10. Get Shorty

This is one of the most charismatic movies ever onscreen, and possibly one of the funniest.  Chili Palmer, perhaps the smoothest guy ever to walk the face of earth, has an entire group of people that essentially want to kill him or beat him up, including Mobsters, but he just doesn’t care.  In fact, he crusades through Los Angelas as though he owns the place.  This is a fun and fantastical way to look at the insane and cutthroat existence that is the world of Hollywood.  The similarity between the crime world and Hollywood the film alludes to is a great way to let Chili make his transition.  While the film does take it’s shots, it’s mostly in a divine love affair with Hollywood at the same time.  There is a combination of violence, comedy, and just great storytelling that really gives this tongue in cheek story, that is fairly complicated, a real edge about it.  The colorful characters that litter the screen are all likable, even the bad guys.  While you want Ray Bones to get it, you find yourself laughing even though his character is infinitely serious.  With an all star cast to support the films already magnificent script based on Elmore Leonard’s graphic, smart novel that takes the dialogue for Palmer directly from it, this film is a rare kind of fun, plus an addition to the Mob movie family that is actually a comedy.  What makes it such a satisfying movie is the language of the characters, not so much their actions or desires.  The delivery of what they are saying is all about how they say it.  The one liners of this film are endless, and in the midst of wild double crossing, it retains it’s sense of humour.  Probably the great non-dramatic mob movies.

When Fidel Castro opens the harbor at Mariel, Cuba, he sends 125,000 Cuban refugees to reunite with their relatives in the United States. In this group of dream seeking refugees, is Tony Montana, played irrelevantly by Al Pacino.  When Tony and his friend Manny arrive in the United States the pair start off working small time jobs, but it isn’t long before they are hired by Omar Suarez and are told to pay money to a group of Colombians.  Things go bad and suddenly we see another side of Tony and Manny, even though they leave with the money and succeed in their job.  When Tony meets with drug kingpin Frank Lopez he falls for his boss’s girl Elvira and learns that there is a high price to pay for those who want it all.  The price for power is one Tony does not shy from and becomes forever known as….SCARFACE.  Perhaps this isn’t the most powerful role of Pacino’s career, but even with the films somewhat dated feel, it remains a classic in the genre and revered by many today.

Six random criminals are gathered together and are hired by a crime boss Joe Cabot for a diamond heist.  Immediately they are given the option of anonymity when they are given false names.  This helps keeps the focus on the job rather than the intermingling relationships. Of course the audience is subject to the same lack of knowledge, but the curiosity is there. When a done deal job seems clearly made, the police arrive at the scene of the crime, spreading panic and distrust among the “Misters”.  Violence and mayhem ensues, resulting in the death of one of the members.  The distrust spreads to rampant paranoia and the suspicion of an undercover sends the criminals into their worst possible states of mind, and all at odds with one another.  This Tarantino flick grabs you from the start and never stops till the final scene.

Here lies The Godfather Part I.  Will Part II make it to the list?  At this point that’s irrelevant, and clearly the original of the series belongs somewhere on this prestigious list.  The story begins as “Don” Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia “family”, oversees his daughter’s wedding. When his son Michael has just come home from the war a proclaimed “hero” the family embraces him, even though he does not intend to become part of his father’s business. It isn’t unknown to Micheal that the nature of the family business becomes isn’t necessarily the most honest livings, and for that he chooses his own path. When Don Vito is resistant to changes of the new “mob mentality” the benevolence of other families takes a hit on the Don, and only Michael is of sound enough mind to protect his ailing father.  Michael’s sacrifices and his fathers safety make him pay a high, high price, though one he falls very neatly into.  This deliberate tale is one of the greatest films ever made, and certainly worthy of a spot on this list.  A must watch for anyone and everyone.

Somehow people forget how ridiculously brilliant this film actually is.  Entertaining on all levels with a high class cast, and high octane action and storytelling this interpretation of 1920’s prohibition Chicago shows corruption from within to the worst criminals, all the way to Al Capone.  It’s a story everyone knows made into fun fiction. Treasury agent EliotNess picks just two cops to help him and his accountant colleague. One is a sharp-shooting rookie, the other a seen-it-all beat man. The four of them are ready to battle Capone and his empire, but it could just be that guns are not the best way to get him.  This is classic good fun with a dark side.

