The Scarface remake is quite a poor rendition
Public Enemies you mean the Jimmy Cagney one right? Well that is a great film!
No. I mean the Johnny Depp one. The Jimmy Cagney one is called The Public Enemy which I agree is great. I’ve seen a lot of gangster films, and couldn’t list them all so it’s just a representative selection.
The Departed is not good at all imo.
@Daniel I would be really interested to know if you think that City of God is a gangster film because I kind of think it is and if it is I think that it is definitely top tier!
Johnny Depp one I have not seen and I do not want to see, you have just proved why!
City of God deals with a whole different look at cultural pressures to commit crimes, but definitely shows the gangster sort of life, just in another country. I would just say that City of God is a great film. I can’t, for some reason, place it in the same category as Scarface and The Untouchables. In the middle East, the similar gangster set up is considered to be more terrorism.
@Daniel Purcell
I consider the Academy Award (for the little that’s worth) to be more of a guilt-award than for any merits The Departed has, which are few imo. And the ‘all-star cast’ is one of its major problems.
It would have felt so much better if Scorsese won for say, my favourite film of his which is Taxi Driver or maybe Raging Bull, but not for The Departed
@ Scampi.
Interesting…
I can say that The Departed has many actors in it that I am not a big fan of, which is why it didn’t work for me. I just feel that there are movies that you don’t have to like them to admit that they are a great film. You could possibly talk me down on The Departed.
@Daniel
I agree there are films you can acknowledge as great but not like, but The Departed most certainly doesn’t fit this category for me. Something like Amarcord maybe would fall into that category for me, but not something as derivative and misjudged (and miscast) as The Departed, and I don’t mean derivative because it’s a remake, but because Scorsese shamelessly plundered his other (excellent) gangster films to cobble this one into A Martin Scorsese Gangster Film®
I saw Infernal Affairs on its initial release and was very impressed with that. Check it out if you haven’t seen it. There really was no need to remake that film. The Departed is inferior in every way.
@Scampi…
I will check it out. And I do agree with a lot of what you say about The Departed. In fact, that year I think they just gave an academy award to Scorcese because nothing good really came out that year. I couldn’t remember anything else that year.
No love for Yakuza films?
Top tier:
Takeshi Kitano
Kinji Fukasaku
Middle Tier:
Seijun Suzuki
Koreyoshi Kurahara
Bottom tier:
Takumi Furukawa
I would throw Takashi Miike in the mid-tier even though I wouldn’t categorize him as a Yakuza director.
A Bittersweet Life first range and Scarface second, you know what? fuck you fucking maricon.
Scarface, middle tier, verging on bottom, Pacino’s performance gives it the elevation
The Departed middle tier
Gomorrah and Une Prophete are two recent Gangster films that strike me as middle to top tier. I’d also add Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Ghost Dog to the mix as they show gangsters as being unglamorous and a little bit stupid.
everyone loves a stupid gangster
Oh yeah, one more: The Friends of Eddie Coyle….
joey Noodles
Well De Niro is my favourite actor and I am not so hot about Pacino at all, I agree with you about Heat, dear God
I was the OP so you can read my top middle and bottom tier films but I would definitely put Once Upon a Time in America in top tier, I would put it higher if there was more, for me, and I don’t know how many times I have said this on this thread, it is without a doubt the greatest film of all time!
I don’t think The Departed is that bad, maybe second tier and when you say Public Enemies you mean the Jimmy Cagney one right? Well that is a great film!