The Best Gangster Movies

What it's about: The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Microsoft & 3 others).

What it's about: Ex-hitman John Wick comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Walt Kowalski is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighborhood and the world around him. Kowalski is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy old man who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors. He is a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino he keeps in mint condition. When his neighbor Thao, a young Hmong teenager under pressure from his gang member cousin, tries to steal his Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Thao's family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that infest their neighborhood.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Partly based on a true story.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Set in Canton, China in the 1940s, the story revolves in a town ruled by the Axe Gang, Sing who desperately wants to become a member. He stumbles into a slum ruled by eccentric landlords who turns out to be the greatest kung-fu masters in disguise. Sing's actions eventually cause the Axe Gang and the slumlords to engage in an explosive kung-fu battle. Only one side will win and only one hero will emerge as the greatest kung-fu master of all.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: A Russian teenager, living in London, dies during childbirth but leaves clues to a midwife in her journal, that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Showtime & Hulu), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: Set in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is the youngster's growing attraction - forbidden in his neighborhood - for a beautiful black girl.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & CBS All Access) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: Prominent gang leader Cyrus calls a meeting of New York's gangs to set aside their turf wars and take over the city. At the meeting, a rival leader kills Cyrus, but a Coney Island gang called the Warriors is wrongly blamed for Cyrus' death. Before you know it, the cops and every gangbanger in town is hot on the Warriors' trail.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Starz), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Starz) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: McCall believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when he meets Teri, a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by – he has to help her. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (FX) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: After fighting his way through an apartment building populated by an army of dangerous criminals and escaping with his life, SWAT team member Rama goes undercover, joining a powerful Indonesian crime syndicate to protect his family and uncover corrupt members of his own force.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Corky, a tough female ex con and her lover Violet concoct a scheme to steal millions of stashed mob money and pin the blame on Violet's crooked boyfriend Caesar.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: In the future, America is a dystopian wasteland. The latest scourge is Ma-Ma, a prostitute-turned-drug pusher with a dangerous new drug and aims to take over the city. The only possibility of stopping her is an elite group of urban police called Judges, who combine the duties of judge, jury and executioner to deliver a brutal brand of swift justice. But even the top-ranking Judge, Dredd, discovers that taking down Ma-Ma isn’t as easy as it seems in this explosive adaptation of the hugely popular comic series.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: In 1997, the island of Manhattan has been walled off and turned into a giant maximum security prison within which the country's worst criminals are left to form their own anarchic society. However, when the President of the United States crash lands on the island, the authorities turn to a former soldier and current convict, Snake Plissken, to rescue him.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 4 others).

What it's about: A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a TV everywhere service (TCM) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A drama about a Maori family lving in Auckland, New Zealand. Lee Tamahori tells the story of Beth Heke’s strong will to keep her family together during times of unemployment and abuse from her violent and alcoholic husband.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Dave Bannion is an upright cop on the trail of a vicious gang he suspects holds power over the police force. Bannion is tipped off after a colleague's suicide and his fellow officers' suspicious silence lead him to believe that they are on the gangsters' payroll. When a bomb meant for him kills his wife instead, Bannion becomes a furious force of vengeance and justice, aided along the way by the gangster's spurned girlfriend Debbie. As Bannion and Debbie fall further and further into the Gangland's insidious and brutal trap, they must use any means necessary (including murder) to get to the truth.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, CA. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. But Jeff has a secret past, and when a mysterious stranger arrives in town, Jeff is forced to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The idyllic life of retired safecracker Gal is put at risk when a psychotic gangster from his past arrives at his villa in southern Spain, intent on bringing him out of retirement for one last job.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up - and holds at gunpoint hotel owner James Temple, his widowed daughter-in-law Nora, and ex-GI Frank McCloud.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a TV everywhere service (TCM) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Chili Palmer is a Miami mobster who gets sent by his boss, the psychopathic "Bones" Barboni, to collect a bad debt from Harry Zimm, a Hollywood producer who specializes in cheesy horror films. When Chili meets Harry's leading lady, the romantic sparks fly. After pitching his own life story as a movie idea, Chili learns that being a mobster and being a Hollywood producer really aren't all that different.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Showtime & CBS All Access), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: Tang Lung arrives in Rome to help his cousins in the restaurant business. They are being pressured to sell their property to the syndicate, who will stop at nothing to get what they want. When Tang arrives he poses a new threat to the syndicate, and they are unable to defeat him. The syndicate boss hires the best Japanese and European martial artists to fight Tang, but he easily finishes them off.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A murderous thug shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgangers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Jack Carter is a small-time hood working in London. When word reaches him of his brothers death, he travels to Newcastle to attend the funeral. Refusing to accept the police report of suicide, Carter seeks out his brother’s friends and acquaintances to learn who murdered his sibling and why.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A group of academics have spent years shut up in a house working on the definitive encyclopedia. When one of them discovers that his entry on slang is hopelessly outdated, he ventures into the wide world to learn about the evolving language. Here he meets Sugarpuss O'Shea, a nightclub singer, who's on top of all the slang and, it just so happens, needs a place to stay.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi TV).

