There are several sub-genres of crime films including crime comedies, crime thrillers, film noir, heist films, hood films, legal dramas, mob films, and mystery films. Crime comedies take an amusing look at organized crime and its incompetent criminals. Crime thrillers involve crime playing a major role. Film noir features private detectives solving mysteries. Heist films center around groups planning and executing a theft. Hood films deal with urban African American issues and culture involving crime. Legal dramas focus on trials after a crime. Mob films spotlight characters involved with the Mafia. Mystery films follow detectives investigating crimes through clues and deduction.
2. Sub-Genres
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Crime comedies - A hybrid of crime and comedy films. Mafia comedies look at organized crime from a comical
standpoint. Humor often comes from the incompetence of the criminals or dark comedy. Examples include
Analyze This, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, In Bruges, Mafia!, Tower Heist and Pain & Gain.
Crime thrillers - Thrillers in which crime plays a large part. Examples include Untraceable, Silence of the
Lambs, Heat, Seven, Witness, Memories of Murder, and Running Scared.
Film noir - A genre popular in the 1940s and 1950s often fall into the crime and mystery genres. Private detectives
hired to solve a crime are in such films as The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Big Sleep (1946), Kiss Me Deadly
(1955), The Long Goodbye (1973), and Chinatown (1974). Neo-noir refers to modern films influenced by film noir
such as Sin City.
Heist films - These films deal with a group of criminals attempting to perform a theft or robbery, as well as the
possible consequences that follow. Heist films that are lighter in tone are called "Caper films". Examples include
The Killing, Oceans 11, Dog Day Afternoon, and Reservoir Dogs.
Hood films - Films dealing with African-American urban issues and culture. They do not always revolve around
crime, but often criminal activity features heavily in the storyline. Examples include Menace II Society and Boyz n
the Hood.
Legal dramas - Not usually concerned with the actual crime so much as the trial in the aftermath. A typical plot
would involve a lawyer trying to prove the innocence of his or her client. Examples include 12 Angry Men and A
Time To Kill.
Mob films - Films which focus on characters who are involved seriously with the Mafia. Notable mob films include:
The Godfather, Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in America, Bugsy, Little Caesar, The Untouchables, The Public
Enemy, and Scarface.
Mystery films - Films which focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve
the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction
