Step Back in Time: 15 Classic Crime Movies From Before the 1980s

Fans of modern crime films should check out some of the older classics. The genre’s vintage films had some of the greatest acting, writing, and directing in the 20th century. Film fans on a popular online forum shared their picks for the best classic crime movies. Did any of your favorites make the list?

1. The Third Man (1949)

Starring the great Orson Welles, this adaptation of a Graham Green novel follows a washed-up pulp-fiction novelist in post-war Vienna searching for his friend’s killer. The Third Man laid the foundation for some of the greatest film noir detective dramas ever made.

2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Clint Eastwood made a name for himself in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western cycle as the man with no name, a high desert drifter who picks fights with the worst outlaws in the land. Very few movies project the atmosphere of a Sergio Leone movie: the extreme eye close-ups, sweeping pans across the desert, and the primeval soundtrack by Ennio Morricone.

3. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

In Peter Biskind’s book Easy Riders and Raging Bulls, Bonnie and Clyde is revered as one of the most important films in modern history. The graphic violence was out of step with the traditional studio system of big-budget, sword-and-sandals epics and glitzy musicals. This was raw, fly-on-the-wall-style cinematography.

4. The Italian Job (1969)

“I only told you to blow the doors off,” comes Michael Caine’s iconic one-liner in this British movie about a gold bullion heist in Turin. The movie’s set pieces and memorable chase scene featuring three British minis make this a comedy crime classic.

5. The French Connection (1971)

Gene Hackman is one of the greatest actors of all time and stars in arguably the best cop movie ever. If anything, viewers need to watch this film for the eponymous car-chase scene, in which his character must thwart a train jacking.

6. Dirty Harry (1971)

Spawning Clint Eastwood’s famous line — “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do you, punk? — this was the first of five Dirty Harry movies. The story of a young detective taking retribution on a cold-blooded murderer is still the stuff of legend.

7. The Godfather (1972)

Francis Ford Coppola’s magnum opus goes down as the generation’s defacto favorite film. With posters adorning young men’s walls everywhere for a decade, Marlon Brando’s portrayal of Don Vito Corleone left a huge mark on cinematic history.

8. Super Fly (1972)

The greatest thing about Superfly is the gritty sense of realism. The movie transports us to inner-city Atlanta for cocaine baron Youngblood Priest’s last score before leaving the game. This was an important part of the Blaxploitation noir-crime movie cycle of that decade, spawning one of the greatest soundtracks ever recorded.

9. The Sting (1973)

Robert Redford and Paul Newman teamed up again following Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid‘s success a few years prior. This incredible movie about two professional grifters playing high-roller poker sharks is a masterpiece.

10. Serpico (1973)

Pacino was gold in the ’70s, starring in some of the best crime movies ever made. Serpico is based on the biography of real detective Frank Serpico, who fought against New York Police Department corruption.

11. Chinatown (1974)

Someone once quoted Jack Nickolson as saying, “I don’t make movies; I make classics.” He got that right with this movie. Chinatown follows the escapades of private eye Jake Gittes in a southern Californian water rights case. Chinatown’s Oscar-winning screenplay from Robert Towne is worth reading alone.

12. Death Wish (1974)

Charles Bronson owned the ’70s detective revenge drama cycle. Bronson is the precursor to Liam Neeson, and most likely, he (or Chuck Norris — it is debatable) taught Neeson some of his particular skills. Death Wish is the story of an architect seeking furious retribution against those who murdered his wife

13. Frenzy (1972)

This Alfred Hitchcock movie focuses on a serial murderer who seems to kill his female victims with a necktie. As the London police investigate the crimes, they believe they have the right suspect, but really, they have the wrong man.

14. Badlands (1973)

Badlands begins as a romance movie between two young people, Kit (Martin Sheen) and Holly (Sissy Spacek) who shouldn’t be together but have fallen in love in their small South Dakota town. But when their plan to run away together turns deadly, their love becomes a lot more dangerous.

15. Get Carter (1974)

In Get Carter, Michael Caine plays Jack Carter, a London gangster who is investigating his brother’s suspicious death. He knows the death wasn’t an accident and he’s going to do anything possible to get to the truth.