Top 42 Ranked

The Greatest 1960s Crime Movies Ranked

Classic Noir and Heist Masterpieces from the Golden Era

Discover the best cinema from a decade of outlaws and intrigue. Explore top-rated global thrillers, gritty dramas, and iconic heist films.

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About 1960s Crime Movies

If you look at the landscape of crime cinema at the dawn of the 1960s, you still see the lingering shadows of the classic noir era. Men in fedoras were still trading quips in rain-slicked alleys, and the moral compass of the silver screen was still largely dictated by a rigid, aging studio system. But as the decade progressed, something fractured. The crime movie stopped being a simple morality play about why crime doesn't pay and transformed into a jagged, neon-soaked reflection of a society losing its innocence.

The evolution of the genre in this period was driven by a radical shift in style and geography. While Hollywood was still playing it relatively safe, the French New Wave began to rewrite the rules. Jean-Pierre Melville took the DNA of the American gangster and stripped it down to a cool, existential minimalism. In 1967, Le Samourai gave us Jef Costello, a hitman so detached and methodical that he felt more like a ghost than a criminal. This ice-cold European influence eventually bled back into American cinema, resulting in films that valued atmosphere and ambiguity over clear-cut resolutions.

Back in the United States, the collapse of the Production Code changed everything. For decades, filmmakers were forbidden from showing criminals in a sympathetic light or depicting the visceral reality of violence. When Arthur Penn released Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, he didn't just break the rules; he obliterated them. By casting attractive stars as cold-blooded bank robbers and ending the film in a literal hail of bullets, Penn forced the audience to reckon with a new kind of anti-hero. Crime was no longer just something that happened in the dark corners of the city. It was becoming a chaotic, televised part of the American fabric.

The middle of the decade saw the rise of the high-stakes heist film, exemplified by the effortless cool of Ocean's 11 or the intricate clockwork of Topkapi. However, by the late sixties, that sense of fun had curdled into something far grittier. Cultural shifts, including the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and a growing distrust of authority, paved the way for the cynical detective. Peter Yates's Bullitt brought a documentary-like realism to the streets of San Francisco, showcasing a hero who was just as exhausted by the system as he was by the criminals.

By the time the decade closed, the crime movie had moved out of the studio backlot and into the real world. The standout entries of the era, from the jazzy urgency of John Boorman's Point Blank to the cold procedural brilliance of In Cold Blood, proved that the genre could be high art. No longer bound by the need for a happy ending, these films mirrored a world that was becoming increasingly complex and violent. The 1960s took the crime film and stripped away its polish, leaving behind a raw, kinetic template that would define the cynical masterpieces of the decade to follow.

The Complete Rankings

Based on the top picks in drafts on SnakeDrafts

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42
1960s Crime in Coogan's Bluff (1968)
Coogan's Bluff
1968

Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff goes to New York to pick up a prisoner. While escorting the prisoner to the airport, he escapes and Coogan heads into the city to recapture him.

Action
Crime
1h 34m
Don Siegel
Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, Susan Clark, Tisha Sterling
41
1960s Crime in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
1965

A trio of thrill-seeking go-go dancers kidnap a young girl and attempt to seduce an old rancher and his two sons out of their small fortune, but their scheme doesn't play out as intended.

Crime
Action
1h 23m
Russ Meyer
Tura Satana, Haji, Lori Williams, Sue Bernard
40
1960s Crime in Ocean's Eleven (1960)
Ocean's Eleven
1960

Danny Ocean and his gang attempt to rob the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night.

Crime
Comedy
2h 7m
Lewis Milestone
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford

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39
1960s Crime in Batman (1966)
Batman
1966

The Dynamic Duo faces four super-villains who plan to hold the world for ransom with the help of a secret invention that instantly dehydrates people.

Action
Comedy
1h 45m
Leslie H. Martinson
Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero
38
1960s Crime in Cul-de-sac (1966)
Cul-de-sac
1966

On the run and in search of help, two wounded gangsters find refuge in the secluded castle of a feeble man and his wife; however, under the point of a gun, nothing is what it seems.

