| Title | Director | Cast | Country | Notes |
| 1980 |
| American Gigolo | Paul Schrader | Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Héctor Elizondo | United States | Crime drama[1] |
| Atlantic City | Louis Malle | Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli | Canada
France | [2] |
| Le bar du téléphone | Claude Barrois | Daniel Duval, François Périer, Georges Wilson | France | [3] |
| Contraband | Lucio Fulci | Daniele Dublino, Ivana Monti, Fabio Testi | Italy | [4] |
| Cruising | William Friedkin | Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen | United States | Crime thriller[5] |
| Gloria | John Cassavetes | Gena Rowlands, John Adames, Buck Henry | United States | [6] |
| The Long Good Friday | John MacKenzie | Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Eddie Constantine | United Kingdom | [7] |
| McVicar | Tom Clegg | Roger Daltrey, Adam Faith, Cheryl Campbell | United Kingdom | [8] |
| Rough Cut | Don Siegel | Burt Reynolds, Lesley-Anne Down, David Niven | United Kingdom | Crime comedy[9] |
| Trois Hommes à Abattre | Jacques Deray | Alain Delon, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Pierre Dux | France | Crime thriller[10] |
| 1981 |
| Le Choix des armes | Alain Corneau | Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Catherine Deneuve | France | [11] |
| Coup de Torchon | Bertrand Tavernier | Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Pierre Marielle | France | [12] |
| Cutter's Way | Ivan Passer | Jeff Bridges, John Heard, Lisa Eichhorn | United States | [13] |
| Deadly Brothers | Cesar Gallardo | Rudy Fernandez, Phillip Salvador | Philippines | Crime action[14] |
| The Fan | Edward Bianchi | Lauren Bacall, James Garner, Maureen Stapleton | United States | [15] |
| Loophole | John Quested | Albert Finney, Martin Sheen, Susannah York | United Kingdom | [16] |
| Made in Britain | Alan Clarke | Tim Roth, Eric Richard | United Kingdom | [17] |
| Ms. 45 | Abel Ferrara | Zoe Tamerlis, Steve Singer, Jack Thibeau | United States | [18] |
| Pixote | Héctor Babenco | Fernando Ramos Da Silva, Jorge Juliano, Gilberto Moura | Brazil | Juvenile delinquency film[19] |
| The Postman Always Rings Twice | Bob Rafelson | Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange, John Colicos | United States | Crime drama[20] |
| The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper | Roger Spottiswoode | Robert Duvall, Treat Williams, Kathryn Harrold | United States | [21] |
| Thief | Michael Mann | James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Willie Nelson | United States | [22] |
| True Confessions | Ulu Grosbard | Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Charles Durning | United States | Crime drama[23] |
| Vabank | Juliusz Machulski | Jan Machulski, Leonard Pietraszak, Witold Pyrkosz | Poland | [24] |
| 1982 |
| La Balance | Bob Swaim | Nathalie Baye, Philippe Léotard, Richard Berry | France | [25] |
| Carry On Pickpocket | Sammo Hung | Frankie Chan, Sammo Hung, Richard Ng | Hong Kong | Crime comedy[26] |
| Le Choc | Robin Davis | Alain Delon, Catherine Deneuve, Philippe Léotard | France | [27] |
| Class of 1984 | Mark L. Lester | Perry King, Tim Van Patten, Merrie Lynn Ross | Canada | Juvenile delinquency film[28] |
| The Executioner's Song | Lawrence Schiller | Tommy Lee Jones, Rosanna Arquette | United States | [29] |
| Fanny Straw Hair | Vicente Aranda | Fanny Cottençon, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Algora | Spain
France | [30] |
| La Garce | Christine Pascal | Isabelle Huppert, Richard Berry, Vittorio Mezzogiorno | France | [31] |
| Get My Son Dead or Alive | Pepe Marcos | Eddie Garcia, Rudy Fernandez, Vic Vargas | Philippines | Crime action[32] |
| Hanky Panky | Sidney Poitier | Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Kathleen Quinlan | United States | [33] |
| Interrogation | Ryszard Bugajski | Krystyna Janda, Janusz Gajos, Adam Ferency | Poland | Prison film[34] |
| Onimasa | Hideo Gosha | Tatsuya Nakadai, Masako Natsume, Tetsurō Tamba | Japan | [35] |
| Witness for the Prosecution | Alan Gibson | Ralph Richardson, Diana Rigg, Deborah Kerr, Beau Bridges, Donald Pleasence, Wendy Hiller, David Langton, Richard Vernon, Peter Sallis, Michael Gough, Frank Mills, Primi Townsend, Patricia Leslie, John Kidd and Ken Kitson | United States | Crime drama[36] |
| 1983 |
| 10 to Midnight | J. Lee Thompson | Charles Bronson, Lisa Eilbacher, Andrew Stevens | United States | Crime thriller[37] |
| L'Argent | Robert Bresson | Christian Patey, Sylvie van den Elsen, Michel Briguet | France
Switzerland | Crime drama[38] |
| Bad Boys | Rick Rosenthal | Sean Penn, Reni Santoni, Esai Morales | United States | Crime drama, prison film[39] |
