)
Where to Watch: Rentable on most platforms.
You can always also watch Brian De Palma’s 1983 remake of this film, with Al Pacino playing a Cuban refugee-turned-drug kingpin, but for the purposes of exploring early cinema let’s take it back to the Howard Hawks’ original, which is inspired by the rise of Al Capone in Chicago. Battling censors to get its way to the screen, the pre-Hays Code Scarface features Paul Muni as Tony Camonte, a gangster who rises up through the Chicago mob ranks and falls in love with his boss’ mistress. With stylish visuals and gripping violence, Scarface stands the test of time, blending historical significance with mob genre excellence. Even Capone himself liked the film.
The Irishmen (2019)
Where to Watch: Netflix
Sorry not sorry about a fourth Scorsese filmmaking the list bit The Irishman, which was made for Netflix, is a superb achievement, existing now perhaps as the Unforgiven of mafia movies due to its themes of regret, exile, and loneliness. Genre heavyweights Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci returned to the family fold for this epic about a truck driver (De Niro) who becomes a hitman for a mobster (Pesci) and his crime family, and their time working for the famed (body never found) Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino). Based on the 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, The Irishman explores the unglorified cost of mafia life in ways we previously hadn’t seen. We’re so used to mobsters meeting violent ends in movies that it’s hard to imagine them fading away as sad old men. Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Jesse Plemons, and Harvey Keitel also star.
Read IGN’s review of The Irishman here.
American Gangster (2007)
Where to Watch: Peacock, or rentable on most platforms.
Ridley Scott threw his hat into the organized crime ring with American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington and longtime Scott collaborator Russell Crowe, about the criminal career of Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas. As Lucas (Washington) uses the Vietnam War as a method for smuggling heroin into America, Newark Detective Richie Roberts (Crowe) leads a task force to take him down. With two exceptional performances from its leads, American Gangster is an intelligent, stirring spectacle. Josh Brolin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ruby Dee, Ted Levine, and Cuba Gooding Jr. also star.
Read IGN’s review of American Gangster here.
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