Thriller
Comedy
Lionel Stander, Donald Pleasence, Françoise Dorléac, Jack MacGowran
37
1960s Crime in Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard (1967)
Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard
1967

In the third and final episode of the trilogy, Fantômas imposes a head tax on the rich, threatening to kill those who do not comply.

Comedy
Crime
1h 44m
André Hunebelle
Jean Marais, Louis de Funès, Mylène Demongeot, Françoise Christophe
36
1960s Crime in Fantomas Unleashed (1965)
Fantomas Unleashed
1965

In the second episode of the trilogy Fantômas kidnaps distinguished scientist professor Marchand with the aim to develop a super weapon that will enable him to menace the world. Fantômas is also planning to abduct a second scientist, professor Lefebvre.

Comedy
Crime
1h 45m
André Hunebelle
Jean Marais, Louis de Funès, Mylène Demongeot, Jacques Dynam
35
1960s Crime in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
The Thomas Crown Affair
1968

Young businessman Thomas Crown is bored and decides to plan a robbery and assigns a professional agent with the right information to the job. However, Crown is soon betrayed yet cannot blow his cover because he’s in love.

Crime
Romance
Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke, Jack Weston
34
1960s Crime in Fantomas (1964)
Fantomas
1964

Fantômas is a man of many disguises. He uses maquillage as a weapon. He can impersonate anyone using an array of masks and can create endless confusion by constantly changing his appearance.

Comedy
Crime
1h 44m
André Hunebelle
Jean Marais, Louis de Funès, Mylène Demongeot, Jacques Dynam
33
1960s Crime in The Pink Panther (1963)
The Pink Panther
1963

The trademark of The Phantom, a renowned jewel thief, is a glove left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Clouseau, an expert on The Phantom's exploits, feels sure that he knows where The Phantom will strike next and leaves Paris for the Tyrolean Alps, where the famous Lugashi jewel 'The Pink Panther' is going to be. However, he does not know who The Phantom really is, or for that matter who anyone else really is...

Comedy
Crime
David Niven, Peter Sellers, Claudia Cardinale, Capucine
32
1960s Crime in The Italian Job (1969)
The Italian Job
1969

Charlie's got a 'job' to do. Having just left prison he finds one of his friends has attempted a high-risk job in Torino, Italy, right under the nose of the mafia. Charlie's friend doesn't get very far, so Charlie takes over the 'job'. Using three Mini Coopers, a couple of Jaguars, and a bus, he hopes to bring Torino to a standstill, steal a fortune in gold and escape in the chaos.

Crime
Comedy
1h 39m
Peter Collinson
Michael Caine, Noël Coward, Benny Hill, Margaret Blye
31
1960s Crime in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
1963

A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.

Action
Adventure
3h 12m
Stanley Kramer
Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett
30
1960s Crime in Point Blank (1967)
Point Blank
1967

After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.

Crime
Thriller
1h 31m
John Boorman
Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O'Connor
29
1960s Crime in The Chase (1966)
The Chase
1966

The escape of Bubber Reeves from prison affects the inhabitants of a small Southern town.

Crime
Drama
2h 15m
Arthur Penn
28
1960s Crime in Take the Money and Run (1969)
Take the Money and Run
1969

Virgil Starkwell is intent on becoming a notorious bank robber. Unfortunately for Virgil and his not-so-budding career, he is completely incompetent.

Comedy
Crime
Woody Allen, Janet Margolin, Marcel Hillaire, Jacquelyn Hyde
27
1960s Crime in Bullitt (1968)
Bullitt
1968

Senator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal's hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt. When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses. This thriller includes one of the most famous car chases ever filmed.

