10 Best Crime Movies With Great Acting, Ranked (original) (raw)
Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, and Robert De Niro on the poster for Heat (1995)
Image via Warner Bros.
Published Aug 5, 2024, 6:30 PM EDT
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Some of the most popular and highly acclaimed films of the past few decades have belonged to the crime genre, whether they’re gangster movies, police procedurals, or dark comedies. As a result, it’s not surprising to find, alongside great screenplays and bold directorial choices, great performances from various actors, many of whom seem to relish the opportunity to play characters on the wrong (or sometimes right) side of the law.
What follows is an assortment of unequivocally great crime movies, all of which have at least several strong performances within, or even seem to have nothing but cast members firing on all cylinders throughout. There are some omissions here, particularly films where one actor stands out above all others (sorry, Scarface), but the important thing is this: these are undoubtedly essential crime movies, and all contain amazing, perhaps even timeless performances.
10 'No Country for Old Men' (2007)
Starring: Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin
Closeup of Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) in 'No Country for Old Men'
Image via Paramount Pictures
Every Coen Brothers movie contains good performances (sometimes even their less-than-great ones have standout actors), but No Country for Old Men might well be the best-acted film the brothers have directed. Part of this obviously comes from Javier Bardem as the memorably villainous Anton Chigurh, with the character being instantly iconic and Bardem’s performance overnight feeling like one for the ages.
But this grim crime/thriller film has many noteworthy runners up, in the acting department, considering everyone here – including Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, and Kelly Macdonald – is perfectly cast and impactful in the roles they play. No Country for Old Men would be a memorable and striking film even without amazing acting, but the cast members really do elevate things, helping to make this one a modern classic.
Release Date
November 21, 2007
Runtime
122 minutes
Director
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
9 'Once Upon a Time in America' (1984)
Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern
Bunch of gangsters sitting around a table discussing business in the 1984 Sergio Leone movie Once Upon a Time in America
Image via Warner Bros.
Anyone who’s seen a handful of iconic gangster movies will recognize numerous stars that show up in Once Upon a Time in America. It’s a huge film with a narrative that spans decades, and the runtime – which reaches over four hours depending on the cut you watch – is immense enough that the film certainly has room to feature many actors throughout.
It’s also particularly dark by gangster movie standards, with the criminal characters having little to no redeeming qualities, especially once the narrative reaches the point when they become ruthless and intensely competitive gangsters. Once Upon a Time in America therefore needed great actors capable of excelling with the difficult subject matter at hand, and on that front, every one delivered (especially lead actor Robert De Niro, playing one of the coldest and most brutal characters he’s ever portrayed).
8 'On the Waterfront' (1954)
Starring: Marlon Brando, Lee J. Cobb, Eva Marie Saint
Eva Marie Saint as Edie and Marlon Brando as Terry in On the Waterfront
Image via Columbia Pictures
Before 1954, Marlon Brando had already become a star, but it was On the Waterfront where he got arguably his first chance to shine in a lead role within a movie that also happened to be largely perfect in every other area. Having co-stars delivering almost as great performances helped, too, with On the Waterfront being Eva Marie Saint’s breakout role, and featuring other acting legends like Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, and Rod Steiger.
It's a bold and sweeping crime film emotionally, noteworthy for how intimate and grounded it feels by the standards of 1950s cinema. There’s a rawness to On the Waterfront in terms of its settings and the performances found within, and there’s probably a good argument to be made that it’s one of the best-acted films of its decade, within the crime genre or otherwise.
Release Date
July 28, 1954
Runtime
108 minutes
Director
Elia Kazan
7 'High and Low' (1963)
Starring: Toshirō Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyōko Kagawa
Toshirō Mifune as Kingo Gondo sitting solemnly while his cast mates watch in High and Low
Image via Toho
Akira Kurosawa films reliably have great acting, even when the films themselves are more clearly remembered for other reasons (like Seven Samurai and its action sequences… though the acting plays a part in those too, obviously). High and Low is arguably Kurosawa’s greatest film that’s not a period drama or about samurai, being an expertly paced and consistently tense crime/thriller movie about an extortion attempt that immediately goes wrong.
High and Low tracks how this event affects numerous people, and then deals with the aftermath in a way that proves just as interesting as all the sequences that take place before the crime is “resolved,” so to speak. Along the way, the acting is also fantastic throughout, with Toshirō Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai – both of whom starred in multiple Kurosawa films – being incredible here.
Release Date
March 1, 1963
Runtime
143 Minutes
Director
Akira Kurosawa
6 'Heat' (1995)
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer
Al Pacino yelling in Heat (1995)
Image via Warner Bros.
Heat is the biggest (and arguably best) Michael Mann film, serving as an absorbing crime epic that might technically be about a detective trying to take down a master thief, but feels so much bigger and more dramatic than such a premise suggests. It pushes things to near-breaking point, and is all the more riveting for it, with dialogue-heavy scenes feeling just as impactful as the louder and more explosive action sequences.
