Top 10 Gangster Movies Countdown

You wanna play this? Okay. I'll play with you.

Go on. Okay. You wanna play with us? Okay! Say

hello to my little friend! Everybody's gotta

watch everybody else. Since the players are looking

to beat the casino, the dealers are watching

the players. The boxmen are watching the dealers.

The floormen are watching the boxmen. The pit

bosses are watching the floormen. The shift bosses

are watching the pit bosses. The casino manager

is watching the shift bosses, I'm watching the

casino manager, and the eye in the sky watching

us all. I was trying to use a movie reference

and use your quote -unquote moniker for yourself

without actually saying it. We are here to count

down GCRN's top ten gangster films. Oh, wrong

gangster, sorry. Wait, what? I thought we were

talking about different gangsters. I was going

to talk in a different voice -all episode. It's

the other type of family movie. Okay, gotcha.

It's been a while. I know we did our little voice

the voice recording, but it's been a while since

we've actually done one of these countdowns.

What's going on? You know trying to stay afloat

in the geek world here It was kind of weird because

all my free time that I had the limited free

time I had was either spent in the last month

watching spurs games Which we will not discuss

or uh... going to see movies i've really had

little to no time outside of that i've been trying

to prepare my ass did the heat go tssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Whatever anyway, what else so besides that I've

been trying to get my house ready for some new

roommates that are moving in here in the next

week But I really haven't had much of a chance

to do that. I haven't even mowed my yard in 10

days. So it looks pretty hideous I'm also in

the middle of a major major project that I've

been plugging away at over behind the voice actors

of Trying to screen cap and gather all of the

resources for all 43 plus peanuts specials to

get to the Charlie Brown peanuts franchise completely

represented on the website which right now it

is not basically at all. So yeah that's a lot

of character screen grabs to get. That's a lot

of character screen graphs to get, but that's

not like, you know, a thousand Frank Walker voices.

At least it's only about six or eight characters

per special. Yeah. So I'm about halfway through

that, so we'll see. What about you Dan? What

are you been up to since last time we did one

of the countdowns? Well summer is a busy time

It's always a lot of weddings for me every weekend.

I'm always at some wedding or something of that

nature just recently saw Daniel Tosh live in

DC, which is pretty pretty awesome and Right

now I'm actually kind of deep inside Spielberg

because it's been a lot of Spielberg It's kind

of the point but dad there's a lot of Spielberg

a lot all the time and then like like Kevin just

keeping up with all the summer movies and So,

yeah, not much. Summer's kind of movie season

has been kind of in and out, you know. Some good,

some bad, some in between. No great. Well, no,

I would disagree. I thought Iron Man 3 was pretty

great, but that's just my opinion. Well, there's

been some fun and some entertaining ones I'm

talking about. I don't see necessarily too many

that are making my top ten list at the end of

the year unless there's nothing else that happens

in the rest of the year. Then I'll be forced

to fill it with superhero movies, I guess. Alright,

so as always, Optimus Solo is going to spring

the list on us for the honorable mentions, the

ones that barely made the list or didn't even

come close to making our top 10 gangster film

list whatsoever. Yeah, all right, it is sprung

it has sprung it has sprung um I just wanted

to start off real quick before we get into I

can give you guys a second to digest a little

bit, but uh It's interesting there We're not

that Many like in past lists there has been at

least anywhere from 50 to 60 Movies that have

had least received one vote for example when

we did Sports I think we had like 60 different

sports movies get voted on Comedies was 78 different

films got voted on Action was 79 Gangster there

was only 43 films that got voted Which means

there's a lot of repetition between our lists

There's a lot of agreement between parts of our

list as far as which movies were listed and I

think gangster is a hard one because There's

a lot of good gangster films. Now, if I had to

narrow it down to top 10, which we kind of did,

that's a task because there's a lot that you

have to leave out that you think are deserving

at first. Like when you're just given the task

and someone says, you know, pick the top 10 gangster

films, you're like, OK, that shouldn't be too

bad. But when you actually sit down to do it,

you have to make some tough choices. And there's

like ones that you would at first thought automatically

include that you have to not include in the top

10. because there's only 10 spots and I thought

this was a hard task to come up with. Um, I was

glad that we were given the task of creating

a top 20 instead. Well, yeah, but, and just so

in case people don't remember with our top 10

GCRN AFI type lists, every one of us that submitted

a list ranked top 20 films. And then Kevin does

his super genius math crap and whittles it down

to what eventually becomes the network top 10.

How many people submitted lists for gangsters?

With this one, it was the core five of us. We

didn't have any of the outsiders submit one for

this one, surprisingly. But we did have the five

main members here yourself, all the three of

us, and then Steve and JT. So this is definitely

representative of the network here. And just

so everybody knows, Kevin is the only one, because

he reveals the stuff, he is the only one that

has seen everyone's lists. We don't know... Dan

and I don't know what's on... then there's no

time i was i don't know what's on dan's list

bowl i don't know what's the top ten yet either

right and we don't know what the top ten is you'll

either so it's not like where getting together

and say hey let's make this number one let's

make this but you know we're not doing that we're

each individually making a list submitting it

to kevin and then as i said he does his math

skills and and not to not to fancy uh... So yeah,

so there's definitely some interesting honorable

mentions here. I will say that the top honorable

mention, which got 30 points on our scale, missed

getting the top 10 list only by three points.

So it was fairly close. It didn't miss it by

much. Who wants to start off with their reactions

about some of these honorable mentions? I have

to with this because... i cannot believe more

of you dumbass is not vote for dick tracy that

is an awesome film uh... god what the hell dick

tracy missed it by what seven points or okay

well uh... uh... i i i love dick tracy i've always

loved that film you know i don't i don't care

what people say oh it's nineties cheese that

movie Is the epitome of what a comic book movie

should have looked like in the 90s. It's super

colorful super bright In your face. It is amazing

colors all around. I loved all the actual gangsters

in that film and their different Flat -top and

itchy and and prune face and and mumbles and

You know, even big boy even even lips manless

even blank, you know Madonna dressed up as a

dude um you know for everybody it's what 20,

30 plus year old movie screw spoilers. I'm just

kidding. Anything that's not over two weeks old

is to hell with spoilers. But yeah, honestly,

looking at this list for me, Dick Tracy is the

main one that I was kind of, oh my God, what

the hell? Departed, that was a really good movie.

American Gangster with Denzel, that was really

good. Other than that. I'm not really shocked

that a lot of these didn't make it. I'm the only

one out of the five people that submitted lists

that had one of my top two not make the list.

Wow. And I just think maybe I'm guessing maybe

some of you haven't seen it. But I'm somewhat

appalled that it's not on the list. And that's

gangs of New York. Oh, Leonardo DiCaprio. No,

thank you. I don't care. That is a masterpiece

of a film. It depicts maybe a different type

of gangster than you would normally think, but

it's freaking gangs of New York. It's definitely

gangsters. Back in the day, from the historical

context to the execution to freaking Daniel Day

-Lewis, that film deserved more respect than

to only be on two of our lists. put it on my

list mainly because I already had two Scorsese

films on my list. So I was like, I mean, there's

a lot of Scorsese films you could list for when

you think gangsters, you think Scorsese. I like

City of God a lot. Not City of God. Gangs of

New York. Gangs of New York a lot, like you mentioned.

It is great. It's within that time frame where

Scorsese really had a lot of great films going.

But to me, I always like departed a little bit

more than Kings of New York, I think the King

of New York is definitely more of a better crafted

as it's kind of a massive in its scale and the

film's rather long and it's historical context

like you mentioned. But for me, I just always

kind of gravitated more towards departed a little

bit. And then obviously other films that we may

see on the list that have Scorsese's name attached

to them. Well departed had some damn good characters

there was set in Boston So there you go. There

was two films that are on our honorable mention

list that were voted on on everyone's list, but

one and that would be departed that was on everybody's

list except for JT and We forgive him and the

other would be the one that was the top of our

honorable mentions, which is road to perdition

Which was voted on everybody except for Mike's

lists I've never seen trailers for it. I've seen

TV spots I've seen bits and pieces of it, but

I've never seen it all the way through Well,

you need to do that So those were our top as

far as a number of appearances on list would

be road to perdition and Departed be on four

of our list the only ones that were on three

people's list and honorable mention That would

be Dick Tracy Whole nine yards and Donnie Brasco

I am The whole ten yards didn't make the list.

Anyway. Oh, God, it did. The classic ones for

me that I'm a little bit surprised except for

these are the ones that like there's there's

a handful that like when you think gangster,

you think of these films, but being that we only

had ten slots, I can understand why they're not

there. But some of them that I just associate

with gangster immediately would be Donnie Brasco,

Carlito's Way. A Bronx Tale, and I think maybe

not everyone's seen Bugsy. No, probably not.

I had not seen it until recently, and I think

Bugsy's really good. I think it's a really well

-done gangster film that I just don't think got

the exposure that a lot of the other ones did.

