Books and movies about crime create some of the most exciting, devastating, and inspiring stories to readers and viewers. Due to crime, filmmakers can question law and order and what it means to be human, what constitutes a good life, and how good and evil are taught. To tell a compelling story and talk of everyday assumptions, the best crime movies have always blurred the line between good and evil. Because the genre is so large, finding a place to start can be intimidating. Fortunately, this list gives you an overview of all sorts of crime movies from all over the world.
Each film on the list has been taken into account in film history and crime development. Some of the best crime movies are based on true stories movies while others focused on crime depictions include movies noir and New Hollywood. Still, the effect of crime movies on the history of the movies is certainly not limited to those ages. These films include personalities who commit a crime, some who use it for their survival, and others who prosecute people for crimes. Hopefully, these following movies about crime will allow you to reconsider how you perceived certain crimes and those who committed these crimes while looking at an extremely entertaining film.
Which is the best crime movie of all time streaming on Amazon Prime Video?
The crime/drama 1972 movie The Godfather is the best crime movie that streams on Amazon Prime with 97% Rotten Tomatoes ratings.
Is there any good crime movies available on Netflix?
L.A. Confidential (1997) is the best crime movie on Netflix with 99% Rotten Tomatoes ratings.
So, if you do not know what you can do at home during your leisure time, then check out the list of the top 30 Best Crime Movies of All Time and enjoy them.
30. L’Argent (1983)
| IMDb Rating: | 7.5 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Robert Bresson |
| Cast: | Christian Patey, Sylvie Van den Elsen, Michel Briguet |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 97% |
| Currently streaming on: | JustWatch, Amazon Prime Video |
This 1983 French film L’Argent by Robert Bresson will continue to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for writers and filmmakers as long as souls are ready to leave the mainstream and put their real feelings into the most complex actions and events of life. A boy clad in cash acquires a falsified franc in the story but passes it to an unimagined deliverer. After the person in charge has been detained and forced to work as a getaway driver for criminals. His crimes are exacerbated as the film continues to drown in disparity in the Italian drama.
29. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.6 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
| Director: | Jonathan Demme |
| Cast: | Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence A. Bonney |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 96% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video, Netflix |
One of the psychologically most fascinating thrillers ever must have a place on this list: Silence of the Lambs (1991). The splendid story of the young woman who tried to catch a serial murderer by Jonathan Demme remains a frozen look at pure evil. Not only because of the serial killer on the run but also because of Hannibal Lecter, the killer they are looking for. Anthony Hopkins (Transformers 7) performs as the best actor at the Academy Awards and will make you guess what happens next until the credits roll.
28. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.1 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Elio Petri |
| Cast: | Gian Maria Volonte, Florinda Bolkan, Gianni Santuccio |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 100% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) is not a new movie about crime. It was first released in 1970. And this 70s movie is not just about the simple story of a crime, but here you will see how to control a whole investigation. In an attempt to know whether he is being captured and tried in this Italian satire starring Gian Maria Volonte, spaghetti of the West, a police official kills his mistress. In this story of a powerful loner, Elio Petri criticizes Italian police tactics. He creates an assassination case against himself, and you never can predict what follows.
27. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.0 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
| Director: | Jean-Pierre Melville |
| Cast: | Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonte |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 95% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
Many see director Jean-Pierre Melville as one of the best to affect the genre of French crime. Alain Delon, who has just been freed from prison, is the perfect charming yet tricky criminal but is ready for a gem shop. In this fascinating and exciting French thriller, there is a heist, assassination, and action. When French unlawful Corey (Alain Delon) gets freed from prison, he decides never to return. He is quickly drawn back into the underworld, however, after a future encounter with escaped murderer Vogel (Gian Maria Volonte).
26. Badlands (1973)
| IMDb Rating: | 7.8 |
| Genre: | Action, Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Terrence Malick |
| Cast: | Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 97% |
| Currently streaming on: | HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video |
You want to know on what occasion there is the emergence of crime movies like Badlands (1973) and why they are so special. If you’re a crime movie fan, you won’t wait too long. Author Terrence Malick started his career with this period drama, in which a young pair finds themselves in an area of crime. The couple is played loosely with Charles Starkweather and Caril-Ann Fugate by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Malick is clearly in his first film, making him an artistic gem of that sort, his affinity for voice-over and vast landscapes.
25. The French Connection (1971)
| IMDb Rating: | 7.7 |
| Genre: | Action, Crime, Drama |
| Director: | William Friedkin |
| Cast: | Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 98% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
This creation of William Friedkin is much more than just a foolish hunting scene. Two racial and ruthless drug detectives, Gene Hackman and Roy Schieder, have been searching for drug sources from New York City in Europe. This scary New York crime drama comes to a surprising end, which may well let you scratch your head. The spy film was chosen for eight Academy Awards in 1972 and was awarded five, including the best film, the best leading actor, and the best director.
