Roman Polanski's ode to the early days of Los Angeles, Chinatown features Jack Nicholson as gumshoe Jake Gittes, as he begins an investigation into adultery, which leads him to discover much more than he bargained for, with clues involving city officials at the highest level. One of Polanski's best films, Chinatown is replete with clever banter and dialogue typical of the film noir days of Bogart and Edward G. Robinson. A later sequel directed by Nicholson himself, The Two Jakes, tried to pick up the story decades later, but to no avail.

An excellently fast-paced action drama set in the streets of modern day Los Angeles, Heat pits a well oiled team of criminal thieves (led by Robert De Niro) against an equally skilled team of detectives (led by Al Pacino.) The film is best known for placing Pacino and De Niro opposite each other for the first time, seeing as they never appeared on screen together in The Godfather Part II. Look for the memorable diner scene where both men engage in a verbal showdown, a scene which was allegedly completely shot unrehearsed by the two legends, in order to give the conversation between strangers-turned-enemies more credibility.

Based on Nicholas Pileggi's novel of the same name, Casino tells the story of Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro), a gambling handicapper who helped organized crime control much of the Las Vegas casino action in the late 1970's. Though this isn't mentioned in the credits, Pileggi and director Martin Scorsese based the character on real-life numbers man Lefty Rosenthal, who oversaw operations at three real-life casinos in late 70s La Vegas, on behalf of the Chicago mob. Much of the film's success rests on De Niro, who narrates his own adventures as he takes the audience deep into the precision-based decision process involved in running a successful money-making machine.

International drug trade and intrigue is the focus of this marvelous police drama which stars Gene Hackman as tough-as-nails New York cop "Popeye" Doyle, on the tail of refined drug lord Alain Charnier (Fernando Ray). Though the film is mostly known for featuring one of the most nail-biting car chases ever filmed, its place amongst the great crime films is also due to its inspiration from real-life events, in which a huge French shipment of heroin was about to make its way onto the streets of New York City. Hackman's mesmerizing performance offers one of the best onscreen portrayals of a cop who simply refuses to let criminals get the best of the law.

A reinvented take on Chicago cop Eliot Ness' pursuit of Al Capone during the Prohibition Era, The Untouchables starred Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith as incorruptible cops who vow to take down Capone no matter what the cost, while doing their best to remain within the boundaries of the law. Connery won an Oscar for his portrayal of Jim Malone, a seasoned Irish beat cop who mentors Ness on the necessary actions needed to fight crime while bending the rules. It also helps that Capone is played with gusto by Robert De Niro.

Bryan Singer's criminal drama about five men destined to do one last job at the behest of an enigmatic criminal mastermind known as Keyser Soze, The Usual Suspects has been a fan favorite since its release in 1995. The ensemble cast of Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak, Benicio Del Toro and Kevin Spacey melded so well together on screen that at one point Singer would opt for some outtakes to be used rather than scenes shot with the original script, namely the scene involving the police lineup. Arguably Singer's best film to date, the movie made "Who is Keyser Soze?" the catchphrase of the year.

Quentin Tarantino's imaginative exploration of the human side of crime, Pulp Fiction mainly follows a pair of henchmen (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson) as they go about their daily job working for their intimidating crime boss. Clever in its editing, showing us various chapters of the story out of sequence, the film has all the inimitable touches of Tarantino's pop-culture filled dialogue, not to mention yet another rocking soundtrack. Fans of this indie gem will also want to check out his earlier film, another well-written crime drama called Reservoir Dogs.  

The film that helped sell millions of college t-shirts and movie posters in dormitories the world over, Brian De Palma's tale of Cuban immigrant Tony Montana (Al Pacino) still ranks as one of the most violent crime dramas depicted on screen. This highly quotable film (Pacino reports it as one of his best roles) which has since led to countless rip-offs and even inspired some videogames, was problematic at the time of its release in that Miami officials feared the film would portray Cuban-American immigrants in a negative light. This turned out to be ironic, since Michael Mann would produce his TV crime drama Miami Vice a few years later, and Miami is the setting for the current serial-killer hit Dexter. 

2. Goodfellas

Based on Nicholas Pileggi's book Wiseguy, Goodfellas tells the semi-fictional story of Irish Italian mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), an up-and coming hoodlum from the streets of Brooklyn who soon joined organized crime within the Lucchese family. Mentored by the likes of career mobsters Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), the movie boils down to a point of no return when Hill finds himself cornered by his own irresponsible deeds, endangering all those around him as well as the family he swore allegiance to. The film is ninth in the list of films which contain the most utterance of the "f-word", and also features a brief appearance by a very young Michael Imperioli (as a bartender during a card game,) who went on to play Christopher Moltisanti on TV's The Sopranos.

Invariably seen near the top of various best-of movie lists, Coppola's epic tale of an Italian family connected to a life of crime, is still the crime film to rule them all. Starting with Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) and his quiet but masterly rule of his turf, the movie soon follows his son Michael (Al Pacino) who is reluctantly pushed into a seat of unimaginable control over the family's illegal affairs. The sequel stars a young Robert De Niro as Vito Corleone seen in flashbacks. The first two installments are great, though the third film fails to capture the same atmosphere so brilliantly seen in its predecessors.