Here are some of my favourites:
- Goodfellas - A great true story about the rise and fall of Henry Hill. As good as The Godfather is, I like how there is this grit in Goodfellas in the sense that it shows you why you wouldn't want to become a mobster. Besides, Joe Pesci is great, and who else doesn't love Ray Liotta's angry laugh? :D
- Donnie Brasco - Another crime drama based on a true story, and very underrated too. Johnny Depp plays an FBI undercover agent who gets in too deep as a mafioso and befriends Lefty (Al Pacino) - a low ranking mobster who felt that he has lost his potential of climbing higher up on the mafia ranks. It's the rare film that has Depp playing someone who isn't a pirate, a gothic character or some eccentric lunatic for a change.
- Heat - I'm not normally big on heist films, but this one is pretty compelling by the way it focuses on the complicated relationships between the men who work in the opposite sides of the law and their loved ones. Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in the same movie together helps too.
- Dirty Harry - A classic. Harry Callahan gets pissed off at the legal system for being too lenient with a serial killer that he loses faith in law and order and takes care of business himself. Probably my favourite Eastwood movie, after Gran Torino.
- Seven - The one where a retiring cop (Morgan Freeman) and a rookie (Brad Pitt) investigate a series of murders based on the bible's seven deadly sins. Very bleak and not for the faint of heart, but compelling. John Doe is one of the creepiest characters I've ever seen on film.
What are yours?