Best International Gangster Movies

Hollywood has put out its fair share of iconic gangster movies over the years, it’s fair to say. These go back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, where old-school actors like James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart became stars in part due to their roles in such movies. And then the gangster genre got more complex and interesting after the crumbling of the Hays Code, with all the usual suspects like The Godfather (I and II), Scarface, and Goodfellas.

But just as there’s a world of great cinema waiting to be discovered outside the U.S. in general, so too are there plenty of amazing gangster movies not made in America. The following all demonstrate this well, as though a couple of titles are in English, none were made in – or produced by – the U.S. To keep things interesting, there are a high number of countries sampled from, and all below are also roughly ranked from great to greatest.

10
‘Drug War’ (2010)

Director: Johnnie To

Drug War is an effective blend of thriller, crime, and action genres, standing as one of the best films ever made by cult director Johnnie To. It was a China and Hong Kong co-production, and revolves around – as the title suggests – drug gangs in conflict. Further complicating things is the fact that there’s also an undercover operation from the police to take down such gangs, and a cartel leader is made to cooperate with such an operation.

It’s a movie that spends time setting up numerous forces and showing how they’re at odds, all before ratcheting up tension that eventually explodes into various high-intensity shootouts and action set pieces. There are lots of moving pieces to keep track of in Drug War, but it’s worth sticking with and ultimately proves rewarding, simply being a well-told and slickly presented modern gangster film.

Watch on Tubi

9
‘Animal Kingdom’ (2010)

Director: David Michôd

Though it was later adapted into an American TV series, Animal Kingdom was initially an Australian crime film that came out in 2010, garnering critical praise and even an Oscar nomination for Jacki Weaver. It follows one young man as he begins to learn certain truths about his family following the death of his mother: namely, that many of his relatives are involved in organized crime.

Guy Pearce was the only big name in the cast at the time, though others like Weaver, Joel Edgerton, and Ben Mendelsohn have risen in prominence since Animal Kingdom first came out, and deservedly so. It’s extremely well-acted, benefits from feeling grounded and sometimes even uncomfortably authentic, and tells a story that’s both moving and suspenseful while avoiding certain clichés often associated with crime/gangster movies.

Watch on Paramount+

8
‘A Bittersweet Life’ (2005)

Director: Kim Jee-woon

South Korean cinema really exploded in the 2000s on an international scale, thanks largely to numerous movies that had surprisingly global appeal directed by the likes of Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, and Kim Jee-woon. Concerning the last of those, Kim is arguably best known for movies like The Good, the Bad, the Weird and I Saw the Devil, but he also delivered an interesting spin on the gangster genre with A Bittersweet Life.

This riveting action/crime movie follows one man as he works for a dangerous crime boss as a high-ranking enforcer, and the complications that unfold when he’s tasked with keeping an eye on this crime boss’s potentially unfaithful mistress. A slow-burn first half gives way to a more in-your-face thrilling and action-packed second half, and overall, A Bittersweet Life undeniably delivers, and is a must-watch for fans of South Korean cinema.

Buy on Amazon

7
‘Gomorrah’ (2008)

Director: Matteo Garrone

Taking some level of inspiration from certain Martin Scorsese gangster classics, Gomorrah is an Italian film that, like Animal Kingdom, was also made into a TV series of the same name (both being based on the same book). Gomorrah (the movie) looks at Italian crime families in the early 21st century, and ends up being quite a sprawling movie, owing to its structure and focus on different characters/subplots.

It’s done in a way that never becomes overwhelming, thankfully, but Gomorrah does find other ways to be something of a challenging watch. Principally, it’s quite downbeat and definitely not a happy or breezy watch by any means. Those okay with a movie that shows the downsides to a life of crime in gritty and brutal detail might find it worth checking out, though, even if it’s not at all cheery, even by gangster movie standards.

Watch on Prime

6
‘Battles Without Honor and Humanity’ (1973)

Director: Kinji Fukasaku

It’s fair to label most – if not all – gangster movies made in Japan as yakuza films, given the yakuza are essentially the country’s equivalent of the mafia. Such movies provide fascinating insight into the sometimes disturbing yakuza way of life, and of the various Japanese films that can be defined as yakuza movies, none deliver quite as much as the iconic Battles Without Honor and Humanity series.