Action
Crime
1h 53m
Peter Yates
Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset, Don Gordon
26
1960s Crime in The Fortune Cookie (1966)
The Fortune Cookie
1966

TV cameraman Harry Hinkle is injured while filming a football game. Seeing big dollar signs, his unscrupulous ambulance-chasing lawyer brother-in-law Willie Gingrich enters the picture, and convinces Harry to overstate his injuries and claim $1 million in pain and suffering. Harry's similarly-minded ex-wife suddenly reappears in an attempt to rekindle their relationship.

Comedy
Drama
Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ron Rich, Judi West
25
1960s Crime in Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
Shoot the Piano Player
1960

Charlie is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard and Chico, surface and ask for Charlie's help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena, a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters arrive, looking for his brothers.

Drama
Thriller
1h 25m
François Truffaut
Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger, Michèle Mercier
24
1960s Crime in A Shot in the Dark (1964)
A Shot in the Dark
1964

Inspector Jacques Clouseau, smitten with the accused maid Maria Gambrelli, unwittingly turns a straightforward murder investigation into a comedic series of mishaps, testing the patience of his irritable boss Charles Dreyfus as casualties mount.

Comedy
Mystery
Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders, Herbert Lom
23
1960s Crime in West Side Story (1961)
West Side Story
1961

In Manhattan’s Upper West Side, rival gangs of Polish-Americans and newly arrived Puerto Ricans clash for control of the neighborhood, even as two young members from opposite sides fall dangerously in love.

Crime
Drama
2h 33m
Robert Wise
Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno
22
1960s Crime in Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Pierrot le Fou
1965

Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.

Drama
Romance
1h 50m
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, Graziella Galvani, Aicha Abadir
21
1960s Crime in Le Doulos (1962)
Le Doulos
1962

Enigmatic gangster Silien may or may not be responsible for informing on Faugel, who was just released from prison and is already involved in what should be a simple heist. By the end of this brutal, twisting, and multilayered policier, who will be left to trust?

Drama
Thriller
1h 48m
Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Serge Reggiani, Jean Desailly, René Lefèvre
20
1960s Crime in The Sucker (1965)
The Sucker
1965

In this Franco-Italian gangster parody, a shopkeeper on his way to an Italian holiday suffers a crash that totals his car. The culprit can only compensate his ruined trip by driving an American friend's car from Naples to Bordeaux, but as it happens to be filled with such contraband as stolen money, jewelry and drugs, the involuntary and unwitting companions in crime soon attract all but recreational attention from the "milieu".

Comedy
Crime
1h 51m
Gérard Oury
Bourvil, Louis de Funès, Venantino Venantini, Henri Génès
19
1960s Crime in The Trial (1962)
The Trial
1962

Arrested for an unnamed crime, Josef K. is trapped in a surreal bureaucratic maze where justice is unknowable and guilt is assumed.

Crime
Drama
Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Orson Welles
18
1960s Crime in Band of Outsiders (1964)
Band of Outsiders
1964

Cinephile slackers Franz and Arthur spend their days mimicking the antiheroes of Hollywood noirs and Westerns while pursuing the lovely Odile. The misfit trio upends convention at every turn, be it through choreographed dances in cafés or frolicsome romps through the Louvre. Eventually, their romantic view of outlaws pushes them to plan their own heist, but their inexperience may send them out in a blaze of glory -- which could be just what they want.

Crime
Drama
1h 37m
Jean-Luc Godard
Anna Karina, Claude Brasseur, Sami Frey, Danièle Girard
17
1960s Crime in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Birdman of Alcatraz
1962

After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.

Drama
Crime
Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand
16
1960s Crime in How to Steal a Million (1966)
How to Steal a Million
1966

A woman must steal a statue from a Paris museum to help conceal her father's art forgeries.

Comedy
Crime
Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffith
15
1960s Crime in In Cold Blood (1967)
In Cold Blood
1967

After a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.

Crime
Drama
2h 14m
Richard Brooks
Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe, Paul Stewart
14
1960s Crime in Purple Noon (1960)
Purple Noon
1960

Tom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more to Tom Ripley than even he can guess.