But yeah, Carlitos Way and Donnie Brasco especially,

I think immediately when I think of gangster

films. But like I said, we only had 10 slots,

so I can somewhat understand why they're not

on the list. Dan, what are some other thoughts

as you scroll through the honorable mentions?

Going with classics, one that also popped up

to me was French connection. I guess maybe it's

necessarily always Associated with gangsters.

It's more so crime so I could maybe see why that

didn't make the list but I Love French Connection.

I think it's a one of the best movies of the

70s Also on the list we talked about the departed

and then there's the movie that it adapted Infernal

Affairs where if you watch Infernal Affairs and

you watch the departed you see some of the best

moments coming right from Infernal Affairs Which

you know, it's a foreign film like you'd see

why people didn't vote for it. It's not not everyone

saw it Also, Miller's Crossing, which is I think

a really underrated Coen's Brothers movie. I

have a lot of great crime films, a lot of gangster

films that you can put on the list, but one of

my favorites was Miller's Crossing, and I think

that's kind of really under the radar. I think

it was really underappreciated. And then it looks

like Chinatown. I mean, that's all -time great.

There's a lot on here. Menace's Society. That's

a different type of gangster movie. Maybe that's

why people didn't vote for it. Lock stocked in

two smoking barrels. One of Guy Ritchie's first

films, which is where Jason Statham got his first

role, I believe. I'm surprised Mike didn't vote

for it. There are two modern ones on there that

I think maybe would get more credit as time passes,

and at least two that I kind of liked that are

more modern ones. I know some people have given

them pretty bad reviews, but Killing Them Softly

and Gangster Squad, I think those two might garner

some more attention as time passes. I was the

only one that voted, no, two people voted for

Gangster Squad, I was the only one that voted

for Killing Them Softly, but I think those are

two modern ones that are decent. Anything? You

mentioned Road to Perdition, and that's one of

my favorite films. I went back when I did top

comic book films, and I think that's one of the

best comic book movies ever made. You mentioned

Dick Tracy, and I think Road to Perdition is

the more realistic version of that. Paul Newman.

uh... tom hanks as being a bad ass something

you don't see from every day and sam and he's

directing i love repetition of something that

would make it i could see why i mean there's

like you there's so many crime to me it's like

the best genre one of the best genres if you

look at the greatest movies of all time Lot of

them fit into the gangsters and fit into crime.

So it's hard to kind of narrow it down to ten

Once upon a time in America. It looks like that

didn't make it. I could say that's a hard movie

to watch It's like four hours. Yeah, I have it

on my list out of respect only Yeah, I think

it's a great film, but I knew it wasn't gonna

make my list. Yeah, that's a tough That's like

it, you know a few days to watch it once upon

a time in America. It's more of a miniseries

than a movie But yeah, they're overall I'm curious

to see what we have it there's There's just a

few films that I don't see on here that I think

you might get there. It looks like Analyze This.

That's a pretty solid comedy for gangsters. Robert

De Niro, Billy Crystal. I think a lot of times

when you think about gangster films, the comedies

kind of fall by the wayside. We do have the whole

nine, 10 yards we have Analyze This and that.

I think some of those, whether they're good movies

or not, if someone's trying to come up with the

best gangster film, to me it... Yeah, those don't

fit in my thinking. Yeah, I agree. There's so

much better to choose from, so it's kind of hard.

They're not really great comedies, they're not

really gangster films, so they kind of just fall

on the wayside. I'm a little surprised that Public

Enemies out -pointed Departed in this. I know

it was only one point, but that kind of shocks

me a little bit. Yeah, I do not like that movie.

Yeah, I talk about modern ones. I much prefer

gangster squad and killing them softly over over

Public enemies that did not resonate super well

with me I can't complain completely though because

Nine of our top ten were on my list Nine of Steve's

top ten, I believe are on this list and JT actually

had every single film in our top ten on his list

so Definitely interesting Mike any other thoughts

about the honorable mentions? No Like I said,

I'm at this point. I'm really interested to see

what did make the list because as you said it's

more of It's you know as Dan said as well. It's

more of it's not just a gangster movie It's also

basically the crime genre is really what what

this is like you did get the honor of Being responsible

for the lowest film on our rating system Great.

You were the only person that gave a couple points

to Gotti Yeah Whatever. All right, so let's let's

get to the countdown after this I never fucked

anybody over in my life didn't ever come Wanna

get Capone? Here's how you get him. He pulls

a knife. You pull a gun He sends one of yours

to the hospital. You send one of his to the morgue

That's how you get the ball. I'm giving you that

money so I don't have to kill your ass You read

the Bible Ringo Not regularly. No, oh, there's

this passage. I got memorized Ezekiel 25 17 The

path of the righteous man is beset on all sides

by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny

of evil men Blessed is he who in the name of

charity and goodwill shepherds the weak through

the valley of darkness for he is truly his brother's

keeper and the finder of lost children and I

will strike down upon thee with great vengeance

and furious anger those who attempt to poison

and destroy my brothers and you will know I am

the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you I've

been saying that shit for years and if you heard

it that meant your ass I never gave much thought

to what it meant I just thought it was some cold

-blooded shit to say to a motherfucker before

I popped the cap in his ass. I saw some shit

this morning, made me think twice. See, now I'm

thinking, maybe it means you're the evil man

and I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here,

he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass

in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean,

you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd.

And it's the world that's evil and selfish Not

like that But that shit ain't the truth The truth

is You're the weak and I am the tyranny of evil

men But I'm trying Ringo I'm trying real hard

to be the shepherd As far back as I can remember

I always wanted to be a gangster. I know I'd

go from rags to riches If you would only say

you care And though my pocket may be empty Being

a gangster was better than being president of

the United States Even before I first wandered

into the cab stand for an after -school job I

knew I wanted to be a part of them and was there

that I knew that I belonged To me it meant being

somebody in a neighborhood that was full of nobodies.

They weren't like anybody else I mean, they did

whatever they wanted. They double parked in front

of a hydrant. Nobody ever gave them a ticket

In the summer, when they played cards all night,

nobody ever called the cops. My father taught

me many things here. He taught me in this room.

He taught me keep your friends close, but your

enemies closer. This cockroach your old man?

Go suck an egg. All right, let's start with the

only member of our top ten that I did not vote

for her Um, Dan also did not vote for this one.

So this one's gonna be all you Mike I just don't

think of this one necessarily I guess as a gangster

film as much as I do these other ones But we're

starting at our number 10 slot with a 2001 film

starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke and

that is training day Again, there is a blur between

crime, drama, slash gangster, et cetera, et cetera.

I don't view this one as a gangster film as much.

Nor did I like this one. I like this film, but

I do not like it as much as seemingly every other

person does in the world. But Mike, I'll let

you speak to Training Day being our number 10

film. Oh, okay. On my list, I had it at number

eight. It's just one of those things where I've

seen so many different Characters that Denzel

has played over the years until training day

in 2001 I had never seen him be this dark. I

don't think like one of my favorite films from

his in the 80s is ricochet and He was pushed

over the edge in that with it with that character.

But like this character is just straight -up

evil He is Mean that I mean this takes dirty

cop to a whole new level. It really does but

it's it's damn good storytelling in this movie

Dan Yeah, I mean I didn't vote for training.

I think I'm the same with you Kevin I don't really

view it as a gangster film even if we're doing

crime as a whole I think it's a solid movie,

but I don't put it up on the upper echelon of

crimes I think there's just so much better out

there. It's a movie that's clearly powered by

Denzel's performance Ethan Hawke is also really

Does a fine job kind of you know playing off

him as well? It's kind of hard to go against

ends up when he's being that big of a character

But he holds his own I do I mean it like I do

like the one day storytelling. I love that I'm

a sucker for that movies that take place in all

in one day so I do like that they use that day

framework pretty well and Within that I think

we do learn that the characters are pretty solid.

There's a lot of development for only a few hours,

but overall I just Considering some of the honorable

mentions. I think there's like I would definitely

put road perdition above this I put Donnie Brasco

for its connection ahead of training day because

it has solid performances, but as an overall

movie direction wise Score wise just overall

atmosphere. I think it's just you know a general

solid movie. I don't think it's a great movie

This is the only one I have a problem with on

our top 10. I will mention that it had in AFI's

100 years, 100 heroes and villains. It did get

the number 50 villain for Alonzo Harris' character

of all time. Yeah, I mean, I enjoy the movie.

I would never say anything like that it's a bad

film. I just don't believe if I had to pick one

on our top 10 to boot off, it's definitely going

to be this one. Mike, any other thoughts on training

day? No. All right, then we will move on to our

number nine slot. And while I had a problem with

Training Day being on our list, my problem with

this one is that it came in number nine. I think

that's a travesty. And that is our 1999 film.

You know, I said that when you think of gangster

film, you might not think of Training Day. Well,

when you think of gangster film, you definitely

think of Casino. and for it to be in our ninth

spot I think is a little too low. It should definitely

be higher in my opinion. I had it at number four.

