Some of the cult classics in the history of cinema belong to the crime genre, where powerful emotions often go hand in hand with themes like honor, revenge, and retribution; at other times the mindless violence in these films highlights the sheer randomness and meaninglessness of death.
From Alfred Hitchcock to Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, some of the best filmmakers of all time have dabbled extensively with the gritty genre of crimes. Here's a list of ten of the most iconic, moving scenes from crime dramas.
The Godfather II: The Hit On Fredo
Francis Ford Coppola's classic trilogy based on the life of the fictional Corleone Family introduced movie lovers to great actors like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro and went on to create history with the critical acclaim it garnered from all over the world.
The second film in the trilogy effectively ends with Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) ordering a hit on his older brother Fredo (John Cazale). Fredo was something of the family's black sheep but had got involved in a plot to take out Michael himself which, in the latter's rulebook, was unforgivable. Fredo's death marked Michael's final transformation into a hardened mafia don.
Goodfellas: The Body In The Boot
A Martin Scorsese classic, Goodfellas was a critically acclaimed gangster movie from the early 1990s. The film starred the likes of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, and the character of Henry Hill became a breakthrough role for Ray Liotta.
One of the most powerful moments from the film involves Jimmy Conway (De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Pesci), murdering an arrogant man in Henry's restaurant-cum-nightclub where the gang hangs out. Henry does not participate in the murder as such but helps clean up and is roped into the disposing of the body. However, before they are able to do so, the three wind up in Tommy's home for dinner and have to lie through their teeth to his elderly mother about what they have in the car's boot, which is, of course, the corpse.
The Departed: William's Death
Another Scorsese crime drama, The Departed was a star-studded affair with Jack Nicholson, Leonardo Di Caprio, and Matt Damon leading from the front. A complex, moving tale of two moles who end up in each other's worlds, leaving a bloodbath in their wake, the film received much acclaim for critics worldwide.
The odds seemed to tilt in William's (Di Caprio) favor a bit when he managed to catch Colin Sullivan (Damon) who was the crime lord Costello's (Nicholson) mole inside the police department. However, infiltrating a mob is hardly a cakewalk, and just when William thinks he might actually get away with it, he gets his brains blown out by a second mole inside the department.
The Dark Knight: Harvey's Two-face
The Christopher Nolan cult drama told the tale of Bruce Wayne locking horns with his nemesis, the deranged, incredibly dangerous mass murderer who called himself the Joker. In the crossroads fell the dynamic Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a highly principled, honest man who had vowed to rid Gotham of all its corruption and crime once and for all.
However, the Joker's cunning plot drove even the best of men to the verge of depravity. The scene where Harvey reveals to Detective Gordon the side of his face that had been disfigured to something hideous is powerful indeed. Harvey even refused medication for his unbearable pain as he didn't want the drugs to numb his desperate need for revenge after Rachel had been killed by the Joker.
Pulp Fiction: Apartment Shooting Scene
No article on crime dramas can be complete without the iconic scene from Tarantino's Pulp Fiction where Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) enter into an apartment building to get hold of a briefcase and end up intimidating and shooting three young men.
Jackson delivers a power-packed performance with his near-monologue while the young men literally shake in their boots. He then starts spouting what he says is a verse from the Bible before he and Vincent shoot two of the men and a third one who shows some guts by firing hopelessly at them.
Se7en: What Was In The Box
It takes a strong stomach to watch this David Fincher's dark psychological crime thriller in one go. Two NY detectives get together in an unlikely pairing when they hunt down a demented serial killer who uses his own interpretation of the seven deadly sins as an inspiration to kill random people.
Kevin Spacey gives a chilling performance as the calm but menacing John Doe. In the unsettling climax of the film, Detectives Mills (Brad Pitt) and Somerset (Morgan Freeman) take Doe into a huge open field and a truck driver delivers a package for Mills. Although the audience never got to see inside the box, the suggestion was that it contained the head of Tracy Mills, the Detective's pregnant wife. The profound pain and shock the scene generates makes it one of the most iconic scenes in crime drama, albeit highly debatable.
Road To Perdition: Revenge Sequence
This Sam Mendes masterpiece stars the brilliant Tom Hanks as mob enforcer Mike Sullivan whose wife and younger son is murdered brutally when his older son, Michael, witnesses a mob hit ordered by Mike's gang.
The film has more than one moving sequence, for instance when Mike comes home to find his family slaughtered. However, the moment when he finally gets his revenge and seeks retribution by murdering his own gang members, along with Connor Rooney (Paul Newman), the mobster he had served faithfully for years and considered almost a father, is timeless.
Psycho: Shower Scene
Psycho is often considered one of the greatest films in history that opened up the world of the mentally disturbed serial killer to the audiences for the first time. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) became as iconic as the film itself, spawning several sequels and more recently the psychological crime series Bates Motel that looked at Norman's twisted relationship with his overprotective mother, and his descent into insanity.
Fans will remember the horrifying scene where Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is stabbed in the shower. It's assumed that the killer is Norman's mother but of course, it is revealed later that she had been dead the entire time, and Norman herself had taken her place.
The Godfather: Sonny's Death
Some movie moments are simply crafted so incredibly that they instantly go down in cinematic history. Sonny Corleone's death in The Godfather is one such scene that leaves one shocked into a respectful silence--shock because of the brutal manner of the death and respect because of how powerfully the scene had been put together.
Sonny Corleone (James Caan) was the hot-headed older brother of Michael and Don Corleone's oldest son. The audience unwittingly supports Sonny's actions when he goes out to teach his good-for-nothing brother-in-law a lesson for repeatedly abusing his younger sister. But then his car stops at the causeway and in those few seconds of calm before the storm, both Sonny and the viewer realizes the trap. In one of the most violent and strangely romanticized scenes ever, Sonny is literally riddled with bullets and then left for dead on the same causeway.
Reservoir Dogs: The Climax
The unforgettably intense climax of Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs has to go down as possibly the most powerful moment in crime movies. The gritty drama has gone on to become a cult classic generating debates among film buffs and critics alike.
In the extended last sequence the entire gang turns on one another. In an especially dark moment, Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) finally reveals to Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) that he is indeed an undercover cop. Mr. White, who had been the only one to support Orange, executes him in the final moments, relieving him of his pain and giving him the punishment he deserved for being a mole, thus upholding the honor among the criminals. It is indicated that White dies himself from the police firing. The ending effectively leaves the audience spellbound.