Thomas Benson analyzes several classic crime films from 1940 to 2011 that depict crime in different tones, from comedic to dark. The earliest film, The Bank Dick from 1940, shows crime in a humorous light through W.C. Fields' comedic performance. Later films like The Italian Job in 1969 and Goodfellas in 1990 merge lighter and darker elements. More recent films like Layer Cake in 2004 and Scarface in 1983 portray crime in a grittier, darker manner through graphic violence and drug content. Overall, the document traces how crime films have evolved from more joking portrayals to increasingly realistic and serious depictions over time.

1. Analysis of past crime
films
By Thomas
Benson

2. The Bank Dick (1940)
The Bank Dick is an all-time classic crime comedy
starring W. C. Fields, it is directed by Edward F. Cline
and is set in Lompoc, California, W. C. Fields plays a
character named Egbert Sousé who apprehends a
bank robber by accidentally tripping him as he tries to
escape. He then ends up as a security guard. He is
frequently shown to be drunk and in addition to bank
and family scenes, it features Fields pretending to be
a film director and ends in a chaotic car chase. The
film tends to show crime in more of a jokey humorous
light. The Bank Dick is considered a classic of his
work and the film received many favorable awards
and reviews. it has also been archived and considered
"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Poster
picture

3. The Italian Job (1969)
The Italian Job is a classic British caper film which was written
by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and
directed by Peter Collinson. The plot follows a Charlie Croker,
played by Michael Caine, a Cockney criminal, and he is
released from prison with the intention of doing a "big job" in
Italy. He soon meets with the widow (Lelia Goldoni) of his friend
and fellow thief, Roger Beckermann Rossano Brazzi who was
killed by the Mafia while driving a Lamborghini Miura in the
Italian Alps in one of the films most iconic scenes. Mrs
Beckermann gives Croker her husband's plans for a robbery
which detail how to steal 4 million dollars in the city of Turin and
escape to Switzerland. The film follows a much lighter path and
has a more positive attitude to crime. The film became a cult
classic and is still very relevant in the pop culture of today, (with
a remake being made in 2003) it was extremely positively met
when it released and still maintains that today.
Poster
picture

4. The French Connection (1970)
The French Connection is an American made dramatic
action thriller film directed by William Friedkin and produced
by Philip D'Antoni. Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, and Roy
Scheider star in the film. It was adapted and fictionalized by
Ernest Tidyman from the 1969 non-fiction book by Robin
Moore and tells the story of New York Police Department
detectives, "Popeye" Doyle and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo,
whose real-life counterparts were Narcotics Detectives
Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso. This film follows a darker
tone with grittier themes in-between. Similar to "The Bank
Dick" The French Connection was included in the American
Film Institute's list of the best American films in 1998. And
then again in 2007. In 2005, the film was selected for
preservation in the United States National Film Registry by
the Library of Congress as it met the criteria for being
"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Poster
picture

5. Scarface (1983)
Scarface is a 1983 American crime film that tells the story of
Cuban refugee Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino who
arrives in the 1980s to Miami with nothing and rises to
become a powerful drug kingpin. The film was directed by
Brian De Palma and written by Oliver Stone. The cast also
features Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Steven Bauer, and
Michelle Pfeiffer. Scarface was released on December 9,
1983 and was a box office success, and grossed $44
million. The initial critical reception was mixed, with criticism
over excessive violence and profanity and graphic drug
usage. Some Cuban expatriates in Miami objected to the
film's portrayal of Cubans as criminals and drug traffickers.
This film follows a far darker tone and shows to be far grittier
than most of the previous films on this list. Since its release,
the film has received reappraisal from critics, considered by
some to be one of the best mob films ever made.
Poster
picture

6. GoodFellas (1990)
Goodfellas (stylized as GoodFellas) is a 1990 American
biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, It
is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wise
guy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay
with Scorsese. The film narrates the rise and fall of a
mob associate Henry Hill and his friends over a period
from 1955 to 1980. It was made on a budget of $25
million, Goodfellas grossed $46.8 million and received
positive reviews from critics, it was nominated for six
Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Scorsese's
film won five awards from the British Academy of Film
and Television Arts, including Best Film and Best
Director. Additionally, Goodfellas was named the year's
best film by various critics' groups. This film merges the
lighthearted nature of the earlier films with the grittier
films that take up the other spots.
Poster
picture

7. Layer Cake (2004)
Layer Cake (also occasionally stylized as
L4YER CAKƐ) is a 2004 British crime thriller
film directed by Matthew Vaughn, the
screenplay was adapted by J. J. Connolly
from his novel of the same name. The film
was produced by Adam Bohling, David Reid
and Matthew Vaughn, with Stephen Marks as
executive producer. The title refers to the
social strata, especially in the British criminal
underworld and the film follows this ideal in
the sense that the film is darker than films
near the top of this list and the plot does
include dark themes and violence that is more
than what is seen in the films that were seen
before.

8. Sherlock Holmes : A Game of
Shadows (2011)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a
British-American period action mystery film,
produced in 2011 and directed by Guy Ritchie and
produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan
Downey and Dan Lin. It features Robert Downey
JR and Jude law as the main two characters,
Holmes and Watson. The film was commercially
successful and grossed over $545 million
worldwide. It follows the plot mystery of a villain
who ambitions to instigate a new world war but
the plot isn’t as gritty as it would initially seem and
is relatively light compared to some others on this
list