Gangster flicks just don’t leave you indifferent. They are essentially like a great shot of double espresso, only in an ultra-cool and ever so slightly dangerous manner—fast, stylish, and always having this little extra “something” effect. But, really, the whole bombardments, smoking dens, and double-crossing aren’t the only things that keep pulling us in. It’s the actors who bring the mobsters to life. Whether they are ruling the screen as crime lords or mixing things up as street-level thugs, these actors were the ones who built the concept of living (and dying) by the code. Here are the 10 greatest actors from gangster movies of all time—enumerated in a wiseguy fashion, from the bottom to the top.
10. Michael Madsen
IMadsen doesn’t need to play a dozen jobs of mob jobs to cast his mark. One character will be Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs, to is very defining. That notorious ear-cutting scene? Still infamous, still uncomfortable for the audience. Afterward, there was Donnie Brasco, in which he confronted Sonny Black on equal terms with Pacino and Depp. Madsen’s skill is to portray a character with concealed danger, the type of aura that can leave you feeling uneasy even though he might not be doing much.
9. Frank Vincent
Frank Vincent was the actor whom Hollywood would always rely on to portray a gangster’s henchman. You could have spotted him in Goodfellas, Casino, and Raging Bull, where he was always sharp and believable. His role as Phil Leotardo in The Sopranos was pure terror. Frank Vincent was never the star of the show, but he acted so real that he was still around long after the credits rolled.
8. Edward G. Robinson
Before the on-screen mobsters of the present day went off to make their modern films, Edward G. Robinson had already laid the foundation with Little Caesar. The way he played Rico Bandello at once combined a stylish manner with the use of brute force, and along with that gave us one of the most frequently cited lines in movie history: “Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?” With this role, Robinson established the formula for every gangster character that was later; thus, everyone who has acted in a gangster movie after him is merely copying.
7. Chazz Palminteri
Palminteri is not just another actor of gangster films—he is the one who puts the stamp on the whole definition. By means of A Bronx Tale, which he both penned and performed in, he introduced the world to an authentic tale based on his own life. Moreover, he didn’t only play the villain in The Mobster, played BOSS in The Last Don, and was terrifying in Bullets Over Broadway, etc., but he Credentials Without Compromise. He doesn’t just put on a gangster’s character and do it well when Palminteri draws a curtain and appears on the screen—he is a gangster himself.
6. Ray Liotta
In the character of Henry Hill in Goodfellas, Ray Liotta captured the jazz and mayhem from a man who was hopelessly yearning to be a gangsta. His jitters on the edge of the abyss, his narration, and eventually his plunge into madness turned the role unforgettable. Although he has done other similar roles, such as The Many Saints of Newark, and a few more, one should not ignore the fact that he did not need any of this to become one of the best of all time, just Goodfellas.
5. Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci is the acutely volatile man of the arts constellation. As Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas, he was equally awesome and funny, and thus he won himself an Oscar as well as an eternal spot in the history of films. Later, Pesci was in delirium with magnificent parts in Casino, The Irishman, and Once Upon a Time in America. In Pesci’s gang, the gangsters are funny, scary, and unpredictable at the same time—they are real live wires.
4. Humphrey Bogart
Most probably, the name of Bogart is first associated with the classic noir genre; however, the depiction of the gangster in his movies also had a lot to do with the formation of the racketeer archetype. In High Sierra and The Roaring Twenties, he portrayed criminals as characters of instant depth, opponents of toughness but with tiny vulnerabilities. The cool, troubled Bogart’s gangsters with their morally complicated past that later on led to the genre becoming gradually dominated by such protagonists.
3. James Cagney
If you get hold of the phrase “classic gangster,” then you are most likely thinking of James Cagney. He achieved this through the movies The Public Enemy, Angels with Dirty Faces, and White Heat, where he epitomized the archetype of a ruthless, fast-talking tough guy to the standards of cinema. His “Top of the World, Ma!” finale at White Heat is one of the most spectacular scenes ever made. Cagney was not just pretending to be a gangster—he was creating them.
2. Al Pacino
From Michael Corleone’s cold conversion in The Godfather trilogy to Tony Montana’s explosive collapse in Scarface, Pacino has given us some of cinema’s most enduringly iconic gangster characters. He’s been the brains, the blowhard, and everything in between—Carlito’s Way and Donnie Brasco only serve to add to his legend. Seeing Pacino on-screen is like receiving a masterclass in the development of gangster films.
1. Robert De Niro
De Niro is the king of gangster films when the discussion goes in that direction. In all the roles where he played the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, the cruel Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, the ruthless Ace Rothstein in Casino, and the doomed Noodles in Once Upon a Time in America, De Niro added layers and truth to his characters. In a way, he can show the silent threat that his character might have or to rage with terrifying power. In simple terms, he is one of the best, if not the best, actors of gangster roles—the measure of quality that all other actors are compared to.
The absence of these actors would make the gangster film not half as fascinating, as they bring the films to life with their heart, risk, and memorability. From Cagney to De Niro, these actors turned the spotlight on the genre, and in doing so,o they set the precedent for characters of the underworld on the big screen. The stories change, but the acting? It never gets old.