You have to admit that there's a certain allure to the criminal lifestyle. It's almost Darwinian: you take what you want, and those who don't get caught survive to pass the crime gene to their offspring. The popular romanticizing of the criminal lifestyle certainly hasn't been lost on Hollywood; the film industry loves to portray the inner workings of criminal organizations (perhaps because there's not really that much difference between a mob boss and a studio head. . . ).

Where does the fascination spring from? Perhaps it's due to the fact that identifying with criminals has a cathartic function, allowing us to vicariously live through the crimes of others so that we don't feel compelled to engage in them ourselves. Or perhaps it's because in most crime movies the criminal eventually gets caught, thus confirming our natural sense of justice. We leave such theories up to the bookworms that teach courses in film analysis and interpretation. We like crime movies because they show us an underside to our society that we don't get to see too often, and these people kick some ass.

You've probably heard of most of our picks for the top 5 crime movies (actually, 6 counting the two Godfather flicks). All of them were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, and all of them feature ample visions of violence: blood, guts, and an occasional horse decapitation. So without further ado, let's look at the scenes of the crimes . . .

1. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)

This is a classic noir flick, see, and dames and fellas alike are gonna think the acting's swell and the plot's a real champ, I tell ya.

Judging from the dialogue in Double Indemnity, we imagine that the trailer sounded something like that back in 1944, chock full o' that campy 1940s lingo. But this is the movie from which all the rip-offs - or, as they're called in the business, homages - and parodies came. To give you an idea, this is the kind of movie where a character would introduce himself as a "private dick" in a voiceover. It's a prototypical black and white murder mystery with a twist, featuring insurance fraud, infidelity, and heavy sleuthing. What you won't expect is the sophistication of the film and how similar it is to contemporary cinema in the degree to which it exudes a cynicism for the human character.

The protagonist is Walter Neff, an insurance salesman back when that wasn't a job for lepers, and his high-octane banter is meant to be smooth talk. His target: a leggy dame, Phyllis Dietrichson, who's married to this rich gent. After their romance takes off, the two conspire to do away with Mr. Dietrichson and abscond with the insurance benefits. Needless to say, things don't work out perfectly.

This film is the ancestor of all mystery movies, and even though the era of Agatha Christie adaptations may have passed, we can still see the impressions of Double Indemnity in modern whodunnits like The Usual Suspects and The Spanish Prisoner.

Notes:

  • Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Actress, Director, and Screenplay

  • Placed #38 on the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Movies" List

2. FARGO (1996)

This movie defies categorization. You'll find yourself laughing an awful lot while you watch it, but we'd be hard pressed to call it a comedy. There's a background plot involving cops hunting down a killer, but it's nothing so banal as a murder mystery. Perhaps all we can really call it is vintage Coen Brothers. Much like Pulp Fiction two years before it, this film traverses the full range of cinematic entertainment, touching on crime, money, and a distinctive American subculture, all brought to you by a powerhouse ensemble cast.

From the moment that Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) hires a pair of cretins to kidnap his wife, his lunatic scheme rapidly devolves into a series of unwanted killings and botched plans. The lighthearted bungling takes a sharp turn for the macabre when one of his henchmen turns a state trooper's skull into a blood fountain. Nasty. So why are we laughing? Because in classic Coen style, the film's plot is layered with fantastic character sketches in a bizarre milieu; in this case, the hinterlands of the upper Midwest.

Not only does the chief investigative officer, the pregnant Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), endear you with her down home persistence, a stream of hysterical cameos by Midwesterners provides an entree in this foreign country within United States borders.

If you want a strong clue as to how good this movie is, consider that it was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar despite the fact that it was released in early March. To put that in perspective, consider the fact that almost every Best Picture in the last ten years has been released in December (staying eligible for that year's Oscars while opening as close as possible to the voting).

Notes:

  • Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Actress (McDormand) Supporting Actor (Macy), Director, and Screenplay

  • Won 2 Academy Awards: Best Actress and Screenplay

  • Contains a statement that it's based on a true story at the beginning, but it actually was not

  • Chosen by both Siskel and Ebert as the best film of 1996

  • Placed #84 on the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Movies" List

3. THE GODFATHER I & II (1972, 1974)

If you're enjoying The Sopranos - and according to every TV critic, you have absolutely no right not to be - you absolutely must build your mobster movie foundation with these first two parts of America's reigning trilogy. What, is this news to you? Does this amuse you? We're talking about The Godfather! Parts I and II are ranked by pretty much every critic who's ever inked a review as two of the top ten films every made. There was a Part III made in 1990, but it's kind of like the black sheep of the family (not to mention that Francis Ford pulled one of the biggest cinematic blunders in history by casting his daughter in a prominent role). But still, the first two are tremendous. Parts I and II are the Iliad and the Odyssey of American cinema: great Mediterranean epics packed with violence that are also foundational pillars of our cultural library.