24. L.A. Confidential (1997)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.2 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Mystery |
| Director: | Curtis Hanson |
| Cast: | Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 99% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
Like films from film noir, this neo-noir is a crime, murder, and disappointment that shows the negative side of Hollywood in the 1950s. Moreover, it is also one of the best crime movies on Prime. A cast, including Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey (House of Cards), Guy Pierce, and James Cromwell, will make a good contribution to any story. All four play the hard-boiled cops, but they flourish while resolving crimes and uncovering corruption. Both of them are among Hollywood’s glitz and glamour.
23. No Country for Old Men (2007)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.1 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
| Director: | Ethan Coen, Joel Coen |
| Cast: | Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 93% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
The Coen brothers have an exceptional ability to take classic genres of film and make them their own. No Country for Old Men (2007) is a very dark thriller, and one of the best films of the last decade in our opinion. The Coen brothers have a unique way of pulling you into a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. For another spectacular criminal drama, Ethan and Joel Coen are back on that list. The story of a drug deal that goes wrong and how $2 million creates a chain of violent events.
22. On the Waterfront (1954)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.1 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
| Director: | Elia Kazan |
| Cast: | Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 99% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
On the Waterfront (1954) is one of the best creations of Elia Kazan. The story revolves around characters who witness all the crimes of the mob when the police start to pound. The irony is that Director Elia Kazan named several of Hollywood’s most talented famously and ruined their careers in the early ’50s during the famous Un-American Activities Committee Hearings. This black and white film’s allegory cannot be ignored while watching, but this great crime melodrama cannot be prevented.
21. Days of Being Wild (1990)
| IMDb Rating: | 7.5 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Romance |
| Director: | Kar-Wai Wong |
| Cast: | Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 91% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
Whoa! “Days of Being Wild” is already the most awesome movie! There’re many things in this movie that we may need for our everyday life, and we must say that you need to watch this 90s movie! We feel like watching it again and again. In the story, after a man has learned that the wife raising him doesn’t belong to his mother, he allows two women to fight for his love. He searches for his mother and finds her with much more funds in the Philippines than he ever had. The image is Lucious on the screen, and this movie about the crime is different from any film on this list.
20. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.1 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Stuart Rosenberg |
| Cast: | Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 100% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
One of our favorite movies about crime of all time, A Cool Hand Luke (1967), was released in the USA just before 1969. It was directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starred Paul Newman as the title character. Paul Newman eats a tonne of eggs in this film, but he also causes a chain gang insurrection and slightly reminisces. Luke is one of the coolest characters in film history and a sign of hope in that prison camp managed by the hungry and powerful guards.
19. Shoplifters (2018)
| IMDb Rating: | 7.9 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Hirokazu Koreeda |
| Cast: | Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, Kirin Kiki |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 99% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
There are many stories about thievery in this world. But nothing will ever be as beautiful as The Shoplifters (2018). In this story, a couple gets people into disaster and creates a non-biological family that survives on shopping. Their moral code of stealing only things before they are sold is broken, and the family is sufficiently tested. Unlike any else on this list, this movie shows you a strikingly human and merciful view of crime. Moreover, you can binge-watch this movie on Hulu.
18. The Irishman (2019)
| IMDb Rating: | 7.8 |
| Genre: | Biography, Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Martin Scorsese |
| Cast: | Robert De Niro, Al Pacino (Gucci), Joe Pesci |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 95% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix |
In every sense of the word, this Martin Scorsese’s latest movie is an epic. He has assembled an incredible cast, including Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, and Robert De Niro. When Jimmy Hoffa was missing in 1975, Scorsese depicted what he thinks happened to the politician. It’s a story of growing up, coming to terms with the comedy, violence, and cruelty you’ve done to survive, all of which Scorsese does so well. You can also enjoy this one of the best crime movies on Netflix.
17. The Dark Knight (2008)
| IMDb Rating: | 9 |
| Genre: | Action, Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Christopher Nolan |
| Cast: | Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 94% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video, Netflix |
No doubt, Christopher Nolan (My Policeman) knows how to turn a simple book story into a dreary look at human life while offering a splendid sequence of actions. Many think this is the best iteration in Batman and his enemies’ much-experienced world. It’s because Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, and more are performing greatly. In the story, after Gordon, Dent, and Batman begin an assault on Gotham’s organized crime, the mobs hire the Joker, a psychopathic criminal mastermind who offers to kill Batman and bring the city to its knees. It is also one of the best crime movies on Hulu.
