Board 8 > Board 8 Watches and Ranks Organized Crime Films: Sign-Ups!

(+) Yeah! (+)

We've got your mobs, your mafia, your gangs and gangsters. Love to see a dirty cop infiltrating a mob boss' tight-knit organization? Want to watch a jaded old crook on his last stand against the pigs? Want to see a kingpin on his rise to the top, only to have his kingdom crumble beneath him? We've got it all and more here, in 30 of the biggest, best and most significant organized crime films spanning all periods, starting in 1931 and ending in 2019.

The rules are simple: watch the 30 films listed over the next 3 months or so, rank them, throw together some thoughts in the form of a write-up (these can be anywhere from a few words to a few paragraphs, whatever you like!), and submit them to me. We'll then average together the score and reveal Board 8's ultimate ranking.

Please submit your rankings/writeups to [email protected] by September 30, 2022. This'll put you at just under 10 movies per month, or an average of ~2 movies/week. If you want to participate and don't think you'll make the deadline, don't hesitate to let me know and we'll see how we can make it work. Participation is open to everyone on Board 8, regardless of whether you've ever participated before!

The films:
The Public Enemy (1931)
Little Caesar (1931)
Scarface (1932)
White Heat (1949)
The Italian Job (1969)
The Godfather (1972)
Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
The Godfather Pt. II (1974)
Scarface (1983)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
The Untouchables (1987)
Miller's Crossing (1990)
Goodfellas (1990)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Carlito's Way (1993)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Casino (1995)
L.A. Confidential (1995)
Donnie Brasco (1997)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Snatch (2000)
Gangster No. 1 (2000)
Training Day (2001)
Gangs of New York (2002)
City of God (2002)
The Departed (2006)
Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
American Gangster (2007)
Sicario (2015)
The Irishman (2019)

Tag, this list is pretty damn solid

Tag.

Like I warned previously, this is not necessarily my genre like horror was. Still definitely interested in trying it out though! And I promise not to be someone who grumps their way through all the movies regardless.

First count is I've already seen 8 of these, but I don't think I've seen any of them within 10 years so they're all going to need re-watches.

Tag.

Suprak the Stud posted...

Like I warned previously, this is not necessarily my genre like horror was. Still definitely interested in trying it out though! And I promise not to be someone who grumps their way through all the movies regardless.

Sometimes that's the fun of it! I went into the western and martial arts lists having seen very few of either, and ended up ultimately having some new favorites of each! (Particularly the martial arts list)

I've never seen a single movie on this list and a lot of them are considered classics so maybe I should participate in this one!

TotallyNotMI posted...

I've never seen a single movie on this list and a lot of them are considered classics so maybe I should participate in this one!

We'd love to have you!

I think all together I've seen 10 of these and most of the ones I haven't I've meant to

I've seen the godfathers and the tarantino movies but thats it

Tag. I've seen about about a third of these.

I started looking into some of these I hadn't seen, and the average run time of these films appears to be roughly 17 and a half hours.

I'm going to need to pace myself better here than I did the horror movies, haha.

Yeah some of them are definitely on the longer end (particularly the godfathers)

Not all but quite a few. If toward the 3 month mark it's looking like that's holding people back from finishing, we'll address it then

I think 3 months is totally fair. I had just saved way too many until the end for horror, and there's no way I can do that this time. More of a reminder to myself than anything!

This looks like an interesting project.

Sign me up.

This is out of my comfort zone, so itll be fun to have a reason to commit to the genre for some time.

Now the fun of keeping this bumped for three months

Johnbobb posted...

Now the fun of keeping this bumped for three months

Imagine how much fun Vegas is gonna have when Casino is in danger of being eliminated.

Feels light on the noir era!

If I do this I might have to make some room for honorable mentions

Seginustemple posted...

Feels light on the noir era!

If I do this I might have to make some room for honorable mentions

So the original list was going to just be "Crime" but I ended up having so many entries I broke it into several lists: Organized Crime, (Dis)Organized Crime, and Mysteries. You'll see a handful more from the noir era on the latter two

Johnbobb posted...

So the original list was going to just be "Crime" but I ended up having so many entries I broke it into several lists: Organized Crime, (Dis)Organized Crime, and Mysteries. You'll see a handful more from the noir era on the latter two

Yeah, when I think "Noir" I think old-school mysteries like Maltese Falcon and such.

I've seen like 10 max.

First film watched!

Technically it was a rewatch, but one I haven't seen in at least a decade

There is one re-watch I've been dreading to watch because it sort of contributed to the death of my interest in the genre. I'd really like to get it out of the way first, but I've tried to start it three straight nights to start it and always decided to just play a game instead.