Matching the energy and ambition of the filmmaking is the acting, with Al Pacino being especially big and effectively over-the-top. Robert De Niro’s character is, in contrast, more subdued, but brings a fantastically quiet intensity to the surprisingly human criminal he plays. And the rest of the supporting cast is phenomenal, with Heat also starring the likes of Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, William Fichtner, and Natalie Portman, to name just a few.
Release Date
December 15, 1995
Runtime
170 minutes
Director
Michael Mann
5 'Pulp Fiction' (1994)
Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman
The kind of stylized dialogue found in Pulp Fiction wouldn’t be the easiest to convincingly recite, but the cast here was more than capable of bringing the screenplay to life. Trying to list off all the great actors in Pulp Fiction would ultimately involve copying and pasting the entire cast list. There are just that many great actors here, and no real weak links, even among the minor characters who might only have a line or two (Steve Buscemi plays a waiter in this, for crying out loud).
Pulp Fiction made John Travolta cool again, it gave Samuel L. Jackson one of his first big, scene-stealing roles, and it allowed both Uma Thurman and Bruce Willis (among others) to showcase their range. It’s an undoubtedly great film, and one of the best crime flicks of not just the 1990s, but of any decade, and the acting is a huge reason why it works as well as it does.
4 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991)
Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn
Jodie Foster talking to Anthony Foster's Hannibal Lecter through a window in Silence of the Lambs
Image via Orion Pictures
The Silence of the Lambs was successful enough to win the top 5 most coveted Academy Awards, including Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins) and Best Actress (Jodie Foster). For those two alone, it’s already a fantastically well-acted movie, but all the supporting actors shine here as well, never going so far, though, as to eclipse the two leads.
It’s an immensely satisfying crime film that also feels like something of a horror/thriller movie, being about the uneasy alliance between a serial killer and a young agent, the latter consulting the former for help with catching another serial killer at large. The Silence of the Lambs is a supremely well-oiled machine of a movie, and the kind of well-acted classic that’s likely to appeal to anyone, regardless of how much they might ordinarily like or dislike crime/thriller/horror films.
Release Date
February 14, 1991
Runtime
119 minutes
Director
Jonathan Demme
3 'Chinatown' (1974)
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
Jack Nicholson stars as Detective J.J. Gittes in Chinatown (1974).
Image via Paramount Pictures
For as great as an over-the-top Jack Nicholson performance can be, he’s equally compelling when he’s in more subdued roles and/or movies, which is well demonstrated by Chinatown. This 1974 film is perhaps the definitive neo-noir movie, and the quality of Nicholson’s performance is equaled by his co-stars, too, with Faye Dunaway being exceptional and John Huston making for a memorably evil antagonist.
The entire film is great, really, with _Chinatown_’s expert screenplay keeping viewers in just the right amount of dark, never being overly confusing but still trusting that those watching are paying attention. It pushes things to new levels when it comes to intensity and bleakness, even by film noir/neo-noir standards, but that’s one reason why it holds up as such a classic. The acting, of course, is another.
Release Date
June 20, 1974
Runtime
130 minutes
Director
Roman Polanski
2 'Goodfellas' (1990)
Starring: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro looking surprised in Goodfellas
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
As has been demonstrated by some of the aforementioned movies, Robert De Niro is a clearly great actor, and seems particularly at home within the gangster genre. He’s an essential part of Goodfellas, too, but it’s a testament to everyone else that he’s arguably overshadowed by the likes of Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, and Lorraine Bracco (all of whom do get somewhat bigger and/or flashier roles).
But looking beyond the main cast, Goodfellas is stacked with legendary actors all giving great performances, sometimes even making an impression when they’re only in a scene or two. Martin Scorsese has arguably never made a better crime movie than this one, and it’s similarly difficult to find a film of his that has as many good performances in it as Goodfellas does.
Release Date
September 19, 1990
Runtime
145 minutes
Director
1 'The Godfather' (1972)
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall
Vito and Michael Corleone from "The Godfather," sitting across each other
Image via Paramount Pictures
Can any crime movie besides The Godfather claim to have better acting across the board? Well, perhaps The Godfather: Part II, which loses Marlon Brando but replaces him with Robert De Niro, both of whom won Oscars for playing Vito Corleone at different stages of his life. Consider that legendary sequel an honorable mention here; the acting in it is arguably just as good as the first movie.
The Godfather gave Brando one of his best-ever roles, and also helped establish some younger actors who were more up-and-coming at the time, including Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, and John Cazale, to name just a few. It’s in the same territory as Pulp Fiction, when it comes to highlighting actors, because everyone in The Godfather (and The Godfather: Part II) is remarkable, whether they have leading roles or only make brief appearances.
Release Date
March 24, 1972
Runtime
175 minutes
Director
Francis Ford Coppola
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