List of crime films of the 1980s
A list of crime films released in the 1980s.
| Title | Director | Cast | Country | Notes |
| 1980 | - | - | - | - |
| American Gigolo | Paul Schrader | Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Héctor Elizondo | United States | Crime drama |
| Atlantic City | Louis Malle | Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli | Canada France | |
| Le bar du téléphone | Claude Barrois | Daniel Duval, François Périer, Georges Wilson | France | |
| Contraband | Lucio Fulci | Daniele Dublino, Ivana Monti, Fabio Testi | Italy | |
| Cruising | William Friedkin | Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen | United States | Crime thriller |
| Gloria | John Cassavetes | Gena Rowlands, John Adames, Buck Henry | United States | |
| The Long Good Friday | John MacKenzie | Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Eddie Constantine | ||
| McVicar | Tom Clegg | Roger Daltrey, Adam Faith, Cheryl Campbell | United Kingdom | |
| Rough Cut | Don Siegel | Burt Reynolds, Lesley-Anne Down, David Niven | United Kingdom | Crime comedy |
| Trois Hommes à Abattre | Jacques Deray | Alain Delon, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Pierre Dux | France | Crime thriller |
| 1981 | - | - | - | - |
| Le Choix des armes | Alain Corneau | Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Catherine Deneuve | France | |
| Coup de Torchon | Bertrand Tavernier | Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Pierre Marielle | France | |
| Cutter's Way | Ivan Passer | Jeff Bridges, John Heard, Lisa Eichhorn | United States | |
| Deadly Brothers | Cesar Gallardo | Rudy Fernandez, Phillip Salvador | Philippines | Crime action |
| The Fan | Edward Bianchi | Lauren Bacall, James Garner, Maureen Stapleton | United States | |
| Loophole | John Quested | Albert Finney, Martin Sheen, Susannah York | United Kingdom | |
| Made in Britain | Alan Clarke | Tim Roth, Eric Richard | United Kingdom | |
| Ms. 45 | Abel Ferrara | Zoe Tamerlis, Steve Singer, Jack Thibeau | United States | |
| Pixote | Héctor Babenco | Fernando Ramos Da Silva, Jorge Juliano, Gilberto Moura | Brazil | Juvenile delinquency film |
| The Postman Always Rings Twice | Bob Rafelson | Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange, John Colicos | United States | Crime drama |
| The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper | Roger Spottiswoode | Robert Duvall, Treat Williams, Kathryn Harrold | United States | |
| Thief | Michael Mann | James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Willie Nelson | United States | |
| True Confessions | Ulu Grosbard | Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Charles Durning | United States | Crime drama |
| Vabank | Juliusz Machulski | Jan Machulski, Leonard Pietraszak, Witold Pyrkosz | Poland | |
| 1982 | - | - | - | - |
| La Balance | Bob Swaim | Nathalie Baye, Philippe Léotard, Richard Berry | France | |
| Carry On Pickpocket | Sammo Hung | Frankie Chan, Sammo Hung, Richard Ng | Hong Kong | Crime comedy |
| Le choc | Robin Davis | Alain Delon, Catherine Deneuve, Philippe Léotard | France | |
| Class of 1984 | Mark L. Lester | Perry King, Tim Van Patten, Merrie Lynn Ross | Canada | Juvenile delinquency film |
| The Executioner's Song | Lawrence Schiller | Tommy Lee Jones, Rosanna Arquette | United States | |
| Fanny Straw Hair | Vicente Aranda | Fanny Cottençon, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Algora | Spain France | |
| La Garce | Christine Pascal | Isabelle Huppert, Richard Berry, Vittorio Mezzogiorno | France | |
| Get My Son Dead or Alive | Pepe Marcos | Eddie Garcia, Rudy Fernandez, Vic Vargas | Philippines | Crime action |
| Hanky Panky | Sidney Poitier | Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Kathleen Quinlan | United States | |
| Interrogation | Ryszard Bugajski | Krystyna Janda, Janusz Gajos, Adam Ferency | Poland | Prison film |
