Now that I have watched every movie on their list, I feel the need for a recap. The authors did actually rank all of their selections in the following order (I've provided links to any of the movies which I have reviewed at some point):
3. Goodfellas
5. Pulp Fiction
7. The Departed
8. Donnie Brasco
9. The Usual Suspects
10. Casino
12. Once Upon a Time in America
13. Leon: The Professional
14. Mean Streets
15. Reservoir Dogs
16. Scarface
17. White Heat
18. A Bronx Tale
19. Bonnie and Clyde
20. Carlito's Way
22. Gangs of New York
23. The Public Enemy
24. Sexy Beast
25. Road to Perdition
26. Get Shorty
27. Rififi
28. The Untouchables
29. Eastern Promises
30. The French Connection
32. City of God
35. In Bruges
36. Pepe le Moko
39. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
41. Infernal Affairs
43. True Romance
44. A Prophet
45. M
46. Angels with Dirty Faces
47. Dinner Rush
48. Get Carter
49. The Big Heat
50. Midnight Run
51. Mesrine
52. High Sierra
53. Snatch
54. The Killing
55. Animal Kingdom
56. Drunken Angel
58. Jackie Brown
59. Heat
60. Bugsy
61. Things Change
62. Layer Cake
64. Bullets Over Broadway
66. State of Grace
67. Key Largo
68. Atlantic City
69. Let Him Have It
71. The Killers
72. American Me
73. Analyze This
75. The Godfather, Part III
76. Al Capone
77. King of New York
78. Charley Varrick
79. Federal Hill
80. Mafioso
81. Point Blank
82. Sonatine
83. Dillinger
84. Little Odessa
85. At Close Range
86. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
89. Prizzi's Honor
90. The Killer
91. Gloria
92. El Mariachi
94. New Jack City
95. Bound
96. We Own the Night
97. The Yakuza
98. Made
99. Brother (Brat)
100. The Freshman
The top of the pyramid. These are the ones that I feel are incredible. They are films which I have already seen multiple times or will happily watch again in the future. Even if I may not feel the need to watch them again, their greatness and influence simply cannot be refuted:
The Godfather (1); The Godfather, Part II (2); Goodfellas (3); On the Waterfront (4); Pulp Fiction (5); Donnie Brasco (8); Casino (10); Leon: The Professional (13); Reservoir Dogs (15); Bonnie and Clyde (19); Road to Perdition (25); The French Connection (30); City of God (32); The Long Good Friday (34); Pepe le Moko (36); A History of Violence (37); Miller's Crossing (40); True Romance (43); A Prophet (44); Get Carter (48); The Big Heat (49); Jackie Brown (58); Heat (59); The Killers (71)
The Clemenzas and Tessios of the gangster movie world. These are the ones that do a lot of things well but have an annoying flaw or two which I can't completely ignore. I also include movies that may have once been great but have suffered the misfortune of being slightly worn down by time. They're solid, reliable movies that I either have or likely would watch again, but they are a bit short of being among the very best:
Little Caesar (6); The Departed (7); The Usual Suspects (9); Once Upon a Time in America (12); Mean Streets (14); White Heat (17); A Bronx Tale (18); Carlito's Way (20); The Public Enemy (23); Sexy Beast (24); Get Shorty (26); Rififi (27); The Untouchables (28); Eastern Promises (29); American Gangster (33); In Bruges (35); Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (39); Infernal Affairs (41); Underworld, U.S.A. (42); M (45); Dinner Rush (47); Midnight Run (50); Mesrine (51); Snatch (53); Animal Kingdom (55); Drunken Angel (56); Kill the Irishman (57); Layer Cake (62); The Asphalt Jungle (63); Bullets Over Broadway (64); Salvatore Giuliano (65); State of Grace (66); Atlantic City (68); Let Him Have It (69); American Me (72); The Roaring Twenties (74); Al Capone (76); King of New York (77); Mafioso (80); Sonatine (82); Dillinger (83); Little Odessa (84); At Close Range (85); Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (86); Lucky Number Slevin (88); The Killer (90); Bound (95); We Own the Night (96); The Yakuza (97); Brother [Brat] (99); The Freshman (100)
The movies that can serve a simpler appetite for some gangster cinema, but are somewhat limited in their scope and what you can expect from them. It may be due to poor aging or a few misguided choices by the creators, but these ones' merits are almost overshadowed by their flaws:
Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (11); The Pope of Greenwich Village (21); Gangs of New York (22); The Petrified Forest (31); The Friends of Eddie Coyle (38); Angels With Dirty Faces (46); High Sierra (52); The Killing (54); Bugsy (60); Key Largo (67); The Valachi Papers (70); Analyze This (73); Charley Varrick (78); Federal Hill (79); Point Blank (81); The Joker is Wild (87); El Mariachi (92); Year of the Dragon (93); New Jack City (94)
Sure, Fredo might have ostensibly been a "gangster", but he was clearly far, far out of his depth. The movies in this group are those which I found very difficult to make it through, even once. If there was a redeeming quality or two, I had to work especially hard to find them. Whether due to age, shifting tastes, or the authors' completely different sensibilities from my own, I'm not even sure why these ones were considered among the "100 greatest" by Anastasia and Macnow:
Things Change (61); The Godfather, Part III (75); Prizzi's Honor (89); Gloria (91); Made (98)
All told, Anastasia and Macnow put together a good list. While I suspect that there are some foreign gangster movies which the writers may not know of, they did include a decent amount of crime movies from abroad. Whenever I go through a list like this, my goal is always to try and find a few gems which I had never seen or heard of. Such was the case here. There were seven standout discoveries for me: Pepe le Moko, A Prophet, The Big Heat, The Killers, Mesrine, At Close Range, and The Yakuza. Sure, I had to sit through a fair number of mediocre or downright unpleasant movies, but finding those seven were worth it.
That wraps up this little obsessive compulsive movie-watching task. On to the next ones...
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