16. A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.4 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Romance |
| Director: | Edward Yang |
| Cast: | Chen Chang, Lisa Yang, Kuo-Chu Chang |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 100% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
A Brighter Summer Day (1991) is a Chinese film set during the 1960s. The film begins with the casual murder and slowly unravels to reveal a snaky web involving family honor, a love triangle, and personal greed to a tragic end. The growth of western culture in Taiwan in the 1960s means that this emotional drama jeopardizes traditional Taiwanese culture and lifestyle. The film is a movie about crime at the very best: all at the same time beautiful and harmful.
15. Spotlight (2015)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.1 |
| Genre: | Biography, Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Tom McCarthy |
| Cast: | Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 97% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
If you ever got the opportunity to watch Spotlight (2015), then you must watch it. A superstar cast brought together this tragic yet inspiring story of the years of sexual assault and cover-up in the well-known Roman Catholic Church. This is the best movie about crime scenes as there are some great and horrible views in the movies, and overall the movie is good. We enjoyed many things about the movie, and few inquiry dramas compare this exciting and frustrating script, which won the most original and best screenplay at the Oscars in 2016.
14. Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.0 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
| Director: | Louis Malle |
| Cast: | Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 93% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
Elevator to the Gallows (1958) is our favorite B&W French movie about crime. This is the most artistic film noir ever made and one of the best crime movies on Netflix. and it’s one of Godard’s best early films. This French film noir about a murder plot that went wrong is French director Louis Malle’s best film. When a man kills a boss, his girlfriend’s husband gets caught in the elevator when he wants to escape from the scene. Miles Davis’ improvised score adds to this impeccable film’s agonizing tension.
13. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.0 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Mystery |
| Director: | Otto Preminger |
| Cast: | James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 100% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
Since its release in 1959, Anatomy of a Murder has earned acclaim from critics and moviegoers alike. The film tells the story of one man’s tireless efforts to prove his innocence in an impossible situation. James Stewart stars in this courtroom drama which looks at the convoluted trail of a murder case. Most dramas in the courtroom are difficult for the audience, but the never-ending developments in the trial keep you on the screen from start to finish.
12. Pepe le Moko (1937)
| IMDb Rating: | 7.8 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Romance |
| Director: | Julien Duvivier |
| Cast: | Jean Gabin, Gabriel Gabrio, Saturnin Fabre |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 100% |
| Currently streaming on: | HBO Max |
This French crime thriller is one of the best noir films ever, with a picture of trapping a gangster in Algiers. The movie uses film devices popular in the 1930s French poetic reality cinema when it tells this realist story. It’s a classic underseen crime drama created for those who love noir films. In the story, Pepe le Moko, a notorious gangster, hides in an Algerian citadel for two years to avoid arrest. When he falls in love with a tourist, a local policeman tries to use her to capture him.
11. Goodfellas (1990)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.7 |
| Genre: | Biography, Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Martin Scorsese |
| Cast: | Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 96% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
If you like Mafia-related movies and haven’t seen Goodfellas, we will tell you why this is the best crime movie ever made. It’s time to admit that Martin Scorsese mainly owns the gangster drama of Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci. The trio travels across New York’s mobster families, but some never get in the “made” circle of the men running the game. Scorsese depicts the world he knows best with a murderous soundtrack and scenes in the heart of New York.
10. Taxi Driver (1976)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.3 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Martin Scorsese |
| Cast: | Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 96% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
Taxi Driver (1976) has got to be one of the most awarded and highly regarded movies of all time. It can also be considered an all-time great classic. The film has an intriguing cast, ambient feel, a strong narrative. Of course, viewers get to experience Robert De Niro in his prime playing the mentally unstable taxi driver Travis Bickle. He is friends with a young Sex Worker, played by a very young Jodie Foster, and falls in love with Betsy, played by Cybill Shepard. Scorsese’ view of this outcast character is one of a bad guy’s better exams.
9. Double Indemnity (1944)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.3 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir |
| Director: | Billy Wilder |
| Cast: | Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 97% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
Double Indemnity (1944), a good movie about crime ever made, is a classic crime drama about a couple who plot to murder an insurance salesperson. This important film noir has a reputation as an American classic. Billy Wilder tells the story of an insurance vendor seduced by a woman who is about to kill her husband. It’s like no other film noir out there, and you’re not going to be able to predict an exciting and surprising drama. You can enjoy this one of the best crime movies on Prime.
8. Rififi (1955)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.1 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
| Director: | Jules Dassin |
| Cast: | Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Robert Manuel |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 92% |
| Currently streaming on: | Disney Plus, Hulu |
Rififi is a movie from 1955 that is highly considered one of the best heist movies of all time. The flick was directed by Jules Dassin and starred an interesting ensemble cast composed of Jean Servais, Jules Dassin, and Robert Manuel. Hollywood blacklisted director Jules Dassin, but that didn’t stop his emotional crime thriller in France. In the movie, a group of criminals joins forces to rob a top jewelry store, but this isn’t your typical heist film.
