The Greatest Crime Films of All-Time

Otto Penzler ranks, analyzes, & celebrates the 106 greatest crime films of all-time.

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106. Sleuth (1972): dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz
       A cat-and-mouse mystery starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.

105. A Shot in the Dark (1964): dir. Blake Edwards
       Peter Sellers conjures up the Pink Panther magic in a madcap mystery.

104. Seven (1995): dir. David Fincher
        An exploration of the nature of evil.

103. Dead End (1937): dir. William Wyler
        Bogart and Co. in a gangster classic.

102. No Country for Old Men (2007): dir. Joel and Ethan Coen
        The Coen Bros. adapt the gritty Cormac McCarthy crime western.

101. Foreign Correspondent (1940): dir. Alfred Hitchcock
        On the eve of war, a European adventure.

100. Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936): dir. H. Bruce Humberstone
        Murder at an opera house.

99. Bulldog Drummond (1929): dir. F. Richards Jones
        Crooks and crime in the aftermath of WWI.

98. Bullitt (1968): dir. Peter Yates
        Steve McQueen leads a car chase through the steep San Fransisco streets.

97. Anatomy of a Murder (1959): dir. Otto Preminger
        A courtroom drama featuring a score by Duke Ellington.

96. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965): dir. Martin Ritt
        A genre-defining espionage classic.

95. Pulp Fiction (1994): dir. Quentin Tarantino
        Neo-noir in Los Angeles.

94. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939): dir. Sidney Lanfield
        Sherlock Holmes investigates a multigenerational family curse.

93. In a Lonely Place (1950): dir. Nicholas Ray
        Humphrey Bogart stars in an existential murder mystery.

92. Taxi Driver (1976): dir. Martin Scorsese
        In mid-’70s New York City, an insomniac cabby spirals.

91. The Last Seduction (1994): dir. John Dahl
       A femme fatale and a deadly swindle in ’90s neo-noir.

90. High Sierra (1941): dir. Raoul Walsh
        A botched heist sends an aging mobster to the California mountains.

89. The Woman in the Window (1944): dir. Fritz Lang
        The inception of film noir.

88. The Killing (1956): dir. Stanley Kubrick
        A stylish racetrack robbery.

87. Reservoir Dogs (1992): dir. Quentin Tarantino
        Tarantino’s violent debut.

86. The Ipcress File (1965): dir. Sidney J. Furie
        A British spy investigates Cold War brainwashing.

85. The Kennel Murder Case (1933): dir. Michael Curtiz
        A Golden Age mystery novel, adapted.

84. The Glass Key (1942): dir. Stuart Heisler
        Political corruption and murder in a Dashiell Hammet adaptation.

83. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011): dir. David Fincher
        An American take on Lisbeth Slander.

82. The Grifters (1990): dir. Stephen Frears
        Three swindlers converge.

81. This Gun for Hire (1942): dir. Frank Tuttle
        A hit man seeks vengeance.

80. Strangers on a Train (1951): dir. Alfred Hitchcock
        An unwitting and deadly agreement.

79. I Wake Up Screaming (1941): dir. H. Bruce Humberstone
        Love in light of murder.

78. Fargo (1996): dir. Joel and Ethan Coen
        A snowy, roadside murder. 

77. Harper (1966): dir. Jack Smight
        Paul Newman takes on MacDonald’s Lew Archer.

76. The Fallen Idol (1948): dir. Carol Reed
        A young boy and his beloved, suspicious butler. 

75. In the Line of Fire (1993): dir. Wolfgang Petersen
        The president’s life is threatened; one CIA agent is determined to protect him.

74. Murder on the Orient Express (1974): dir. Sidney Lumet
        Everyone is a suspect. 

73. Charade (1963): dir. Stanley Donen
        Grant and Hepburn in “the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made.” 

72. The Blue Dahlia (1946): dir. George Marshall
        Raymond Chandler’s first original screenplay. 

71. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962): dir. Robert Mulligan
        The courtroom drama based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. 

