Summary
The 1970s are known cinematically as the peak of New Hollywood, a period ripe with bold experimentation by artists at the height of their talent and influence,delivering a wave of classics in the making after the slow death of the creaky studio system. The era was alsoa high point for some of the best crime movies, from scrappy high-wire acts by older auteurs, like Sidney Lumet’sDog Day Afternoon, to pulpy, high-concept thrill rides, like Walter Hill’sThe Warriors.
The most famous ‘70s crime movie is undoubtedlyFrancis Ford Coppola’s mob masterpieceThe Godfather,but beyond its obviously unique status as an enduring breakout classic, its success is also illustrative of the kinds of quality crime films being made by up-and-coming auteurs, studio draftsmen, and aspiring indie creatives alike. Many excellent gangster movies didn’t get the attention they deserved because ofThe Godfather, which won three Oscars and is known as one of the best crime movies of all time.
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10 Unconventional Gangster Movies That Changed Up The Genre
A few unexpected gangster films have made big waves throughout the years, leaving behind a noticeable impact on the popular film genre.
Mikey and Nicky
Cast
Mikey and Nicky, directed by Elaine May, is a 1976 crime drama featuring John Cassavetes and Peter Falk. The film follows lifelong friends Nicky, who fears for his life after betraying his mob boss, and Mikey, who tries to help him navigate the perilous situation. The tense narrative explores themes of trust, loyalty, and betrayal within a gritty, urban landscape.
Elaine May’s thrillerMikey and Nickywas produced under the gun at Paramount. Between inter-cast tensions and fights with studio bosses over production schedules and budgeting,the film’s final cut was ultimately taken away from the director, who had shot a reported 1.4 million feet of film by shooting’s end(that’s three times the length shot for the epicGone with the Windfor a movie that ended up a mere 10,000 feet long). It’s unsurprising then that the resulting cut was also a boondoggle, flopping disastrously at the box office.
The film follows two small-time gangster buddies, Nicky (John Cassavettes), who’s perennially in hot water, and Mikey, (Peter Falk), who cleans up his messes. This time, Nicky’s stolen from the mob and has a hitman on his trail. The largely improvised film is both melancholy and tense as the two men discuss their ever-shrinking set of options, holed up in a motel.In 1978, May recut the film, which has subsequently become a classic.
Black Caesar
Black Caesar is a crime drama directed by Larry Cohen, featuring Fred Williamson as Tommy Gibbs, an African American gangster rising to power in Harlem. Set against the backdrop of racial tension, the film chronicles Gibbs' ruthless ascent within the criminal underworld and explores themes of betrayal and revenge. Black Caesar is notable for its gritty portrayal of urban life and its strong performances.
Released less than a year afterThe Godfather,B-movie impresario Larry Cohen’s blaxploitation classicBlack Caesarwas originally commissioned by Sammy Davis Jr., who, sick of playing second fiddle to Frank Sinatra, wanted top billing on a film of his own. Trouble with the IRS prevented him from starring, however, and sothis rise-and-fall story of a gangster taking over organized crime in Harlem became a breakout vehicle for former football star Fred Williamson.
Shot on location with the participation of local gangsters (who were cast, and even ended up on the poster as compensation instead of the payoffs they’d originally requested),the film has been canonized as a high point for the genre, in part due to its naturalistic, handheld shooting and memorable performances.
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Blue Collar
Blue Collar, directed by Paul Schrader, follows three auto workers at a Detroit car plant grappling with the pressures and injustices of their working environment. Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto star as the trio who plan to rob their union’s safe, hoping for a better life. The film delves into themes of class struggle, corruption, and the complexities of labor movements.
Paul Schrader’s directorial debut,Blue Collartells the intertwining and morally grey stories of three union autoworkers (Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto), who have fallen on hard times. In need of cash and low on prospects, they rob their shop’s safe, only to find themselves caught up in a web of conflicting loyalties,a competition involving the FBI, organized crime, and organized labor. The men must decide whether to turn informer or stand their ground, possibly facing charges for the original crime–– or worse.
The film was a challenge for Schrader, made more difficult given his strained relationship with his actors.He eventually had an emotional breakdown. Nevertheless, the finished film is both intricately plotted and deft, lending a bittersweet sense of innocence lost to the kinds of tough-guy characters who spend long stretches drinking PBR on their couches. It’s become a classic of the genre.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
An aging hood is about to go back to prison. Hoping to escape his fate, he supplies information on stolen guns to the feds, while simultaneously supplying arms to his bank robbing chums.
