Gangster movies can be fun if they are made right. With directors like Scorsese and Tarantino, we are always sure to get a good, bloody film. However, many other directors haven't fared well when telling stories about humans with bad intentions and instructing actors with guns.
There's a wide pool of not-so-good gangster flicks but Rotten Tomatoes has made it easier to narrow them down to the worst ten. The following films just didn't impress critics at all. Maybe better directors or screenwriters could have saved them. We'll never know for sure. But since Scorsese is busy and choosy, we were left with this gangster fails.
Billy Bathgate (1991) - 38%
Loren Dean plays Billy, a smart street kid who manages to earn the confidence of gangster Dutch Schultz (Dustin Hoffman) in the 1930s. Since Dutch is busy handling court cases as well as keeping off his enemies, he leaves Billy to look after his' new girlfriend Drew Preston (Nicole Kidman).
However, Billy and Drew end up falling in love. Playing with fire? Yeah right. Billy Bathgate could have been great but the performances from the actors were not convincing enough. It's one of those movies that deserve to be made with a proper director and better casting.
Gangster Squad (2013) - 32%
With a name like Gangster Squad, the producers of this film must have wanted it to look really badass but they failed miserably. Again, this is like calling a movie about soldiers War. Or calling a movie about boxing Fight. There's a total lack of creativity there.
Anyway, in the film, Brooklyn-born mob boss Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the underworld in the west of Chicago. It's the 1940s and the police and politicians are on his payroll. However, a group of cops who can't be bought come together to try and tear him apart. We already saw this kind of plot in The Untouchables. Nothing new here.
Be Cool (2005) - 30%
This sequel to the 1995 hit film Get Shorty shouldn't have been made at all. Sequels of brilliant films always fail to impress, unless we are talking about The Godfather Part 2. In Be Cool, Chili, a gangster and film producer decides to ditch the film business after his movie flops at the box office. After his friend hets murdered by Russian gangsters. Chili takes over his recording company. However, he soon finds himself in a mess he can't get out of.
Even Be Cool's star cameos couldn't save it. Dwayne Johnson makes an appearance as a Samoan bodyguard while rapper Andre 3000 from Hip Hop group Outkast plays a rapper who doesn't know how to handle a weapon. Be Cool is a joke of a gangster movie. It should have been entirely a comedy film.
Smokin Aces (2007) - 30%
Watching Smokin Aces, you can't help but notice that there is an obvious attempt to imitate Tarantino. However, the director Joe Carnahan fails miserably. He is clearly unable to tell that movies like Pulp Fiction didn't become classics by relying on violence and crazy characters only. Still, you can't fault him for trying.
It's all too complicated. There are magicians, there are mafia guys and there are cops. With the stellar cast of Ben Affleck, Ryan Renolds, Jason Bateman, Alicia Keys, Andy Garcia, and Martin Henderson, you can't help but wonder why Smokin Aces didn't turn out a little bit better.
Staten Island (Little New York - 2009) - 25%
A septic tank cleaner, a ruthless mafia boss, and a deaf, intelligent deli worker all interact in Staten Island (Little New York). What's it about? A man finds out his girlfriend is pregnant yet he has no money. So what does he do? He begins planning to rob a mob boss by the name Parmie Tarzo. The action basically kicks off from there.
The film's major disadvantage is that it takes itself too seriously. It could have come out better if everyone just lightened up. Not all mob movies have to be gloomy. Funny moments here and there can help.
City Heat (1984) - 19%
City Heat? There's no heat worth talking about in this movie. Clint Eastwood must be regretting tainting his perfect catalog by appearing in this film. The actor stars as Lt. Speer, a tough, gangster-hunting cop. The late Burt Reynolds is here too. He plays Mike Murphy, a retired cop turned private investigator.
When Murphy's friend gets murdered. he tries to turn to two mob bosses against each other so that they can take each other out. However, Lt. Speer suspects that Murphy is part of the underworld too. The film is too complicated and doesn't seem to flow in a manner that gets you hooked. Credit goes to the two actors nevertheless. They tried.
Revolver (2005) - 15%
Conman and gambler Jake Green (Jason Statham) is finally out after spending seven years behind bars. After his release, Jake becomes an unbeatable force in gambling by applying a formula that he learned from two prisoners while he was still locked up. Despite having a perfect new life, he decides to get revenge against the man who put him behind bars.
Revolver is packed with unnecessary action, There are just a bunch of people beating and shooting each other for no good reason. We understand that this is what Jason Statham does best but come on. Try to fix a decent storyline in there, please.
Mobsters (1991) - 6%
It's never a bad idea to fictionalize historical figures as long as you do it right. Sadly, Mobsters does it so wrong. It's actually quite an insult to the real-life characters because it makes them look so weak. The mood on the set must have been very somber. Did the director insult the cast and crew or something?
In Mobsters, four young criminals gang up to take over the New York East territory from the elderly mafia bosses who rule of it. Frank Costello and Bugsy Siegel decide to control the street elements of the mega operation, while Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano handle the business side of things.
The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight (1971) - 0%
How did Robert De Niro find himself here? The man who has always starred in the best mob films appears in one of the worst mob films too as a thief. To defend him, we can argue that he wasn't an established actor at the time. So, he simply took whatever role he was offered.
The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight is based on author Jimmy Breslin's novel of the same name. It's a gangster movie that tries to be funny but fails miserably. It basically follows a group of hoodlums as they unsuccessfully try to kill a Mafia boss.
Gotti (2017) - 0%
What happened to John Travolta? The man who once ruled the big screen has really been struggling over the past few years. With the exception of American Crime Story, he hasn't had a good performance in a while.
As for Gotti, not even a single critic gave the film a good review. That's like getting nothing in a test. It can be traumatizing. This was a movie about one of the most infamous mob stars of all time yet Travolta and his crew butchered it. De Niro would have played this role better. No doubt. And if Scorsese was on the director's chair, it would have been an Academy Award contender.