The mafia families were a major part of the United States' history, especially in the 20th century. Although they still exist, most people always remember mobsters with their exceptional power in the pre-prohibition and post-prohibition era.
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A lot of novels, movies, and TV series have been made in the past years and decades to reflect the effect that mobster families left on the United States, especially in New York. With that said, if you want to explore this rich history through some exhilarating movies, we have some tempting suggestions here.
10Analyze This
You probably didn’t expect to see Analyze This in our list, but it was indeed a new approach to the mobster stories of the United States. While the core idea of the movie is probably an inspiration from HBO’s The Sopranos, Analyze This leans more on the comedy side of the matter than being a complete drama.
Long story short, Analyze This follows a high-tier mafia boss who is convinced to meet a psychiatrist after a series of unfortunate events, and this decision creates a lot of trouble for both sides of the story, especially the psychiatrist who is already dealing with some massive family problems. Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal formed an incredible duo in Analyze This.
9Gotti (1996)
Of course, not the one that John Travolta played in. This Gotti was in fact a television movie that went live on HBO back in 1996. This is the best-ever depiction of John Gotti’s mobster life, especially how he managed to kill a mafia boss and take his place, which was something almost impossible based on the mobster rules.
Played by Armand Assante, you will get to see Gotti’s savage nature and hunger for becoming a mafia boss in the United States, and of course the end of his criminal life. The movie was always a hidden gem for mobster story enthusiasts, especially after 2018 when another movie of the same name premiered in theaters and turned out to be nothing but an embarrassment.
8Good Fellas
Martin Scorsese’s love for mobster stories is no secret to every movie enthusiast, but Good Fellas always has a special place in our hearts. Written based on a true story, the screenplay follows the rise of a new mafioso member and the challenges he faces in his personal life.
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Adding Rey Liotta as the main protagonist to the well-known mobster duo of Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci was quite a bit risky move by Scorsese, but there is no doubt that it was probably Liotta’s best-ever performance for a long, long time. Liotta’s great acting skills made it much easier for the audience to sink into the mess that Henry Hill created for himself.
7The Departed
Yet another mobster story by Martin Scorsese, but set in a modern setting this time around with a focus on the mafia’s conflict with the FBI. This is one of the few mobster movies from Scorsese where he leaves his beloved cast of DeNiro and Pesci, and yet it’s another masterpiece.
The duel between Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Daemon creates magnificent suspense in The Departed. And hey, can you even forget about Jack Nicholson’s brutal role as the head of the Irish mob? Watching this hide-and-seek story never gets old, especially with that shocking elevator scene!
6Once Upon A Time In America
Let’s make it straight right off the bat that if you want to watch this movie you must get the longer version. One of the main reasons why Once Upon A Time In America remained underrated for years was the fact that Warner Bros. took a heavily cut version of the movie to the theaters at the time.
Directed by one and only Sergio Leone, Once Upon A Time In America is the full history of a mobster’s life from the very beginning to the very end. Robert DeNiro plays an exceptional role here, and if you ask me, he must’ve received an Oscar for it. Once Upon A Time In America is never afraid of showing how harsh a mobster’s life can be, and you really need to be prepared for those scenes!
5The Casino
While all mobster movies by Scorsese are lovely, The Casino still remains underrated. The movie follows the rivalry between two mobster friends, with one of them dedicating himself to the job he has been tasked to do, while the other one just carelessly commits obvious crimes one after another.
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Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci are both stellar in The Casino, and as the movie goes forward, the relationship between the two becomes darker and darker. Of course, we shouldn’t forget about Sharon Stone who plays a massive role in between the two rivals, making things even worse for DeNiro’s side to handle.
4Donnie Brasco
Mike Newell’s adaptation of a real mobster story in Donnie Brasco is still a joy to watch. Following the story of an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates one of the biggest mobster families in New York, Donnie Brasco reveals how the relationships he makes inside a mafia family tie him to the crime organization so strictly that he ignores orders coming from his senior in the FBI.
Of course, the movie’s success was greatly indebted to Johnny Depp’s exceptional performance as Donnie Brasco, next to Al Pacino’s stellar role as Lefty. The movie’s strong cast really made it one of the most memorable mobster stories we have ever watched.
3The Godfather
Francis Ford Coppola’s name is tied to the mafia stories forever thanks to the two back-to-back masterpieces that he delivered based on Mario Puzo’s novels. The Godfather is a classic mobster story, one that most of us were probably dragged into this genre with.
Honestly, you just need to watch this movie to realize how big of a masterpiece it is. You’ll be left speechless by Marlon Brando’s magnificent performance, young Al Pacino’s harsh preparation for the seat of power, and all the horrible sacrifices that a family has to make when a feud is tearing the mobsters apart from within.
2The Irishman
The Irishman is probably Martin Scorsese’s most slow-burn mobster story we have ever watched. The thing about The Irishman that makes it quite special is the fact how much mobster ties used to matter for the members of each mafia family, making every outsider a sacrifice against them.
The story of Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa was one hell of a drama set inside a long history of the Buffalino family’s criminal activities. The Irishman is full of sequences that will be locked into your memory for a long time, making the revisiting of them quite joyful every single time. It’s just hard to get over this drama so easily, I’m telling you!
1The Godfather Part 2
Back to Coppola’s masterpiece again! What makes the second part of The Godfather even more valuable than the first movie is the fact that the audience follows two parallel stories at the same time, and they are both equally exciting.
On one hand, you have Michael Corleone rising to power and eating out every potential competitor in the most brutal way, and on the other hand, you have the young Vito Corleone setting the stone for his long-lasting mobster family by taking small but serious steps in Italy. Even remembering those sequences still makes me excited and pushes me to watch it all again one more time!
