1. The Godfather trilogy 2. Goodfellas 3. A Bronx Tale 4. Scarface (the 1932 original starring Paul Muni) 5. On the Waterfront (Marlon Brando) 6. The Roaring Twenties (James Cagney) 7. Little Caesar (Edward G. Robinson) 8. Angels with Dirty Faces (James Cagney, Pat O'Brien) 9. Casino 10. The Brotherhood (Kirk Douglas) 11. Mean Streets (Harvey Keitel, Robert DeNiro) 12. White Heat (James Cagney) 13. Valachi Papers 14. The St. Valentines Day Massacre (Jason Robards) 15. Honor Thy Father
If you have another choice you feel ranks alongside these classics, by all means please list it.
PS: I add a few suggested at the bottom I thought should rank as well.
Sorry for the misunderstanding. The Godfather is by far,the greatest Mob movie ever,hands down,no contest. The original post asked if we had another choice that ranked among the other movies listed. Given some of the picks (Angels with Dirty Faces,Little Caesar,etc),I was just throwing in another title that I thought was on a par with the others.
Last edited by Lou_Para; 04/16/2210:33 PM.
Re: What was the greatest mob movie of all time?
[Re: Lou_Para]
#1032977 04/17/2201:50 AM04/17/2201:50 AM
I'll add: "Al Capone," basically a B-movie but with an electrifying performance by Rod Steiger in the title role. He was hands-down the best of all the movie Capones and Capone-like characters. "The Brotherhood," a much-underrated Mob movie with Kirk Douglas very good as an old-fashioned Sicilian-American Don struggling--fatally--with the modern Mob and his own wannabe younger brother "Honor thy Father," a TV movie based on the Gay Talese book about Bill Bonanno and faher Joe, with four memorable performances by Joseph Bologna, Brenda Vaccaro, Raf Vallone and Richard Castellano. The script mercifully omits all the "man of honor" BS that Bill Bonanno loaded on Talese in the book.
Though it is not a Mob movie per se, "White Heat" is the greatest gangster movie ever made. James Cagney at his most forceful as Cody Jared, psychopatic killer and leader of a gang of payroll robbers.
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu, E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu... E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
Re: What was the greatest mob movie of all time?
[Re: Turnbull]
#1032986 04/17/2204:56 AM04/17/2204:56 AM
I'll add: "Al Capone," basically a B-movie but with an electrifying performance by Rod Steiger in the title role. He was hands-down the best of all the movie Capones and Capone-like characters. "The Brotherhood," a much-underrated Mob movie with Kirk Douglas very good as an old-fashioned Sicilian-American Don struggling--fatally--with the modern Mob and his own wannabe younger brother "Honor thy Father," a TV movie based on the Gay Talese book about Bill Bonanno and faher Joe, with four memorable performances by Joseph Bologna, Brenda Vaccaro, Raf Vallone and Richard Castellano. The script mercifully omits all the "man of honor" BS that Bill Bonanno loaded on Talese in the book.
Though it is not a Mob movie per se, "White Heat" is the greatest gangster movie ever made. James Cagney at his most forceful as Cody Jared, psychopatic killer and leader of a gang of payroll robbers.
Bravo! Turnbull.....I forgot about all those classics when making this list. Rod Steiger played the part very well although as you say the movie Al Capone itself wasn't a great work. "The Brotherhood" with Kirk Douglas was a great movie. I saw it as a teenager when it was first released back in the 1960s (68' I think). Loved it.
Telese's "Honor Thy Father" was not great IMO but a major mob movie and worth watching nonetheless. And yes, "White Heat" w/Cagney was great. Where he screams out at the end, "Top of the world Ma, Top of the World" Lol (also the part where he puts the guy in the trunk and then plugs the trunk full of holes). Lol
Arguably, while it may not be "the greatest," I always have a soft spot for Scorsese's Mean Streets.
For me, it's sorta the Anti-Godfather. Keitel was the star, but DeNiro steals the film.
And the fight in the pool hall is a classic. ("What's a mook?")
Signor V.
BINGO!!! A great movie. Simply great! I remember my friends and I took the subway to 42nd Street in Manhattan to see it as soon as it came out. All the guys were saying how this was so realistic and a real depiction of our neighborhoods. (and it was). Very gritty and real. No fluff. No BS. No Hollywood schtick. Just the real deal. They even had a few neighborhood guys actually cast in the movie. When we watched it we were crying laughing because they had these average guys from Mulberry Street neighborhood in it. Lol. That was all Scorsese, because he actually came from Downtown New York.
I don't know how I forgot that one (I must be getting old) Lol. So a great addition! Bravo!
"Mean Streets" is a must see for everyone! It was made around 1972-73 if memory serves me.
A lot of "mob" movies aren't really mob movies at all, many just have a sort of mob theme or "feel" about them. A movie with just one or two mob guys or connected guys throughout the film doesn't qualify as a mob movie. But sure, I suppose they could be added to the genre.
Re: What was the greatest mob movie of all time?
[Re: NYMafia]
#1032999 04/17/2210:26 AM04/17/2210:26 AM
I do rate the gravano film " witness to the mob". Goodfellas is the best,though. It's more realistic of mob life than the godfathers. Shows how lowlife a lot of the mob really is. Whereas the godfathers makes it seem glamorous and noble, in parts. Little Caesar is best of old ones.
Re: What was the greatest mob movie of all time?
[Re: NYMafia]
#1033004 04/17/2202:14 PM04/17/2202:14 PM
To me Goodfellas is more low-level mob stuff, street-level rackets. I mean most people in the movie weren't in the Mafia, fringe associates. It didn't show the true business of Cosa Nostra, infiltrating different industries and taking over labor unions. The robbery, hijacking, and insurance fraud shit is associate stuff, soldier at best. I think it's a great movie if you want to see what mob life is at a street level.
Last edited by Liggio; 04/17/2204:41 PM.
Re: What was the greatest mob movie of all time?
[Re: NYMafia]
#1033028 04/18/2201:16 AM04/18/2201:16 AM
Godfather 1, number Godfather 2 is good, but not as great as the first. Many 1930's movies were great, like the ones with Bogart, Garfield, and Cagney. There is an old interview with Scorsese, where he states that Mean Streets, while it has a hint of mob elements to it, is actually a character study of different types of neighborhood people he grew up with.
Re: What was the greatest mob movie of all time?
[Re: NYMafia]
#1033039 04/18/2211:57 AM04/18/2211:57 AM
1.) Goodfellas 2.)Godfather 3.) Godfater II 4.) Casino 5.) Gotti (HBO 1996 version) 6.) Donnie Brasco 7.) Bronx Tale 8.) Mean Streets 9.) Pope of Greenwich Village 10.) The Irishman (aware its highly inaccurate, but if you can look past that i thought the story was good)
Not sure if you can count Raging Bull as its not necessarily a mob movie, but there's certainly a mob aspect. If that counts, I'd put that top 5.
Re: What was the greatest mob movie of all time?
[Re: NYMafia]
#1033108 04/19/2206:23 PM04/19/2206:23 PM
Most mob movies suck in my opinion, even the good ones hardly hit their mark, especially when compared to the books they're based on. Almost every time I watch one I feel like something's missing or it could've been better.
Re: What was the greatest mob movie of all time?
[Re: NYMafia]
#1033136 04/19/2209:49 PM04/19/2209:49 PM
Forrest Whiticker made a strange movie called Ghost Dog, about a Black man he plays who hangs out in Philly, and gets involved with a Mafia member. Very wierd movie, but I liked it The Mafia men are portrayed a bit bizarrely. Henry Silva plays the mob boss.
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