| Breathless | Jim McBride | Richard Gere, Valérie Kaprisky, Art Metrano | United States | Crime drama[40] |
| Chained Heat | Paul Nicolas | Linda Blair, John Vernon, Sybil Danning | West Germany
United States | [41] |
| Duvar | Yılmaz Güney | Tuncel Kurtiz, Ayse Emel Mesci, Malik Berrichi | France | Prison film, juvenile delinquency film[42] |
| Moon in the Gutter | Jean-Jacques Beineix | Gérard Depardieu, Nastassja Kinski, Victoria Abril | France
Italy | [43] |
| Mortelle Randonnée | Claude Miller | Michel Serrault, Isabelle Adjani, Geneviève Page | France | Crime thriller[44] |
| Rue Barbare | Gilles Behat | Bernard Giraudeau, Christine Boisson, Jean-Pierre Kalfon | France | [45] |
| Scarface | Brian De Palma | Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia, Míriam Colón | United States | [46] |
| 1984 |
| Against All Odds | Taylor Hackford | Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, James Woods, Alex Karras, Jane Greer, Richard Widmark, Swoosie Kurtz, Saul Rubinek | United States | [47] |
| Asphalt Warriors | Sergio Gobbi | Daniel Auteuil, Marisa Berenson, Marcel Bozzuffi | France | [48] |
| Blood Simple | Joel Coen | John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya | United States | [49] |
| The Cotton Club | Francis Ford Coppola | Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, James Remar, Nicolas Cage, Joe Dallesandro, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Grey, Woody Strode | United States | Gangster film[50] |
| Crackers | Louis Malle | Donald Sutherland, Jack Warden, Sean Penn | United States | [51] |
| Fatal Vision | David Greene | Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, Gary Cole | United States | [52] |
| Fear City | Abel Ferrara | Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia, Melanie Griffith, María Conchita Alonso | United States | [53] |
| The Gunrunner | Nardo Castillo | Kevin Costner, Sara Botsford, Paul Soles | Canada | [54] |
| The Hit | Stephen Frears | John Hurt, Tim Roth, Laura del Sol | United Kingdom | Crime drama[55] |
| Johnny Dangerously | Amy Heckerling | Michael Keaton, Joe Piscopo, Marilu Henner | United States | [56] |
| Once Upon A Time In America | Sergio Leone | Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Jennifer Connelly, Treat Williams, Tuesday Weld, Burt Young, Joe Pesci, William Forsythe, Darlanne Fluegel, James Russo | United States
Italy | [57] |
| The Pope of Greenwich Village | Stuart Rosenberg | Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Daryl Hannah | United States | [58] |
| Repo Man | Alex Cox | Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, Olivia Barash | United States | Crime comedy[59] |
| 1985 |
| 8 Million Ways to Die | Hal Ashby | Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Alexandra Paul | United States | [60] |
| Crimewave | Sam Raimi | Reed Birney, Sheree J. Wilson, Louise Lasser | United States | Crime comedy[61] |
| Détective | Jean-Luc Godard, Don Leaver | Claude Brasseur, Nathalie Baye, Johnny Hallyday | France
Switzerland | Crime drama[62] |
| L'Homme Aux Yeux D'Argent | Pierre Granier-Deferre | Alain Souchon, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Lambert Wilson | France | [63] |
| Kiss of the Spider Woman | Héctor Babenco | William Hurt, Raúl Juliá, Sônia Braga | United States
Brazil | Prison film[64] |
| On ne meurt que deux fois | Jacques Deray | Michel Serrault, Charlotte Rampling, Xavier Deluc | France | Crime thriller[65] |
| Le Pactole | Jean-Pierre Mocky | Richard Bohringer, Pauline Lafont, Patrick Sébastien | France | [66] |
| Prizzi's Honor | John Huston | Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Anjelica Huston, Robert Loggia, John Randolph, Michael Lombard | United States | [67] |
| Stick | Burt Reynolds | Burt Reynolds, Candice Bergen, George Segal, Charles Durning, Richard Lawson, Cástulo Guerra, Dar Robinson, Tricia Leigh Fisher | United States | [68] |
| To Live and Die in L.A. | William Friedkin | William L. Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow | United States | [69] |
| Witness | Peter Weir | Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Josef Sommer | United States | Crime thriller[70] |
| Year of the Dragon | Michael Cimino | Mickey Rourke, John Lone, Ariane Koizumi | United States | [71] |
| 1986 |
| 52 Pick-Up | John Frankenheimer | Roy Scheider, Ann-Margret, Vanity | United States | [72] |
| Band of the Hand | Paul Michael Glaser | Stephen Lang, Michael Carmine, Lauren Holly | United States | [73] |
| A Better Tomorrow | John Woo | Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, Ti Lung | Hong Kong | [74] |