Casino is one of my all -time favorite films.

I think De Niro and Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci

are freaking amazing in this film. For a long

time this was like my favorite gangster film.

But I can see a couple others that have over

time taken that spot. I will mention that the

film ranks fifth in the list of films that most

frequently use the word fuck. So that's always

interesting. It was nominated for AFI's top 10,

top 10 gangster films. It was also nominated

for the top 100 films of the last 100 years.

I can't say enough good things about Casino.

I'm surprised it's not in our top five. But maybe.

Dan, you can speak to this one since you did

not put this on your list at all. Yes, I didn't.

I love Casino, but like I mentioned, similar

was like action films or any other when we have

all those franchises and you're trying to pick

which one to choose from. When it came to gangster

films, you're not going to really pick franchises.

There's not many gangster franchise films, but

it's more so, okay, what directors do you pick?

Because there are so many directors that you

associate with this genre, Coppola, Scorsese.

Tarantino to some extent so it came down to I

didn't want to make a list all Scorsese movies.

I have no problem with that I can understand

them. I like I think doing that later this winter

ladies and gentlemen I'm actually gonna be going

through all of his so I'm like to me I was like

alright, so let me pick my favorites out of that

and I think there's a lot of other You know films

that we could highlight as well So it came down

to to me like the two that stood out and I loved

casino But I always when it came to casino and

good fellows. I always went good fellows so that's

really what it came down to because I feel like

Stylistically, you know, they're similar. Obviously

their story wise are very different but again,

there's nothing bad I can say about casino. It's

an awesome movie if So it's it's deserving on

this list for sure But for me, I just what other

directions when it came to score is easy Mike

you had this at the tenth spot on your list So

obviously you're the closest out of us to getting

it right on the nose. It's the characters It's

the actors and the characters is really what

it is with this movie Now I Like when we've done

all these top ten lists I have not gone back

because obviously none of us know what's gonna

make the top ten obviously So I'm not gonna go

back and watch every single film on my you know

on my personal list that I made and It's just

one of those things where I remember The the

actors and the characters that they had in the

interactions they had with each other more so

than the actual plot of the movie I know that

sounds bad, but it's just one of those things

where I Just it's been the movie came out in

95. It's maybe been Ten years since I've seen

this yeah, I mean it's been a while And just

kind of looking here Just looking at the Wikipedia

and just doing a refresher for myself You know,

I remember the character interactions between

geez De Niro and stone specifically and the two

of them acting together just It's just spot -on

brilliant. It really is Yeah, definitely some

of the more classic portrayals of a character

in the genre if you had to pick like character

I guess and do a top 10 characterless I would

expect casino to be represented as well I just

think like when I think a gangster it's definitely

one of the first couple films that comes to my

mind so definitely glad at least that it made

the list even if I think it should be a slight

bit higher but that's just my opinion we actually

have a tie in our next slot a tie for however

you want to say it I guess seventh The seven

slash eight spot so we will start since we were

in 1995 with casino. We will stay there in 1995

for our next film on our list and that is a cult

classic for me the usual suspects The usual suspects

was on Dan's list, JT's list, and mine stayed

off of the founders there. Stephen and Mike did

not vote for usual suspects. Okay, now before

anybody starts, you know, screaming at me in

comments or on Twitter or on iTunes reviews,

I have never seen this film. I knew that had

to be this situation. So I tried my best to not

put movies on my top 20 list that I had not seen

because that would be unfair padding for the

list. so I have never seen this film everyone

says oh Brian Singer this is where he became

a god and whatever else I will see the film eventually

it's just it's it's not something that's on my

radar so you guys are gonna have to praise real

quick before we get Dan's thoughts I want to

list off some stuff as far as since obviously

this is AFI again a style list like this Usual

suspects was nominated for 100 years 100 thrills

It had a the number 40 we already talked about

the number 50 villain. It had the number 48 villain

with Kaiser so say Had one of the nominated for

one of the top 100 movie quotes the greatest

trick the devil Devil ever pulled was convincing

the world. He didn't exist And it was also nominated

for the top 10 gangster film list and it also

made Number 10 spot on the mystery film list

So kind of made appearances on multiple things

there. I just think this is a great movie. Anybody

who sees this movie, I've never talked to someone

who has seen this movie who disliked it. It's

one of those films that if you see it, you most

likely enjoy it. It's a unique film and I don't

want to say too much since Mike hasn't seen it,

but I'll let Dan talk. Yeah, and with mystery

films there are some mystery films you want to

see once you can't see them again because once

you find out the entrance of the mystery It's

not as satisfying but with usual suspects I think

once rewatching I think you can appreciate more

and Beyond just the mystery. It's just a solid

solid film great characters again I mean that's

a key with a lot of gangster films quality characters

great actors and Del Toro Kevin Pollock even

I mean when you have Stephen Baldwin actually

giving a great performance, you know something

something's going right It's I mean, it's a sharp

dialogue. It's it's framed really well quality

storytelling it's kind of repeating ourselves

over and over again, but it's kind of how it

is and What I love about Usual Suspects is it

is like Bryan Singer's debut film, which is crazy

and how well it's directed I don't think he's

ever gotten back to those level again, but It's

still I mean, this is like a gem beyond gems

and I Mike I would definitely advise seeing it

You don't want to say too much because you can

easily spoil this movie I wouldn't go searching

anything because it's it's ending It's been kind

of commonplace at this point because people you

know relatively spoil it But of all the films

we talked about doing this list, I think usual

suspects is one you need to check out the most

For sure. Yeah, and I am not surprised at all

Like I said just based on the fact that everyone

I've ever talked to that's watched this film

likes it I'm not surprised that it made it our

list and I think it definitely deserves a spot

in the top 10 Does it deserve to be ahead of

casino? I don't know, but we'll talk about that

later and the movie that was tied with usual

suspects We have to go back a few years back

to 1992 coming in with the same number of points

as usual suspects is reservoir dogs I'm directed

by Quentin Tarantino. I've never been a Tarantino

fan. Even for people that are not Tarantino fans,

this film, I think for someone that doesn't like

Tarantino, they could still like this film. It's

not even about not liking him. To me, this doesn't

have as big of a Tarantino stamp as his other

films do. Dan might disagree with me, but I think

especially nowadays, you can tell a Tarantino

film a mile away and it definitely has lots of

different trademarks to it. Maybe just because

I wasn't as exposed to those things when I saw

Reservoir Dogs originally. But I just view that

kind of differently than some of his other films.

Mike was the only one that didn't vote on this.

But like I said, you haven't seen this one, correct?

Yeah, no. So the rest of us did vote for Reservoir

Dogs. Let's see, the highest that it was placed

was on JT's list, which it was placed in the

fifth spot. I had at 1 2 3 4 5 6 7th Dan, what

are your thoughts on the reservoir dogs? I like

you mentioned it doesn't have like the normal

tropes of a Tarantino film and I think to some

extent it's not a stylized it's probably a little

more not as in -your -face as some of his other

films, but I think it does have Think what makes

Tarantino great and with his dialogue like there's

some awesome dialogue the opening, you know diner

scene for example is just depending me of quality

dialogue and just how it doesn't necessarily

telling anything about the plot or it's not driving

the story forward, but it's really giving you

an idea of who these characters are and just

allowing these actors to kind of play in the

setting. It also is a classic, you know, Tarantino

loves his nonlinear storytelling. And that's

in this as well. And just how it kind of how

well edited it is, because I think of all of

the factors within a Tarantino film, the biggest

one is the editing. When that's working, the

movie is working, because when you have so many

different components, you go into so many different

places. If that editing is not up to par if you

really can't understand where the things are

going Then I think it kind of falls apart but

with with reservoir dogs. It works greatly again.

I thought about one day movies This is another

movie that takes place kind of in one day I guess

you could say takes place in a couple considering

the setting but it just great care great characters.

There's so many Classic moments like just the

moment of them walking in the parking lot slowly

in slow motion and there is turn keynote There's

a lot of commenting on the genre of gangster

films and crime and with all his movies, especially

in this one So I love how he kind of takes His

homages and does something clever with them Yeah,

it didn't win anything as far as or it didn't

actually get named to any AFI list But it did

get nominated for a lot of them a hundred years

a hundred thrills that got nominated Mr. Blonde

got nominated for it for a villain even though

it didn't make the list had a song Nominated

was stuck in the middle with you. It had a quote

nominated Are you going to bark all day, little

doggy, or are you going to bite? And it was also

nominated for the gangster film list, even though

it didn't make their final list. And Rotten Tomatoes

right now has a 96%, which is pretty impressive.

I kind of view Reservoir Dogs and Usual Suspects,

I mean, completely different films, obviously.

