Crime backdrop

Crime movies

A deep dive into the underworld of gangsters, detectives, and heists where the line between right and wrong blurs.

Subgenres include: Organized Crime, Heist, Con Artist Crime.

The Siege

1431. The Siege

Drama Action Thriller Crime
6.4

19981h 56min

United States

Director: Edward Zwick

The secret US abduction of a suspected terrorist from his Middle East homeland leads to a wave of terrorist attacks in New York. An FBI senior agent and his team attempt to locate and decommission the enemy cells, but must also deal with an Army General gone rogue and a female CIA agent of uncertain loyalties.


Belly

1432. Belly

Crime Drama
6.2

19981h 36min

United States

Director: Hype Williams

Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?


Ronin

1433. Ronin

Action Thriller Crime Military Action Organized Crime
7.2

19982h 2min

United Kingdom, United States

Director: John Frankenheimer

A former U.S. intelligence agent tries to track down a mysterious package that both Russian and Irish secret services are hunting at the same time.

Themes

Loyalty vs self-interest, Deception and betrayal, Risk and consequence, Trust under scrutiny, Mercenary ethics under pressure, Power and money dynamics

Available on

Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Video
Apple TV
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Thursday

1434. Thursday

Thriller Action Comedy Crime Drama
7.1

19981h 27min

United States

Director: Skip Woods

A former Los Angeles drug dealer moves far away to Texas, making a new life for himself as a married architect in the suburbs. His old crime partner unexpectedly shows up with heroin and gangster business, attracting a slew of violent unsavory characters.

Themes

Deception under pressure, Violence and control, Money and coercion, Corrupt authority pressure, Suburban disguise vs crime, Past crime resurfacing

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Clay Pigeons

1435. Clay Pigeons

Crime Comedy Drama Romance
6.6

19981h 44min

Germany, United Kingdom

Director: David Dobkin

Clay is a young man in a small town who witnesses his friend, Earl, kill himself because of the ongoing affair that Clay was having with the man's wife, Amanda. Feeling guilty, Clay now resists the widow when she presses him to continue with the affair. Clay unknowingly befriends a serial killer named Lester Long who murders the widow in an attempt to "help" his "fishing buddy."


SLC Punk

1436. SLC Punk

Comedy Drama Crime Music
7.3

19981h 37min

United States

Director: James Merendino

Two former geeks become 1980s punks, then party and go to concerts while deciding what to do with their lives.


Rush Hour

1437. Rush Hour

Action Comedy Crime
7.0

19981h 37min

United States

Director: Brett Ratner

When Hong Kong Inspector Lee is summoned to Los Angeles to investigate a kidnapping, the FBI doesn't want any outside help and assigns cocky LAPD Detective James Carter to distract Lee from the case. Not content to watch the action from the sidelines, Lee and Carter form an unlikely partnership and investigate the case themselves.


Rounders

1438. Rounders

Drama Crime Organized Crime Psychological Drama
7.3

19982h 1min

United States

Director: John Dahl

Poker addict Mike McDermott knows the game inside out, but loses his money one night in a game to Russian-American gangster Teddy KGB. Promising his partner Jo he'll give up, he meets up with best friend Lester 'Worm' Murphy, just out of prison and owing lots of money to the wrong kind of people. McDermott becomes his co-guarantor and now there's only one way to raise the money, the pair have to get back into the game.

Themes

Deception and manipulation, Loyalty under pressure, Debt and obligation, Poker culture, Gambling debt, Gangster influence, Gambling networks

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Very Bad Things

1439. Very Bad Things

Comedy Crime Thriller
6.3

19981h 40min

United States

Director: Peter Berg

Kyle Fisher has one last night to celebrate life as a single man before marrying Laura, so he sets out to Vegas with four of his best buddies. But a drug and alcohol filled night on the town with a stripper who goes all the way, turns into a cold night in the desert with shovels when the stripper goes all the way into a body bag after dying in their bathroom. And that's just the first of the bodies to pile up before Kyle can walk down the aisle...


Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

1440. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Comedy Crime Heist Dark Comedy
8.1

19981h 45min

United Kingdom, United States

Director: Guy Ritchie

Four mates stake everything on a card shark’s big poker night, but a rigged game leaves them owing a brutal debt collector half a million in a week, forcing them to rob the gang next door and setting off a chain of double-crosses that spins their small-time hustle into all-out criminal chaos.

Themes

Loyalty under strain, High stakes deception, Debt pressure in crime, Escalation of violence, Value of weaponry, Rival gang pressure

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.