Want to live a life of debauchery and thrill-seeking but too scared of jail time?
Indulge in your desires by watching some of the best crime movies ever made!
Remember to protect your computer from downloading anything dodgy by downloading a VPN for Windows like Surfshark.
Here are our top seven best crime movies for you to vicariously through.
1. Natural Born Killers
Combining the direction of Oliver Stone, the story writing of Quentin Tarantino, and the acting of Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis and you get one of the best crime spree movies of the 20th Century.
Mickey and Mallory break away from a troubled childhood, hit the road, and the murders begin. Every crime scene has one witness, a tactic used by the savvy and deranged killers that turns them into a media sensation.
After their arrest – an exorcism gone wrong, a field of rattlesnakes, and a drugstore shootout later – they end up in prison. During a transfer to a psychiatric ward, Mickey encourages a prison riot, Mallroy beats to death the detective who chased them, before a bittersweet ending that will have you waiting for the sequel that never came.
2. Con-Air
What’s better than a movie about a criminal? A movie about a planeload of criminals getting transported across the USA.
Starring Nicholas Cage as a felon ready for release, hitching a ride to freedom on a prison plane, a group of convicts plans an elaborate escape. Murderers and rapists hijack the prison transportation while Cage’s Cameron Poe tries to hide the fact that he’s on his way out.
The convicts land the plane in the desert, ready to make a break for freedom before taking off again and finally downing the stricken plane in the middle of the Las Vegas strip. You see the criminal masterminds of a generation working together, while one man fights to see his daughter for the first time – epic tension indeed.
3. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
This British movie was Guy Ritchie’s first blockbuster and it also made the career of everyone’s favorite British hardman, Jason Statham.
Based in the seedy criminal underworld of the London East End, Eddie gets himself into gambling debts he has no way to pay back. He and his friends plot a drugs heist that involves stealing antique guns and coming up against some of the scariest gangsters in the city.
The three-day crime spree is punctuated by great humor and a classic soundtrack – plus cameo appearances by megastars like Sting and Vinne Jones.
4. Entrapment
Sean Connery plays an international criminal who targets some of the highest-valued art and antiques in the world. His commitment to working alone is broken when Catherine Zeta-Jone’s character makes him a proposition he can’t refuse.
They plot the world’s biggest bank heist with the Petronas Towers in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as the backdrop. As the countdown to the year 2000 approaches, their plan goes awry and they’re left swinging over the city from the famous sky bridge.
As the saying goes, there’s no honor between thieves, and you never quite know who will cross who in the classy crime movie.
5. The Italian Job
A classic of the genre, The Italian Job follows Charlie Croker, played by Michael Caine, in an attempt to steal from the Chinese government. The plan was devised by an old friend who died while Croker was in prison, leaving his wife to explain.
In an elaborate heist, Croker and his gang will infiltrate the Turin traffic system and bring the city streets to a standstill. A transport of $4 million as payment from the Chinese government to the Italians, gets hijacked and the crew makes off in a trio of Mini Cooper cars.
Escaping through the Alps, the Minis are ditched for a coach which carries the gang and the gold. The infamous final scene of the coach hanging off an Alpine ledge leaves the ending to your imagination – do the charming crooks get their loot?
6. The Rock
Making his second appearance on our list, Sean Connery has a penchant for playing lone wolf criminals with moral ambiguity. This time, he plays John Patrick Mason – the only man to ever break out of the maximum-security prison, Alcatraz.
A disgruntled US Army general takes over the prison, now a San Francisco tourist attraction, and threatens to launch rockets at the city unless he gets paid $100 million. Mason and Nicholas Cage’s character Goodspeed are the last two men left on a mission to break in and free the hostages.
This is a story of a crook turned good, for a price. The glamor and legend of Alcatraz, once home to real-life criminals like Al Capone, make her the star of the show with a very solid cast.
7. The Shawshank Redemption
One of Stephen King’s most successful movie adaptations, The Shawshank Redemption is a tale of criminals that are both within and outside of the criminal justice system.
Andy Dufresne is sentenced to life for apparently murdering his wife and her lover, after returning home from his day job as a bank manager. Dufresne’s time in Shawshank prison is littered with pain and anguish, the target of gang violence that even his friends can’t protect him from.
His love of rock carving helps him through the bad times and his financial savvy helps him befriend the guards and wardens of Shawshank. He becomes the brains behind a corrupt business based out of the prison before busting his way to freedom and a Mexican beach.
The story of crime and who gets punished for their misdeeds, and how, is captivating and deserves a rewatch even if you’ve seen it a dozen times over.
Conclusion
We’re all fascinated by criminals – their moral choices, their different way to see the world. You’ll hopefully never find yourself in lockup, but watching these fantastic crime movies should give you all the taste of the bad guys you need.