An all time classic 60s movie glamourising the real life story of the Barrow gang who terrorised the American South in the early 30s. 'Reclaiming the American gangster movie, after it had been stolen by the Nouvelle Vague, Penn's film was so successful (and so imitated) that it inevitably met with some grudging devaluation. But it's still great, half comic fairytale, half brutal fact, it reflects the essential ambiguity of its heroes by treading a no man's land suspended between reality and fant find out more...

One of the classic thrillers of the late sixties as a copper is assigned to protect a key state witness in a gangster trial. When the witness is killed the hunt is on for who knew where he was. A tense action packed thriller with one of the great car chases of all time. 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...

Chucked out of Cuba as an undesirable by Castro a small time crook claws his way to the top in the Miami cocaine trade. A megolamaniac rise in a twisted version of the American dream. Very violent, foul mouthed and bloody - a telling parable for the 80s. find out more...

The fact that this highly successful hip movie attracted attention because the hero, and much of the cast, was black, then a ground-breaking event in American film, shouldn't distract from the fact that it was also a high quality private eye flick with a great music score from Isaac Hayes. With some of the most amazing flared trousers to ever be seen the film now looks a classic period piece. To be watched. find out more...

The classic heist movie, adapted from WR Burnett's novel. A tense, satisfyingly objective study of a gang of hardened villains who fall apart after attempting an ambitious robbery. Sounds familiar? Much imitated but never equalled, this is one of the late John Huston's finest accomplishments. find out more...

The famous drugs thriller as Gene Hackman plays the cop determined to fix the Marseille based heroin runners once and for all. An action-packed movie full of murders, car chases and everything else a good thriller should have - making it one of the classics and a yardstick for others since. Won Best Picture at 1971 Academy Awards. find out more...

Cagney's original gangster performance, he plays Powers, a big time mobster on the up and up. The film's impact derives from its acknowledgement of crime as partly due to poor social conditions, rather than the product of evil individuals. Cagney's role installed him as the definitive gangster hero. find out more...

Al Capone and the Chicago gangsters versus Elliot Ness and the incorruptable men of his special task force, all set against a brilliantly re-created period background. Very much a traditional gangster movie, good guys are very good and the bad guys, especialy De Niro as Capone, are very bad. find out more...

Superbly edgy gangster movie with Cagney on top form as the mother-fixated hoodlum who confesses to a robbery to avoid paying the price for the murders he really did commit. But when news reaches his cell that his beloved Ma is dead, his already flaky mind becomes totally, and fatally, unhinged. find out more...