This is the sixth in a series of articles where we’ll be covering the Top Films About Gangsters. The Gangster Films subgenre typically acts as an umbrella subgenre that also includes Films about Mobsters, The Mob, The Mafia, The Yakuza, The Triad and other forms of Organized Crime. Because organized crime covers such a wide area of criminal activity, the Gangster Films subgenre is often associated with other Crime subgenres including Films About Assassins & Hitmen, Films About Capers & Heists, Films About Cops & the FBI, Films About Narcos, Films About Gambling and Films About Undercover Agents. While some Films About Gangs or Films About Drug Trafficking will also often be included in this subgenre, we have unorganized, teen gangs and films that primarily deal with drug dealers in their own collections, dependent on the film’s overall theme.
Films About Gangsters have had a long and storied history in Cinema from Little Caesar (1931) and Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) to classic mafia films of the 70’s with The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974). Other popular Gangster films over the past decades include On the Waterfront (1954), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Scarface (1983), The Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990), City of God (2002) and The Departed (2006).
This sixth article will cover the Best Recent Gangster Films from 2020 – 2024 and you can check out additional articles by decade below. We are also going to include a Best Of subgenre article as a grand finale. There are so many great Gangster Films over the last 70 years that we felt it best to break down some of the subgenre’s forgotten and lesser-known gems by decade before we give you the Best Of list which will likely feature many films you’ve already heard of or have seen.
- Top Films About Gangsters You Haven’t Seen – 1970’s
- Top Films About Gangsters You Haven’t Seen – 1980’s
- Top Films About Gangsters You Haven’t Seen – 1990’s
- Top Films About Gangsters You Haven’t Seen – 2000’s
- Top Films About Gangsters You Haven’t Seen – 2010’s
- Best Recent Gangster Films
- Best Films About Gangsters
The early half of the 2020’s continued the downward trend of the subgenre with very few classic Gangster Films. While there were many quality subgenre films, we could only objectively note a few as being deemed subgenre classics compared to previous decades. The major theme of the subgenre from 2020 – 2024 continued with Asian Gangster Films (which also produced some of the best crime films of this period) while Gangster Biopics and Gangster Comedies also continued as popular themes during this time.
Though we wouldn’t consider Gangster Comedies from this period the be on par with classics such as Get Shorty (1995) and Analyze This (1999) there were a few notable comedies about the mafia and the mob including The Comeback Trail (2020), High Heat (2022), Mafia Mamma (2023), The Machine (2023) and The Retirement Plan (2023).
Gangster Biopics also continued as a popular theme of the subgenre with some gangsters being re-examined or had narratives focused on alternate parts of their lives. Al Capone would receive another Biopic that focused on his deteriorating mental state in Capone (2020) and Meyer Lansky would have lesser-known moments of his life explored in Lansky (2021). The infamous French brothel madame, Fernande Grudet, was featured in Madame Claude (2021). Snakehead (2021) was based on the real-life Cheng Chui Ping and her human smuggling operation. Rhinegold (2022) was a German biography of Giwar Hajabi / Xatar’s life with organized crime before his ascension as a hip-hop rapper. Corrupt police officers and their involvement with the Triad organized crime syndicate in Hong Kong was the focus of the epic Where the Wind Blows (2023). And Inside Man (2023) featured an undercover officer that infiltrates a local criminal gang with ties to the Gambino crime family.
As for the major theme of the subgenre, Asian Gangster Films continued to produce the best Gangster Films of the early 2020’s. Recent Gangster Films from Japan included Yakuza and the Family (2021), The Blood of Wolves II (2021), Bad City (2022), Hell Dogs (2022) and One Percenter (2023). Tomb of the River (2021), The Roundup (2021), The Devil’s Deal (2023), The Roundup: No Way Out (2023), Smugglers (2023), Believer 2 (2023) and Hopeless (2023) were the latest Gangster Films from South Korea. China and Hong Kong would produce the epic Gangster Film in Where the Wind Blows (2023) and from Taiwan would come one of the most underrated and best recent Gangster Films of the last few years in The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon (2023). Other Asian Gangster Films from Asia included Preman (2021) from Indonesia and Furies (2022) from Vietnam.
Our complete list of Films About Gangsters, The Mafia and The Mob features over 458+ films from 1954 – 2024. This collection features almost every film featuring mobsters, gangsters, the yakuza and other forms of organized crime. If you don’t see a film in our collection, it is likely in other collections such as Films About Assassins & Hitmen, Films About Capers & Heists, Films About Cops & the FBI, Films About Narcos, Films About Gambling, Films About Gangs and Films About Drugs & Narcos. Also, as we’re always updating our collections and will be releasing additional articles of great Gangster Films, subscribe to our newsletter for our latest updates as we post them.
Classic Films About Gangsters from 2020 – 2024: The Many Saints of Newark (2021), The Outfit (2022), The Roundup (2022) and The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon (2023).
Films About Gangsters from 2020 – 2024 that didn’t make our list: Butterfly Stroke (2020), Villain (2020), Capone (2020), The Comeback Trail (2020), Brothers by Blood (2021), Madame Claude (2021), Yakuza and the Family (2021), Payback (2021), Preman (2021), Ferry (2021), Lansky (2021), The Birthday Cake (2021), Bull (2021), Tomb of the River (2021), American Night (2021), Snakehead (2021), Yakuza Princess (2021), I Work at the Cemetery (2022), The Enforcer (2022), High Heat (2022), Bad City (2022), The Devil’s Deal (2023), The Irish Mob (2023), Devil’s Peak (2023), One Day as a Lion (2023), Mafia Mamma (2023), AKA (2023), Skinford Death Sentence (2023), Mother’s Day (2023), Bring Him to Me (2023), The Roundup: No Way Out (2023), Finestkind (2023), Fast Charlie (2023), Hopeless (2023), The Baker (2023), Believer 2 (2023), The Kill Room (2023), The Retirement Plan (2023), A Man of Reason (2023), Mob Land (2023), Where the Wind Blows (2023), Sympathy for the Devil (2023), The Machine (2023) and Mercy (2023).
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Here is our list of the Best Recent Gangster Films from 2020 – 2024:
