Crime

  • H.C. Potter – Blackmail (1939)

    H.C. Potter1931-1940CrimeDramaUSA
    Blackmail (1939)
    Blackmail (1939)

    John Ingram, successful oil field firefighter, is really a chain gang escapee. Someone out of his past finds him.Read More »

  • William Castle – Mysterious Intruder (1946)

    William Castle1941-1950CrimeFilm NoirUSA
    Mysterious Intruder (1946)
    Mysterious Intruder (1946)

    PLOT: A private detective is hired to find a young heiress but finds himself accused of murder.Read More »

  • Sidney Lumet – Family Business (1989)

    Sidney Lumet1981-1990CrimeThrillerUSA
    Family Business (1989)
    Family Business (1989)

    Jessie is an aging career criminal who has been in more jails, fights, schemes, and lineups than just about anyone else. His son Vito, while currently on the straight and narrow, has had a fairly shady past and is indeed no stranger to illegal activity. They both have great hope for Adam, Vito’s son and Jessie’s grandson, who is bright, good-looking, and without a criminal past. So when Adam approaches Jessie with a scheme for a burglary he’s shocked, but not necessarily uninterested.Read More »

  • Jun’ya Satô – Bakuto kirikomi-tai AKA Gambler’s Counterattack (1971)

    1971-1980AsianCrimeJapanJun'ya Satô
    Bakuto kirikomi tai (1971)
    Bakuto kirikomi tai (1971)

    Synopsis (from Letterboxed):
    Aiba is a gang boss who has just got out of jail, and finds everything has changed. His old gang has broken up, and only a few people still respect him. So he becomes a consultant to another gang who are about to be clobbered by a much larger gang moving in from out of town. Aiba proves a crafty tactician, and does very well at playing gangs off against each other in order to save the smaller gang. His advice is not always taken by those he tries to help, but he is generally proved right.Read More »

  • Josef von Sternberg & Arthur Rosson – Underworld (1927)

    Josef von Sternberg1921-1930Arthur RossonCrimeSilentUSA
    Underworld (1927)
    Underworld (1927)

    Boisterous gangster kingpin ‘Bull’ Weed rehabilitates the down-and-out ‘Rolls Royce’ Wensel, a former lawyer who has fallen into alcoholism. The two become confidants, with Rolls Royce’s intelligence aiding Weed’s schemes, but complications arise when Rolls Royce falls for Weed’s girlfriend ‘Feathers’ McCoy.

    Adding to Weed’s troubles are attempts by a rival gangster, ‘Buck’ Mulligan, to muscle in on his territory. Their antagonism climaxes with Weed killing Mulligan and he is imprisoned, awaiting a death sentence. Rolls Royce devises an escape plan, but he and Feathers face a dilemma, wondering if they should elope together and leave Bull Weed to his fate.Read More »

  • Josef von Sternberg – The Docks of New York (1928)

    Josef von Sternberg1921-1930CrimeSilentUSA
    The Docks of New York (1928)
    The Docks of New York (1928)

    The ship on which Bill Roberts is a stoker has just put into port, giving the crew one night ashore. The ship’s bad-tempered third engineer orders the stokers to clean up, while the engineer heads for a dockside bar, where he has a confrontation with the wife he had abandoned. Then, as Bill himself goes ashore, he sees a young woman attempt to drown herself. Bill dives in, saves her, and then, assisted by the engineer’s wife, sees that she is cared for. Bill and the rescued woman begin to enjoy one another’s company, but they must contend with the malice of the engineer, as well as a number of other complications.Read More »

  • José Padilha – Tropa de Elite AKA Elite Squad (2007)

    2001-2010BrazilCrimeDramaJosé Padilha
    Tropa de Elite (2007)
    Tropa de Elite (2007)

    In 1997 Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento has to find a substitute for his position while trying to take down drug dealers and criminals before the Pope visits.Read More »

  • Sergio Leone – Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

    Sergio Leone1981-1990CrimeEpicItaly
    Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
    Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

    With the vivid memory of his long-gone childhood friends Max, Patsy, and Cockeye etched in his mind, his ferociously loyal partners-in-crime during their rise to prominence in New York’s Prohibition-era Lower East Side, the defeated, penniless, and guilt-ridden former gangster David “Noodles” Aaronson returns to Manhattan. Not knowing what to expect on his mission to shed light on his opaque past, grizzled Noodles reunites with his only living friend Fat Moe after 35 haunted years of self-exile. However, the relentless, piercing sound of culpability stands in the way of finding closure, as the inscrutable content of a well-worn leather suitcase further complicates matters. And now, against the backdrop of a torn conscience, the sad, bittersweet recollections of more than 50 years of love, death, and everything in-between become inextricably intertwined, leading to even more puzzling questions. But what are a man’s options when he is left with nothing?Read More »

  • Aleksei Sidorov – Brigada AKA The Brigade (2002)

    2001-2010Aleksei SidorovCrimeRussiaTV
    Brigada (2002)
    Brigada (2002)

    SYNOPSIS
    Being the most notorious TV-product of post-Soviet Russia, “Brigada” is an epic story about a company of bosom friends that, step by step, is transformed, leading by ambitions and social conditions, to the high class gang with excessive economical and, even, policitcal purposes (or, one can say, appetites). The regular, form-building, undisguised, even pushy alternation of brutal and sentimental scenes especially excited the audience. Supporters (and, also, authors theirselves) pointed out the classical tradition of gangster sagas, while opponents accused this serial as a cynical exploitation of most primitive fears-‘n’-hopes of common people and forewarned about dangerous social consequences (indeed, many children began to play in “brigades” on city streets with all their ingenuousness). The very title “Brigada” became a kind of symbol of over-effective media product that doesn’t worry about moral; main actor Sergey Bezrukov immediately became the superstar of Russian popular culture.Read More »

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