I view them on the same level. So I'm not surprised

that they're so close together and that they

in fact tied on our list. And I'm not upset that

it made our top 10 list either. Dan, do you think

Reservoir Dogs deserves top 10? I guess it depends

on what else is on the list. I think so. I mean,

I don't know. It's hard to say. I had it. Seven

sixteen on my list, so I thought there's fifteen

other films better than it So it I think there's

far worse choices of everything we've conned

I think probably user I would probably would

put usual suspects a little bit of head of reservoir

dogs Being tied I think it's fine, but I think

it's deserving I think with Tarantino I heard

someone say that the my favorite Tarantino film

was the last one I saw and I think that's somewhat

the case because like Depending upon like what

I saw last for certain films. There's certain

films. I don't like but uh I kind of go back

and forth with this in Pulp Fiction, depending

on the day, so I can understand. All right, then

going into our first half here, finishing that

off at number six, I'm a little... Shocked again

at the placement of this one, but not completely

not as shocked as I am with casino We're gonna

go back in the 80s with this one our number six

film is our 1983 Brian De Palma film and that

would be Scarface with Al Pacino Getting some

stuff out of the way before you guys Give us

your reaction as far as the AFI stuff Tony Montana

was nominated for the 100 heroes 100 villains

Say hello to my little friend was number 61 on

the 100 movie quotes And it did make AFI's top

10 gangster film at the tenth spot Would mention

that the original Scarface was on their list

as well at the number six spot But this one came

in at number ten on their list. It comes into

number six on our list Mike why don't you talk

about Scarface and now for the rest of the way

starting here with Scarface going the rest of

the way all the films that we will mention were

on all of our lists, so On my list it was number

16 I had I don't know, about three, four months

ago AMC did one of those theme weeks or theme

months or whatever. And I had never seen the

film before. So maybe watching it on American

movie classics on cable wasn't the best way to

watch the film. I was left very underwhelmed.

I did not care about the entire, I did not care

about the premise. I did not care about any of

the characters. The one thing I know about this

film, Say hello to my little friend. That's fucking

it. I don't... I don't get what the hype is about

this movie and why this movie is so great. It's

about a guy who's a coke dealer, who's addicted

to coke, and shoots people up that snitch on

him. I just... I don't get it. I just don't get

it. Classic Al Pacino. Well, right, but like...

To me, when I watched it, I was like, why am

I even watching this? What is the point of this

plot? There's a bigger plot in him playing big

boy Caprice and Dick Tracy than there is in this

fucking movie. I'm sorry, I can't stand Scarface.

How do you put it at number 16? Well, yeah, I

was gonna say if you made it on your list you

obviously don't hate it as much as you're saying

you do I would there are 15 others that are better

I would just say if like watching starface on

AMC like on basic cables like listening to a

song with earmuffs on like you can't really get

a complete understanding of the movie because

there's I Think you know just a that's a bad

way to kind of watch a movie because of what

the commercials and the editing and plus It's

made TV safe. So it it's hard to get it Complete

idea of what it's like regarding, you know, why

is Scarface so High -regarded do I think it's

a little overrated. I think some people go really

crazy with it I think a lot of people just like

it because of what Scarface becomes this idea

of this like tight any kind of controls everything

he's the Do you know any by any means necessary?

He'll kill everyone to get up to get on top I

think people just like that type of mindset.

So I think of why it kind of resonates with a

lot of people I had it number 20 on my list.

I do think it holds a very significant spot within

the crime genre, within the gangster genre. So

I think it does deserve to be someplace on this

list. You say the plot, there's no plot there,

but I just agree with that. I think there is

a pretty, that's what the movie is really. It

is all this story. It's just rags to riches.

And I'm a huge fan of the original, the original

Howard Hawks movie. They're not they're similar

in some ways similar and not someone others both

about rather respectable characters that kind

of Do respectable things and then kind of see

the world kind of crumble in front of them. Um,

and I think I like how it's Well, the the brian

department does kind of play homage to the the

original Little tidbits here and there if you

don't know them, you'll miss them and they don't

really impact the movie all that much But I I

do like scarface. I may not some people seem

to think it's like put it as the top movie of

all time, it seems like, but I don't think it's

that high. I just think it has really great performances.

I think a lot of memorable moments, like the

chainsaw sequence, the classic final ending,

and then just like the overall direction by Brian

De Palma. So that's why I voted for it. I think

I'm super I'm so I'm sorry I'm really surprised

this film did not get on some like most gory

bloody ending death scene ever on like some top

list somewhere cuz Was just way too much violent

like you know I think Punisher warzone is super

violent compared to some of the other Punisher

movies this movie is Like violence to a whole

new level granted. It's 1980s violence, but still

it is very violent and for a fat for a second

there I don't want that when Dan was saying oh,

it's about the guy rags to riches and the setting

I was gonna make it back to the future to joke

and say oh, so He's basically Biff, but this

came up before that. Different way, completely.

It was number three on Steve's list. That's the

highest it reached on anybody's list. It was

number four on JT's list. I actually had it at

number six, which is where it came in. And then

you guys already mentioned where you guys had

it. Do I think it should be on our top 10 list?

Absolutely. I think it's iconic. It definitely

carved its place out as far as the gangster genre

goes. But I would never put it at my number one

spot. I don't think it's quite as good as it.

as some of the other ones I have on my list.

But I'm not upset at all to see it in our top

10. I'm surprised it didn't get ranked a little

bit higher just because I am used to so many

people just being obsessed with it. So six is,

I think, a good spot for it given that. But I

expected it to be a little bit higher. But I'm

not upset at that at all. So that is our first

half of our list. Yeah, I think we should I guess

we should have been keeping track of directors

too and who had the most entrances on our on

our list Because we are going back to a few directors

in our next couple here that we've already talked

about and starting off with that will be our

number fifth ranked film and we are going to

1994 and we're venturing back into the land of

Quentin Tarantino and this time it is with the

cult classic pulp fiction Speaking of Pulp Fiction,

like I said, all the films for the rest of the

countdown are on all of our lists. I had Pulp

Fiction ranked lower than anybody else. It was

19th on my list. It was 6th on Steve's list.

It was 5th on Mike's list. It was 7th... I believe

on Dan's list and it was 10th on JT's list. So

all you guys had had Pulp Fiction in your top

10 except for me. So I let you guys speak about

Pulp Fiction because although I enjoy the film

and respect the film, I don't like it as much

as everybody else does. I guess I'll go. I love

Pulp Fiction. To me, it's within my top 10 favorite

films of all time. For one, I think it's one

of the movies that really got me into Film I

mean, you know the other difference between movies

and film and I think that pull fiction when I

saw it it just kind of blew me away just and

its structure and it's Its characters and how

it's really not like anything else of that time

and how it kind of really changed the game for

independent cinema and like it set like the 90s

ablaze and there were so many copycats that came

afterwards and I just for there's just so many

great moments like Tarantino is the king at just

crafting memorable scenes and crafting and putting

them together in like interesting ways and you

kind of you you see a certain aspect of a character

in the beginning you really don't know what it

means and like uh this isn't with Pulp Fiction

but it's the first thing that popped in my head

with like Kill Bill and you see a character driving

a certain car and then you're like why is she

driving that and he kind of and then you kind

of comes into play later on. He does that really

well. He doesn't just tell a story out of place

just because, but he really uses it in interesting

ways and the themes within Pulp Fiction and how

it kind of plays out throughout all the different

aspects. There's been so much said and so many

books written about what Pulp Fiction is really

about and where the thematic angles it goes after.

Which I love and I just love the style and the

the soundtrack and the use of music and then

the performances. I mean, Samuel L. Jackson,

this is kind of the movie that made him into

megastar Bruce Willis as well. Even. Oh, not

Tarantino. That guy from Greece, I can't think

of his name, Travolta. Yeah, I kind of think

of his name and Travolta. I mean, that brought

that kind of completely made him gave him a career

again, but I. And Tarantino loves that. He loves

taking actors that are kind of on the wayside,

either no one's really paying attention to and

kind of revitalizing their career. He does it

all the time. And even like with Kurt Russell

and Pam Grier. And so I love Pulp Fiction. I've

probably watched it a trillion times. It's just

a movie that's always resonated with me. Is your

top 10 films of all time consisting of seven

gangster films? No, there's only two. Okay. I

don't know. For me, Pulp Fiction, you said you

watched it a trillion times. I think that's how

a lot of people are with that film. I had a lot

of roommates in college that just would watch

that. all the time over and over again. For some

reason it's a film I've seen one time and I really

have no desire to see it again. I enjoyed it

and I understand what it is and I understand

the appeal to it, but for me it's not something

that I've ever wanted to watch a second time.

It's just not my style. But I am absolutely not

shocked that it's in our top ten, nor do I think

it's undeserving of that. I think it deserves

to be in the top ten. It's just not my personal

favorite. Mike, what about you? You know, I know

I said I'm not a Tarantino fan, and the reason

why I said that is because all of his movies,

because, oh, it's Quentin Tarantino. It must

be the best fucking thing ever. You know, that's

what he has earned for a reputation in Hollywood,

because he makes some damn good movies. And I

think my issue with him is the first film I saw

of his was Us till dawn and that was just that's

not his movie. That's Robert Rodriguez Wasn't

Tarantino in it though. He just was an actor.