70. Kiss Me Deadly (1955): dir. Robert Aldrich
        Film noir at its most brutal, nihilistic, and subversive. 

69. The Petrified Forest (1936): dir. Archie Mayo
        A drifter, a waitress, and a gangster cross paths.

68. The Asphalt Jungle (1950): dir. John Huston
        Crime and punishment in a Midwestern city.

67. In Cold Blood (1967): dir. Richard Brooks
        Docudrama based on Capote’s seminal work of true crime.

66. The 39 Steps (1935): dir. Alfred Hitchcock 
        Escapist entertainment at its best.

65. Freaks (1932): dir. Tod Browning
        An infamous cult classic about revenge in a circus sideshow.

64. Notorious (1946): dir. Alfred Hitchcock 
        Virtuoso spy noir starring Grant and Bergman.

63. Fatal Attraction (1987): dir. Adrian Lyne 
        An affair goes very wrong in this controversial romantic thriller.

62. D.O.A. (1950): dir. Rudolph Maté 
        High concept noir classic in which a man solves his own murder.

61. Mystic River (2003): dir. Clint Eastwood 
        Brooding thriller adapted from Dennis Lehane’s novel.

60. Suspicion (1941): dir. Alfred Hitchcock 
        Romantic mystery with a lighthearted tone.

59. Crossfire (1947): dir. Edward Dmytryk 
        “Hate is like a loaded gun!” Hollywood takes on antisemitism.

58. Kiss of Death (1947): dir. Henry Hathaway 
        A gritty noir featuring a giggling psycho.

57. Spellbound (1945): dir. Alfred Hitchcock
        Psychoanalysis, amnesia, and murder.

56. Topkapi (1964): dir. Jules Dassin
        A motley crew teams up to rob a museum in Istanbul.

55. Key Largo (1948): dir. John Huston
        Conflict unspools at a hotel in Florida.

54. The Fugitive (1993): dir. Andrew Davis
        Harrison Ford on the run in this high energy chase.

53. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956): dir. Alfred Hitchcock
        Hitchcock’s iconic remake of his own film (Que Será, Será).

52. In the Heat of the Night (1967): dir. Norman Jewison
        Racism, murder, and justice in small-town Mississippi.

51. Bonnie and Clyde (1967): dir. Arthur Penn
        Hollywood’s game-changing story of the iconic American outlaw duo. 

50. Scarface (1932): dir. Howard Hawks
        The original gangster film, based on the life of Al Capone. 

49. Goldfinger (1964): dir. Guy Hamilton
        Sean Connery as quintessential 007, “shaken, not stirred.” 

48. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932): dir. Mervyn LeRoy
        Wrongful incarceration and the making of a criminal.

47. The Manchurian Candidate (1962): dir. John Frankenheimer
        A prophetic and disconcertingly relevant Cold War thriller.

46. Mean Streets (1973): dir. Martin Scorsese
        A petty crook climbs the mob ladder.

45. Dirty Harry (1971): dir. Don Siegel
A cop tracks a psychopathic killer. “Well, do ya, punk?”

44. Little Caesar (1930): dir. Mervyn LeRoy
        A small-time crook has dreams of being a big-city gangster.

43. The Big Heat (1953): dir. Fritz Lang
        A by-the-book cop takes on the gang that killed his wife.

42. And Then There Were None (1945): dir. René Clair
       Ten strangers, invited to an island mansion, are picked off one-by-one.

41. Detective Story (1951): dir. William Wyler
       A dramatic day in the life of a NYC police detective.

40. L.A. Confidential (1997): dir. Curtis Hanson
       Three policemen investigate a string of murders.

39. Day of the Jackal (1973): dir. Fred Zinnemann
       An assassin plans to kill Charles de Gaulle.

38. To Have and to Have Not (1944): dir. Howard Hawkes
       An American expatiate helps a French resistance leader escape to Martinique.

37. Blade Runner (1982): dir. Ridley Scott
A former police officer has to hunt down vengeful human clones in a dystopian future.

36. Goodfellas (1990): dir. Martin Scorsese
A young man is inspired to join the mob.

35. The Untouchables (1987): dir. Brian De Palma
A straitlaced treasury agent plots to brings down Al Capone.

34. Rear Window (1954): dir. Alfred Hitchcock
A wheelchair-bound photographer believes his neighbor has murdered his wife.