Crime
Drama
1h 58m
René Clément
Alain Delon, Marie Laforêt, Maurice Ronet, Erno Crisa
13
1960s Crime in The Sicilian Clan (1969)
The Sicilian Clan
1969

An ambitious mobster plans an elaborate diamond heist while seducing the daughter-in-law of a ruthless mob patriarch as a determined police commissioner closes in on all of them.

Crime
Drama
2h 1m
Henri Verneuil
Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, Lino Ventura, Irina Demick
12
1960s Crime in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969

As the west rapidly becomes civilized, a pair of outlaws in 1890s Wyoming find themselves pursued by a posse and decide to flee to South America in hopes of evading the law.

Adventure
Western
1h 51m
George Roy Hill
Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin
11
1960s Crime in In the Heat of the Night (1967)
In the Heat of the Night
1967

African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.

Crime
Drama
Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Peter Whitney
10
1960s Crime in Crooks in Clover (1963)
Crooks in Clover
1963

An aging gangster, Fernand Naudin is hoping for a quiet retirement when he suddenly inherits a fortune from an old friend, a former gangster supremo known as the Mexican. If he is ambivalent about his new found wealth, Fernand is positively nonplussed to discover that he has also inherited his benefactor’s daughter, Patricia. Unfortunately, not only does Fernand have to put up with the thoroughly modern Patricia and her nauseating boyfriend, but he also had to contend with the Mexican’s trigger-happy former employees, who are determined to make a claim.

Comedy
Crime
1h 51m
Georges Lautner
Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, Francis Blanche, Claude Rich
Why it ranks

Lautner’s cult classic infuses the underworld procedural with sharp, rhythmic dialogue and a sense of absurdism that parodies the very genre it inhabits. Its legacy lies in that exquisite balance between old-school gangster posturing and the irreverent spirit of the sixties.

9
1960s Crime in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Cool Hand Luke
1967

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

Drama
Crime
2h 7m
Stuart Rosenberg
Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Luke Askew, Morgan Woodward
Why it ranks

This prison drama thrives on the friction between institutional dehumanization and the indomitable spirit of the non-conformist. It transcends the typical chain-gang narrative by elevating its protagonist to a Christ-like figure of anti-authoritarian defiance.

8
1960s Crime in The Diamond Arm (1969)
The Diamond Arm
1969

A diamond smuggling operation goes wrong when an ordinary Soviet citizen becomes unwittingly involved, and the criminals are forced to court him to retrieve their diamonds.

Adventure
Comedy
1h 40m
Leonid Gaidai
Yuriy Nikulin, Nina Grebeshkova, Nonna Mordyukova, Svetlana Svetlichnaya
Why it ranks

A rare Soviet foray into the slapstick heist genre, this film utilizes surrealism and exuberant physical comedy to lampoon the black market anxieties of the Eastern Bloc. It serves as a colorful, eccentric counterpoint to the era’s grittier Western crime exports.

7
1960s Crime in Le Samouraï (1967)
Le Samouraï
1967

After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts, finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him.

Crime
Thriller
1h 45m
Jean-Pierre Melville
Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, Cathy Rosier
Why it ranks

Melville’s minimalist masterpiece distills the hitman myth into a ritualistic, ice-blue study of silence and fatalism. Alain Delon’s stoic performance anchors a film that values the geometry of the frame and the precision of the trade above all else.

6
1960s Crime in Z (1969)
Z
1969

A prominent politician is murdered during a demonstration. The government and army are trying to suppress the truth, but a tenacious magistrate is determined to not to let them get away with it.

Thriller
Crime
2h 2m
Costa-Gavras
Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Perrin
Why it ranks

Costa-Gavras crafts a breathlessly kinetic political thriller that functions as a searing indictment of state-sponsored corruption and judicial cover-ups. Its documentary-style urgency and rhythmic editing turn a conspiracy investigation into an adrenaline-soaked calls to arms.

