CRIME: French Crime Films:The Ultimate List
by tomicagb | created - 30 Apr 2014 | updated - 26 Oct 2020 | Public- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Rififi (1955)
Not Rated | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Four men plan a technically perfect crime, but the human element intervenes...
Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Robert Manuel, Janine Darcey
Votes: 36,841 | Gross: $0.06M
2. The Samurai (1967)
GP | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After professional hitman Jef Costello is seen by witnesses his efforts to provide himself an alibi drive him further into a corner.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, Cathy Rosier
Votes: 57,160 | Gross: $0.04M
3. Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Drama
An aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: Jean Gabin, René Dary, Dora Doll, Vittorio Sanipoli
Votes: 8,545 | Gross: $0.13M
4. Bob the Gambler (1956)
PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After losing big, an aging gambler decides to assemble a team to rob a casino.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Roger Duchesne, Isabelle Corey, Daniel Cauchy, Guy Decomble
Votes: 13,358 | Gross: $0.02M
5. Second Wind (1966)
Not Rated | 150 min | Crime, Drama
A gangster escapes jail and quickly makes plans to continue his criminal ways elsewhere, but a determined inspector is closing in.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Raymond Pellegrin, Christine Fabréga
Votes: 6,636
6. The Red Circle (1970)
Not Rated | 140 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After leaving prison, master thief Corey crosses paths with a notorious escapee and an alcoholic former policeman. The trio proceed to plot an elaborate heist.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volontè, Yves Montand
Votes: 28,162 | Gross: $0.37M
7. The Informer (1962)
Not Rated | 108 min | Crime, Thriller
A burglar betraying other criminals prepares for a big heist with a trusted friend who might be as untrustworthy as he.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Serge Reggiani, Jean Desailly, René Lefèvre
Votes: 11,991 | Gross: $0.08M
8. The Sicilian Clan (1969)
GP | 122 min | Crime, Drama
An ambitious young mobster plans an elaborate diamond heist while seducing the daughter of a ruthless mob patriarch as a determined police commissioner closes in on all of them.
Director: Henri Verneuil | Stars: Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, Lino Ventura, Irina Demick
Votes: 9,149 | Gross: $3.00M
9. L.627 (1992)
R | 145 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Relentless struggle of the Parisian police against the drug trade.
Director: Bertrand Tavernier | Stars: Didier Bezace, Jean-Paul Comart, Charlotte Kady, Jean-Roger Milo
Votes: 2,168
10. Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2008)
R | 113 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The story of the notorious French gangster Jacques Mesrine, with the focus on his life before the early 1970s and the events that led to him being declared Public Enemy No. 1 in France.
Director: Jean-François Richet | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Cécile de France, Gérard Depardieu, Gilles Lellouche
Votes: 35,294 | Gross: $0.55M
11. La Femme Nikita (1990)
R | 117 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Convicted felon Nikita isn't going to jail; she's given a new identity and trained, stylishly, as a top secret spy/assassin.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Anne Parillaud, Marc Duret, Patrick Fontana, Alain Lathière
Votes: 76,432 | Gross: $5.02M
12. Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 (2008)
R | 133 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The story of the notorious French gangster Jacques Mesrine, with the focus on his life and death as France's Public Enemy No. 1 in the 1970s.
Director: Jean-François Richet | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Ludivine Sagnier, Mathieu Amalric, Samuel Le Bihan
Votes: 31,240 | Gross: $0.28M
13. Man on the Train (2002)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A man steps off a train into a French village awaiting the day when he will rob the town bank. He meets a retired poetry teacher striking up a strange friendship and explore the road not taken, each wanting to live the other's life.
Director: Patrice Leconte | Stars: Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday, Jean-François Stévenin, Charlie Nelson
Votes: 7,541 | Gross: $2.54M
14. A Prophet (2009)
R | 155 min | Crime, Drama
A delinquent Muslim man struggles to get by in prison until he is taken under the wing of a powerful mob boss. But his gradual rise through the mob's ranks brings him in conflict with his mentor.
Director: Jacques Audiard | Stars: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb
Votes: 102,183 | Gross: $2.08M
15. Dobermann (1997)
R | 103 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Dobermann is the world's most ruthless bank robber and with his gang rob bank after bank, now in Paris. What can the police do but to let the mad, morally bankrupt police commissioner loose on him?
Director: Jan Kounen | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Tchéky Karyo, Monica Bellucci, Antoine Basler
Votes: 18,756
16. A Cop (1972)
PG | 98 min | Crime, Thriller
After a shaky first heist, a group of thieves plan an even more elaborate and risky second heist.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Alain Delon, Richard Crenna, Catherine Deneuve, Riccardo Cucciolla
Votes: 10,747 | Gross: $0.05M
17. Judex (1963)
Not Rated | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Favraux, an unscrupulous banker receives a threatening note signed only "Judex", demanding that he pay back the people he has swindled. He refuses, and seemingly faces his fate.
