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THE
TOP 5
PROJECT

WEEK NO. EIGHTEEN
Main Page (including links to all past Top 5 weeks)

THE TOP 5 GANGSTER FILMS:

view full results       see how points are awarded
Rank Film Points L #1
#1 The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) 64 15 8
#2 Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990) 40 11 3
#3 The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) 32 11 2
#4 Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984) 25 7 3
#5 White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949) 19 6 1
L=How many lists each film appears on             #1=How many number one votes each film recieves

Not that it came as any sort of surprise, but the winner this week is (of course) The Godfather, with a record setting 64 points. Personally it wasn't my choice (second place was) but it was the definate runaway winner of the week. Which is also timely, as this week-end is the annivesary of the birthday of the late great John Cazale ("Never take sides against the family again Fredo.").

Number two came as no surprise either, as Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas came in with 40 points, followed by The Godfather: Part II with 32 points. There were two votes for The Godfather I and II together and even a vote for the entire trilogy (number III ??), but after the votes and points were calculated, the first film won hands down. Coming in third was Sergio Leone's final film, Once Upon a Time in America with 25 points. Have you noticed that three of the top four star Robert DeNiro ?? Anyway, fifth place went to Raoul Walsh's White Heat with 19 points. Just missing out, recieving the "sixth man award" (for those basketball fans out there) was QT's Pulp Fiction with 14 points.

All films voted for can be seen if you click on "view full results" and all individual lists can be seen if you scane down just a few more inches. We'll see you next week to help celebrate Alfred Hitchcock's birthday, with the Top 5 Hitchcock Films.

Individual lists:

Albert H. Muth
Auteurophile

  1. Once Upon a Time in America (Segio Leone, 1984)

  2. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  3. Goodfellas (Martin Scorse, 1990)

  4. The Godfather II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

  5. The Limey (Steven Soderbergh, 1998)



Kent Jones
Editor-at-Large, Film Comment

(in chronological order)

  • The Musketeers of Pig Alley (D.W. Griffith, 1912)

  • Regeneration (Raoul Walsh, 1915)

  • The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh, 1939)

  • Le Samouraļ (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967)

  • Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

I guess this should be much longer - there are many other movies, most of which are so well known that they don't bear repeating. I'll only add that ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA seems to me less of a "gangster picture" than a movie about a certain type of American dreaming, and that the GODFATHER movies are more about families and family ties than they are about gangsters.


David Sterritt
Chairman, National Society of Film Critics

  1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppla, 1972) - Francis Ford Coppla revised and revitalized the genre in what remains one of his greatest films. Make this a tie with "The Godfather Part II," but not with the ill-starred "Part III," which just didn't come together, did it?

  2. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990) - Martin Scorsese had sketched this movie's territory in "Mean Streets," and here he maps it with passionate precision. Make this a tie with "Casino," an underrated film that's as close to a Wagernian gesamtkunstwerk as any picture I can think of.

  3. White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949) - Indelible: the prison dining-table scene, Cagney sitting on mommy's lap, the "top of the world" finale....A true classic, and arguably Raoul Walsh's greatest film.

  4. Le Samouraļ (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967) - The focus is on one man so this isn't exactly a *gang*ster film, but Jean-Pierre Melville's directing and Alain Delon's acting make this one of France's finest existential thrillers.

  5. The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, 1956) - Stanley Kubrick's first masterpiece still packs a mighty wallop today. Ingenious from start to finish.



David Ehrenstein
Film Critic & Entertainment Writer

Author, Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-1998

  1. Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995) - Goodfellas was just a warming-up exercise.

  2. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) - "He was some kind of man. What does it matter what you say about people?"

  3. White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949) - "Made it Ma -- Top of the World!"

  4. Le Doulos (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1962) - Belmondo at his coolest. Melville at his least fancy.

  5. Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967) - Pure essence of Lee Marvin. And 15 minutes of music from the great Johnny Manel.



Jeffrey M. Anderson
Film Critic & Freelance Entertainment Writer
San Francisco Examiner, Las Vegas Weekly, Oakland Tribune

  1. Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932) - Howard Hawks' sparkling diamond of early talkie cinema seems to be the forgotten missing link between luminous and justly celebrated masterworks "Sunrise" (1927) and "The Informer" (1935). Sure, it's a great gangster story, but Hawks' visual design (loaded with symbolic "X's") gives it a landmark poetry unequalled for decades.

  2. Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995) - There's no question that Scorsese is the master of the modern gangster classic (snatching the crown from Coppola), so it's only a matter of choosing. Most say "GoodFellas," but I like the opulent sprawl of this follow-up, matching the gaudy splendor of Vegas itself.

  3. Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano, 1993) - Kitano proves that gangsters can spend a half-hour sitting on the beach and still drive home an engaging movie.

  4. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984) - Leone's melancholy epic dwells on vivid memories plucked out of a hazy passing of the years.

