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The best movies based on true crime

French Connection (1971)

Director William Friedkin The French Connection is the closest thing to an authentic crime investigation on the street. All the clichés from police films that we take for granted today were invented in this film classic. Gene Hackman's detective “Popeye” Doyle relies on his gut feeling, dares to flounder in Poughkeepsie, annoys other police officers, enjoys annoying the FBI and is at the wheel of the greatest car chase in film history. His partner Buddy “Cloudy” Russo (Roy Scheider) is the perfect support and even takes a few stab wounds for the team.

The fictionalized adaptation of Robin Moore’s 1969 crime novel, The French Connection: A true story about cops, drugs and an international conspiracydocuments the end of the Corsican Mafia's alliance with Lucky Luciano, the founder of organized crime, in the production, refining and distribution of heroin, allegedly through the Bonanno and Magaddino families. It was the first attempt to make movie audiences aware of Hollywood's war on drugs. To experience the dangers of police work firsthand, Friedkin went on raids with the real Popeye Doyle during filming. For his next film, The Exorcist (1973) the director would go through hell and back.

Goodfellas (1990)

Goodfellasdirected by Martin Scorsese, is the greatest gangster story of the genre, which is about the betrayal. Based on Nicholas Pileggi's book SmartyRay Liotta plays Henry Hill, who testified as a key witness before fleeing into the witness protection program to avoid a drug raid. Robert De Niro plays James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke, a member of the Lucchese crime family who is renamed Jimmy Conway for the film but has all the authentic charm of the original. Joe Pesci plays Tommy DeVito (real name Tommy “Two Gun” DeSimone), who is anything but funny.

“For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster,” Hill beams at the beginning of the film. Scorsese makes crime tangible and exciting. Clothes, cash, clubs and coke can explode in the blink of an eye. Goodfellas does not take place on the manicured lawns of The Godfather. These are street gangsters who steal small loot until something bigger turns up. The Lufthansa robbery at Kennedy International Airport on December 11, 1978, which was already famous before the film was produced, is the focus of Goodfellas. It is still one of the biggest thefts in American history and remains unsolved. “The Gent” killed everyone who could connect him to it. Goodfellas is a groundbreaking masterpiece of violence, humor and underreported street crime.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, grew up in a tiny apartment in Bayside, Queens, with two middle-class accountants. He was 26 when he ran his own brokerage firm and made $49 million. Not exactly the big catch he had imagined, as the greedy money-maker was chasing a million a week. Director Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street is based on the real Belfort's memoirs about his work as a stockbroker on Wall Street. For DiCaprio, Belfort is a gold mine until he drops his balls in the “boiler room” and gets caught up in a penny stock scam.

Scorsese knows how to make even the most outrageous villainy laugh, if only fleetingly. But audiences never forget that the good times never last until the end credits. The young finance novices in this film, who are ultimately convicted of fraud, market manipulation and actions beyond fiduciary violations, embody the wild and crazy behavior of frat boys in the financial world while the money lasts. Also starring: Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, Margot Robbie as a fictionalized version of Belfort's second wife Naomi LaPaglia and Matthew McConaughey as the world's most laid-back pocket-money wizard. The Wolf of Wall Street is a rollercoaster ride into fiduciary ruin.

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