Cinema's Greatest Anti-Heroes

Bad people. Great movies.

They rob banks, run drugs, con everyone, and murder without much remorse. And yet. These are the characters we follow, the ones we root for, the ones who make us question our own moral compass.

Drama Crime
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Created: October 8, 2025

The Collection

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver

1976
1
Taxi Driver
1976
1
Taxi Driver
IMDb 8.2 / 10
Director Martin Scorsese
Cast Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
Box Office $28,262,574
Why Schrader's Travis Bickle is the genre's high-water mark. The film never validates him and never dis…
Dog Day Afternoon

Dog Day Afternoon

1975
2
Dog Day Afternoon
1975
2
Dog Day Afternoon
IMDb 8.0 / 10
Director Sidney Lumet
Cast Al Pacino, John Cazale, Penelope Allen
Box Office $50,000,000
Why Lumet films Sonny's botched bank robbery in Brooklyn. Pacino is the anti-hero whose motive disarms …
Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde

1967
3
Bonnie and Clyde
1967
3
Bonnie and Clyde
IMDb 7.7 / 10
Director Arthur Penn
Cast Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard
Box Office $70,000,000
Why Arthur Penn films the lovers as folk heroes and as outlaws. The film invented the modern anti-hero'…
Scarface

Scarface

1983
4
Scarface
1983
4
Scarface
IMDb 8.3 / 10
Director Brian De Palma
Cast Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer
Box Office $45,967,303
Why De Palma films Pacino's Tony Montana from Miami immigrant to coke-empire to the staircase. The film…
Badlands

Badlands

1973
5
Badlands
1973
5
Badlands
IMDb 7.7 / 10
Director Terrence Malick
Cast Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates
Why Malick's first film: a garbageman and a fifteen-year-old kill their way west, narrated in a voice t…
Natural Born Killers

Natural Born Killers

1994
6
Natural Born Killers
1994
6
Natural Born Killers
IMDb 7.2 / 10
Director Oliver Stone
Cast O-Lan Jones, Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis
Box Office $50,282,766
Why Oliver Stone films Tarantino's road-killing-spree script as media satire. The anti-heroes are the a…
Trainspotting

Trainspotting

1996
7
Trainspotting
1996
7
Trainspotting
IMDb 8.1 / 10
Director Danny Boyle
Cast Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller
Box Office $16,491,080
Why Danny Boyle films Edinburgh heroin addicts choosing not to choose life. Renton's voice-over is the …
A Prophet

A Prophet

2009
8
A Prophet
2009
8
A Prophet
IMDb 7.8 / 10
Director Jacques Audiard
Cast Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif
Box Office $2,087,720
Why Jacques Audiard films a 19-year-old in a French prison rising through the Corsican mafia. The film …
The Friends of Eddie Coyle

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

1973
9
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
1973
9
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
IMDb 7.4 / 10
Director Peter Yates
Cast Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan
Why Peter Yates films Robert Mitchum as a low-rent Boston gangster informing to the feds. The film's an…
McCabe & Mrs. Miller

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

1971
10
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
1971
10
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
IMDb 7.6 / 10
Director Robert Altman
Cast Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois
Why Robert Altman films Warren Beatty's small-time gambler and Julie Christie's madam in a Pacific Nort…
Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can

2002
11
Catch Me If You Can
2002
11
Catch Me If You Can
IMDb 8.1 / 10
Director Steven Spielberg
Cast Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken
Box Office $164,615,351
Why Spielberg films Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale Jr., teenage check-forger and Pan Am pilot. The…
Blow

Blow

2001
12
Blow
2001
12
Blow
IMDb 7.5 / 10
Director Ted Demme
Cast Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente
Box Office $52,990,775
Why Ted Demme films Johnny Depp as George Jung, who introduced cocaine to America in the 1970s. The ant…

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