Director: Georges Franju | Stars: Channing Pollock, Francine Bergé, Edith Scob, Théo Sarapo
Votes: 2,842
18. Pépé le Moko (1937)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A wanted gangster is both king and prisoner of the Casbah. He is protected from arrest by his friends, but is torn by his desire for freedom outside. A visiting Parisian beauty may just tempt his fate.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Jean Gabin, Gabriel Gabrio, Saturnin Fabre, Fernand Charpin
Votes: 8,072 | Gross: $0.15M
19. Borsalino and Co. (1974)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Marseille. Heaps of flowers and funeral wreaths... "A man who no longer defends his colors is no longer a man."
Director: Jacques Deray | Stars: Alain Delon, Riccardo Cucciolla, Daniel Ivernel, Reinhard Kolldehoff
Votes: 2,434
20. Ruby & Quentin (2003)
Not Rated | 85 min | Comedy, Crime
A tough criminal is arrested after hiding the loot from a Paris armored truck robbery. A talkative dimwit befriends him in prison and escapes with him - chased by police and his evil crime boss.
Director: Francis Veber | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Jean Reno, Richard Berry, André Dussollier
Votes: 30,763
21. 22 Bullets (2010)
Not Rated | 117 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A retired mobster goes on a revenge spree after being left for dead with 22 bullets in his body by his former childhood friend.
Director: Richard Berry | Stars: Jean Reno, Kad Merad, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Marina Foïs
Votes: 36,418
22. Les Lyonnais (2011)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After growing up in a poor gypsy camp, Edmond Vidal, aka Momon, has retained a sense of family, unfailing loyalty and pride in his origins. Most of all, he has remained friends with Serge ... See full summary »
Director: Olivier Marchal | Stars: Gérard Lanvin, Tchéky Karyo, Daniel Duval, Lionnel Astier
Votes: 8,818
23. The Assault (2010)
R | 91 min | Action, History, Thriller
Based on a true story, a SWAT team is tasked with storming a hijacked Air France plane to save its passengers.
Director: Julien Leclercq | Stars: Vincent Elbaz, Grégori Derangère, Mélanie Bernier, Philippe Bas
Votes: 4,145
24. 36th Precinct (2004)
Not Rated | 111 min | Action, Crime, Drama
2 cops are promised by the retiring chief of the Paris police that the one, getting the violent gang robbing armored trucks, will get his job. The 2 will do whatever it takes to get the promotion, even if it means breaking the law.
Director: Olivier Marchal | Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Depardieu, André Dussollier, Valeria Golino
Votes: 18,264
25. The Last Deadly Mission (2008)
Not Rated | 125 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A washed-up Marseilles cop (Auteuil) earns a chance at redemption by protecting a woman from the man who killed her parents as he is about to be released from prison.
Director: Olivier Marchal | Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Olivia Bonamy, Catherine Marchal, Francis Renaud
Votes: 6,508
26. Braquo (2009–2016)
TV-14 | 52 min | Crime, Thriller
A dark realistic cop series follows a squad of Paris cops who exist in the blurred boundaries at the very edge of the law, often using violence and intimidation to get the job done.
Stars: Jean-Hugues Anglade, Joseph Malerba, Karole Rocher, Nicolas Duvauchelle
Votes: 4,110
27. Spiral (2005–2020)
TV-PG | 52 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Follows criminal investigations in Paris from all the different points of view of those involved.
Stars: Caroline Proust, Audrey Fleurot, Thierry Godard, Philippe Duclos
Votes: 6,748
28. Gangsters (2002)
90 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Franck Chaievski and Nina Delgado are two undercover detectives of a French special force trying to identify two corrupts members of the Paris Police Force. Franck is pretending to be a ... See full summary »
Director: Olivier Marchal | Stars: Richard Anconina, Anne Parillaud, François Levantal, Gérald Laroche
Votes: 920
29. Counter Investigation (2007)
Not Rated | 85 min | Crime, Thriller
A cop investigates whether the man convicted of murdering his daughter is really guilty.
Director: Franck Mancuso | Stars: Jean Dujardin, Laurent Lucas, Agnès Blanchot, Aurélien Recoing
Votes: 3,754
30. The Nest (2002)
R | 107 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Alliances change when an armored car with an Albanian mafia boss prisoner escapes a mafia army by driving inside a warehouse, which is being robbed by a French gang stealing laptops etc.
Director: Florent-Emilio Siri | Stars: Samy Naceri, Benoît Magimel, Nadia Farès, Pascal Greggory
Votes: 5,738
31. Police Python 357 (1976)
Not Rated | 126 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An inspector is having a secret relationship with a woman. When she is murdered by his boss, all proof is against him.
Director: Alain Corneau | Stars: Yves Montand, François Périer, Simone Signoret, Stefania Sandrelli
Votes: 2,076
32. Truands (2007)
Not Rated | 107 min | Crime, Thriller
A Parisian criminal gang fall apart after challenges to the gang's leader lessen his influence.
