A gutsy 30s gangster noir with two 'hood boys whose paths into adulthood are a complete contrast; Cagney becoming a violent gangster and O'Brien a priest. O'Brien has to fight the local kids' hero-worship of Cagney, and this leads to an emotional and ambiguous climax. Tense, dramatic, well-acted with sharp dialogue. Astounding. find out more...

Brilliant noirish adaptation of Graham Greene's gritty novel with Attenborough superb as the psychopathic Pinky, a small time gangster and violent hood, who marries a witness to one of his crimes to keep her quiet. Disturbingly good. find out more...

Phyllis Dietrichson is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man who inspires in her nothing but contempt, but rather than leave him Phyllis decides to kill him and collect on the insurance policy she's had set up with the help of her lover, and naive partner in crime, insurance salesman Walter Neff. The only flaws in their plan are the company's reluctance to pay out so much, the diligence of Neff's increasingly suspicious colleague, (and his 'little man'), and the exemplary ruthlessness of Ph find out more...

A seminal 1940s film noir about two brothers trapped in a world of mob corruption and realising too late their unavoidable doom. Force of Evil is a strikingly original example of the genre, dripping in atmosphere and conveying in every word and image a sense of dread. Both the director and the star were blacklisted by the McCarthyite witch-hunts, a situation that obviously influenced their work during the film. Superb. find out more...

Gena Rowlands, winning an Oscar nomination, is typically superb as the tough talking New York moll - half-whore, half-mother - reluctantly lumbered with a child the Mafia want dead. Tired of running, Gloria decides to confront the gangsters head on... A superb noirish thriller. find out more...

Irish Sicilian Henry Hill always wanted to be a gangster and from running errands as a small boy, he graduates to becoming a trusted member of the "family". A stunning, violent and essential portrait of the Mafia's intimate details. An award winning film, superbly crafted by Scorsese. find out more...

High Sierra follows a failed robber broken out of prison by an old associate, who takes part in a failed robbery in which a man is killed, and makes a getaway into the Sierra mountains for a final doomed stand. find out more...

Two classic Bogart films for the price of one! High Sierra follows a failed robber broken out of prison by an old associate, who takes part in a failed robbery in which a man is killed, and makes a getaway into the Sierra mountains for a final doomed stand. Treasure of the Sierra Madre; 'Gold does funny things to a man's soul'. That's the issue tackled by this seminal movie about the pursuit of money and its effect on the brotherhood of man. Bogart plays the down-and-out Dobbs who hooks up with find out more...

Two-time loser Nick Bianco is caught during an armed robbery and pressured to squeal on his cohorts. Nick refuses and does time, but after his wife commits suicide and his daughters are put in an orphanage, he relents and agrees to work for the prosecutor. He gets paroled and straightens out his life, but when psychopathic killer Tommy Udo, a nasty little creep with wild eyes and a high-pitched laugh, is released, he's out to get even with Nick. find out more...

Melville's masterful take on the American crime thriller perfectly combines the Hollywood gangster film with his uniquely French style. Alain Delon as a master thief, Yves Montand as an alcoholic ex-cop and Gian-Maria Volonte as an escaped criminal plot a daring heist of an upmarket Parisian jewellery store against impossible odds. find out more...