| Big Trouble | John Cassavetes | Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Beverly D'Angelo | United States | Crime comedy[75] |
| Blue City | Michelle Manning | Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, David Caruso | United States | [76] |
| Blue Velvet | David Lynch | Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, Dean Stockwell, George Dickerson, Priscilla Pointer, Frances Bay, Jack Harvey, Brad Dourif, Jack Nance | United States | Crime thriller[77] |
| Comic Magazine | Yōjirō Takita | Yuya Uchida, Yumi Asō, Yoshio Harada | Japan | [78] |
| Descente Aux Enfers | Francis Girod | Claude Brasseur, Sophie Marceau, Sidiki Bakaba | France | Crime drama[79] |
| Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer | John McNaughton | Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold | United States | [80] |
| The Hitcher | Robert Harmon | Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, Jeffrey DeMunn | United States | Crime thriller[81] |
| Manhunter | Michael Mann | William L. Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen | United States | Crime thriller[82] |
| Mauvais Sang | Leos Carax | Denis Lavant, Michel Piccoli, Juliette Binoche | France | [83] |
| Mona Lisa | Neil Jordan | Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Michael Caine | United Kingdom
Ireland | Crime drama[84] |
| Out of Bounds | Richard Tuggle | Anthony Michael Hall, Jenny Wright, Jeff Kober | United States | [85] |
| Intimate Power (Pouvoir intime) | Yves Simoneau | Marie Tifo, Pierre Curzi, Jacques Godin | Canada
France | [86] |
| Ruthless People | Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker | Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater, Bill Pullman | United States | Crime comedy[87] |
| Tough Guys | Jeff Kanew | Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Dana Carvey, Charles Durning, Alexis Smith, Darlanne Fluegel, Eli Wallach, Monty Ash, Billy Barty, Graham Jarvis, Darlene Conley, Nathan Davis | United States | Crime comedy[88] |
| Wise Guys | Brian De Palma | Danny DeVito, Joe Piscopo, Harvey Keitel | United States | Crime comedy[89] |
| 1987 |
| A Better Tomorrow 2 | John Woo | Chow Yun-fat, Emily Chu, Waise Lee | Hong Kong | [90] |
| Bellman and True | Richard Loncraine | Bernard Hill, Kieran O'Brien, Richard Hope | United Kingdom | [91] |
| The Big Town | Ben Bolt | Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Tommy Lee Jones | United States | Crime drama[92] |
| City on Fire | Ringo Lam | Chow Yun-fat, Sun Yueh, Danny Lee | Hong Kong | [93] |
| Dernier Ete A Tanger | Alexandre Arcady | Valeria Golino, Thierry Lhermitte, Roger Hanin | France
Italy | [94] |
| House of Games | David Mamet | Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Mike Nussbaum | United States | Crime thriller[95] |
| Just Heroes | John Woo | Stephen Chow, Danny Lee | Hong Kong | [96] |
| Night Zoo | Jean-Claude Lauzon | Roger Le Bel, Gilles Maheu, Lynne Adams | Canada
France | Crime drama[97] |
| No Man's Land | Peter Werner | Charlie Sheen, D. B. Sweeney, Randy Quaid | United States | [98] |
| Prison on Fire | Ringo Lam | Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Kar-Fai, Roy Cheung | China
Hong Kong | Prison film[99] |
| Raising Arizona | Joel Coen | Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson | United States | Crime comedy[100] |
| Rampage | William Friedkin | Michael Biehn, Alex McArthur, Nicholas Campbell | United States | [101] |
| A Short Film About Killing | Krzysztof Kieślowski | Mirosław Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz | Poland | Crime drama[102] |
| The Sicilian | Michael Cimino | Christopher Lambert, Terence Stamp, Joss Ackland | United States | [103] |
| Slam Dance | Wayne Wang | Tom Hulce, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Virginia Madsen | United Kingdom
United States | Crime drama[104] |
| Someone to Watch Over Me | Ridley Scott | Tom Berenger, Mimi Rogers | United States | Crime thriller[105] |
| Street Smart | Jerry Schatzberg | Christopher Reeve, Morgan Freeman | United States | Crime drama[106] |
| Throw Momma from the Train | Danny DeVito | Danny DeVito, Billy Crystal, Anne Ramsey | United States | Crime comedy[107] |
| The Untouchables | Brian De Palma | Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Andy García, Charles Martin Smith, Patricia Clarkson, Billy Drago, Richard Bradford, Jack Kehoe, Clifton James | United States | [108] |
| Wisdom | Emilio Estevez | Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright | United States | [109] |
| 1988 |
| As Tears Go By | Wong Kar-wai | Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Maggie Cheung | Hong Kong | [110] |