| Onimasa | Hideo Gosha | Tatsuya Nakadai, Masako Natsume, Tetsurō Tamba | Japan | |
| 1983 | - | - | - | - |
| 10 to Midnight | J. Lee Thompson | Charles Bronson, Lisa Eilbacher, Andrew Stevens | United States | Crime thriller |
| L'Argent | Robert Bresson | Christian Patey, Sylvie van den Elsen, Michel Briguet | France Switzerland | Crime drama |
| Bad Boys | Rick Rosenthal | Sean Penn, Reni Santoni, Esai Morales | United States | Crime drama, prison film |
| Breathless | Jim McBride | Richard Gere, Valérie Kaprisky, Art Metrano | United States | Crime drama |
| Chained Heat | Paul Nicolas | Linda Blair, John Vernon, Sybil Danning | West Germany United States | |
| Duvar | Yılmaz Güney | Tuncel Kurtiz, Ayse Emel Mesci, Malik Berrichi | France | Prison film, juvenile delinquency film |
| Moon in the Gutter | Jean-Jacques Beineix | Gérard Depardieu, Nastassja Kinski, Victoria Abril | France Italy | |
| Mortelle Randonnée | Claude Miller | Michel Serrault, Isabelle Adjani, Geneviève Page | France | Crime thriller |
| Rue Barbare | Gilles Behat | Bernard Giraudeau, Christine Boisson, Jean-Pierre Kalfon | France | |
| Scarface | Brian De Palma | Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia, Míriam Colón | United States | |
| 1984 | - | - | - | - |
| Against All Odds | Taylor Hackford | Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, James Woods, Alex Karras, Jane Greer, Richard Widmark, Swoosie Kurtz, Saul Rubinek | United States | |
| Asphalt Warriors | Sergio Gobbi | Daniel Auteuil, Marisa Berenson, Marcel Bozzuffi | France | |
| Blood Simple | Joel Coen | John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya | United States | |
| 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 |
| Crackers | Louis Malle | Donald Sutherland, Jack Warden, Sean Penn | United States | |
| Fatal Vision | David Greene | Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, Gary Cole | United States | |
| Fear City | Abel Ferrara | Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia, Melanie Griffith, María Conchita Alonso | United States | |
| The Gunrunner | Nardo Castillo | Kevin Costner, Sara Botsford, Paul Soles | Canada | |
| The Hit | Stephen Frears | John Hurt, Tim Roth, Laura del Sol | United Kingdom | Crime drama |
| Johnny Dangerously | Amy Heckerling | Michael Keaton, Joe Piscopo, Marilu Henner | United States | |
| 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 | |
| The Pope of Greenwich Village | Stuart Rosenberg | Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Daryl Hannah | United States | |
| Repo Man | Alex Cox | Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, Olivia Barash | United States | Crime comedy |
| 1985 | - | - | - | - |
| 8 Million Ways to Die | Hal Ashby | Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Alexandra Paul | United States | |
| Crimewave | Sam Raimi | Reed Birney, Sheree J. Wilson, Louise Lasser | United States | Crime comedy |
| Détective | Jean-Luc Godard, Don Leaver | Claude Brasseur, Nathalie Baye, Johnny Hallyday | France Switzerland | Crime drama |
| L'Homme Aux Yeux D'Argent | Pierre Granier-Deferre | Alain Souchon, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Lambert Wilson | France | |
| Kiss of the Spider Woman | Héctor Babenco | William Hurt, Raúl Juliá, Sônia Braga | United States Brazil | Prison film |
| On ne meurt que deux fois | Jacques Deray | Michel Serrault, Charlotte Rampling, Xavier Deluc | France | Crime thriller |
| Le Pactole | Jean-Pierre Mocky | Richard Bohringer, Pauline Lafont, Patrick Sébastien | France | |
| Prizzi's Honor | John Huston | Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Anjelica Huston, Robert Loggia, John Randolph, Michael Lombard | United States | |
| Stick | Burt Reynolds | Burt Reynolds, Candice Bergen, George Segal, Charles Durning, Richard Lawson, Cástulo Guerra, Dar Robinson, Tricia Leigh Fisher | United States | |
| To Live and Die in L.A. | William Friedkin | William L. Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow | United States | |
| Witness | Peter Weir | Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Josef Sommer | United States | Crime thriller |
| Year of the Dragon | Michael Cimino | Mickey Rourke, John Lone, Ariane Koizumi | United States | |
| 1986 | - | - | - | - |
| 52 Pick-Up | John Frankenheimer | Roy Scheider, Ann-Margret, Vanity | United States | |
| Band of the Hand | Paul Michael Glaser | Stephen Lang, Michael Carmine, Lauren Holly | United States | |
| A Better Tomorrow | John Woo | Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, Ti Lung | Hong Kong | |
| Big Trouble | John Cassavetes | Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Beverly D'Angelo | United States | Crime comedy |
| Blue City | Michelle Manning | Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, David Caruso | United States | |
| 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 |
| Comic Magazine | Yōjirō Takita | Yuya Uchida, Yumi Asō, Yoshio Harada | Japan | |
| Descente Aux Enfers | Francis Girod | Claude Brasseur, Sophie Marceau, Sidiki Bakaba | France | Crime drama |
| John McNaughton | Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold | United States | ||
| Manhunter | Michael Mann | William L. Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen | United States | Crime thriller |
| Mauvais Sang | Leos Carax | Denis Lavant, Michel Piccoli, Juliette Binoche | France | |
| Mona Lisa | Neil Jordan | Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Michael Caine | United Kingdom Ireland | Crime drama |
| Out of Bounds | Richard Tuggle | Anthony Michael Hall, Jenny Wright, Jeff Kober | United States | |
| Intimate Power | Yves Simoneau | Marie Tifo, Pierre Curzi, Jacques Godin | Canada France | |
| Ruthless People | Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker | Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater, Bill Pullman | United States | Crime comedy |
| 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 |
| Wise Guys | Brian De Palma | Danny DeVito, Joe Piscopo, Harvey Keitel | United States | Crime comedy |
| 1987 | - | - | - | - |
| A Better Tomorrow 2 | John Woo | Chow Yun-fat, Emily Chu, Waise Lee | Hong Kong | |
| Bellman and True | Richard Loncraine | Bernard Hill, Kieran O'Brien, Richard Hope | United Kingdom | |
| The Big Town | Ben Bolt | Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Tommy Lee Jones | United States | Crime drama |
| City on Fire | Ringo Lam | Chow Yun-fat, Sun Yueh, Danny Lee | Hong Kong | |
| Dernier Ete A Tanger | Alexandre Arcady | Valeria Golino, Thierry Lhermitte, Roger Hanin | France Italy | |
| House of Games | David Mamet | Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Mike Nussbaum | United States | Crime thriller |
| Just Heroes | John Woo | Stephen Chow, Danny Lee | Hong Kong | |
| Night Zoo | Jean-Claude Lauzon | Roger Le Bel, Gilles Maheu, Lynne Adams | Canada France | Crime drama |
| No Man's Land | Peter Werner | Charlie Sheen, D. B. Sweeney, Randy Quaid | United States | |
| Prison on Fire | Ringo Lam | Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Kar-Fai, Roy Cheung | China Hong Kong | Prison film |
| Raising Arizona | Joel Coen | Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson | United States | Crime comedy |
| Rampage | William Friedkin | Michael Biehn, Alex McArthur, Nicholas Campbell | United States | |
| A Short Film About Killing | Krzysztof Kieślowski | Mirosław Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz | Poland | Crime drama |
| The Sicilian | Michael Cimino | Christopher Lambert, Terence Stamp, Joss Ackland | United States | |
| Slam Dance | Wayne Wang | Tom Hulce, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Virginia Madsen | United Kingdom United States | Crime drama |
