What are some good French gangster films(with English subtitles)?

French…Gangster?

Do you mean mafia? Ruffians? Ner-to-do-wells?

Serious or comedic ?

Old or new ?

AAAARGH I AM COOKING AND I HAVE NO TIME FOR THAT BUT I SHOULD BE TYPING FOR THREE HOURS STRAIGHT ABOUT IT

Start with Melville.

Edit: yeah, actually do that : In particular, there are three million movies with Lino Ventura. None of them are bad, as they feature Lino Ventura.

Also : Verneuil.

I'm having a hard time thinking of one. If you want cool Eurocrime, Italy is the way to go.

Melville (famous for Le Samourai and Le Cercle Rouge) has been mentioned, but personally I found his works to be quite boring.

There's one that's genuinely great: Deux hommes dans la ville (English title: Two Men in Town).

Le Scarface

Une homme est mort (1972) with Jean-Louis Trintignent, Ann-Margret and Roy Scheider.

The two Mesrine movies, of course, played by Vincent Cassel

L'instinct de mort
L'ennemi public n1

It is about the public enemy n1 in the years '60s and '70s, Jacques Mesrine.

EDIT - Strangely enough, the US trailer has no dialogues, if you want to see some just watch the french one, but no english subtitles. Differences between Us and french trailers are quite interresting though :

US : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDSekGDUHHE
FR : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FIx161gnH0

That's a brilliant film, but I wouldn't really classify it as a typical "gangster" film. It's more of a drama about the concept of justice and second chances.


The one I'd recommend is The Sicilian Clan, incidentally also starring Alain Delon and Jean Gabin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtx6Y1L1hO8

So yes, Melville's "Le Samourai", and "Le Cercle Rouge", but also : Verneuil's "Mélodie en Sous-sol" (an oceans-like heist in Monaco). And "I comme Icare" (inspired by Kennedy's assassination). And "Le corps de mon ennemi" (one of my few favorite movies of all times). And Clément's "Plein Soleil" (an adaptation of Highsmith's "The talented Mr Ripley").

And "Le cave se rebiffe", especially if you can grasp some of the quick-fire french slang. Jacques Audiard's "Un prophète" is a comparatively recent and pretty good prison movie. As a kid, I loved "Les spécialistes" by Patrice Leconte, but I'm not sure how it aged. And "Le Casse" is fun. "Borsalino" is a classic. "Le Clan des Siciliens" aswell. Both have a fantastic soundtrack (Claude Bolling and Ennio Morricone respectively).

On the more comedic side, "Le cerveau" with David Niven is great. And "Faut pas prendre les enfants du bon dieu pour des canards sauvages" and "Laisse aller c'est une valse" are incredible.

And of course the "Les Tontons flingueurs" classique, that every french person can quite by heart...

Smellyfellows
The Unpronounceables
Cafe (as in casino)
Runaway Dogs

Le trou (The Hole, 1960, very good prison break movie)
La Haine (1995, not quite a gangster movie but the angry ghetto youth in this one act like wannabe gangstas)
Un prophete (A Prophet, 2009)

I have to repeat Telika's questions: Serious or comedic? Old or new? Because without further restriction 'gangster films' can encompass very different types of movies.

If classic movies are ok BreOl72's suggestion to google Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Gabin and Lino Ventura was spot on. These guys have starred in a variety of gangster movies, both serious and comedic.

If classic and comedic are ok with you I'd like to add the Fantômas Trilogy. Jean Marais and Louis de Funès in one of their most iconic roles as Fantômas and Commissaire Juve.

If you prefer newer movies but are fine with comedy then I can recommend the Taxi movies. Even though the first was the best of the series the others are worth watching, too. I'm talking about the original French movies with Samy Naceri of course, not the cheap American knock off with Queen Latifah.

If new and serious are your thing then I can also recommend Un prophete. But you should also watch the following movies:

*) the two Banlieue 13 movies
*) Léon (I'm seriously surprised that movie wasn't mentioned before!)
*) L'immortel
*) Nikita
*) Even though it is strictly speaking not a gangster movie (It is a mystery/crime story though.) I think this is a French movie no one should miss: Le pacte des loups.
*) Another crime drama that plays in the past which everybody should watch and also happens to be an Italian/French/German co-production: Der Name der Rose (Le nom de la rose).

With all these movie recommendations you should be set for a few weeks of watching. Have fun!

Is this thread about films of French gangsters or about French films of gangsters?
Here goes my suggestion:
La Horde: French film about French gangsters and French zombies.

Dobermann (1997)

A crook known as Dobermann (Vincent Cassel) has a soft spot for guns, and he loves using them -- especially to rob banks. Flanked by his deaf but equally violent lover Nat the Gipsy (Monica Bellucci), plus a brutal and bizarre pack of fellow thieves, Dobermann pulls off a tricky job that results in the death of police officers. After the heist, the group is pursued by the rogue cop Cristini (Tcheky Karyo), who spits bile and will stop at nothing to take down the gang.