5 Must Watch Crime Classics that gave us evergreen Protagonists !

1. The Godfather It unarguably ranks first in my list. This 1972 classic based on the story of a gangster family is regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema. It gave us much more than just bloodshed, politics and glorified action sequences that are normally indispensable parts of crime based movies. The essence that remained constant throughout all the sequels (The Godfather I, II and III) was that “Family comes first”. It also gave us two powerful protagonists; Marlon Brando and Al Pacino with Robert de Niro doing what he does best in the part 2. With such a tight cast reciting dialogues which are quoted even today, no wonder this movie is to stay with us forever.

2. The Silence of the lambs

This movie will send chills down your spine even though it is NOT a horror genre. Jodie Foster plays an attractive FBI trainee who interviews Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the brilliant psychiatrist turned Cannibal played by the man himself, Sir Anthony Hopkins. His fierce performance with eyes that sharply penetrate your head beyond the screen will give you few sleepless nights. You may fear him but you just cannot ignore him. 

3. The Shawshank Redemption 

Though this film didn't have a massive box office success during its time, its one of the highest critically acclaimed film till date. It has wide shifts in its plot, from Tim Robbins,the lead, playing a banker who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her lover in the dreaded Shawshank State Prison and him establishing a strong bond with a fellow inmate played by Morgan Freeman, to him helping the prison warden in laundering his money and then eventually fleeing the prison in one of the most smartly conducted prison break operations. It is all so articulately put, granting solace and ultimate redemption by the end.

 

4. Pulp Fiction

We had to have a Tarantino film in this list! The Protagonists in all his films leave a distinct mark. They are bad, powerful people doing their dirty business with such style and panache that they become your heroes. Pulp Fiction is one such great work. Being one of its kind american comedy crime film, this one is surely going to blow your mind with its ironical mix of violence and humour making you fall for the bad guys ;p 

5. Scarface.

Al Pacino fans like me will be drooling over his cuban accent and brazen drug lord personality in this film. It is the journey of his transformation from a cuban refugee to a drug kingpin of the mafia world to his emotional self destruction by the end. You will fall in love with his king-sized lifestyle, his beautiful women and his self-made multi millionaire attitude.