American Crime Movies, a list by Adam McGready

9.0

/968478/

88

/16278/

85

/9643/

4.6

/1304036/

100

/63/

97

/6764/

97

/18/

4.0

age 12+

The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.

93

IMDb 79

9.2

/2194735/

88

/35352/

86

/22268/

4.5

/2369298/

97

/153/

98

/41090/

100

/16/

4.0

age 16+

Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.

92

8.9

/23670/

84

/313/

84

/253/

4.5

/48526/

100

/56/

98

/90/

4.0

age 15+

A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.

91

9.0

/1475480/

87

/21054/

85

/13470/

4.6

/1231676/

96

/129/

97

/18705/

90

/18/

age 16+

In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.

91

8.7

/1371558/

85

/25752/

84

/13903/

4.5

/1908257/

93

/167/

97

/29224/

92

/21/

4.0

age 18+

The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.

90

IMDb 93

8.8

/2403661/

86

/53257/

84

/29515/

4.2

/3743587/

92

/185/

96

/62759/

95

/27/

4.0

age 17+

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.

90

IMDb 90

9.1

/3120291/

88

/87256/

85

/34978/

4.5

/3849185/

94

/341/

94

/173380/

85

/41/

4.0

age 15+

Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.

89

8.3

/179517/

80

/2804/

81

/1955/

4.3

/203439/

97

/110/

95

/2255/

95

/18/

4.0

age 12+

An insurance representative is seduced by a dissatisfied housewife into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, a claims investigator.

89

8.2

/302318/

80

/4881/

80

/3752/

4.3

/346766/

95

/74/

94

/5923/

98

/19/

4.0

age 11+

In Prohibition-era Chicago, musicians Joe and Jerry witness a mob hit, and flee the state in an all-female band disguised as Josephine and Daphne, but further complications set in.

89

IMDb 47

9.3

/3144126/

91

/52073/

87

/29511/

4.6

/2443744/

89

/146/

98

/53477/

82

/22/

3.5

age 15+

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

88

8.0

/196460/

79

/3199/

77

/1549/

4.2

/113912/

100

/56/

95

/4203/

92

/16/

4.0

age 14+

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

88

8.1

/176307/

77

/2305/

78

/1705/

4.2

/135168/

99

/115/

95

/3158/

91

/15/

4.0

age 13+

A prizefighter-turned-longshoreman with a conscience goes up against labor leaders to expose corruption, extortion, and murder among the union ranks.

88

8.5

/1534619/

83

/31310/

81

/15766/

4.3

/1398605/

91

/285/

94

/58086/

85

/39/

4.0

age 17+

To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the underworld, not realizing the syndicate has done likewise. While an undercover cop curries favor with the mob kingpin, a career criminal rises through the police ranks. But both sides soon discover there's a mole among them.

88

8.2

/653752/

79

/10292/

78

/5339/

4.1

/375785/

99

/165/

94

/6453/

91

/28/

4.0

age 17+

Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.

88

8.1

/373578/

79

/6334/

79

/4116/

4.3

/448367/

98

/144/

93

/5232/

92

/23/

4.0

age 15+

Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.

87

7.9

/114185/

76

/1726/

78

/1543/

4.2

/96972/

96

/85/

92

/1684/

99

/24/

4.0

When a car bomb explodes on the American side of the U.S./Mexico border, Mexican drug enforcement agent Miguel Vargas begins his investigation, along with American police captain Hank Quinlan. When Vargas begins to suspect that Quinlan and his shady partner, Menzies, are planting evidence to frame an innocent man, his investigations into their possible corruption quickly put himself and his new bride, Susie, in jeopardy.

87

8.2

/1011565/

79

/18913/

81

/13085/

4.1

/2113264/

89

/163/

93

/13431/

94

/23/

4.0

age 17+

Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.

87

8.2

/297538/

82

/5142/

80

/2837/

4.2

/178237/

93

/107/

95

/3576/

83

/17/

4.0

age 13+

A novice con man teams up with an acknowledged master to avenge the murder of a mutual friend by pulling off the ultimate big con and swindling a fortune from a big-time mobster.

87

8.0

/106451/

77

/2189/

78

/1757/

4.3

/221585/

93

/87/

90

/1894/

97

/21/

4.0

In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.

87

7.9

/173227/

76

/2898/

77

/1819/

3.9

/135929/

99

/111/

91

/2982/

97

/16/

4.0

age 12+

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

87

8.2

/19360/

79

/620/

75

/192/

4.1

/18341/

100

/26/

94

/393/

4.0

A horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.

87

8.4

/52924/

80

/1372/

79

/646/

4.0

/19131/

95

/133/

94

/2288/

84

/26/

4.0

age 14+

The Cove tells the amazing true story of how an elite team of individuals, films makers and free divers embarked on a covert mission to penetrate the hidden cove in Japan, shining light on a dark and deadly secret. The shocking discoveries were only the tip of the iceberg.

87

8.1

/776366/

80

/18938/

78

/8795/

4.2

/1192770/

94

/109/

92

/12439/

88

/26/

4.0

age 16+

Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt... but he's got a plan. He's going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. It's going to be a snap and nobody's going to get hurt... until people start dying. Enter Police Chief Marge, a coffee-drinking, parka-wearing - and extremely pregnant - investigator who'll stop at nothing to get her man. And if you think her small-time investigative skills will give the crooks a run for their ransom... you betcha!

