Best Crime Movies: Dark, Clever, Atmospheric

The best crime movies are more than whodunits – they have atmosphere, sharp writing and characters you can't look away from. This page collects the highlights of the genre: from classic noir to modern crime drama. Filter by streaming service for a direct start.





(Streaming availability may change.)

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The Big Lebowski

1998
117 Min
MOVIE
ComedyCrime
Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker who only wants to bowl and drink White Russians, is mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire, and finds himself dragged into a strange series of events involvi…
Magenta TV

Jackie Brown

1997
154 Min
MOVIE
CrimeDramaThriller
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to ke…

Suicide Kings

1997
106 Min
MOVIE
ActionComedyCrimeDramaThriller
Carlo, a former mobster, is abducted by five privileged young men desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Carlo plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own ha…

Trainspotting

1996
94 Min
MOVIE
DramaCrime
Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends -- Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Ed…

Se7en

1995
127 Min
MOVIE
CrimeMysteryThriller
Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. …
HBO Max

Desperado

1995
104 Min
MOVIE
ThrillerActionCrime
El Mariachi plunges headfirst into the dark border underworld when he follows a trail of blood to the last of the infamous Mexican drug lords, Bucho, for an action-packed, bullet-riddled showdown. With the help of his friend and a beautifu…

The Usual Suspects

1995
106 Min
MOVIE
DramaCrimeThriller
Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that end…

The Shawshank Redemption

1994
142 Min
MOVIE
DramaCrime
Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch i…
HBO Max

Léon

1994
111 Min
MOVIE
CrimeDramaAction
Léon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling custodian of 12-year-old Mathilda. Before long, Mathilda's …

Pulp Fiction

1994
154 Min
MOVIE
ThrillerCrime
A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.
Netflix Paramount+

Demolition Man

1993
115 Min
MOVIE
CrimeActionScience Fiction
In 1996, brash L.A. detective John Spartan and maniac killer Simon Phoenix are both sentenced to decades in a cryogenic prison as punishment for a rescue mission gone wrong. When Phoenix escapes 36 years later to wreak havoc on the future,…

Reservoir Dogs

1992
99 Min
MOVIE
CrimeThriller
A botched robbery indicates a police informant, and the pressure mounts in the aftermath at a warehouse. Crime begets violence as the survivors -- veteran Mr. White, newcomer Mr. Orange, psychopathic parolee Mr. Blonde, bickering weasel Mr…
Disney+

The Silence of the Lambs

1991
119 Min
MOVIE
CrimeThrillerDrama
Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder a…
HBO Max Magenta TV

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

1988
86 Min
MOVIE
ComedyCrime
When the bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin investigates events following the shooting of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
Paramount+

Beverly Hills Cop

1984
105 Min
MOVIE
ComedyCrimeAction
Fast-talking, quick-thinking Detroit street cop Axel Foley has bent more than a few rules and regs in his time, but when his best friend is murdered, he heads to sunny Beverly Hills to work the case like only he can.
Netflix Sky Paramount+

Once Upon a Time in America

1984
229 Min
MOVIE
DramaCrime
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

Scarface

1983
170 Min
MOVIE
ActionCrimeDrama
After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord i…
Magenta TV

Taxi Driver

1976
114 Min
MOVIE
CrimeDrama
Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.

The Godfather Part II

1974
202 Min
MOVIE
DramaCrime
In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
Netflix Sky Paramount+ Magenta TV

Serpico

1973
130 Min
MOVIE
CrimeDrama
New York cop Frank Serpico blows the whistle on the rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.

A Clockwork Orange

1971
137 Min
MOVIE
Science FictionCrime
In a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the music of Beethoven. The state, eager to crack down on juvenil…
HBO Max

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