The Friends of Eddie Coyleset the standard for the kinds of crime films set in Boston made famous byThe DepartedandThe Town,decades later.LikeBlue Collar, it follows a decent, deep-down kind of guy, Eddie “Knuckles” Coyle (Robert Mitchum), as he finds himself reduced to snitching on his friends in the bank robbery racket in hopes the cops will give him a break on a separate charge.
Director Peter Yates had previously become known for crime films likeThe Hot RockandBullit, and he brings a clear confidence and familiarity to this well-lived-in tragedy, watching his 50-something antihero cook with his wife, go to Bruins games, and push carts of groceries around softly lit parking lots in Quincy.The film was well received, and has subsequently earned a respectable reputation for its quietly tragic, warmly-felt storytelling.
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a 1976 crime drama directed by John Cassavetes. The film stars Ben Gazzara as Cosmo Vitelli, a nightclub owner who becomes entangled with a group of gangsters after accumulating a gambling debt. To settle his debt, Vitelli is coerced into committing a serious crime, leading to a complex and dangerous situation. The movie delves into themes of power, control, and the dire consequences of desperate actions.
With John Cassavetes’ typically loose, frenetically improvisational style,The Killing of a Chinese Bookieisa unique gangster film full of oddball characters (presided over by David Bowie, who watched the shoot and appears sporadically in the background), beautiful locations, and a fidgety sense of deaths foretold lurking just under the smarmy smiles and wide synthetic collars of each character’s disco-ready suits.
The original cut, released in 1976, was a commercial dud, disliked even by Gazzara, but was released several years later as a much shorter cut
Cosmo Vitelli (Ben Gazzara) is a nightclub owner with artistic aspirations and painfully few funds to bring them to life, made all the more desperate when a loan shark comes to collect.Unable to pay, the reluctant Cosmo must kill a bookie, or pay the price. The original cut, released in 1976, was a commercial dud, disliked even by Gazzara, but was released several years later as a much shorter cut. Both versions have been held up since the director’s death as excellent examples of his style and knack with actors.
The American Friend
The American Friend, directed by Wim Wenders, stars Dennis Hopper as Tom Ripley and Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Zimmermann. The film follows the story of a dying picture framer who is drawn into a criminal underworld by an art forger and conman Ripley. As they form a complex friendship, the lines between morality and survival blur. Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel Ripley’s Game, it is a tale of deception and loyalty.
The American Friend,directed by German auteur Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas, Perfect Days), is a meditative, meta-referential neo-noir. Based on the novelRipley’s Gameby Patricia Highsmith,Wenders cast other directors in many of the gangster roles (including Samuel Fuller) in his tale of forgery and criminal conspiracybetween an American mobster, Tom (Dennis Hopper, whose role was originally intended for John Cassavettes) and Jonathan (Bruno Ganz), an art-forger turned (like Eddie in The Friends of Eddie Coyle) into an unwilling assassin.
Film critic Roger Ebert argued that Wenders' intention with this loose meditation on the gangster genre was to “challenge” viewers “to admit that we watch (and read) thrillers as much for atmosphere as for plot.“Where films likeThe Godfatherare visceral, this one is actively contemplative.
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The Yakuza
The Yakuza, released in 1974, follows private detective Harry Kilmer, portrayed by Robert Mitchum, as he travels to Japan to retrieve an old friend’s kidnapped daughter from the clutches of a powerful Yakuza boss. Set against a backdrop of post-war Japan, the film explores themes of loyalty and honor.
The Yakuza,directed by Sydney Pollack (They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?,Tootsie), is a winding tale of international crosses and double-crosses,following an American detective (Robert Mitchum), hired to help an American gangster (Brian Keith) retrieve his kidnapped daughterfrom the Japanese mob (the Yakuza). The film was originally set to be helmed by studio master Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly,What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), but was replaced because of creative differences with Schrader and his insistence on casting Lee Marvin in the Mitchum role.
the box office response toThe Yakuzawas “disastrous,” according to Schrader in aFilm Commentinterview
InThe Yakuza, Schrader’s characteristic metaphysical violence and air of mystery is on full display, tempered by Pollack’s often practical shooting style and clear interest in the underlying dreaminess of the material. The choice to set the story from the perspective of Mitchum’s world-weary detective places the film in an older, more overtly hard-boiled tradition than Mitchum’s more naturalistic criminal role inThe Friends of Eddie Coyle, but, likeBlue Collar,the box office response toThe Yakuzawas “disastrous,” according to Schrader in aFilm Commentinterview. Like the earlier film, though, it has been reclaimed as part of both artists’ oeuvres.