87

8.2

/1168553/

79

/25828/

79

/12900/

4.3

/1921536/

93

/291/

86

/60250/

92

/39/

4.0

age 17+

Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.

87

8.6

/1695090/

85

/35873/

83

/17440/

4.3

/2662249/

95

/157/

95

/29659/

86

/20/

3.5

age 17+

Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.

86

8.0

/77019/

78

/1655/

79

/1109/

4.2

/84585/

100

/53/

91

/822/

95

/15/

age 13+

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

86

7.9

/104714/

76

/1992/

76

/1662/

4.0

/142728/

96

/48/

92

/1286/

91

/15/

4.0

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

86

8.4

/159517/

82

/2431/

82

/1595/

4.4

/112804/

100

/41/

95

/743/

76

/12/

age 11+

An ailing barrister is thrust back into the courtroom in what becomes one of the most unusual and eventful murder cases of the lawyer's career when he finds himself defending a man being tried for the murder of a socialite.

86

7.9

/148073/

76

/2580/

77

/1817/

4.1

/156832/

98

/60/

92

/1908/

88

/15/

4.0

age 14+

A charming psychopath tries to coerce a tennis star into his theory that two strangers can commit the perfect crime by exchanging murders—each killing the other’s most-hated person.

86

8.8

/24854/

83

/1288/

80

/1129/

4.5

/167353/

85

/238/

81

/1050705/

95

/12/

A former assassin—known only as The Bride—wakes up from a coma after her former boss and lover, Bill, shoots her in the head and steals her unborn child during her wedding rehearsal. She soon embarks on a bloody quest for revenge, hunting down her ex-colleagues of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad before confronting Bill himself. Quentin Tarantino’s complete Kill Bill, a combination of Volumes 1 and 2, previously deleted scenes, alternate takes, a full-color remaster of the Crazy 88 fight, a 7-minute anime sequence by Production I.G., and a built-in intermission.

86

8.1

/56721/

79

/1062/

79

/789/

4.4

/96353/

91

/55/

94

/816/

77

/8/

4.0

age 12+

During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.

86

8.5

/44806/

83

/1781/

80

/560/

4.4

/89050/

94

/51/

96

/1065/

82

/11/

age 16+

In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.

86

8.2

/39064/

81

/2471/

78

/773/

4.3

/116290/

97

/105/

90

/240/

81

/29/

4.0

age 16+

An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.

86

8.2

/82410/

78

/3326/

77

/1004/

3.9

/29419/

98

/147/

91

/2237/

88

/27/

4.0

A film that exposes the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

86

8.1

/530182/

79

/18239/

78

/8589/

4.1

/570169/

97

/378/

93

/2949/

93

/45/

3.5

age 15+

The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

85

IMDb 4

7.8

/270850/

74

/9643/

74

/2357/

4.2

/1758488/

94

/428/

85

/1999/

95

/63/

4.0

age 16+

Washed-up revolutionary Bob exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited, self-reliant daughter, Willa. When his evil nemesis resurfaces after 16 years and she goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her, father and daughter both battling the consequences of his past.

85

7.9

/34781/

76

/793/

74

/518/

4.0

/36173/

98

/47/

93

/969/

86

/17/

4.0

age 10+

A husband and wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts.

85

7.7

/135062/

74

/3027/

75

/1952/

4.2

/245818/

94

/141/

89

/2050/

88

/17/

4.0

age 16+

A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.

85

7.8

/181018/

79

/4271/

78

/2727/

4.1

/251884/

97

/35/

92

/2808/

80

/15/

4.0

age 15+

Set in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is the youngster's growing attraction - forbidden in his neighborhood - for a beautiful black girl.

85

7.9

/94803/

76

/1648/

76

/1119/

4.0

/84099/

96

/67/

91

/1677/

86

/19/

4.0

age 12+

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

85

7.9

/43835/

77

/805/

76

/628/

4.1

/52687/

93

/41/

92

/641/

85

/19/

4.0

The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

85

8.1

/598665/

79

/23913/

80

/10630/

4.1

/776149/

90

/408/

87

/2607/

88

/50/

4.0

age 17+

After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.

85

7.9

/32073/

77

/701/

77

/536/

4.1

/46376/

95

/75/

90

/360/

4.0

After the suspicious suicide of a fellow cop, tough homicide detective Dave Bannion takes the law into his own hands when he sets out to smash a vicious crime syndicate.

85

7.9

/8557/

78

/565/

76

/199/

4.0

/16536/

99

/101/

89

/70/

92

/22/

3.5

age 14+

Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation, Tower reveals the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.

85

7.7

/83415/

74

/1767/

74

/1295/

4.0

/169002/

97

/61/

90

/1404/

94

/20/

4.0

An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town and her older greaser boyfriend embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota badlands.

85

7.7

/60800/

76

/1818/

73

/930/

3.9

/44894/

100

/159/

87

/3528/

89

/31/

4.0

age 13+

On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.

85

7.7

/148862/

74

/3295/

74

/2055/

4.0

/189816/

97

/93/

87

/2340/

94

/18/

4.0

age 16+

Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

85

8.0

/288990/

79

/5008/

78

/3225/

4.3

/453976/

96

/118/

90

/3874/

86

/15/