Top 20 Gangsters

Continuing our run down of cinema’s greatest gangsters, here’s numbers 10 to one. Let us know what you reckon in the comments section. If you missed it, check out numbers 20 to 11.

gang.ster n
a member of an organized gang of criminals, especially a racketeer.

rack.et.eer n
somebody who makes money from illegal activities such as bribery, fraud, or intimidation.

10. Once Upon a Time in America – Robert DeNiro (as David ‘Noodles’ Aaronson)
This is what happens when the master of shoot-’em-ups, Sergio Leone, decides he wants to make a gangster film. All hell breaks loose. And with Robert DeNiro at the helm of the project, could this film have ever been anything other than perfect?

9. Donnie Brasco – Johnny Depp (as Donnie Brasco)
For a film to portray a genuine life-story of such a figurehead of the FBI, Johnny Depp needed to be first-rate at his job. In my eyes, the man can do no wrong. Even when it means he crosses the divide from ‘good guy’ to ‘bad guy’. He becomes a gangster, but one who retains the morals from his previous life.

8. City of God – Leandro Firmino (as Lil Ze)
Perhaps an unlikely choice for the eighth position on our list, Lil Ze is a prime example of all things gangster. And to make things more deplorable, he is just a kid. Utterly callous to the end, Lil Ze delights in wreaking havoc and soaking up the atmosphere of the blood-stained Brazilian streets he is in part responsible for.

7. The Sopranos – James Gandolfini (as Tony Soprano)
Though not technically from the film world, a list of top gangsters couldn’t really be completed without an appearance from Tony Soprano, one of the most powerful men to grace our TV screens in recent years.

6. Get Carter – Michael Caine (as Jack Carter)
Quite possibly Michael Caine’s finest hour. His portrayal of Newcastle-born gangster Jack Carter gets him on the list simply because he embodies the quintessential British anti-hero of his time.

5. Goodfellas – Ray Liotta (as Henry Hill)
Ray Liotta as a criminal mastermind; an instantly chilling premise for a film. New Yorker Scorsese reworked the gangster genre for the next generation of moviegoers, and continues to do so fruitfully (see no. 12).

4. The Godfather: Part II – Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino (as Vito and Don Michael Corleone)
Hailed by most as being better than the first and third in the trilogy, The Godfather: Part II boasts one of the most memorable father and son onscreen duos, with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino taking the continued story of The Godfather to an even more severe level of cold-blooded brutality.

3. Gangster No. 1 – Malcolm McDowell (as Gangster 55)
One of the finest, most prominent and bloodthirsty criminals from British film history. No one wants to mess with Malcolm McDowell.

2. Scarface (1932) – Paul Muni (as Tony Camonte)
The true mobster; a possessive, merciless man whose most crucial personality trait is his cowardice in the face of defeat. An iconic final sequence that firmly placed organised criminality in the limelight for decades to come.

1. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – Brad Pitt (as Jesse James)
A true gangster in every sense: ruthless, fearless, crime lord of the gang who were responsible for so many of the great train robberies of their era. Jesse James and his posse were murderous, thieving men who thrived on the kicks of organised crime. What more could you want from a gangster?

Top 20 Gangsters (text) by Laura Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.