  5. The Godfather Trilogy (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, 74, 90) - Parts One and Two are a given, but poor Part III should also get its due. It's a necessary coda, taking place at the end of the road, with all the glory sucked dry from this flawed, fractured family.

Runners up: A History of Violence (2005, David Cronenberg), White Heat (1949, Raoul Walsh), King of New York (1990, Abel Ferrara), Miller's Crossing (1990, Joel Coen), True Romance (1993, Tony Scott)


Christopher Null
Founder, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Filmcritic.com

  1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  2. White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949)

  3. Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931)

  4. Scarface (Brian De Palma, 1983)

  5. Bound (Wachowski Bros, 1996)



Erik Childress
Film Critic, efilmcritic.com

  1. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

  2. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  3. Miller's Crossing (Joel Coen, 1990)

  4. Donnie Brasco (Mike Newell, 1997)

  5. White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949)



Kelley Baker
Filmmaker

  1. White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949) - James Cagney's acting is first rate.

  2. Long Good Friday (John Mackenzie, 1980) - I love the combination of Irish Gangsters and the IRA. Another great role for Bob Hoskins.

  3. The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953) - What can I say, I am a Lang fan.

  4. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch, 1999) - I love the combination of lower end mob guys listening to rap and hip hop, combined with the ways of the Samurai. Forest Whittaker is amazing and the sound track is mesmerizing. Some good laughs as well.

  5. The General (John Boorman, 1998) - There was something about this movie that continues to stay with me. One of Boorman's best.

Honorable Mention: They Live By Night, Stormy Monday and Pete Kelly's Blues (I mean what is not to like about Jack Webb as a down and out horn player in a mob run club. He is still stiff as hell!).


J.E. Snavely
Home Theatre Cinephile

  1. The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) - The film that spawned hundreds of gangster/mafia films, all of which are pale reflections of this masterpiece. The sequel (and prequel) that surpasses the original! Unfortunately, there is no acceptable quality DVD available: the current Paramount disc contains a weak, soft, grainy anamorphic transfer with minor artifacting and poor black levels. The original suffers the same fate on DVD. One of the greatest films of the 20th century has been raped by Paramount. Bastards.

  2. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959) - A parody of the gangster genre but what a film! One of the funniest movies I've ever seen. And it has Marilyn Monroe. You must go to the store now and buy this DVD because MGM just released a 2-disc remastered version. (If you own the older version that was released a few years ago please discard and buy this disc!) The 2-disc version is anamorphic, has sharper and cleaner detail, and correct black levels (important for black & white films on DVD. Just watch Woody Allen's Manhatten on DVD for comparison; it's way too dark and shadowy). The second disc contains a ton of extras. Did I mention Marilyn Monroe?

  3. Miller's Crossing (Joel Cohen, 1990) - The tag line for this film says it all: Up is down, black is white, and nothing is what it seems. My favorite Cohen Brothers film showcases their intelligent, devious sense of humor, eye for character devolopment and period detail. 20th Century Fox has released an acceptable (not exceptional) single disc with a generally nice anamorphic transfer with only bits of dirt and dust evident from the print. The sound is mixed in the original DD 4.0 surround which is clean and free from "noise".

  4. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) - I took my wife to see this film on our first date. I had already seen it once (which was unknown to her) and figured if she hated it or found it offensive we weren't meant for each other. When she laughed at the foot massage-oral sex dialogue I fell in love forever. Unfortunaetly, the two best DVDs are the French Region-2 disc from Wild Side Video that has burnt in english subtitles and the Dutch Region-2 RCV release. I've never seen either R-2 disc but the Miramax CE disc is a bit soft and dark at times. The DTS soundtrack will shake your walls.

  5. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) - One of the first films that romanticized the bad guys (and girls) amid the brutal violence and bloodshed. A puckish sense of humor courses through this film until the very end. This desperatly needs re-released on DVD; the current Warner disc is unwatchable.



Peter Sobczynski
Film Critic, eFilmCritic.com

  1. GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

  2. The Godfather Trilogy (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, 74, 90)

  3. White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949)

  4. The Untouchables (Brian De Palma, 1987)

  5. Millers Crossing (Joel Coen, 1990)

There are many other titles that I would have put on this list if space permitted (Public Enemy, Little Caesar, Reservoir Dogs, both versions of Scarface and King of New York, to name only a few) but one has been left off only because it was a television series--the Michael Mann-produced masterpiece "Crime Story"


Eric Enders
Film Critic, Out There in the Dark

  1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  2. On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)

  3. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)

  4. The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

  5. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)



Film Prophet
Film Critic, FilmProphet.com

  1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  2. City of God (Fernando Meirelles, 2002)

  3. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

  4. The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

  5. A Bronx Tale (Robert DeNiro, 1993)



Michael Parent
Film Student

  1. The Godfather Part 1 and 2 (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972-74) - I prefer the stucture and the narration of the Part 2 but the first Part is quite amazing too. The mob is showed by the Corleone family with the most brilliant actors of the time. Everything is perfect and well done.