5. Casino

It’s difficult to comprehend why this movie is acknowledged often enough.  It may be a tip bit long, but lets just say it: Who does gangster movies like Martin Scorsese?  No ONE.  Three of my top five films are made by him and Casino is no slouch in comparison to it’s nominated brothers. DeNiro, Pesci, and Stone are simply at their best in this riveting tale based on a real life story.  Martin Scorsese takes us to Las Vegas where it has a glitters, sparkling it’s wickedly glamorous face, as well as show the cruel underbelly beneath. Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro are hard core mobsters who move to Las Vegas and live and work in this paradoxical world. The film perceived from their perspectives, shows the details of mob involvement in the casinos of the 1970’s and ’80’s. There is a Shakespearean tragedy about the tale as all inevitably fall.

4. The Departed

Scorsese makes great gangster films, and a great one hasn’t been made in nearly a decade, not one of this caliber. The score, which molded in beautifully, especially the scene with Farminga and DiCaprio with Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”. It left goosebumps on my arms. The cinematography was gritty and abrasive with his typical edge. Every character was flawless in creation, and every scene was enigmatic and mesmerizing. The plot escalates to a level unseen or even attempted by most movie makers these days. I won’t give away the details, but it is the morning after and still I am completely in awe by what I just saw. Every once in awhile you take a trip to the theatre and are completely moved and shocked by what you see. The Departed dumbfounded me. Go, if you haven’t already, and see The Departed.

This is a highly underrated film.  Somehow it often gets lost in the mix.  It is another film based on a true story that follows FBI agent JoePistone as he infiltrates the mafia of New York. In his job he Befriends Lefty Ruggiero, Pistone while toting the alias of Donnie Brasco.  He gets in deep and embeds himself in the mafia faction that is headed by Sonny Black. Ruggiero and Pistone become tight as the group goes about collecting money for ‘the bosses’. Eventually, the group become big time when Black himself becomes a boss, all the while Pistone collects evidence. However, years of torturous trials and tribulations and basically being in too deep wears on Pistone and his family. When his family begins to fall apart there also becomes the suspension of a rat in the mix.   Even knowing his own moral compass and understanding what his job was Pistone still finds the most difficult part of his job turning in Ruggiero, who had in his own way become a friend.  It is a tripped out movie that really evaluates moral ambiguities by exploring things from the bad guys perspective without the intent of glamorizing the life of crime.  It’s a harsh and confusing reality.

The Godfather Part II has been hailed as perhaps the best sequel of all time, not to mention the argument that it’s even better than it’s predecessor, The Godfather. On both accounts the arguments are fair, if not, nearly a fact. This film set out with a much more ambitious goal in it’s tragic magnificence than it’s original. It tells two stories of two crime lords who are related but their stories nowhere near the same. The story of Micheal reflects him being unbound by the two main principles that his father instilled in him. One involving the importance of family and the second regarding enemies, but when Micheal is faced with the dilemma of family being the enemy he must make a decision that could startle the heart of your coldest man. The film comes full circle finally at the end when comparing how things once were in Vito’s time and how they are finally coming to an end in Micheal’s.  The Godfather Part II is the epitome of a classic American Gangster story. All that have been made since can only strive to meet it’s beautiful composure. The simple tale remains the same, but they way it’s told is how you remember it. It’s commitment to the ideals of the first movie and just continuing the masterful story, and by letting it simply tell itself is genius in itself. The Godfather Part II is it’s own prodigy.

Goodfella’s is actually based on the book written by Nicholas Pileggi called Wiseguy.  It’s based on the true story of Henry Hill.  Martin Scorsese does one of his most brilliant jobs of directing the this gangster movie.  He makes the choice to have Henry Hill narrate throughout the film and I think it was one of the deciding factors that made the viewer connect with the character.  There were so many things Henry explained that the viewer wouldn’t have understood.  The story is really set up so you understand the true nature of the mafia, what they’ll do for one another, and the type of people that become gangsters.  In the early scenes after Henry takes up with Paulie, he talks about people carrying his mothers groceries home for her.  And his response to it is they did it out of respect.  But Scorsese pans out the movie so that the wide eyed excitement of youth in mafia goes awry when you are riddled with greed and a hunger for power, and suddenly he has the characters unwinding by their own delusion of their invincibility. The journey’s that each character takes and the development of the story is remarkable.  Since Goodfellas was released in 1990 there has only been one gangster movie that was close to as good as it, and that was The Departed, another Scorsese phenomenon.  The scope of the movie, the ability to include so much about the characters, the plot line, and the bigger picture was never lost.

Honorable Mentions: Road To Perdition, Snatch, Heat, Analyze This, Boyz n the hood, American Gangster, Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Carlitos Way, On The Waterfront, Bonnie and Clyde, Menace To Society, Dick Tracy, and Bugsy

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