| The Blue Iguana | John J. Lafia | Dylan McDermott, Jessica Harper, James Russo | United States | [111] |
| Call Me | Sollace Mitchell | Patricia Charbonneau, Stephen McHattie, Boyd Gaines | United States | [112] |
| De Bruit et de Fureur | Jean-Claude Brisseau | Bruno Cremer, François Négret, Vincent Gasperitsch | France | Juvenile delinquency film, crime drama[113] |
| Deja Vu | Juliusz Machulski | Jerzy Sztur, Vladimir Golovin, Nikolai Karachentsov | Poland
Soviet Union | [114] |
| Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Frank Oz | Steve Martin, Michael Caine | United States | Crime comedy[115] |
| The Drifter | Larry Brand | Kim Delaney, Timothy Bottoms, Al Shannon | United States | [116] |
| A Fish Called Wanda | Charles Crichton | John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline | United Kingdom
United States | Crime comedy[117] |
| The Fruit Machine | Philip Saville | Emile Charles, Tony Forsyth, Robert Stephens | United Kingdom | [118] |
| Kansas | David Stevens | Matt Dillon, Andrew McCarthy, Leslie Hope | United States | [119] |
| L.A. Heat | Joseph Merhi | Jim Brown, Kevin Benton, Pat Johnson | United States | [120] |
| Maniac Cop | William Lustig | Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon | United States | Crime thriller[121] |
| Married to the Mob | Jonathan Demme | Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, Mercedes Ruehl, Alec Baldwin, Joan Cusack, Oliver Platt, Nancy Travis, Tracey Walter, Chris Isaak, Charles Napier | United States | [122] |
| Mississippi Burning | Alan Parker | Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand | United States | Crime thriller[123] |
| Stormy Monday | Mike Figgis | Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting | United Kingdom | [124] |
| Story of Women | Claude Chabrol | Isabelle Huppert, François Cluzet, Marie Trintignant | France | Crime drama[125] |
| Tequila Sunrise | Robert Towne | Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, Raúl Juliá, J. T. Walsh, Arliss Howard, Budd Boetticher | United States | [126] |
| Things Change | David Mamet | Don Ameche, Joe Mantegna | United States | [127] |
| 1989 |
| Batman | Tim Burton | Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger | United States | Master criminal film[128] |
| Les Bois Noirs | Jacques Deray | Béatrice Dalle, Stéphane Freiss, Philippe Volter | France | Crime drama[129] |
| City War | Sun Chung | Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung | Hong Kong | Crime thriller[130] |
| Cookie | Susan Seidelman | Peter Falk, Dianne Wiest, Emily Lloyd | United States | Gangster film, crime comedy[131] |
| Criminal Law | Martin Campbell | Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon, Karen Young | United States | [132] |
| Dead Bang | John Frankenheimer | Don Johnson, Penelope Ann Miller, William Forsythe | United States | [133] |
| Disorganized Crime | M. James Kouf Jr. | Hoyt Axton, Corbin Bernsen, Rubén Blades | United States | [134] |
| Drugstore Cowboy | Gus Van Sant | Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch | United States | Crime drama[135] |
| Family Business | Sidney Lumet | Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick | United States | [136] |
| For Queen and Country | Martin Stellman | Denzel Washington, Amanda Redman, George Baker | United Kingdom | Crime drama[137] |
| Harlem Nights | Eddie Murphy | Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx | United States | Crime comedy[138] |
| Johnny Handsome | Walter Hill | Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Elizabeth McGovern | United States} | [139] |
| The Killer | John Woo | Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh | Hong Kong | [140] |
| Mapantsula | Oliver Schmitz | Thomas Mogotlane, Marcel Van Heerden, Thembi Mtshali | South Africa
United Kingdom | Crime drama[141] |
| Miracles | Jackie Chan | Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Richard Ng | Hong Kong | Crime comedy[142] |
| Monsieur Hire | Patrice Leconte | Michel Blanc, Sandrine Bonnaire, Luc Thuillier | France | Crime drama[143] |
| Night Game | Peter Masterson | Roy Scheider, Karen Young, Richard Bradford | United States | [144] |
| Relentless | William Lustig | Judd Nelson, Robert Loggia, Leo Rossi | United States | [145] |
| Street of No Return | Samuel Fuller | Keith Carradine, Valentina Vargas, Bill Duke | France
Portugal
United States | [146] |
| Violent Cop | Beat Takeshi Kitano | Beat Takeshi Kitano, Sei Hiraizumi, Maiko Kawakami | Japan | Crime thriller[147] |
| We're No Angels | Neil Jordan | Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Demi Moore | United States | Crime comedy[148] |