33. Criss Cross (1949): dir. Robert Siodmak
A armored-truck driver and his ex-wife scheme to steal the money he’s transporting.

32. The Silence of the Lambs (1991): dir. Jonathan Demme
A rookie FBI agent needs help from a convicted cannibal to find a serial killer.

31. Murder, My Sweet (1944): dir. Edward Dmytryk
Phillip Marlowe has to find an ex-con’s former girlfriend.

30. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946): dir. Tay Garnett
A drifter and his girlfriend conspire to kill her husband.

29. The Big Sleep (1946): dir. Howard Hawks
Phillip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family to find a missing person.

28. Rebecca (1940): dir. Alfred Hitchcock
A woman moves into her husband’s house to find it’s dominated by his dead wife.

27. Witness for the Prosecution (1957): dir. Billy Wilder
        A lawyer must defend a client in a murder trial (adapted from Agatha Christie).

26. Body Heat (1981): dir. Lawrence Kasdan
        A woman convinces her lawyer boyfriend to murder her husband.

25. The Lady Vanishes (1938) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
        On a train, a young woman is told that a older woman she met never existed.

24. The Killers (1946) dir. Robert Siodmak
        A hitman’s past is investigated when he and another kill a gas-station worker.

23. Vertigo (1958): dir. Alfred Hitchcock
        An ex-police detective becomes obsessed with a woman he’s hired to tail.

22. The Usual Suspects (1995): dir. Bryan Singer
        A boat explodes and people are killed after five men meet in a police lineup.

21. Shadow of a Doubt (1943): dir. Alfred Hitchcock
        A young woman suspects her namesake uncle is a murderer.

20. The Conversation (1974): dir. Francis Ford Coppola
        A veteran surveillance expert investigates footage he records.

19. North by Northwest (1959): dir. Alfred Hitchcock
        An advertising executive is wrongfully thought to be a spy.

18. Touch of Evil (1958): dir. Orson Welles
        A narcotics officer investigates a bombing on the Mexican-US border.

17. The Public Enemy (1931): dir. William Wellman
        A young man rises through the ranks of the Chicago crime world.

16. The Night of the Hunter (1955): dir. Charles Laughton
        A religious-fanatic con-man seduces a young widow to locate a hidden fortune.

15. Sunset Boulevard (1950): dir. Billy Wilder
        A screenwriter and a former silent film star use one another to help their careers.

14. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988): dir. Robert Zemeckis
        A PI must help a cartoon rabbit prove his innocence after he’s framed for murder.

13. Double Indemnity (1944): dir. Billy Wilder
        An insurance salesman and a bored housewife conspire to kill her husband.

12. The Sting (1973): dir. George Roy Hill
        A young hustler teams up with a seasoned grifter for a big con.

11. Psycho (1960): dir. Alfred Hitchcock
        A woman on the run checks into a motel run by a man oppressed by his mother.

10. The French Connection (1971): dir. William Friedkin
        Two NYPD narcotics cops discover an international drug case.

9. White Heat (1949): dir. Raoul Walsh
        An insane criminal escapes from jail and reunites his gang for a big score.

8. Out of the Past (1947): dir. Jacques Tourneur
        A private eye’s past catches up to him.

7. The Thin Man (1934): dir. W.S. Van Dyke
        A boozy, wealthy couple investigates a missing person’s case.

6. Laura (1944): dir. Otto Preminger
        A detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he’s investigating.

5. The Godfather: Part II (1974): dir. Francis Ford Coppola
        The origin story of Don Corleone.

4. The Godfather (1972): dir. Francis Ford Coppola
        A mob patriarch hands the family business to his son.

3. Chinatown (1974): dir. Roman Polanski
        A PI is hired to find a cheating husband but stumbles on a bigger mystery.

2. The Maltese Falcon (1941): dir. John Huston
        A PI is hired to find a missing girl, but winds up on the trail of a murderer.

1. The Third Man (1949): dir. Carol Reed
        A writer in Vienna looks into the death of the friend he had planned to meet.