Great crime films

Today I thought I would write a short list of crime movies that I love.

• The Godfather Trilogy I know it's a bit of a cheat to have three grouped together but they are really one long film. I had seen the original a long time ago but had avoided the sequel in the naive belief that it couldn't be as good as the first film. How wrong was I? Pacino's finest hour, the second part of the trilogy is my personal favourite. Brando's iconic performance in the first, the classic dialogue that crackles all through the three movies and the set piece violence that defines the story of gangland America make the trilogy one of the finest achievements in the history of cinema. Although many will say that the third is weaker than the first two parts, taken on its own merits, it's still a fine film.
• The Big Sleep Regular readers won't be surprised to see this appear on my list. It's got Bogart and Bacall, it's got a complicated story, Chandler's dialogue and evokes the era so beautifully. The violence and sexual blackmail must have seemed quite shocking when the film was released but will seem tame to modern audiences. I love it.
• Double Indemnity Billy Wilder's classic tale of lust, adultery and pre-meditated murder is one of the best films nominated by the academy not to win an Oscar. The screenplay was adapted by Wilder and Raymond Chandler from a short story by James M. Cain. The 'femme fatale' played by Barbara Stanwyck persuades her lover, Fred MacMurray, to kill her husband to make a claim on an insurance policy. The plan fails thanks to the investigator, Edward G Robinson but the plot was thought to be shocking and one critic even called it the recipe for the perfect murder. One of the very best in the 'Film Noir' genre.
• The Italian Job One of the best British films of the sixties, this tale of a gang of bank robbers is filled with quotable dialogue. It features one of the classic car chases of all time as the very British minis are pursued through the streets of Turin. The film is one of Michael Caine's best in a career packed with great performances. Least said about the dreadful Americanised version from 2003, the better.
• The Ladykillers Another British bank robber caper, The Ladykillers is a different style of crime film. The robbers, including Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom, hole up in a boarding house. Mrs Wilberforce, the owner, believes them to be a group of musicians. The gang believe that she has seen too much and decide to kill her. The incompetent criminals only succeed in killing each other leaving their landlady with the proceeds of their crime. A charming movie with a dark edge, it's the kind of film we used to do so brilliantly in Britain. It's another British classic that got a Hollywood reworking in 2004. The Coen brothers directed it, with Tom Hanks in the Guinness role and it is a good movie, even if not quite up to the standard of the original.

I'm sure I have missed some that deserve a place on the list but I'm hoping you'll help me out.