Yeah, he can't act like that's one thing He needs

to stop doing is putting himself in his movies.

He can't I mean there's there's there's theories

that he he directed the first half of that movie

and Rodriguez directed the second half because

there's two Distincts parts of it, but he didn't

officially direct from dusseldott Either way,

it's just one of those things where with Pulp

Fiction, it has such, you know, the non -linear

storytelling is just amazing that it's done in

that movie. Just the way that the story is told

over the different, I guess you could call them

acts or preludes or whatever. It's just an amazing,

amazing movie. And that's one of those movies

where that's a 90s movie. that will be quoted

forever. There's probably at least 10 different

quotes in that movie that people quote all the

time to each other. Yeah, like this like Scarface

just kind of I could see why there's kind of

a backlash because it kind of has this huge fanfare

and people do kind of go crazy with it. I mean,

I guess I'm part of that problem. But which I

think people kind of go a little bit nuts. But

I do agree. There's there's a lot of quotes.

I mean, the opening sequence was. not the opening

sequence, but the the introduction with oh I'd

say Mel Jackson's character, you know the you

know The vengeance whole thing when he's like,

you know, yeah that that moment that scene has

been so parody so many times the you know, what

do they call a quarter pounder in France like

that like that was huge and I think it's because

it was one of the first times and that maybe

the first time but it was putting dialogue into

scenes that We're just kind of the story lines

are just two people talking and it seems like

a novel concept, but it was really really groundbreaking

for the time and you see it a lot now, but it's

because of movies like Pulp Fiction and even

movies like clerks that kind of changed that

type of dialogue within the movies And to get

since we've been obviously mentioning the different

AFI things that this shows up at Going a little

even beyond that here Entertainment Weekly named

it the best film of the past quarter century

AFI had it as its number seven all -time gangster

film and it's 94th overall out of its 100 years

100 movies list is named one of Time's all -time

100 movies. It's number 10 on Metacritic's list

of all -time highest scores. And just a lot of

people have ranked it very high. Roger Deaver

even said that it was the most influential film

of the decade and Time said it was the most influential

American movie of the 90s unquestionably. So

it does get a lot of fanfare and a lot of rave...

reviews, etc. So not surprised at all that it's

in our top ten. Anyone else on Pulp Fiction before

we move on? Might have to go back and watch it.

It's been like no no seriously no seriously I

I might have to go back and watch it because

Like like Dan was saying you know you remember

certain aspects you there are certain things

in any medium whether it's a comic book whether

it's a video game whether it's a television show

a film You know song there are certain things

you remember all the time, and this is one of

those films This is one of those 90s Films that

has those moments and it's like hmm. Maybe I

should really revisit this and really see and

Do an M -Wire episode on it eventually. There

you go. All right, then we will move on to our

number fourth film on our list. And now we're

making big jumps. May the fourth be with you.

Now we're making big jumps on the voting because

we're jumping almost a good 13 points here ahead

of what Pulp Fiction got. And our number fourth

film on our list comes to us from 1987. Another

Brian DePalma film. No, it does not need to be

fourth. What the hell? That would be a film that

ranked number one on Steve's list and number

one on Mike's list. I know. Mike's list. Oh,

that sounds like something else there. And that

is The Untouchables. I had it at number nine.

As I said, Steve and Mike had it at number one.

Dan, you had it down towards, let's see, about

17th. And JT had it at number six. So the untouchable.

So anyways, moving on. So yeah, the untouchable

is at our number four spot. Again, like I said,

we should be keeping track of directors because

this is a multiple appearance here by Brian DePalma.

Great performances here by Kevin Costner, Andy

Garcia, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery. A classic

film. I don't necessarily put it at the level

I put some other gangster films, but I definitely,

it's a personal favorite of mine. Mike, since

you had it ranked number one, why don't you speak

a little bit about that film that you have ranked

so highly? You know, we always talk, you know,

we always get taught in history about, you know,

prohibition, or at least I did anyway, in history

class. And, you know, Elliot Ness versus Al Capone

was always something classic, a classic story.

And not until this movie, I don't think there

were any like real, truly awesome representations

of what happened during that time in the 1920s.

And this movie just, it has heart, it has emotion,

it has action, it has, you know, fights, it has

everything that a... that an action slash gangster

movie should have. And it's just an amazing,

amazing film. It has 81 % on Rotten Tomatoes.

It did not get named to any AFI list, but it

got nominated for a bunch of them. It got nominated

for 100 years, 100 movies. It got nominated for

100 years, 100 thrills. It had a hero and a villain

nominated in Al Capone and Elliot Ness. nominated

for a hundred years of film scores and it was

nominated for the top ten gangster films. It

just wasn't named to any of those lists in the

end. Dan, your thoughts on the Untouchables?

I'm really surprised I made it this high. Obviously,

I like it because I put it at 17. I think I would

probably put a few films ahead of it just because

it's good. I don't think it's well -crafted as

something like Pulp Fiction or even Casino. The

performances are solid but as like overall film.

I don't think it reaches those levels. It's an

enjoyable watch. I mean, it's entertaining for

sure. I think of all the movies on here is probably

the one that's the most entertaining, the most

easy, the easiest watch, I would say. And it's

easy to watch with younger people too. I mean,

you're not going to show. I'm not saying like

real young people, but even like I don't know,

like middle schoolers or, you know, just people

that are turning teenagers. I wouldn't necessarily

want my teenager watching some of the other films

that we've been listing. I definitely wouldn't

want any of my kids watching Paul Fiction or

Scarface at a young age. But Untouchables has

that appeal that it's to a wider age range. Can

see that and not necessarily be... negatively

impacted by it. Yeah, and I think it's a good

transition film too because it it has like Brian

Tamal, the promo style where I think it's more

I think it's more acceptable for general audiences.

So it's a good movie to kind of kind of get you

into like a grander scale of some of the more

harder to get into films like something that's

more like casino that's not like the most easiest

film to watch because it's just how Condensed

it is but I Enjoy untouchables. I mean Sean Connery

is great in that though. He can't do a Chicago

accent It doesn't matter because Sean Connery

and Kevin Costner I mean Kevin Costner during

this time was just the man like he had so many

great movies and this is one of them so And I

love, I mean, I guess the one sequence that probably

stands the test of time is, you know, the baby

carriage sequence down the stairs that kind of

harkens back to I think the Battleship or Temkin

is where it's trying to take that from. But I

love Untouchable. So glad to see it in surprise.

Honestly, I did not expect us to make the top

10, but no argument for me. Well, so and we also

have, like I mentioned, our first. Besides JT

with Usual Suspects, which was his number one

ranked film, we're losing to more people that

had number one ranked films, because Steve and

Mike both have lost their number one ranked film

here with Untouchables. So we'll see. We'll see

how my number one and Dan's number one do here.

Going into our number third slot on our top 10

list, we are going to go back into the 70s, specifically

1974. And that is for Francis Ford Coppola's

Godfather Part 2. Godfather Part 2 is our number

3 film on our list. And just a real quick touch

on where everybody had this. I had this at number

5. Steve had this at number 8. Mike had this

at number 3. Dan had this at number 4. JT had

this at number 3. So since, Mike, you had this

ranked higher than Dan and I, Slightly. What

are your thoughts on Godfather part two? It's

just one of those it's one of those sequel movies

that lives up to the first film and is not as

bad as the Yeah, you know, it's it's one of those

where it's it's middle ground But it's one of

those things where the performances are all well

done. The action is all well done Again, another

film that is super quotable by anyone that has

seen the movie more than once. And again, the

acting. You know, you got Pacino, Deval. Again,

it's been years since I've seen this, but I remember

it like it was yesterday. Robert Deval, I almost

forgot he was in this, almost. Diane Keaton.

Pacino and DeNiro together. It's just a great,

great film. It's an interesting way to look at

a gangster film. It really is, because it's one

of those old, because usually when people, like

for me, when I hear the word gang, I think of

something like menace to society. You know what

I mean? Like, that's what the term gang means

to me. Like, bloods and crypts and all this and

all that stuff and whatever else. Stuff that,

generally, I had no knowledge of before 1995.

You know what I mean? It's one of those things.

But this, this is something that, like the Untouchables,

this is another one where it's like, you just

remember it. You always will. Yeah before Dan

talks real quick the stats here on this one was

featured on Roger Ebert's great movie list number

seven on Entertainment Weekly's 100 greatest

movies of all time Leonard Malton's it's on his

list of 100 must -see films of the 20th century

It received only one negative review on Rotten

Tomatoes and has a 98 % Approval rating is ranked

number one on TV guides list of 50 greatest movies

of all time on TV and video as far as AFI stuff

goes It was ranked number 32 of its 100 years

100 movies. Michael Corleone was named the number

11th best villain of the last 100 years. It had

two nominated quotes and then it had one that

actually got ranked at number 58, keep your friends

close but your enemies closer. It was number

32 again on the anniversary edition of 100 years

100 movies It was number three on AFI's top ten

gangster films So obviously this one is well

deserving Dan your thoughts on Godfather part

two. It's hard to I mean what has what can you

say about Godfather part two? That hasn't been

said. It's I mean, it's one of the greatest movies

ever made. It's Possibly I think easily the best

sequel ever made I mean going after the Godfather

and how that kind of rewrote the gangster genre

forever and it kind of lived up to the hype I

know some people put this ahead of Godfather.