Mean Streets
Mean Streets is a crime drama directed by Martin Scorsese, following the lives of small-time criminals in New York City’s Little Italy. Starring Harvey Keitel as Charlie and Robert De Niro as the reckless Johnny Boy, the film explores themes of guilt, redemption, and the harsh realities of street life. Mean Streets is noted for its gritty portrayal of urban corruption and the dilemmas faced by those entangled in it.
Martin Scorsese’s underratedMean Streetsis a rich, fraught, and deeply spiritual filmdrawnfrom the young director’s experiences growing up Catholic in Little Italy. The movie, though not his first, was his breakout, and the first which he was able to fully control. LikeMikey and Nicky,Mean Streetstracks the relationship between two small-time mobsters, the almost masochistically impulsive Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro), and Charlie (Harvey Keitel), his closest friend and level-headed protector.
De Niro and Keitel were both praised for their performances, and Scorsese was able to ride the film’s success
As Johnny Boy’s antics escalate out of control, Charlie sticks his neck out further and further, stretched to the breaking point, working to stay true to his values in a fundamentally corrupt, violent system.The film’s luxurious color palette and beautiful neon-soaked cinematography complement its tonal switchbacks between exuberant (often desperate) energy and morose (equally desperate) contemplation. De Niro and Keitel were both praised for their performances, and Scorsese was able to ride the film’s success, aided tremendously by approval from Pauline Kael, to work first with Ellen Burstyn onAlice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,and thenTaxi Driver.
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The Harder They Come
The Harder They Come follows Ivanhoe Martin as he arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, aiming for a music career. He secures a recording contract, but a conflict with a producer leads him into a life of crime. The film explores his rise as a folk hero amidst his burgeoning reggae success.
Considered one of the most important Caribbean films of the era,The Harder They Come, directed by Perry Henzell, isa gangster film loosely inspired by real-life crime lord Vincent Martin, known as Rhyging. The film stars reggae singer Jimmy Cliff and features original songs by the artist.
its propulsive storytelling remains deeply compelling, and it stands as a unique view of Black Jamaican communities
The film, sumptuously shot on location, is performed largely in thickly-accented creole, and required subtitles when it was finally released in the US by Roger Corman’s B-studio, New Word Pictures.After a little-seen limited theatrical run, the film gained attention as a midnight attraction that spring, and became a modest hit. WhileThe Harder They Comewas criticized as overly plot-y by American critics at the time, its propulsive storytelling remains deeply compelling, and it stands as a unique view of Black Jamaican communities who were rarely shown on-screen at the time.
Performance
Performance is a 1970 British crime drama film co-directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg. The film stars James Fox as Chas, an East London gangster on the run who hides out in the decaying mansion of a reclusive rock star, Turner, played by Mick Jagger. As Chas and Turner interact, their identities and realities begin to blur, creating a surreal narrative that explores themes of power and transformation.
It took Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell’s mysterious, intricate, deeply poetic gangster film,Performance,decades to gain the recognition it deserved.Shot in 1968, the film, which tells the psychosexually tangled tale of a gangster (James Fox) on the lam at the luxurious home of a brooding, psychedelic libertine (Mick Jagger) after pulling a hit, was shelved until 1970 for its overt sexuality and heady philosophical overtones.
Over the course of that decade, this endlessly fascinating artistic crime film was screened sporadically in the US and Europe, only reaching a widely receptive audience following its home video release in 1980. It was a totally different type of film thanThe Godfather, but that’s what made it so unique.
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The Godfather
The Godfather chronicles the Italian-American Corleone crime family from 1945 to 1955. Following an assassination attempt on family patriarch Vito Corleone, his youngest son Michael emerges to orchestrate a brutal campaign of retribution, cementing his role in the family’s illicit empire.