Director: Frédéric Schoendoerffer | Stars: Benoît Magimel, Philippe Caubère, Béatrice Dalle, Olivier Marchal
Votes: 1,574
33. The Prey (2011)
R | 105 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Bank-robber Franck Adrien is serving a prison sentence after robbing a national bank. Before he was caught he managed to hide the money but now it's not just the police who are looking for ... See full summary »
Director: Eric Valette | Stars: Albert Dupontel, Alice Taglioni, Stéphane Debac, Sergi López
Votes: 5,856 | Gross: $0.01M
34. Ultimate Heist (2009)
R | 95 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The Malakian clan, a family of ruthless gangsters, controls the underworld of Southern France.
Director: Laurent Tuel | Stars: Jean Reno, Gaspard Ulliel, Vahina Giocante, Sami Bouajila
Votes: 3,569
35. Point Blank (2010)
R | 84 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Samuel, a male nurse, saves the life of a thief whose henchmen take Samuel's wife hostage and force him to spring their boss.
Director: Fred Cavayé | Stars: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya
Votes: 14,641 | Gross: $0.71M
36. Rapt (2009)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama, Thriller
A rich industrialist is brutally kidnapped. While he physically and mentally degenerates in imprisonment, the kidnappers, police and the board of the company of which he is director negotiate about the ransom of 50 million euro.
Director: Lucas Belvaux | Stars: Yvan Attal, Anne Consigny, André Marcon, Françoise Fabian
Votes: 2,228 | Gross: $0.05M
37. Anthony Zimmer (2005)
89 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Anthony Zimmer was a big money launderer. The police wants him, but he has changed his face and voice. His old Russian clients want him dead. His ex is told to socialize with a random man on the train Paris to Nice.
Director: Jérôme Salle | Stars: Yvan Attal, Sophie Marceau, Sami Frey, Gilles Lellouche
Votes: 8,562
38. Sleepless Night (I) (2011)
Not Rated | 103 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A cop with a connection to the criminal underworld finds his secret life exposed when he and his partner are caught stealing cocaine from a powerful drug dealer, a move that puts his son's life in jeopardy.
Director: Frédéric Jardin | Stars: Tomer Sisley, Serge Riaboukine, Julien Boisselier, JoeyStarr
Votes: 5,106 | Gross: $0.00M
39. Going Places (1974)
R | 117 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two thugs harass assault, steal, murder, Marie-Ange, a jaded, passive hairdresser, joins them as lover, cook, and mother confessor, on her own search for seemingly unattainable sexual pleasure.
Director: Bertrand Blier | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Miou-Miou, Patrick Dewaere, Christian Alers
Votes: 9,951 | Gross: $0.77M
40. Classe Tous Risques (1960)
Not Rated | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A ruthless criminal flees from the pursuit, involving more and more casualties.
Director: Claude Sautet | Stars: Lino Ventura, Sandra Milo, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Marcel Dalio
Votes: 4,280 | Gross: $0.09M
41. The Second Wind (2007)
155 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Gu, a famous gangster, has just escaped from jail. All french police is after him. Before leaving the country with Manouche, the woman he loves, Gu needs a final job to get some money. The job works, but a police's scheming makes Gu appear as a traitor to his own accomplices. Gu will do whatever it takes to clean his honor...
Director: Alain Corneau | Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Monica Bellucci, Michel Blanc, Jacques Dutronc
Votes: 1,279
42. Flic Story (1975)
112 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The hunt for a seasoned killer becomes a matter of life for a policeman. Action-packed drama based on real events.
Director: Jacques Deray | Stars: Alain Delon, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Renato Salvatori, Claudine Auger
Votes: 2,935
43. Two Men in Town (1973)
Not Rated | 100 min | Crime, Drama
A former bank robber is released after 10 years in prison. He gets help from a social-worker, but gets harassed by an old cop from his past.
Director: José Giovanni | Stars: Alain Delon, Jean Gabin, Mimsy Farmer, Victor Lanoux
Votes: 5,038
44. Choice of Arms (1981)
Not Rated | 114 min | Crime, Drama
The powerful story of a reformed underworld kingpin whose stable lifestyle is turned upside-down when a desperate, escaped killer hides out at his rural estate.
Director: Alain Corneau | Stars: Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Catherine Deneuve, Michel Galabru
Votes: 2,031
45. Any Number Can Win (1963)
118 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A career con artist reunites with his wife but has already planned his next move: one daring last heist that will set him up for life. However, there is no such thing as a foolproof plan.
Director: Henri Verneuil | Stars: Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, Claude Cerval, Viviane Romance
Votes: 4,147 | Gross: $1.00M
46. Two Men in Town (1973)
Not Rated | 100 min | Crime, Drama
A former bank robber is released after 10 years in prison. He gets help from a social-worker, but gets harassed by an old cop from his past.
Director: José Giovanni | Stars: Alain Delon, Jean Gabin, Mimsy Farmer, Victor Lanoux
Votes: 5,038
Tell Your Friends