Some people say it's better than the original.

I I disagree. I Just enjoy the Godfather one

a little bit more. It's I mean, they're both

amazing But for me the first one just edges out

the second one I mean great cinematography the

storytelling the characters that you know how

it interweaves the you know, the Robert De Niro

story, story with the one going on now and uses

religion and, and how it goes in line with the

violence and the aspect of the family. It just,

it is everything you could ever want in a gangster

movie. Like, I don't think if it wasn't for this

or the first Godfather, we'd be doing this list

because it kind of showed the kind of movies

you can make with the gangster genre. It really

wrote the book on it. And I don't think there's

really been anything since. I wasn't sure where

it would land on our list. I wasn't sure how

the existence of all the different Godfathers

would affect the voting at all. I guess we should

mention that Godfather 3 was on one person's

list. Was that mine? No, it was on Steve's. Oh,

okay. So one person did vote for Godfather Part

3, but I was interested to see, you know, with

Godfather 1 and Godfather 2 being... So classic

would that split the votes any would any would

it affect out? Obviously it hasn't affected it

much because Godfather 2 is coming in on our

third spot Not surprised at all I wasn't sure

if it would get that high But again not surprised

at all. It's a great film. It's a it's a great

Sequel like you said it'd be interesting to I

guess to do a list of what are the best sequels

of all time? Maybe something we'll have to do

in the future So that is our number three spot

and Honestly, before we move on, there obviously

should be no shock, no surprise as to our top

two. Honestly, when we came up with this list,

it was a given that these would be our top two.

If it was anything else, I would have been probably

bent over having some type of shock. Don't know

like the only question that ever remained in

my mind was what would come in at number two?

And what would come in at number one as far as

what would the order be they're both gonna be

top two Which one's gonna be which one? One of

them is my number one one of them is Dan's number

one and Obviously we're talking about the original

Godfather and goodfellas I think people go back

and forth between these and honestly, I think

JT somewhat decided this because he Ranked one

of them fairly lower than the rest of us Bastard

as far as there was one film that got rated a

1 a 2 a 2 a 4 and then a 7 and the other one

got rated a 1 a 2 a 3 a 2 and a 4 So it was really

JT ranking one of them as a seventh spot that

actually cost it the because there's only a four

point difference as we go through here. The number

two film on our slot on our list here is Martin

Scorsese's 1990 Goodfellas. So Goodfellas was

my number one film. It was Steve's number four.

Mike and Dan, but you both had it at number two

and JT for some reason dropped it all the way

down to seven. You Canadian bastard! Which literally

probably costed the top spot here. So Goodfellas

is our number two spot. This is one of my favorite

films of all time. Freaking amazing. When I think

of gangster films, I think of Godfather, I think

of Goodfellas, and I think of Casino. Those are

the three films that immediately come to my mind.

uh... getting over the f i stuff as far as some

of that stuff it was named ninety fourth on the

hundred movies uh... tommy devito got nominated

as a villain but not actually named funny like

i'm a clown i'm use you was nominated as one

of the quotes uh... and it was uh... named the

number two film on a five less so we'll go over

a five list in a minute but we haven't ranked

the same as they did so dan your thoughts on

goodfellas uh... goodfellas i'd Personally if

my personal list if I'm just going off of favorites,

it's it's actually my second favorite film of

all time But I put Godfather ahead of it because

I think think as a overall quality film and what

it means for the genre It just edges it out a

little bit. But good fellows is amazing. It's

I think possibly Scorsese's best movie. It's

up there. It's it's arguably his best it The

editing in that, there's so many great sequences.

The classic long shot is like walk through the

club and you kind of just get immersed in this

world of gangster. You can see why someone would

fall in love with this lifestyle. The first time

I actually saw Godfather was actually in a bus

trip home from a trip to New York City. And I

think I was way too young to watch it, but I

still loved it. Just again, the characters are

great. Joe Pesci. Raid the Yoda, just the use

of voiceover. I mean, a lot of people hate voiceover.

They feel like it's kind of unnecessary. But

this is one of the best uses of voiceover ever

because it helps kind of set the scene for all

this like really immersive story, like how long

it goes. And it's crazy. You forget like it.

You think of Goodfellas, you forget that it goes

like, you know, 40, 30, 30, 40 years. And the

fact it's based on a true story is even crazier.

but it's just the music, it is the epitome of

filmmaking. If you wanted to see how to make

a movie, I think Goodfellas is a great one to

see because there's so much to it. Scorsese had

his best. He just was hitting every stride. If

you're going to look for one of the best movies

of our generation since we've been born, I think

Goodfellas has got to be in the other top. Yeah,

I agree. There's nothing bad about this movie.

Nothing. Not a single scene feels too fast or

feels like it's taking forever. Okay, well, there

is one single thing that is bad about this movie

and I'm glad they finally dealt with that salesman.

Yeah, I'd kill Morty too. or Mario, whatever

the fuck his name is, oh my god. The funny thing

is, I seem to remember that actor in a plenty

of other stuff, like that same type of role.

I don't know, for some strange reason I remember

his face and his voice, for some stupid reason.

I think I could be wrong, Kevin probably won't

remember this. When we interviewed Maurice LaMarche

the first time... I think he's been on once or

twice, I forget. When we interviewed him on Tooncast

Classic, we had asked him because he is the voice

of Squince in Animaniacs, which Squince is one

of the Goodfeathers based off of the Goodfellas.

He was sitting down to dinner in a restaurant

one night and Ray Liotta was like, I don't know,

four or five tables over. He just started imitating

him. This is so cool, but it's just one of those

things where... This movie it tells a damn good

story It tells this could almost be if like how

long is this movie do we know off top of our

heads 146 minutes Two hours and 26 minutes. Okay.

Thank you. Um, yeah math sucks You know two hours

26 minutes this movie feels when you're watching

it and I'm not saying it's a bad pacing I'm saying

that to me it feels like I'm watching Seven mini

movies even though it's one consistent story

if you look at every single event that happens

between the big score between the idiot across

the street that that Henry's gonna defend Karen's

honor about and all the stuff that happens in

the movie it just it feels like it's To say this

hate to compare to this, but it feels like Scorsese

succeeded in putting Six films into one movie

whereas Lucas had to spread it over seven, you

know 30 years anyway It just it just has that

feel of Even though it's a it's a mob movie and

it's a gangster movie and it's about that mentality

and about that lifestyle Honestly to me. I just

might be the wrong wording for it for me. It's

a feel -good movie It's one of those movies that

you can watch any time and just enjoy yourself.

This movie is one of the reasons why for me,

going to a movie theater by myself and just watching

whatever the movie is, is an escape from reality.

Like once you go into those theater doors, like

the real world doesn't matter for the next hour,

hour and a half, two hours, unless you're sitting

there too long at... You know, the sinking of

the Titanic, but anyway. How many times have

we had a situation where a remarkable film actually

inspired a remarkable TV series with the Goodfellas

and the Sopranos? Oh, there's so much between

the two. Well, I mean, that was the inspiration

behind The Sopranos. I mean, it's very rare that

you get that type of connection to where you

have something that's really great inspiring

something else that ends up being actually really

great from a film to a TV screen. Yeah, this

is just not only do I think it's one of the best

gangster films, like I said, it's one of my all

time. If I'm just doing personal favorites, it's

definitely in my top. 10. I'm saying that without

actually doing it, but I would guess that it

would be in my top 10 just by how much I love

this film from beginning to end. It just completely

captures you. I can't remember the first time

I saw this film. I definitely did not see it

in 1990 when I was nine. I know I didn't see

it then, but I want to say the first time I saw

this was as a teenager. From the first five minutes,

I was just like, glued to the television set

wanting to see exactly what was going to happen

next and not many films have been able to do

that from beginning to end you know at that when

I was that age so it's something that made an

impact on me early on and I've seen compared

to some of the other films on this list which

I can't really watch like I said I can't watch

Pulp Fiction again or at least not too many times

Scarface I usually don't have a desire to watch

that too many times Goodfellas I can watch over

and over again, and not many films can do that

for me. So definitely happy that it's on our

list. Like I said, I had it ranked number one,

but I can understand it being number two, which

obviously leaves our number one spot for beating

out by four points here would be The Godfather

Part One, which seems fitting. 1972, Francis

Ford Coppola, The Godfather. And since, Dan,

you had this as your number one on your list,

we will let you go first. Okay, I remember the

first time I saw the godfather I remember I didn't

actually like it because I you know It's a movie

growing up as a kid you hear all about and I

finally sat down to watch it I was probably just

too young it was too slow was something I was

not really into I remember finally going back

to seeing again was an older a little wiser and

I kind of could appreciate just what was on display

and just how the the this is the epitome of character

development seeing, you know, Apochino's character

from The beginning to where he ends up and it

just that to me is just if you want to see how

to make characters and how to tell a story you

go to Godfather I mentioned earlier though. I

think it wasn't for the Godfather. I don't we

won't I don't think we get good fellows. I don't

think we get You know the sopranos a lot of these

films the untouchables I don't think they're

gonna be nearly as predominant as they are now

because it showed like that you can make great

cinema using gangsters. Because before this,

yes, there's crime, there's noir, but when it

came to gangsters, they weren't necessarily taken

as seriously as other films. So I think Coppola

just was a genius in this. And arguably, The

Godfather, one of the greatest movies ever made.

