10 Best Epic Gangster Movies, Ranked (2024)

Epic movies take their time, by definition, given how long and expansive they tend to be. But little time’s needed to explain what’s meant by an epic gangster film, because it more or less defines itself: movies that qualify as epics (so they’re long, ambitious, usually span a good deal of time, and contain many characters) and gangster films (crime movies emphasizing organized crime and gangs) at the same time.

There are plenty of crime movies that come close to being three hours long, or even exceed said length, but not all long movies automatically qualify as epics, just as not all crime films automatically qualify as gangster movies. So, to get a little niche with it all, what follows are some of the best gangster epics ever made, all being worthy of devoting an entire evening to.

10 'Gangs of New York' (2002)

Director: Martin Scorsese

You’d almost feel a little ripped off if you went into a movie called Gangs of New York and it didn’t end up being some kind of gangster movie, particularly because it’s also directed by Martin Scorsese (his first film of the 21st century). It goes back many more years than most of his other historical crime/drama films, centering around gang warfare and one young man’s quest for vengeance during the 1860s.

It's not Scorsese’s longest film by any means, but at 12 minutes shy of three hours, it definitely has an epic enough runtime. Couple that with the massive production values, an impressively large ensemble cast, and a sweeping story that’s easy to get sucked into (even with some minor narrative shortcomings here and there), and Gangs of New York mostly works very well for a gangster movie of this scale.

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9 'The Raid 2' (2014)

Director: Gareth Evans

While 2011’s The Raid might be more perfect and straightforward as a martial arts movie, 2014’s The Raid 2 expands things significantly and, for better or worse, is a lot more ambitious. It’s not even accurate to merely call it an action movie, seeing as this sequel ditches the idea of being set in one location and instead plays out over a longer period of time, and in many different locales.

The runtime is considerably beefier, and it feels more like a classic gangster film in some ways, following the main character from the first movie as he’s made to go undercover to infiltrate a dangerous and powerful crime syndicate. The Raid 2 blends brutal and genre-defining action sequences with a relatively engaging gangster narrative, all the while feeling surprisingly grand and perhaps even operatic.

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8 'Casino' (1995)

Director: Martin Scorsese

If you come across a movie directed by Martin Scorsese that stars Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, you know you’re going to be in for a good time. Well, maybe not a good time in the traditional sense, given when these three collaborate, the results are quite intense and violent, but few people do the crime genre as well as Scorsese, and De Niro and Pesci are always naturals when it comes to playing criminals/wise guys.

Casino might be the “weakest” of the four films the three have done together, but it’s still great, feeling like it builds off the sprawling and kinetic – but not quite “epic” in the truest sense – Goodfellas. Things get bigger, more violent, and ultimately bleaker, too, with Casino showing just about three hours of cutthroat criminals running Las Vegas, unafraid to trample on competitors and stomp out any adversaries with the most brutal of brute force.

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7 'Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler' (1922)

Director: Fritz Lang

One of the oldest crime/gangster movies that can sort of be defined as such by modern standards is also one of the longest crime/gangster movies ever made: the more than 100-year-old Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. It was an ambitious crime/thriller film that German director Fritz Lang did improve upon later in his career (titles like M and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse are arguably stronger), but this one’s still amazing for its time.

The runtime of Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler is a staggering four and a half hours, meaning that it’s probably for the best to watch it in more than one sitting, unless you’re feeling truly dedicated. The titular character is a unique kind of criminal mastermind, scamming and stealing his way through life, with the film following a dedicated state prosecutor trying to bring Mabuse and his gang down. It’s a dense and twisty silent epic, and not the most approachable owing to its age and length, but it’s certainly admirable as an impressive achievement for its time.

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6 'Gangs of Wasseypur' (2012)

Director: Anurag Kashyap

10 years after Martin Scorsese made a movie about the Gangs of New York, Anurag Kashyap – who certainly takes some influence from Scorsese – made a movie about the Gangs of Wasseypur. It’s possible to see the influence of Scorsese and others on Kashyap, but he takes from enough sources and remixes certain tropes and narrative beats in interesting ways, ultimately creating something unique and magnificently epic.