I might need to start elsewhere to get some forward momentum!

Torn between whether I should go through the list chronologically or by what interests me most.

plasmabeam posted...

Torn between whether I should go through the list chronologically or by what interests me most.

Personally I'm going with the latter to prevent burnout. I also have them organized by runtime so I can split up some of the really long ones.

I watch movies in 1-hour chunks while riding my exercise bike, so the really long ones are no problem for me. Just might take 3-4 days to get through.

I usually tend to start chronologically, but not strictly in that order. I'll also take into account things like which ones I already have access to, and usually put off any rewatches until the end

restarting my HBO Max subscription for one month, partially for this but mostly so I can finish Barry

I always want to take part in these things but I never have the time.

Ive seen at least 2/3rds of these before but most a long while ago. Some REALLY great movies here but, yeah, many do tend on the longer side.

Seanchan posted...

I always want to take part in these things but I never have the time.

Ive seen at least 2/3rds of these before but most a long while ago. Some REALLY great movies here but, yeah, many do tend on the longer side.

We'd definitely welcome you if you can find the time for it!

I'm sure most of you are aware of this site, but https://www.justwatch.com/us lets you search for movies/shows and it tells you what streaming services they are available on. I direct linked to the U.S. version but I'm pretty sure the site handles other countries as well.

^ Careful, the mods might get arsey...just a heads-up

Hardcore_Adult posted...

^ Careful, the mods might get arsey...just a heads-up

Is that aimed at me? It's just a convenience site to help make it easier to know what's on which streaming service, whether that's with a subscription (D+, HBO Max, etc.) or ala carte (Prime, Apple TV, etc.)

Yeah that isn't a "you can stream stuff here for free" site. That's a "ok so you have a bunch of legal streaming services - here are the ones where you can stream what you actually want" site.

I finally finished the movie I did not want to re-watch last night! My opinions weren't changed much, but the good news is all the other ones I have to re-watch I had better opinions of so I'm hoping it's all uphill from here.

signing up, excuse to do movie nights

Ive been wanting to do one of these for a while. Ive seen a third of these already which seems just right to pick up the rest. Hoping I can get this done.

Directors with multiple films on this list:
Martin Scorsese (5): Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, Gangs of New York, The Departed, The Irishman
Brian DePalma (3): Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito's Way
Francis Ford Coppola (2): The Godfather, The Godfather Part II
Quentin Tarantino (2): Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction
Guy Ritchie (2): Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch

HMs:
Joel & Ethan Coen: Only got one on this list (Miller's Crossing) but are easily the most prominent directors on the Disorganized Crime list
Paul McGuigan: Only got one on this list (Gangster No. 1) but almost had two before Lucky Number Slevin got cut

Scorsese didn't direct Donnie Brasco, no?

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Scorsese didn't direct Donnie Brasco, no?

Fugetaboutit

Johnbobb posted...

Directors with multiple films on this list:
Martin Scorsese (5): Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, Gangs of New York, The Departed, The Irishman
Brian DePalma (3): Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito's Way
Francis Ford Coppola (2): The Godfather, The Godfather Part II
Quentin Tarantino (2): Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction
Guy Ritchie (2): Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch

HMs:
Joel & Ethan Coen: Only got one on this list (Miller's Crossing) but are easily the most prominent directors on the Disorganized Crime list
Paul McGuigan: Only got one on this list (Gangster No. 1) but almost had two before Lucky Number Slevin got cut

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Scorsese didn't direct Donnie Brasco, no?

Nope, but Scorsese directed Casino, which is on the list.

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Scorsese didn't direct Donnie Brasco, no?

plasmabeam posted...

Nope, but Scorsese directed Casino, which is on the list

Whoops, weird mixup on my part

While we're pointing these out, it looks like Slevin is still on the list.

Johnbobb posted...

Paul McGuigan: Only got one on this list (Gangster No. 1) but almost had two before Lucky Number Slevin got cut

Now Im wondering what got cut that instead of Slevin!

oh geez

ignore me I'm confused about everything

17/30 seen so I'll probably be on board for this one.

only seen 8 plan to rewatch all

Okay, list. Could use more films made before the 70s tho.

How do you make a list like this and not include anything from Hong Kong?

This is a great list! It even includes my favorite film. I might actually be down for this one. Tag in any case!

ribbiting posted...

How do you make a list like this and not include anything from Hong Kong?

Yeah, Election at least should be on it.