7. Touch of Evil (1958)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.0 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir |
| Director: | Orson Welles |
| Cast: | Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, Janet Leigh |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 95% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
After watching Touch of Evil, we realized that it still feels fresh, although the movie was released over 60 years ago. The framing device is unique and intriguing. It also contains many elements not commonly found in film noir classics from the era. In the story, Charlton Heston plays an officer of narcotics who has to leave his wife on their honeymoon to investigate a murder at a Mexico-USA border town. He quickly learns that there is corruption in the police, but he and his wife are in danger of seeking the truth.
6. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
| IMDb Rating: | 8 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir |
| Director: | Charles Laughton |
| Cast: | Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 95% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
The Night of the Hunter is a drama that creates a sense of unease in an otherwise mundane world. Director Charles Laughton creates one of the most complicated movie villains that is both hated and pitied simultaneously. In the story, a coldblooded man (Robert Mitchum) is hell-bent on using his tangled Christianity to justify his crimes. He marries an outlaw’s innocent widow in an exploration of the man’s hidden loot. The widow’s children are hesitant to divulge details of their father’s wealth that he’d stolen in a robbery.
5. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
| IMDb Rating: | 9 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Francis Ford Coppola |
| Cast: | Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 96% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video, Netflix |
Following the film “The Godfather” by Francis Ford Coppola, this sequence is an excellent base for a fascinating story. Michael, played by Al Pacino, struggling to reconcile with his power as Vito, played by Robert de Niro, has to survive in many regards as the best successor in the world. Any fans in this criminal genre should see Coppola’s impeccable follow-up to an original.
4. Rashomon (1950)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.2 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Mystery |
| Director: | Akira Kurosawa |
| Cast: | Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 98% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
Rashomon (1950) is considered by many as the greatest Japanese movie of all time. It was directed by Akira Kurosawa and the best crime movie based on true stories. The backbone of this Japanese psychological thriller is multiple and different accounts of the same crime. In the movie, a woman is raped shortly after her husband dies, but every tale in the court involves another person. In this attractive drama, unlike common samurai films, the virality of truth is explored.
3. Pulp Fiction (1994)
| IMDb Rating: | 8.9 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Quentin Tarantino |
| Cast: | John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 93% |
| Currently streaming on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
Pulp Fiction (1994) is a crime drama film that is often considered one of the best movies in history. Quentin Tarantino, a well-known writer, and director directed Pulp Fiction (1994). Tarantino told the story of two hitmen, a boxer and a heroin addict, in a narrative that is totally out of order. This tactic contributes to Tarantino’s artistic touch for every scene. The dialogue is intelligent and violent. It’ll be difficult to watch a movie that doesn’t challenge the storytelling after watching this.
2. 12 Angry Men (1957)
| IMDb Rating: | 9 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Sidney Lumet |
| Cast: | Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 100% |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
Fifty years ago, a movie was released that invited you to step inside one man’s emotional journey. You follow an ordinary man as he is called upon to be extraordinary. The incredible message of finding your voice can be seen in the movie “12 Angry Men.” In the story, an 18-year-old young person is being tried for killing, and 12 men decide whether he is living as a free man or on death row. There is a juror that keeps all the men in one room until they can vote unanimously. This movie is something except that if you think men arguing in a single room are boring.
1. The Godfather (1972)
| IMDb Rating: | 9.2 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama |
| Director: | Francis Ford Coppola |
| Cast: | Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan |
| Rotten Tomatoes: | – |
| Currently streaming on: | Amazon Prime Video |
You can’t talk about the best movies ever made without mentioning The Godfather – a modern classical movie considered by many critics to be one of the best movies about crime ever made. The film won three academy honors and was directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1972. The Italian Corleone family is shaken when war breaks out among the five Mafia families throughout the history of Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece. Michael, played by Al Pacino, is far from the Don Vito father, played by Marlon Brando and the rest of the family’s participation in organized crime. After a few tragic deaths, however, his family needs him, and Michael steadfastly steps up.
Though outrageously horrific, true crime shows have something equally compelling. Some YouTubers cover the same topics as the major broadcasting channels but with a few original twists, making YouTube a veritable gold mine of real crime footage. So if you’re seeking high-quality true crime content, watch the videos by Christina Randall and Kendall Rae; these channels are worthwhile.
Conclusion
We hope that you can fully embrace a world of crime with these amazing crime Films. Few of them are based on real crimes, which in recent years have become overly saturated and on the onslaught of podcasts, and some of them are doctrines from Netflix which can be consumed without having to ask for a nightmare.