And so for it to be number one, it makes sense.

I think Goodfellas, probably more entertaining.

If I was going to pick one, went both around

at the same time, probably going to go to Goodfathers.

It's more of a personal favorite. It's faster

paced. It's more my style, but The Godfather,

it's the ultimate filmmaking. It's a perfect

movie. It's 100 % on Rotten Tomatoes. Yes, 100%.

It's second on their all -time best list. It

was ranked number three on AFIs 100 years, 100

movies. This is just general movies here in ranked

number three. Which is weird because on its 2001

list of a hundred years a hundred thrills its

number 11 I guess if you're talking about thrills,

maybe you're just qualifying it a little bit

Vito Corleone was nominated as a best villain.

It had three had two different quotes nominated

It's a Sicilian message It means Luca Brasi sleeps

with the fishes and leave the gun take the cannoli

and then it had One quote that actually made

it all the way to number two on their hundred

quotes list And that was I'm going to make him

an offer. He can't refuse of course Film scores

were headed number five On its tenth anniversary

of its a hundred years a hundred movies that

got bumped from number three up to number two

And it of course was on their number one spot

on their top ten gangster film So it's pretty

universal that this is a great film Mike thoughts

on the original Godfather because you are the

only one on the group that had Godfather 2 slightly

above Godfather 1 See I remember two more That's

that's that's the only reason why two was was

above one is because One is one of those movies

where? It's everything you guys said it was you

know Dan said the storytelling the characters.

It's it's all of that but for me An offer he

can't refuse that's honestly only and again I

have not I have not gone back and rewatched any

of the movies We've talked about on any of these

lists for the most part like you know stuff.

That's I would say over them More than four years

old. I haven't watched in a long time and Godfather

one is one of those films that I need to revisit

and and and find my love for it again and see

what outside of that line You know, but it's

just Every time I've I've seen it in the past.

It was like wow. That's a that's damn good writing.

That's damn good filmmaking The story is just

epic and of course, you know without the godfather

we wouldn't have the good feathers. So Look and

do want to mention I want to get Dan's thoughts

on some of the controversy or some of the Academy

Awards stuff The score actually, even though

it was nominated, got pulled from the Academy

Awards because they said they took one of the

themes from a 1958 film. This is obviously the

famous setting here where Marlon Brando boycotted

the Academy Awards when he was nominated for

the Best Actor and he refused to show up. And

then Pacino also boycotted the Academy Awards

ceremony this year because he said he was insulted

at being nominated as a supporting actor because

he had more screen time than Marlon Brando. He

should have been nominated for best actor Dan

your reaction on those couple things Well, Brenda

was a crazy man. So him him him setting up a

native I don't know if this is the one he set

up the Native American is it is yeah, so like

he he's just a crazy dude who just like it's

like I'll do whatever I want type of guy so I

Whatever he does doesn't really surprise me or

whatever. He did never really surprised me. He's

just Now he's one of those guys. He's just he's

a genius and sometimes with genius comes insanity.

The fact that it wasn't nominated the score is

ridiculous. The Oscars can kind of get full of

themselves with their role sometimes and it's

just it's stupid. It just the score is one of

the best scores ever. It just is. It's a big

part of what makes this movie work. So from them

some technicality. It's just kind of ridiculous.

I think sometimes they can't realize they Get

so caught up in the minutia of the thing of everything.

They kind of forget what the point is and I was

I didn't I honestly didn't even realize that

uh, But chino boycotted but I could see what

he's saying because he this is his movie the

fact the putting him in supporting I think it

was the studio probably just did that because

I figured they put brando and leading and him

in supporting giving them a better shot of winning

more oscars But he should have been the lead

if anything, but I guess when you're brando are

you in in The dude shows up, says his lines,

and a planet blows up. friend of one of the best

actors ever i mean i don't know but it's like

you know like you're saying that you know you

know brando is you know got in but brando had

very little to do in the first film the fighting

about i think the funny thing about this one

is and the same with godfather two uh... for

support an actor that godfather and godfather

to each had three nominees uh... Godfather 2,

you had De Niro and Lee Strasberg and Michael

Gozzo all nominated, but for this one you had

James Kane, Robert Duvall, and Al Pacino all

nominated for supporting actor. So I would agree

with Dan to at one point then say like, well,

they gave Brando the best lead and they're putting

Al Pacino as the supporting, but... Seems not

so much when you put three supporters, you know

three people in the supporting actor category.

It could have been two and two And none of them

won. They had three three nominees and none of

them won a guy from Joel Grey from Cabaret won

So that seems weird at least De Niro won when

they had three people nominated for Godfather

part two Like I think with leader gets a little

more difficult because I don't know if you can

Put in multiple I guess you can because I did

a different network. I don't know. I that was

my only my only understanding It's probably just

you but you know, wasn't as known as Brando and

maybe they were scared to piss off Brando So

they didn't want to give him competition, but

this is anyway to answer your question Brando

acting like yeah, definitely I mean he's a performance

and the Godfather is amazing. There's no doubt

about that but it's just that his his role is

not as it significant as Yeah, I mean I'm not

but by no means am I saying that Marlon Brando

was a bad actor I'm just saying everything I've

heard and again, I haven't seen the Godfather

in a long time so again I'm gonna have to go

back and and watch it again, but it's like Every

time I've heard him be associated with a film

or be in a film specifically the Godfather and

Superman he shows up says his lines does his

he's acting and then the planet blows up. That's

my impression of him. Maybe I need to go back

and watch more of his movies and I'll do that

eventually, but it's just one of those things

where in how films can be overrated, so can actors.

uh... that's more also like the older minutes

and there at the end of his thought that it was

clear but he was kind of getting up there and

i mean he still had thirty more years ago but

he's he's kind of like that sports are that this

doesn't practice it and i shows up and does a

thing and we use just because he's a talented

uh... this is saying more since the beginning

of this is marlin brando Retired sports almost

retired sports star that's just ready to go on

commentary for the next 20 years He's the Alan

Iverson of actors, you know practice, you know,

he doesn't believe in practice I mean, it's just

that thing he's like it like I said with sometimes

when you're so great at something you basically

a genius in a certain medium it kind of goes

a little bit, you know, you have a you have so

many people catering to you, you kind of lose

your grasp of reality. But it's kind of worked

for his favorite because I think that kind of

helps him for something like Apocalypse Now,

where he is completely nuts, but for that character,

it works. But if you go back to earlier, you

know, Brando, where he's somewhat normal, still

that hungry actor, like on the waterfront or,

you know, a street car named Zyre, he's not as,

you know, Crazy as he kind of gets like with

Superman And I think he just has a lot of power

to him when he likes to wield his power because

he doesn't memorize lines He just would just

have the cue cards there, you know, so it just

he's one of those guys He can do what he wants

and he chooses to do what he wanted. So yeah,

that's fine And I think for someone of our generation

well Even though Dan's the youngest out of the

three of us here, he is the old fogey when it

comes to classic movies. I think for some of

us that were born in the late 70s, early 80s,

that we're not exposed to his earlier career.

You know for me personally, you know that that's

what I know him as it in his later years So as

I said, maybe I should actually go back and watch

some of his early stuff and then just see cuz

you know Marlon's random he is exactly, you know

Marlon Brandon to me is what Unicron was and

transformers the movie. He's he's at the end

of his rope All right, so that is our top 10.

Real quick comparing it to the AFI list. AFI's

top 10 was the 1983 Scarface at number 10, then

Little Caesar from 1931, then Public Enemy from

1931, then Pulp Fiction, then the original Scarface,

then Bonnie and Clyde, then White Heat, then

Godfather Part 2, then Goodfellas, then Godfather.

