Best movies — crime on Netflix : our Top 20

1990 · Martin Scorsese

Based on the real-life rise of Henry Hill, a Brooklyn youth of Irish and Sicilian parentage who is taken under the wing of local mobsters and, mentored by Jimmy Conway, climbs the hierarchy of a Mafia crew.

With Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino, Frank Sivero and Tony Darrow

1995 · David Fincher

Two homicide detectives pursue a relentless serial killer who stages his crimes around the seven deadly sins. The seasoned detective, Somerset, immerses himself in the theology and psychology of each sin to anticipate the murderer’s next move, while his rookie partner, Mills, dismisses those cautious efforts — and together they trace a grim string of victims from one horrific scene to another.

With Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermey, John C. McGinley, Julie Araskog and Mark Boone Junior

1998 · Tony Kaye

Released after a three-year prison term for the racially motivated murders of two Black men, Derek Vineyard returns determined to leave his violent past behind. Once a skinhead leader whose white supremacist gang spread terror across Los Angeles, his earlier actions profoundly shaped his younger brother Danny. Told through Danny’s narration, the film follows Derek’s struggle to break all ties with his former comrades and shield Danny from repeating the same destructive path as he seeks redemption and faces the consequences of his past.

With Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk and Avery Brooks

2019 · Todd Phillips

In 1980s Gotham City, a struggling stand-up comedian crushed by rejection and isolation spirals into madness, shedding his former life to become a calculating, unhinged criminal whose theatrical violence and anarchic schemes plunge the city into fear.

With Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham and Bill Camp

1983 · Brian De Palma

Granted U.S. residency after carrying out an assassination for Cuban officials, Tony Montana rises through Miami’s underworld, seizing control of the cocaine trade by brutally eliminating rivals. As he becomes the city’s dominant drug kingpin, intensifying law enforcement scrutiny, violent clashes with Colombian cartels and his own addiction-fueled paranoia set in motion the catastrophic unraveling of his empire.

With Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia, Miriam Colon and F. Murray Abraham

2003 · Quentin Tarantino

Shot and left for dead by her merciless boss Bill and his circle of killers, a seasoned assassin survives and embarks on a patient, calculated campaign to settle the score.

With Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Michael Madsen and Julie Dreyfus

2003 · Quentin Tarantino

Wounded by her merciless boss Bill and betrayed by their tight-knit circle of killers, a seasoned hitwoman survives and quietly begins to orchestrate a ruthless plan for revenge.

With Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Michael Madsen and Julie Dreyfus

1973 · George Roy Hill

A rookie grifter teams up with a famed con artist to avenge the murder of a shared friend by staging an audacious, high-stakes scam designed to bleed a powerful mob boss of his fortune.

With Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan and Harold Gould

2004 · Quentin Tarantino

Determined and relentless, the Bride continues her brutal quest for vengeance against the squad of killers who tried to end her life and her unborn child. She hunts down each former ally in turn, striking the five names from her revenge list until only one target remains: Bill.

With Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Gordon Liu Chia-hui, Michael Parks and Perla Haney-Jardine

2001 · Antoine Fuqua

On his first day with the narcotics division, a green recruit is paired with a maverick detective whose confident facade conceals dangerous secrets and shifting loyalties.

With Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Tom Berenger, Harris Yulin, Raymond J. Barry and Cliff Curtis

2011 · John Michael McDonagh

In 1956 Pennsylvania, Irish-American war veteran Frank Sheeran ekes out a living as a truck driver until a chance encounter brings him into contact with mobster Russell Bufalino. Elevated to Bufalino’s most trusted enforcer, Frank is sent to Chicago to assist Jimmy Hoffa, a powerful union boss entangled with organized crime; what begins as a mission soon evolves into a deep, decades-long friendship that lasts almost twenty years.

With Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, Katarina Čas, David Wilmot and Rory Keenan

1954 · Elia Kazan

A former boxing champion turned dockworker refuses to look the other way when he uncovers a tangle of graft, extortion and murder within the union, forcing him to confront powerful labor bosses to bring the truth to light.

With Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning and Leif Erickson

2004 · Tony Scott

A world-weary former CIA operative, John Creasy, begrudgingly takes a protection job for a ten-year-old girl in Mexico City. Their uneasy rapport slowly deepens into a heartfelt bond, and when she is abducted his smoldering fury erupts into a relentless, no-holds-barred quest to rescue her at any cost.

With Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Marc Anthony, Giancarlo Giannini and Mickey Rourke

2006 · Spike Lee

Masked, armed assailants storm a Manhattan bank, seal the exits and take customers and staff hostage; the detective sent in to negotiate their surrender must carry out tense bargaining while his attention and credibility are undermined by looming corruption charges.

With Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Carlos Andrés Gómez

1996 · Barry Levinson

Two former gang members set out to confront the state corrections officer who sexually assaulted them while they were incarcerated. Their quest for justice sparks a media firestorm and culminates in a sensational courtroom hearing that forces the system to confront long-hidden abuses.

With Kevin Bacon, Billy Crudup, Robert De Niro, Ron Eldard, Minnie Driver, Vittorio Gassman and Dustin Hoffman

2011 · Dito Montiel

When his partner is shot, the awkward but determined Lieutenant Frank Drebin launches an inquiry that unexpectedly exposes a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.

With Channing Tatum, Al Pacino, Juliette Binoche, Katie Holmes, James Ransone, Ray Liotta and Tracy Morgan

1979 · Don Siegel

January 18, 1960 — Frank Lee Morris is sent to Alcatraz, the infamous maximum-security prison perched on a rocky island in San Francisco Bay. Regarded as inescapable, the fortress has never seen a successful breakout. Refusing to accept that verdict, Morris joins forces with other inmates and begins to methodically prepare a daring escape.

With Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau, Fred Ward, Paul Benjamin and Larry Hankin

2000 · Mary Harron

A successful, well-heeled investment banker in New York projects a flawless public image while secretly harboring a psychopathic alternate personality; as his detached, increasingly irrational impulses grow bolder and more gratuitous, he conceals the mounting danger from colleagues and friends.

With Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Samantha Mathis, Matt Ross and Bill Sage

2002 · Martin Scorsese

In 1860s New York, recently released Irish convict Amsterdam Vallon returns to the chaotic Five Points to hunt down William Cutting, the powerful nativist gang leader who killed his father. To get close enough to exact revenge, Vallon ingratiates himself into Cutting’s inner circle, but what begins as a vendetta quickly evolves into a desperate struggle for survival and a fight to carve out a place for his embattled community.

With Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas and Liam Neeson

1996 · Joel Schumacher

An idealistic young attorney defends an African American father accused of killing two white men who sexually assaulted his ten-year-old daughter, a case that sparks violent racial unrest and catalyzes a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan.

With Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Ashley Judd, Donald Sutherland and Oliver Platt