  2. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990) - This is one of my favorites Film from Scorsese and one of his best achievments on every level of his art.

  3. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) - This is the movie that brought me into Gangsters movie and great directors. I was 11 when I first saw this movie and from that moment Pulp Fiction was on my Top 10 has today it's still on it.The narration and the writing of QT is quite unique.

  4. Once Upon A Time In America (Sergio Leone, 1984) - Gangsters + Robert De Niro + NYC + Leone = Once Upon A Time In America All the ingredients are there for a masterpiece of gangsters movies.

  5. Miller's Crossing (Joel Coen, 1990) - The Coen Brothers proved they have their own unique style and signature. In this Gangster movie their writing and directing style are at their best.

Runners Up: Scarface / Carlito's Way (Brian DePalma), Reservoir Dogs / Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino), Fargo (Joel Coen), The Killing (Stanley Kubrick), L4yer Cake (Matthew Vaughn), Ghost Dog (Jim Jarmusch), Casino / Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese), The Good Thief (Neil Jordan)


Adam Trovillion
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  2. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

  3. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  4. The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, 1956)

  5. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)



Jeff Cardarelli
Film Enthusiast

  1. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  2. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  3. Assault on Precinct 13 (John Carpenter, 1976)

  4. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)

  5. The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

Runner-Up: Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)


Matt Severson
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  2. The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

  3. Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973)

  4. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

  5. Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932)



Kevin Cassidy
Film Enthusiast

  1. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  2. Detective Bureau 2-3, Go to Hell Bastards (Sejin Suzuki, 1963)

  3. Dragnet Girl (Yasujiro Ozu, 1933)

  4. Millers Crossing (Joel Coen, 1990)

  5. Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932)



Billy Wilson
Film Enthusiast

  1. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

  2. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  3. Scarface (Brian De Palma, 1983)

  4. The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

  5. Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)



Chris Cathcart
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  2. The Godfather II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

  3. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  4. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

  5. Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995)



Andrew Horbal
Film Enthusiast

I'm just a bit shocked that I'm omitting Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai, my first true love in the Gangster genre (such as it is). But I like to think of these lists as surveys, "desert island" lists, and it seems untoward to sacrifice anything here for the sake of a second Melville film (and Bob le Flambeur really is my favorite).

  1. Bob le Flambeur (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1955)

  2. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

  3. Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano, 1993)

  4. Touchez pas au Grisbi (Jacques Becker, 1954)

  5. Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki, 1967)



Kevyn Knox
Film Critic, Essayist + Historian

Am I the only person not to believe The Godfather to be the end all of American Cinema?? Sure it is a great film (actually I think Part II is the better film - and let's not even talk about Part III) but I just can't see it as one of the greatest films ever made (at least not quite - it misses out on my Top 100 Greatest Films List by just a bit). That being said, you will obviously not see The Godfather listed below (and it's more than just because it would be an all too obvious choice, for my number one choice is rather a cliche way to go about things this week as well).

I have also omitted some other films that can be seen as Gangster Films, but with recurring themes that sends each film in another direction - away from the Gangster genre. These films are (in no particular order): Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich), On the Waterfront (Kazan), Touch of Evil (Welles), Dogville (von Trier), Mulholland Dr. (Lynch), Wild at Heart (Lynch), Lost Highway (Lynch, again), Shoot the Piano Player (Truffaut), Alphaville (Godard), Breathless (Godard), Some Like it Hot, The Long Goodbye (Altman) and North by Northwest (Hitchcock).

I also ended up leaving another bunch of fine films off the list by having to narrow things down to just five. These runners-up are: Once Upon a Time in America (Leone), The Limey (Soderbergh), Le Samouraļ (Melville), The Killers (Seigel), Bullets over Broadway (Allen), A History of Violence (Cronenberg) and Mean Streets (Scorsese).

And finally, here are my Top 5 Gangster Films:

  1. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

  2. Bonnie & Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)

  3. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

  4. Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967)

  5. Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano, 1993)

I also would like to give special mention to one of the first films ever made, Edwin Porter's The Great Train Robbery - not so much a gangster film but still a precurser (and an influence of sorts to Scorsese's Goodfellas).

*points are given as follows: for numbered lists, first place recieves 5 points, second place recieves 4, third place 3, fourth place 2 and fifth place gets 1 point; for unumbered lists, each film will recieve 3 points; total points are then tallied up and a comprehensive Top 5 list is created


The Next Topic is:
Name The Top 5 Hitchcock Films

e-mail me at kevynknox@thecinematheque.com with your picks for week #19,
no later than 4pm on Sunday, August 20, 2006.

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