| Someone to Watch Over Me | Ridley Scott | Tom Berenger, Mimi Rogers | United States | Crime thriller |
| Street Smart | Jerry Schatzberg | Christopher Reeve, Morgan Freeman | United States | Crime drama |
| Throw Momma from the Train | Danny DeVito | Danny DeVito, Billy Crystal, Anne Ramsey | United States | Crime comedy |
| 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 | |
| Wisdom | Emilio Estevez | Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright | United States | |
| 1988 | - | - | - | - |
| As Tears Go By | Wong Kar-wai | Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Maggie Cheung | Hong Kong | |
| The Blue Iguana | John J. Lafia | Dylan McDermott, Jessica Harper, James Russo | United States | |
| Call Me | Sollace Mitchell | Patricia Charbonneau, Stephen McHattie, Boyd Gaines | United States | |
| De Bruit et de Fureur | Jean-Claude Brisseau | Bruno Cremer, François Négret, Vincent Gasperitsch | France | Juvenile delinquency film, crime drama |
| Deja Vu | Juliusz Machulski | Jerzy Sztur, Vladimir Golovin, Nikolai Karachentsov | Poland Soviet Union | |
| Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Frank Oz | Steve Martin, Michael Caine | United States | Crime comedy |
| The Drifter | Larry Brand | Kim Delaney, Timothy Bottoms, Al Shannon | United States | |
| A Fish Called Wanda | Charles Crichton | John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline | United Kingdom United States | Crime comedy |
| The Fruit Machine | Philip Saville | Emile Charles, Tony Forsyth, Robert Stephens | United Kingdom | |
| Kansas | David Stevens | Matt Dillon, Andrew McCarthy, Leslie Hope | United States | |
| L.A. Heat | Joseph Merhi | Jim Brown, Kevin Benton, Pat Johnson | United States | |
| Maniac Cop | William Lustig | Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon | United States | Crime thriller |
| 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 | |
| Stormy Monday | Mike Figgis | Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting | United Kingdom | |
| Story of Women | Claude Chabrol | Isabelle Huppert, François Cluzet, Marie Trintignant | France | Crime drama |
| Tequila Sunrise | Robert Towne | Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, Raúl Juliá, J. T. Walsh, Arliss Howard, Budd Boetticher | United States | |
| Things Change | David Mamet | Don Ameche, Joe Mantegna | United States | |
| 1989 | - | - | - | - |
| Batman | Tim Burton | Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger | United States | Master criminal film |
| Les Bois Noirs | Jacques Deray | Béatrice Dalle, Stéphane Freiss, Philippe Volter | France | Crime drama |
| City War | Sun Chung | Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung | Hong Kong | Crime thriller |
| Cookie | Susan Seidelman | Peter Falk, Dianne Wiest, Emily Lloyd | United States | Gangster film, crime comedy |
| Criminal Law | Martin Campbell | Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon, Karen Young | United States | |
| Dead Bang | John Frankenheimer | Don Johnson, Penelope Ann Miller, William Forsythe | United States | |
| Disorganized Crime | M. James Kouf Jr. | Hoyt Axton, Corbin Bernsen, Rubén Blades | United States | |
| Drugstore Cowboy | Gus Van Sant | Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch | United States | Crime drama |
| Family Business | Sidney Lumet | Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick | United States | |
| For Queen and Country | Martin Stellman | Denzel Washington, Amanda Redman, George Baker | United Kingdom | Crime drama |
| Harlem Nights | Eddie Murphy | Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx | United States | Crime comedy |
| Johnny Handsome | Walter Hill | Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Elizabeth McGovern | United States |