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Best Crime Movies of the 1990s
#1 The Shawshank Redemption (1994) · ★ 8.7 · 31,423 votes · 2h 22m · drama, crimeImprisoned 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 ski…
#2 Pulp Fiction (1994) · ★ 8.5 · 30,904 votes · 2h 34m · comedy, thriller, dramaA 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…
#3 The Green Mile (1999) · ★ 8.5 · 19,872 votes · 3h 9m · fantasy, drama, crimeA supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard…
#4 GoodFellas (1990) · ★ 8.5 · 14,822 votes · 2h 25m · drama, crimeThe true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the gu…
#5 Se7en (1995) · ★ 8.4 · 23,805 votes · 2h 7m · thriller, crime, mysteryTwo 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 tor…
#6 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) · ★ 8.3 · 18,541 votes · 1h 59m · thriller, drama, crimeClarice 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 psych…
#7 Léon: The Professional (1994) · ★ 8.3 · 16,480 votes · 1h 51m · action, drama, crimeLéon, 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…
#8 The Usual Suspects (1995) · ★ 8.2 · 11,788 votes · 1h 46m · thriller, drama, crimeHeld 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 h…
#9 Bound by Honor (1993) · ★ 8.2 · 1,643 votes · 3h 10m · action, thriller, dramaBased on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three ar…
#10 Reservoir Dogs (1992) · ★ 8.1 · 15,865 votes · 1h 39m · thriller, crimeA 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. O…
#11 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) · ★ 8.1 · 7,418 votes · 1h 45m · comedy, crimeA card shark and his unwillingly-enlisted friends need to make a lot of cash quick after losing a sketchy poker match. To do this they decide to pull a heist on a small-time gang w…
#12 Trainspotting (1996) · ★ 8.0 · 10,711 votes · 1h 34m · drama, crimeHeroin 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…
#13 Casino (1995) · ★ 8.0 · 6,758 votes · 2h 59m · drama, history, crimeIn Las Vegas, two best friends--a casino executive and a Mafia enforcer--compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.…
#14 Heat (1995) · ★ 7.9 · 8,708 votes · 2h 50m · action, drama, crimeObsessive master thief Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent Hanna pursues him without rest. Each…
#15 A Bronx Tale (1993) · ★ 7.9 · 3,036 votes · 2h 1m · drama, crimeSet in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is t…
#16 The Big Lebowski (1998) · ★ 7.8 · 12,489 votes · 1h 57m · comedy, crimeJeffrey '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 fi…
#17 Fargo (1996) · ★ 7.8 · 9,412 votes · 1h 38m · thriller, drama, crimeJerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt... but he's got a plan. He's going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty…
#18 L.A. Confidential (1997) · ★ 7.8 · 5,767 votes · 2h 18m · thriller, crime, mysteryThree detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night d…
#19 Carlito's Way (1993) · ★ 7.8 · 3,605 votes · 2h 24m · thriller, romance, dramaFree after years in prison, Carlito Brigante intends to give up his criminal ways, but it's not long before the ex-con is sucked back into the New York City underworld.…
#20 Primal Fear (1996) · ★ 7.7 · 4,188 votes · 2h 10m · thriller, drama, crimeDefense attorney Martin Vail takes on jobs for money and prestige rather than any sense of the greater good. His latest case involves an altar boy, accused of brutally murdering th…
#21 Fallen Angels (1995) · ★ 7.7 · 1,385 votes · 1h 38m · action, romance, crimeAn indifferent hitman, his infatuated business partner and an ex-convict search for love and meaning as their lives cross paths in Hong Kong.…
#22 Fireworks (1997) · ★ 7.7 · 783 votes · 1h 43m · drama, crimeBeleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his business partner paraly…
#23 Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1997) · ★ 7.7 · 616 votes · 1h 29m · action, comedy, dramaTwo young men, Martin and Rudi, both suffering from terminal cancer, get to know each other in a hospital room. They drown their desperation in tequila and decide to take one last…
#24 Sleepers (1996) · ★ 7.6 · 4,045 votes · 2h 27m · thriller, drama, crimeTwo gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crim…
#25 Thelma & Louise (1991) · ★ 7.6 · 4,012 votes · 2h 10m · adventure, thriller, dramaTaking a break from their dreary lives, close friends Thelma and Louise embark on a short weekend trip that ends in unforeseen incriminating circumstances. As fugitives, both women…
#26 Boyz n the Hood (1991) · ★ 7.6 · 2,360 votes · 1h 52m · drama, crimeThree friends growing up in South Central Los Angeles navigate a neighborhood plagued by violence, unemployment, and crime, each responding differently to the harsh realities of st…
#27 Cure (1997) · ★ 7.6 · 880 votes · 1h 51m · thriller, horror, crimeA frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.…
#28 Black Cat, White Cat (1998) · ★ 7.6 · 845 votes · 2h 7m · comedy, romance, crimeA small-time hustler makes a deal with a notorious gangster to whom he owes money: marry his teenage son to the latter's daughter. However, the young lovers are not as agreeable.…
#29 Donnie Brasco (1997) · ★ 7.5 · 5,002 votes · 2h 7m · thriller, drama, crimeAn FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.…
#30 True Romance (1993) · ★ 7.5 · 3,184 votes · 1h 59m · action, romance, crimeClarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it.…
#31 A Perfect World (1993) · ★ 7.5 · 1,930 votes · 2h 18m · thriller, drama, crimeA kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.…
#32 Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) · ★ 7.5 · 1,306 votes · 1h 16m · action, adventure, dramaAndrea Beaumont leaves her father to return to Gotham, rekindling an old romance with Bruce Wayne. At the same time, a mysterious figure begins to hunt down Gotham's criminals, wro…
#33 Hard Boiled (1992) · ★ 7.5 · 988 votes · 2h 6m · action, thriller, crimeA cop who loses his partner in a shoot-out with gun smugglers goes on a mission to catch them. In order to get closer to the leaders of the ring he joins forces with an undercover…
#34 Menace II Society (1993) · ★ 7.5 · 954 votes · 1h 37m · thriller, drama, crimeA young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.…
#35 Sonatine (1993) · ★ 7.5 · 708 votes · 1h 34m · action, thriller, crimeMurakawa, an aging Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life, is sent by his boss to Okinawa along with a few of his henchmen to help end a gang war, supposedly as mediators between two…
#36 Scream (1996) · ★ 7.4 · 8,254 votes · 1h 52m · horror, crime, mysteryA year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.…
#37 Jackie Brown (1997) · ★ 7.4 · 7,142 votes · 2h 34m · thriller, drama, crimeJackie 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…
#38 The Godfather Part III (1990) · ★ 7.4 · 7,084 votes · 2h 42m · thriller, drama, crimeIn the midst of trying to legitimize his business dealings in 1979 New York and Italy, aging mafia don, Michael Corleone seeks forgiveness for his sins while taking a young protege…
#39 Falling Down (1993) · ★ 7.4 · 4,282 votes · 1h 53m · thriller, drama, crimeAn ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.…
#40 A Time to Kill (1996) · ★ 7.4 · 3,100 votes · 2h 29m · thriller, drama, crimeA young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.…