The sense of freshness is helped by the fact that Gangs of Wasseypur is able to do many things across a runtime of more than five hours, including bouncing between a variety of genres (there’s drama, comedy, action, crime – obviously – and thriller elements, for starters). The story spans decades and generations, and the scope of it all really has to be seen to be believed. Somehow, it all comes together and works as an epic gangster film marvelously.

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5 'Scarface' (1983)

Director: Brian De Palma

Few people would call Brian De Palma a subtle filmmaker, but even by his standards, Scarface is grand, wild, and sometimes quite over-the-top, but the approach works. It was a movie that brought together a risk-taking director, a forceful lead actor (Al Pacino), a – let’s say – passionate screenwriter (Oliver Stone), and a boundary-pushing composer (Giorgio Moroder).

All combined their talents into making something somehow cohesive, with Scarface being a classic rise-and-fall story (common throughout gangster movies old and newer) pushed to the extreme in every regard. Its style and excessiveness perfectly reflect the decade it was created and set in, and the entire thing’s just an absolute blast of a movie that’s hard to resist, with most of the “flaws” found in Scarface feeling like mere nitpicks when placed alongside all the stuff that really, really works.

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4 'The Irishman' (2019)

Director: Martin Scorsese

There do exist some naysayers when it comes to The Irishman, and certain people do feel it’s not one of Martin Scorsese’s very best efforts. Sure, the de-aging effects take some getting used to, and it’s technically not as exciting as other Scorsese gangster movies, but it’s also not trying to be. It can feel somber and is a downer of a movie, but it’s also not slow, with most individual scenes moving past quite quickly, and numerous years – even decades – being condensed expertly through editing.

The Irishman centers on a hitman who essentially works as a hired gun for a group of mobsters, callously taking out targets and only seeming to feel some level of conflicted about what he’s done as he nears the end of his life. It’s a brutally honest film about aging, death, and loneliness, and when one appreciates what it’s trying to do, it’s easy to see it as just as strong an effort filmmaking-wise as Scorsese’s earlier crime films.

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3 'The Godfather' (1972)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

The Godfather has become so iconic that it stands as one of the easiest-to-parody – and most frequently parodied – movies of all time. It was Francis Ford Coppola’s first full-blown masterpiece, and in some ways, it still feels like it might well be his “most” perfect film, because, for almost three hours, The Godfather doesn’t really hit a single wrong note.

There are many moving pieces at play throughout its story, and a fairly large number of characters, with much of the first half centering on Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone, and then the focus starts shifting a little more to Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone in the second half. Things get even bigger and more ambitious in the sequel, but The Godfather does still feel suitably epic, and remains a quintessential mobster movie more than 50 years on from its original release.

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2 'The Godfather: Part II' (1974)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

It's possible to debate which film is better out of The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II, but when it comes to deciding which one is more of an epic, it’s undoubtedly the latter. The Godfather: Part II is a good deal longer than the first film, and works as both a sequel and prequel, showing Michael Corleone running the family business after taking over from his father, while flashbacks show how Vito first came to America and established said business.

The Godfather: Part II gets more introspective and intense when it comes to character arcs (it’s hard to say character growth when so much of the film is about Michael plummeting morally, generally becoming a more ruthless and continually broken individual). It’s more than just “more Godfather,” as it expands things significantly and adds to the overall saga immensely.

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1 'Once Upon a Time in America' (1984)

Director: Sergio Leone

It could be a hot take to say that Once Upon a Time in America is a better film than either one of the first two Godfather movies, but at the very least, it’s on the same level. Additionally, it manages to feel like even more of an epic than either of those films, as the runtime here is close to four hours, it spans close to half a century across its narrative, and a significant amount of money and craft clearly went into bringing the film to fruition.

Following young friends turned criminal partners turned regretful old men, Once Upon a Time in America is a mammoth filmmaking achievement, and also boasts one of Robert De Niro’s very best performances (playing perhaps the most ruthless and emotionally distant gangster character he’s ever played). It’s a staggering film that could well be just about perfect, and indeed feels like the most epic of all the gangster epics out there.

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