So their top three and our top three match up

perfectly. And then the only other ones they

had on our list. we had and their list would

be Pulp Fiction and then Scarface. Our top 10

once again is Training Day, Casino, Usual Suspects,

and Reservoir Dogs, tied there, and then Scarface,

Pulp Fiction, Untouchables, Godfather 2, Goodfellas,

and Godfather 1. Reactions to the list as a whole,

Mike? I see what you guys were saying about Training

Day being more of a crime film than an actual

gangster film. I would probably take that off

and put Dick Tracy in its place. I think, for

me, I would take that off and I would put either

Road to Perdition, Dick Tracy, Donnie Brasco,

Gangs of New York, or Carlitos Way, or Departed

or Once Upon a Time in America. Any of those

films I think fits that spot better. Me personally,

I'd put Gangs of New York since I had that ranked

number two on my list. But definitely Training

Day is the only one I have a problem with. Continue,

Mike. No, I mean... That's pretty much it for

me. I'm pretty much happy with the list. Obviously,

going into this, it's so obvious that either

G2, G1, or Goodfellas was going to be the top

three. When I said blasphemy earlier about the

Untouchables, I mean, yeah, sure, the Untouchables

is about... Al Capone, he was a gangster, but

it's compared to what the Godfather movies and

Good Feather, Good Fellas is. I've got Antimaniacs

on the brain, people. You know, I see why, you

know, Untouchables is where it is, and I really

don't have a problem with the list at all, other

than, like I said, you know, kick Training Day

down and bring up Dick Tracy. Dan who would you

what movies would you take off the list and which

ones would you add? I mean without just listing

off your actual top ten. I would probably take

off like training day Untouchables probably as

well. I would throw on rotted tradition in fresh

connection or I wouldn't have an issue with games

in New York or Even once upon a time in America,

which I think is like I said is probably just

hasn't been seen enough But overall besides those

two films the only ones that really kind of come

seem a little off compared to everything else

is that the training day and untouchables I'm

more surprised by training day than I am the

untouchables just because I didn't think it would

I Didn't even cross my mind, honestly, when making

this list. Right. And my only thing besides taking

Training Day off is I would probably move Casino

ahead of a few of them. You know, I think Casino

beats out Untouchables. To me, Casino beats out

Scarface and probably even Reservoir Dogs and

Usual Suspects. I don't think it beats out Godfather,

Godfather 2, Goodfellas, any of those films,

but I could see it beating out some of those

other ones. I also wanted to pose a question

to you, Dan, here, because I mentioned earlier

that we should... We should keep track of directors

here. I did a real quick tally here. And what

I want to do is I want to ask you a question,

because we have four people that had two appearances

here. Francis Ford Coppola with Godfather and

Godfather 2, Scorsese with Goodfellas and Casino,

Tarantino with Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs,

and Brian De Palma with Untouchables and Scarface.

So my question to you is, who is the best director

in the genre? Geez, that's tough. I mean Coppola,

I mean he had one of the best decades ever in

the 70s But after that after apocalypse now,

he kind of hasn't done anything since or since

since then I'd have to say Scorsese overall just

and just because of sheer number I think if you

look at Godfather 1 and Godfather 2 they're probably

above everything else But considering Goodfellas

casino the departed just mean streets, which

we didn't mention which is kind of before the

list, I think I would probably say Scorsese,

just because overall quantity and quality, he's

a little higher. With Coppola, I think his genius

was really segmented for that decade and then

probably Tarantino after that. I would definitely

say I agree with you. I think Scorsese too, just

because like I said, sheer number and that none

of them are really terrible that he was doing

there. You know, he had so many top -notch ones.

So I definitely see Scorsese and Coppola kind

of one and two, but I put Scorsese slightly ahead.

Any overall thoughts, Mike, on our list in general

or anything at all? No, I mean, it's been very

interesting. It's going to be interesting when

Steve eventually has an entire section devoted

to this Spotlight here in gatecast radio kind

of showing everyone All the different episodes

of the countdowns that we have done and will

be doing I'm sure we'll work in some interactive

features for people to vote on their own favorites,

etc right once year five hits, but I'm saying

like We're working on the website to the point

where instead of me making a post and listing

and linking all of the podcast episode steve's

just gonna have them as a set you have it as

a special section on the website eventually and

it's gonna be interesting to see them all what

you know lined up all all ten episodes lined

up against each other and so far i mean there

are a couple of things when we've been doing

these handouts where it's like oh why the hell

didn't that make it but it's it's not it overall

i've i've not I think for me what's really going

to get my go to is the superhero countdown, depending

on what ends up or doesn't end up on that one.

But the rest of it, I'm pretty much fine with

gangsters. I'm really surprised that American

gangster didn't get more votes, because that's

a completely, to me that film was a very different,

that's not your average gangster film. It's it

just isn't Dan any other final thoughts on this

one before we kind of talk about what's left

here in our set of countdowns I'm just pretty

happy with it Some surprises some films that

are probably obvious choices, but there are these

choices because they serve to be obvious choices

But I think we're definitely hitting every list.

We're kind of getting a little better kind of

figuring it out things a little bit more so Hopefully,

you know people disagree with us, which of course

you will because that's what lists are made for

Feel free to comment. Tell us, you know, how

dumb we are what we missed what we didn't mention

but Tell us what we got right, too. Yeah What

that also? Yeah, tell us how awesome we are Send

us hate mail We set this up so I mean we are

a geek Network here where we're talking about

geek topics and we made it so though as we got

closer to our 10th and finalists we would continue

to get geekier um... so our final three lists

are all about geeks yes coming up uh... in the

next uh... what would you say kev couple weeks

couple months within the next month and a half

right within the next month and a half we have

episode forty eight top ten fantasy movies episode

forty nine top ten sci -fi movies And to conclude

it all, we have the GCRN's top 10 superhero movies,

which will be episode 50 of Geek Cast Radio.

I don't think you can get any, I don't think

you can come up with more geeky Final Three than

fantasy, sci -fi, and superhero. Yeah. And I

think it's gonna get heated here because these

are all gonna be, now we're getting to the point

where we're gonna have films that everybody involved

has probably seen. You know, there's been categories

before where there's been a handful of films

that haven't been seen by this person or that

person. And there will be a few select films

that someone's probably missed. But as we're

getting to these final three countdowns, there's

going to be a lot of them where everybody's seen

every film that's involved. And there's going

to be some strong opinion. So the debates, you

know, we've been pretty friendly up to this point.

I can see some debates and arguments coming in

our future, though. Yeah, I can see that, too.

I will say. without spoiling anything for future

episodes but was fantasy and sci -fi I have not

seen and there are some films in those two genres

that I refuse to see so I will not have seen

all of the films that may or may not make the

countdowns yeah more so I think once we get to

sci -fi sci -fi in a way but I can see some in

fantasy but sci -fi I think most of us will have

seen most of them and superhero I think we're

all gonna see almost 90 5 % of them yeah so it

could get it could get intense could get very

intense so for now I am TF2 and Mike with movie

revolt 10 and optimus solo thank you for listening

and be sure to unleash the geek in you we will

see you next time I'm gonna make him an awfully

kind of refute. The greatest trick the devil

ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't

exist. And like that, he's gone. You know what

the funniest thing about Europe is? What? It's

the little differences. I mean, they got the

same shit over there that they got here, but

it's just, just there, it's a little different.

Exactly. All right, well, you can walk into a

movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And

I don't mean just like a little paper cup. I'm

talking about a glass of beer. And in Paris,

you can buy beer in McDonald's. You know what

they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris?

They don't call it a quarter pounder with cheese?

No, man, they got the metric system. They wouldn't

know what the fuck a quarter pounder is. What

do they call it? They call it a Royale with cheese.

Royale with cheese. That's right. What do they

call a Big Mac? Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they

call it Le Big Mac. Le Big Mac. Would it go up?

I don't know, I didn't go on a birthday cake.

You know, we always called each other good fellas.

Like you'd say to somebody, you're gonna like

this guy, he's alright. He's a good fella, he's

one of us. You understand? We were good fellas,

wise guys. But Jimmy and I could never be made

because we had Irish blood. Didn't even matter

that my mother was Sicilian. To become a member

of a crew, you've got to be 100 % Italian so

they can trace all your relatives back to the

old country. See, it's the highest honor they

can give you. It means you belong to a family

and a crew. It means that nobody can fuck around

with you. It also means you could fuck around

with anybody just as long as they aren't also

a member. It's like a license to steal. It's

a license to do anything. Got a lot of holes

in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried

in those holes. Except you gotta do it right.

I mean, you gotta have the hole already dug before

you show up with a package in the trunk. Otherwise,

you're talking about a half hour or 45 minutes

to dig it. And who knows who's gonna be coming

along in that time? Before you know it, you gotta

dig a few more holes. You could be there all

fucking night. You fuck with me! You fuck with

the man! Try Luca again. Go ahead. What the hell

is this? That's a Sicilian message. It means

Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes. You've just

listened to Geekcast Radio on the Geek - Radio

Network. There are several ways to get in contact

with us or leave feedback for the show. First,

visit the website, GeekCastRadio .com, where

you can comment on all of our different podcasts.

Second, you can rate our show and leave us feedback

and iTunes. Third, follow us on Twitter at GeekCastRadio.

Fourth, become a fan on Facebook. Go to Facebook

.com slash GeekCastRadio. Call the voicemail

I -502. 526 -5821. Please remember to tell us

the show you are leaving the message for, and

your name. So until next time, unleash the geek

in you.