The Godfather, obviously. So what’s the best NOT-THE-GODFATHER mafia movie ever made, and what’s your favorite scene?

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    • Absolutely! Ray Liotta FTW. I love this movie. Every time this question is asked, the answer is Goodfellas.

    • The best scene in Goodfellas is when Henry and Paulie are talking to the guy (forgot his character name) about taking over his restaurant. When he says to Paulie that maybe killing Tommy is a good idea the expression on Paul Sorvino’s fa e is just brilliant. It’s the perfect mix of rage, evil but calm control and ultimate authority.

      • Best scene is when Henry takes Karen into the side door of the restaurant. Watch it..it’s all done from one camera angle from the car to the table.

    • Absolutely, Goodfellas. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I grew up in those neighborhoods of Queens in the ’60s and ’70s. Okay, maybe a little. I can’t pick a best or favorite scene.

      Runner-up, Donnie Brasco.

    • Goodfellas forever! My favorite scene is when Henry is moving through the tropical bar greeting everybody and narrating their names. Johnny Twotimes Johnny Twotimes!

  2. Jane Austen’s Mafia!
    I could watch the bike crash on a loop for hours.

    Not strictly a Mafia movie but OC related I’d put Oscar up on top.

  6. Goodfellas.

    Also A Bronx Tale is really good too, don’t know whether it counts as a mafia movie though.

    • “You fargin sneaky bastage. I’m gonna take your dwork. I’m gonna nail it to the wall. I’m gonna crush your boils in a meat grinder. I’m gonna cut off your arms. I’m gonna shove ’em up your icehole. Dirty sonamabatches.”

      — Roman Maroni

    • My favorite line hands down…

      “It shoots through schools”

      oh, and sweet baby jesus, MARILU GODDAMN HENNER, I need a moment.

  9. GOODFELLAS. Not a big fan of Godfathers. Marty Scorsese real best picture/director winner. And I would nominate LA Confidential.

    • I dunno fww,

      There isn’t much mob in LA Confidential. It’s mostly the crooked cops. (Still a good movie, though.)

  10. Don’t forget Casino. The mob element is sort of in the background, but I’d still call it a great mafia movie.

    • At last someone else was thinking of Casino.

      Casino and Goodfellas would have to be the best Non-Godfather movies (don’t mention Godfather III).

  13. The Untouchables.
    The scene where Kevin Costner throws the guy who killed Sean Connery off the courthouse roof.

  15. And most boring would be “Once upon a time in America”. Saw it in a Chicago theater with some girl who wanted to leave. Wish we had…

    • The edited version was shorter and, in my opinion, better. Usually I prefer the director’s cut with cut bits restored, but not this time.

  22. Casino. The scene where Joe Peschi gets pissed off at the guy he is torturing by using a vice on his head. Eventually the guys eye pops out of his skull and Peschi is all why didn’t you just tell me, you made me pop your eye out! Twisted but classic mafia imho

  23. The 1980 “Gloria ” where Gena Rowlands dumps the rounds from her revolver down the elevator shaft and her enemies.

    The underrated 1968 “The Brotherhood ” where Alex Cord kills his brother Kirk Douglas in Sicily with a shotgun.

  24. A lot of great movies mentioned. The one I thought of first was Eastern Promises. Great action, if you can get past the bath house fight scene. A little uncomfortable to watch, but a great fight scene.

  25. I have to go with Godfather II as best overall movie, much wisdom in that. For an individual scene my personal favorite is in A Bronx Tale when some bikers try to trash Sonny’s bar and instead of throwing them out he locks the door and just says, ‘Now youse can’t leave.’ Gold.

  26. Maybe not THE best, but a surprisingly good mob movie is the misleadingly-titled “Dinner Rush.” Retired wise guy played by Danny Aiello owns a restaurant with his son as the chef. It’s not on the menu, but revenge is a dish best served cold.

  27. Casino and then Goodfellas.

    One of the best lines from Casino:

    “No matter how big a guy might be, Nicky would take him on. You beat Nicky with fists, he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife, he comes back with a gun. And you beat him with a gun, you better kill him, because he’ll keep comin’ back and back until one of you is dead.”

  32. No ‘Godfather’.

    Well, crap. ‘Cause everybody knows “Leave the gun. Take the Cannoli.” is the greatest Mob scene ever.

    (Weird. The comment spell-check doesn’t recognize ‘Cannoli’. It does now.)

  34. Eastern Promises is over-looked. Italian mob is almost quaint compared to the Russian mob. The bath-house scene is effing brutal!

  35. Well, its not a movie but I’m gonna mention the Sopranos anyway. Greatest TV drama of all time! (Well, Walking Dead may be number 1 now but Sopranos is at least #2.)

    • Greatest TV line ever: “The Federal Marshals are so far up my ass I can taste Brylcreem.”

      — Uncle Junior

  37. Since many of the best movies have already been mentioned how about the novel ‘Man On Fire’? Now that was a great read.

  39. Being from Brooklyn i have seen every ganster flick made. My top 3

    God Father 2
    GoodFellas
    Once upon a time in America

    Good ones that havent been mentioned

    Bugsy, Mobsters, Carlitos Way and Millers Crossing.

  40. Why does The Truth About Guns have a posting about favorite organized crime films?

    Rob, maybe you just post stuff like this to a personal blog.

    • They did it just to piss you off and it worked.

      The next QOTD will be “What’s your favorite recipe for harvested game?” and bacon wrapped dove is off the list.

  41. Given I like it when the good guys beat the bad guys….
    This ones a little cheezy but…
    Guilty pleasure…
    “Next of Kin”

    • I totally forgot about that! Great movie. You keep thinking its a mistaken identity until Joey tells Ed Harris’ character he should have stayed in Philly and shoots him in the head. But I think the best scene was when the son kicks the snot out of that bully, man he had that coming.

  44. I can’t believe no one mentioned “Smokin’ Aces.” Oh wait, I can TOTALLY believe no one has mentioned that monumental turd of a film.

  45. Donnie Brasco. Best scene is when they’re in the Japanese restaurant and Donnie refuses to take off his boots (one of which conceals his tape recorder). He then has to make up a story about how he grew up in an orphanage because his father was killed by the Japanese in WWII. His argument is so convincing that the other members of his party actually refuse to eat in the restaurant and leave.

  47. More…
    Collateral with Tom Cruise – final subway scene.

    French Connection – frenchman with 1911 on the subway again “stop the train and I’ll blow you in half”

    White Heat – Cagney the guy in the car trunk scene.

  49. Not really ‘Mafia’ (maybe Mexican mafia) but organized crime nonetheless… American Me. Made me look at organized crime in a wholly different light. And Edward James Olmos was just fantastic.

  52. Miller’s Crossing +1

    The whole movie is brilliant, but the Thompson shootout with the Danny Boy soundtrack is a standout.

  53. Jeez, nobody mentioned “The French Connection”. Maybe not the Italian mafia, but organized crime.

    • How about “Infernal Affairs,” the original Hong Kong movie, which was way better and half as long?

      While we’re at it, I see no love for Chinese mob films like “The Killer,” “A Better Tomorrow,” and “City on Fire” (aka “Reservoir Dogs”). Chow Yun-Fat is the man.

  56. I would say “The Yakuza”, but it’s the wrong Mafia…best combination swordfight/shootout scene ever…

  59. Miller’s Crossing!!!!!!!
    The scene where Tom takes Bernie to miller’s crossing to kill him and Bernie starts begging for his life.

  61. Goodfellas, when Billy Bats tells Tommy (Pesci) to go get your fucking shinebox. And then Tommy proceeds to kill him.

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