What it's about: Jacques Mesrine, a loyal son and dedicated soldier, is back home and living with his parents after serving in the Algerian War. Soon he is seduced by the neon glamour of sixties Paris and the easy money it presents. Mentored by Guido, Mesrine turns his back on middle class law-abiding and soon moves swiftly up the criminal ladder.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a subscription service (Fandor & Shudder) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Vudu & 2 others).

What it's about: A virtuous Hong Kong police officer must clear his name after he is framed for murder.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Upstanding community leader Nils has just won an award for "Citizen of the Year" when he learns the news that his son has died of a heroin overdose. Suspecting foul play, Nils begins to investigate, and soon finds himself at the center of an escalating underworld gang war between Serbian drug dealers and a sociopathic criminal mastermind known only as “The Count.”

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A street-wise kid, Mark Sway, sees the suicide of Jerome Clifford, a prominent Louisiana lawyer, whose current client is Barry 'The Blade' Muldano, a Mafia hit-man. Before Jerome shoots himself, he tells Mark where the body of a Senator is buried. Clifford shoots himself and Mark is found at the scene, and both the FBI and the Mafia quickly realize that Mark probably knows more than he says.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (HBO) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Suave, charming and volatile, Reggie Kray and his unstable twin brother Ronnie start to leave their mark on the London underworld in the 1960s. Using violence to get what they want, the siblings orchestrate robberies and murders while running nightclubs and protection rackets. With police Detective Leonard "Nipper" Read hot on their heels, the brothers continue their rapid rise to power and achieve tabloid notoriety.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: After the WWI Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (FilmBox).

What it's about: A corrupted customs officer, Choi Ik-hyeon, faces losing his job. Then, his life turns around as he meets ganster Choi Hyeong-bae who has connection with the Yakuza. They quickly form a partnetship; Hyeong-bae helps Ik-hyeon set up a business with the money from drug trafficking while Ik-hyeon lobbies for his partner Hyeong-bae. As the government declares war on crime, however, their partnership begins to crack.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (Google Play, Prime Video & YouTube).

What it's about: A drifter, a waitress and a notorious gangster cross paths in the Petrified Forest region of Arizona. Alan, a destitute writer, goes into the diner where Gabrielle works. Gabrielle dreams of studying art, and she and Alan connect as they talk about Europe and she tells him her ambitions. But gangster Duke Mantee shows up and takes the customers hostage.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Danila goes to his older brother to start a new life in Petersburg. His brother is a gangster and a killer, and he puts Danila into this criminal world asking him to kill someone.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $4.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Friends hatch a plot to retrieve a stolen cat by posing as drug dealers for a street gang.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (TNT) & rent or buy from $2.49 on 5 services (iTunes, Microsoft & 3 others).

What it's about: A pint-sized cast illuminates this musical that is unlike any other ever made. Set in 1929 New York City, Bugsy Malone captures a flashy world of would-be hoodlums, showgirls, and dreamers - all played by child actors! As Tallulah, the sassy girlfriend of the owner of Fat Sam's Grand Slam Speakeasy, future superstar Jodie Foster dances and sings her way into our hearts.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: A gangster escapes jail and quickly makes plans to continue his criminal ways elsewhere, but a determined inspector is closing in.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).