
The moment he’s released from prison, the honorable gangster Miyamoto recovers the stolen diamonds he had stashed before getting pinched. When he returns to his haunt to make good by friend who took a bullet for him, he is diverted by the greedy boss Oyane and his insatiable taste for Miyamoto’s precious stones. Replete with film noir style, “Underworld Beauty” is one of Suzuki’s best nods to the American gangster genre.
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Crime
Elephant (2003) Gus Van Sant, Elias McConnell, Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, Crime, Drama, Thriller

A day in the lives of a group of average teenage high school students. The film follows every character and shows their daily routines. However two of the students plan to do something that the student body won’t forget.
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Married to the Mob (1988) Jonathan Demme, Michelle Pfeiffer, Alec Baldwin, Paul Lazar, Comedy, Crime, Romance

Angela deMarco is unhappily married to high Mafia member Frank deMarco. When Frank is killed, Angela takes the opportunity to break free of the Mafia world entirely and start a new life. But Frank’s boss, Tony Russo, begins to court the unresponsive Angela. The FBI begins surveillance on her, thinking her to be his new mistress. FBI agent Mike Downey goes undercover as Angela’s neighbor, but soon finds himself attracted to Angela himself.
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10 Rillington Place (1971) Richard Fleischer, Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt, Biography, Crime, Drama

A seemingly model citizen living in mid-century London, John Christie (Richard Attenborough) is actually a killer. Masquerading as a doctor, he convinces guileless women that he can cure whatever might ail them, and when they follow him to his home, he chokes them to death and buries them in a makeshift graveyard. Based on a series of real-life killings, the story follows John as he cons a pregnant bride (Judy Geeson) and wonders if he might have found a scapegoat in her husband (John Hurt).
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Policewomen (1974) Lee Frost, Sondra Currie, Tony Young, Phil Hoover, Action, Crime

A lady cop infiltrates an all-female criminal gang.
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The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) Richard Thorpe, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Lucile Watson, Comedy, Crime, Mystery

Nick and Nora head to Nick’s hometown of Sycamore Springs to spend some time with his parents. His father, a prominent local physician, was always a bit disappointed with Nick’s choice of profession in particular and his lifestyle in general. With Nick’s arrival however the towns folk, including several of the local criminal element, are convinced that he must be there on a case despite his protestations that he’s just there for rest and relaxation. When someone is shot dead on his doorstep however, Nick finds himself working on a case whether he wants to or not.
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Fuck me! / Baise-moi (2000) Virginie Despentes, Coralie, Raffaëla Anderson, Karen Lancaume, Céline Beugnot, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Manu and Nadine lose their last tenuous relationship with main-stream society when Manu gets raped and Nadine sees her only friend being shot. After a chance encounter, they embark on an explosive journey of sex and murder. Perhaps as a revenge against men, perhaps as a revolt against bourgeois society, but certainly in a negation – almost joyful in its senseless violence – of all the codes of a society which has excluded, raped and humiliated them. Controversial for its violence and real sex scenes: a vividly nihilist road movie set in France.
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Outrage (1950) Ida Lupino, Mala Powers, Tod Andrews, Robert Clarke, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A young girl is raped while coming home from work. The trauma of the attack turns her away from her parents and her fiancé, and, unable to face society, she runs away and, using an assumed name, takes a job on an orange ranch. A young clergyman takes an interest in her, although she won’t confide in him. When a ranch hand tries to kiss her, she relives her terrifying experience and nearly kills him. She is arrested but when her identity is established and the facts of her case are brought forth, the clergyman convinces the court that it is society that should shoulder the blame. He helps rebuild her faith and send her back to her parents and fiancé.
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Bakuto Kaisan-shiki / Gambler’s Farewell (1968) Kinji Fukasaku, Kôji Tsuruta, Fumio Watanabe, Tetsurô Tanba, Action, Crime

The story of men devoted to the yakuza lifestyle and their struggles during a time of fading yakuza power.
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Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1973) Samuel Fuller, Glenn Corbett, Christa Lang, Sieghardt Rupp, Crime, Thriller

Following Shark!, Sam Fuller’s luck getting films funded didn’t change much; Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street is Fuller’s only film of the ’70s. Technically, it’s not even a proper film, but if you didn’t know it was made as an episode of the German cop series Tatort (which is amazingly still running), you’d never have guessed it. Where American television stifled Fuller’s creative spirit and made him conform to the norms of whatever show he was working on, the producers of Tatort allowed Fuller the freedom to make whatever he wanted. He took this freedom and ran with it, crafting a unique, exciting picture unlike anything else in the Fuller catalog. Part crime thriller, part farcical comedy, Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street is a hidden gem in Fuller’s filmography.
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