5
1960s Crime in Divorce Italian Style (1961)
Divorce Italian Style
1961

Ferdinando Cefalù is desperate to marry his cousin, Angela, but he is married to Rosalia and divorce is illegal in Italy. To get around the law, he tries to trick his wife into having an affair so he can catch her and murder her, as he knows he would be given a light sentence for killing an adulterous woman. He persuades a painter to lure his wife into an affair, but Rosalia proves to be more faithful than he expected.

Comedy
Crime
1h 44m
Pietro Germi
Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli, Leopoldo Trieste
Why it ranks

Germi weaponizes the crime of passion as a sharp satirical tool to dissect the archaic legal and religious hypocrisies of Sicilian society. This dark comedy functions as a sly subversion of the noir genre, where social reputation is more lethal than any bullet.

4
1960s Crime in Le Trou (1960)
Le Trou
1960

Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system – yet their escape is anything but assured.

Drama
Thriller
2h 12m
Jacques Becker
Michel Constantin, Jean Keraudy, Philippe Leroy, Raymond Meunier
Why it ranks

Becker’s ascetic focus on the grueling physicality of an escape attempt creates a suspense so pure it becomes almost meditative. By casting non-professional actors and prioritizing the rhythmic sounds of labor over orchestral swells, it achieves a singular, gritty authenticity.

3
1960s Crime in High and Low (1963)
High and Low
1963

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

Drama
Crime
Toshirō Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyōko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi
Why it ranks

Kurosawa delivers a masterclass in structural tension, bifurcating his narrative into a claustrophobic moral dilemma and a procedural hunt through the sweaty, industrial underbelly of Yokohama. The film’s spatial geometry and social commentary elevate the kidnapping trope to high tragedy.

2

In the 1930s, bored European-American waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with a European-American ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.

Crime
Drama
1h 51m
Arthur Penn
Why it ranks

This violent masterpiece shattered the Hays Code, ushering in the New Hollywood era with a jarring blend of slapstick humor and bloody realism. It remains a definitive exploration of how the American media machine mythologizes the desperate and the deviant.

1
1960s Crime in Breathless (1960)
Breathless
1960

A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he attempts to persuade a girl to run away to Italy with him.

Drama
Crime
1h 30m
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger, Henri-Jacques Huet
Why it ranks

Godard reinvented the cinematic lexicon with this jump-cut masterpiece, transforming a simple B-movie premise into a manifesto for the French New Wave. Its restless energy and nihilistic cool codified the modern outlaw archetype for a generation of cinephiles.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about this list and SnakeDrafts

Breathless (1960), directed by Jean-Luc Godard, is ranked highest due to its revolutionary impact on the crime genre and cinema at large. Its innovative editing style, break from traditional narrative structures, and raw portrayal of anti-heroes marked a pivotal shift in 1960s crime movies, influencing countless filmmakers.

The top 1960s crime movies often explore themes of rebellion, moral ambiguity, and societal critique, reflecting the turbulent social changes of the era. Films like Bonnie and Clyde and Le Samouraï showcase flawed protagonists who challenge conventional norms, indicating a shift from black-and-white morality to complex character studies.

Yes, the list includes several acclaimed international films such as Akira Kurosawa's Japanese thriller High and Low (1963) and French classics like Le Trou (1960) and Le Samouraï (1967). These films highlight the global scope and diverse storytelling styles within the 1960s crime genre.

Inclusion of comedies such as Divorce Italian Style and The Diamond Arm reflects the genre's versatility during the 1960s. These films blend crime with humor, offering a satirical or lighthearted take on criminal antics, which contrasts but complements the darker, grittier dramas on the list.

In the Heat of the Night is notable for its powerful social commentary on race relations and justice in America during the 1960s. Norman Jewison's film blends the crime and mystery genres with a critical look at societal issues, making it a pivotal entry in this era’s crime cinema.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid straddles the crime and western genres, as it dramatizes the outlaw exploits of two infamous criminals in the early 20th century. Its inclusion highlights how crime narratives in the 1960s transcended genre boundaries to explore figures outside conventional urban crime settings.
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