When you watch these movies, you'll be constantly remarking, "Oh, so that's where that came from." These flicks gave birth to an entirely new vocabulary - offers you can't refuse, horses' heads in beds, "favors" - and we've fallen nostalgically in love with it all, especially Marlon Brando as a Jabba-the-Hut figurehead who can barely open his jaw. Who cares if you don't see any civilian victims of organized crimes like shaken-down shopkeepers, drugged-up prostitutes, or drive-by collateral? That's what all the later mobster films are all about. But for now, enjoy this heavily romanticized tale of a mafia boss's son taking over the business.

Part II is groundbreaking in that it's one of the first prequels ever made and one of the only film follow-ups that improved on the original (notwithstanding Toy Story 2). II didn't beat I's box office, but it did grab more Oscars and many die-hard fans prefer the old-country feel of this earlier tale of Don Vito Corleone's rise to power.

We could go on for hours about how good these movies are, but seriously, we're talking about the basics here. Don't embarrass yourself any longer, go see these.

Notes:

  • Part I was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, and THREE Supporting Actors

  • Part I won 3 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Actor (Brando), and Screenplay

  • Part II was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Best Actor, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress

  • Part II won 6 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro), Screenplay, Score, and Art/Set Decoration

  • Amazingly, Part III was nominated for seven Oscars (including Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actor)

  • In all three films, oranges signify an impending death (or a close call)

  • Part I placed #3 and Part II placed #32 on the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Movies" List

4. GOODFELLAS (1990)

So you were wondering where all the hard-nosed, in-your-face edginess was in the Godfather trilogy? We got your violence right here, buddy. That grit doesn't show up in mafia films until Goodfellas, perhaps the greatest film by one of the greatest living directors, Martin Scorsese. The film bridges the gap between the nostalgic romance of early mob movies and the current Tarantino-inspired splatterfests. The gap is bridged almost single-handedly via the imbalanced Tommy DeVito, played by Joe Pesci, who delivers the famous "Do I amuse you?" cross-examination. The scene is a terrifying bipolar moment in which a moment of lightheartedness among friends is pierced with DeVito's interrogation of his friend, who remarks that DeVito is a funny guy: "Funny how, funny like I'm some sort of a clown?" These wild swings between the good times and bad, between romance and violence, fuel a terrific ride through the entire trajectory of one wise guy's mob career.

The story is Henry Hill's (Ray Liotta), who as a youth in New York grew up desperately wanting to become a member of the mob and live it large. His career begins as a valet for the local mob boss and progresses to petty crime and worse as he rises in the mafia ranks. Things turn sour as people get dead, and the film culminates in a frantic sequence involving a drug score, federal surveillance, and pasta preparation. Scorsese bases this film on the writing of a real Henry Hill, who joined the witness protection program to escape his life in the mob. With that foundation, Scorsese give much of the film a very gritty and real atmosphere that is a first in mob movies.

Perhaps the only disappointing aspect of this movie is that Pesci won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance, which has inspired him to play the exact same character in every movie role he has played since.

Notes:

  • Scorsese's mother has a bit part in the film. She ad-libbed a scene with Pesci about his borrowing a ridiculously large knife.

  • A naughty word beginning with 'F' is used 246 times.

  • Nominated for 6 Academy Awards (including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress, and Screenplay)

  • Won 1 Academy Award: Best Supporting Actor for Pesci

  • Placed #94 on the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Movies" List

5. PULP FICTION (1994)

Although most will remember this movie as the first in which an actor removed pieces of brain (not his own) from an afro and in which home sternum injections were pioneered as a viable medical recuperative, there is much more than just radical medicine in this film. First, it rehabilitated John Travolta's flagging career, presented Uma Thurman in a role that didn't cause widespread wincing, allowed us to believe Bruce Willis was more (or less) than a world-saving cop, and introduced many of us to Samuel L. Jackson. In fact, this film was one of the first successful contemporary ensemble performances - just who is the lead in this movie? No one and everyone. Perhaps the plot is the star. The film weaves together several plot lines in several temporal spheres, all of which occur in the bizarre and heretofore untapped world of contemporary gangsters.

A lot of people die in this movie and many do so violently. Indeed, it's all a bit medieval. But beyond the time-twisting and gore, this film's script is also an innovation. We are exposed to inane fast food banter, porcine dietary pros and cons, and some scripture sampling. One of the greatest indicators of how well a film has permeated the culture is the incidence of its quotedness. This film has been quoted by everyone; not just lines, but entire monologues found themselves the center of conversations everywhere. This movie was just really damn cool.

As much as we have all come to find Quentin Tarantino annoying, we should try to remember him as he was when this movie first opened: irrelevant. The movie is a tremendous landmark in contemporary cinema not in spite of Quentin but because of him; he made the thing after all. And sure, he's got a limited range, but when he's within it, he's capable of great things. Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are both great films. Watch them and enjoy. Then remember how annoying Tarantino is.

Notes:

  • Won the Palm D'Or at Cannes

  • Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress

  • Won 1 Academy Award: Best Screenplay

  • Placed #95 on the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Movies" List