Most of the movies in this series are worth checking out, but there’s no better place to start than the first movie from 1973, which is quite simply called – what else – Battles Without Honor and Humanity. It throws the viewer headfirst into a complex and dizzying gang war with multiple characters, frequent betrayals, and a sense that anyone can get suddenly killed at any time. It’s a stressful viewing experience, but it’s easy to admire this first film – and its sequels – for how visceral and intense they manage to constantly be.

Rent on Apple TV

5
‘Rififi’ (1955)

Director: Jules Dassin

Absolutely one of the best movies of the 1950s, Rififi is a French crime/thriller that feels like it could well be the gold standard for heist movies, at least in their most pure and straightforward form. It revolves around a master thief who’s recently been released from jail, and how he assembles a gang to pull off a wildly ambitious heist, all the while feeling troubled that his ex-girlfriend became involved with gangsters while he was imprisoned.

Rififi is a very cool and detached kind of crime/thriller movie, but not in a way that’s ever boring or off-putting. Its most suspenseful scenes still feel nail-biting when watched all these decades on from the movie’s initial release, and it’s honestly somewhat uncanny how much the movie still works and remains feeling slick and effortless, despite its age.

Buy on Amazon

4
‘Infernal Affairs’ (2002)

Directors: Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, Alan Mak

So, while Drug War was produced by both China and Hong Kong, Infernal Affairs is a purely Hong Kong production. That does mean that technically there are two Hong Kong movies here, but both are worth highlighting, and only one was produced exclusively by Hong Kong. Infernal Affairs deserves the acclaim and attention, too, given it tells a fascinating story about two people who’ve gone undercover; one a detective who’s undercover in a gang, and the other a gang member who’s gone undercover in the police force.

If that story outline sounds familiar, but the title Infernal Affairs doesn’t, that might be because the same premise was used for 2006’s The Departed, which expands aspects of the story and is a good deal longer in runtime as a result. Both movies are great, but Infernal Affairs is more straight to the point and perhaps faster-paced, too, being a dazzling and dizzying crime/thriller/drama film in all the best ways.

Watch on Criterion

3
‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ (2012)

Director: Anurag Kashyap

An iconic and rarely equaled duology, Gangs of Wasseypur is an epic Indian film that was released in two parts, both being just over two and a half hours long each. Watching both in one go might be exhausting, but nevertheless worthwhile for anyone who can spare the time, because watching all 5+ hours of this crime saga within a short time period allows one to fully appreciate the magnitude of Gangs of Wasseypur.

The narrative is about one ambitious but very unlucky crime family that continually clashes with another more powerful one in India, ultimately showing three generations of characters involved in this conflict spread out over numerous decades. It’s very violent, darkly comedic, thoroughly unpredictable from a narrative perspective, and packed with suspense/action, making Gangs of Wasseypur a modern epic and unlike anything else out there, really.

Watch on Mubi

2
‘The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover’ (1989)

Director: Peter Greenaway

British gangster movies are relatively common and the best ones are widely praised, but The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover offers something distinct, being a blend of arthouse and crime/gangster genres. The four titular characters all get wrapped up in a complex plot that involves sophisticated dining, physical and psychological abuse, adultery, violence, and revenge, all incredibly raw and brutal while also being artistic and beautiful.

Peter Greenaway has made a career of directing strange and bold-looking art films, but The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover – while a lot to take in – might well be his most approachable, and also arguably his best. It has a legendary villainous performance, courtesy of Michael Gambon, as “the Thief” (though he’s really more of a brutish gangster), while Helen Mirren also shines as the sympathetic and cunning “Wife,” who eventually emerges as the film’s principal character.

Buy on Amazon

1
‘City of God’ (2002)

Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund

Image via Miramax Films

City of God is an iconic Brazilian film that went on to achieve international success upon release, and has remained an essential example of what world cinema’s capable of in the years since. Though there are many characters in the film, most of the focus is on just two, both when they’re children and when they’re young adults. One wants to escape the violence and crime that surrounds him while living in a Rio de Janeiro favela, while the other thrives in such an environment and becomes a fearsome gangster.

Beyond being an epic crime/gangster movie that spans many years and has plenty of characters, City of God also works incredibly well as a moving coming-of-age film. However you want to slice it, it’s an indisputably great film, and can easily count itself among the very best non-American gangster movies of all time.

Rent on Apple TV