The Best '90s Crime Movies Currently Streaming

Grab your badge, your gun, and your fedora as we investigate these crime classics

One of the reasons the crime film is such an enduring genre is because it contains multitudes: detective thrillers, gangster flicks, legal dramas, heist capers, and more. Hollywood has been making different types of crime movies for almost a century.

For whatever reason, the 1990s were a fertile time for the genre. Talented directors and equally talented actors meshed to create some outstanding classics that we’ll be referencing 50 years from now. In addition to the ones we picked out for you below, there’s Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Goodfellas, Casino, and many more. They are all worth checking out.

(Before we dive in, we want to thank you guys for subscribing! When you start something like this, you never know if there will be much interest, but we’ve received really positive feedback from you all. Thanks for making these first few weeks of Do You Like Apples so enjoyable. We hope you’re getting something out of it too. On that note, if you watch one of our recommendations, let us know what you thought by replying to this email. We love feedback! Even if you didn’t like the movie!)

Drew recommends…

In the ‘90s, movies fell in love with the last-minute plot twist. The five-year stretch from 1995 to 1999 features many of the greatest twists ever, such as The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Fight Club, and the two crime films I’m recommending today.

Don’t worry, everything below is a spoiler-free zone. You can proceed without hesitation.

Seven (streaming on Netflix)

I’m going to make a strong statement and say Seven is one of the most unforgettable movies of the past 25 years. If you’ve seen it, it’s lodged permanently in your cranium. From the moody visuals to the devastating climax, this noir-crime thriller is decidedly not the see-it-and-forget-it type.

Released in 1995, Seven is director David Fincher’s first great film. He’d go on to make a half dozen more gripping and unnerving works, like Fight Club, Zodiac, and The Social Network, but here is where he started to hone his skills. It helps that he had a killer cast too. Brad Pitt is the young and tireless detective and Morgan Freeman is his old and jaded partner. Pitt’s wife is played by Gwyneth Paltrow, then just an up-and-coming actress. Finally, Kevin Spacey plays the zealous and articulate serial killer John Doe.

Seven is not one for the faint of heart. This is deeply disturbing and spine-chilling stuff, which is about what you’d expect from a movie about two detectives tracking down a serial killer designing his crimes after the seven deadly sins. But if you can handle the grim and grotesque atmosphere, the pacing is beyond thrilling and the finale drops like a hammer. Crime movies don’t get much more unforgettable than this.

Primal Fear (streaming on Amazon Prime)

If you love a well-made crime flick with a juicy twist, then 1996’s Primal Fear is absolutely for you. Our main character is Chicago defense attorney Martin Vail, played wonderfully by Richard Gere. After a Catholic Archbishop is brutally slain, Vail takes on the suspect, shy and stuttering altar boy Aaron Stampler (Edward Norton), as his client. The evidence isn’t in Aaron’s favor, but Vail is convinced of his innocence. As we learn more about the case and Aaron, the intrigue piles up until you’re not sure what to believe.

Gere is perfectly cast and Ozark fans will recognize a young Laura Linney as the prosecutor, but this is Norton’s movie. In his film debut (!), he gives a career-making performance in what has ended up being a pretty fascinating and unconventional career. This was the start of a great Norton run, with Rounders, American History X, and Fight Club coming in the next few years. His output has been far choppier recently, but as Aaron in Primal Fear, you can see the arsenal of acting tricks he has at his disposal. In Hollywood, Norton has become famous for his perfectionist tendencies, but nobody has ever questioned his abundant talent.

In no way did Primal Fear reinvent the genre, but when it comes to entertaining and extremely watchable 90s crime dramas (The Fugitive, also set in Chicago, is another one), you’d be hard-pressed to find many better examples.

Billy recommends…

Heat (streaming on Netflix)

Two of the best actors coming together “after their prime” seems to be problematic for everyone involved, but Robert De Niro and Al Pacino create one of the best action movies of all-time, along with the brilliant direction of Michael Mann. Any action movie that comes together so perfectly like this, we have to ask the question… How did Heat become so great? Is it the director who created unbelievably intense action scenes? Or is it De Niro and Pacino that enhance the material to greatness? Honestly, I don’t know the answer, but all I know is that recommending Heat is the easiest recommendation. A person like Drew and I who love great acting can analyze the performances from the all-time greats. Then there is someone like Momma Rock who has told me that Heat is a classic since I was a boy. Most people that see Heat cannot express the intensity that they see, but they know they are seeing a great film.

Recommending films can be hard at times. There are plenty of films that we recommend that we know will be disliked by many. Heat is not one of those films. Recommending this movie is easy. At the very least the audience will recognize the performances from De Niro and Pacino. All-time greats like them can bring greatness to a lacking film. Luckily, Michael Mann is a masterful filmmaker and he only enhances great actors like De Niro and Pacino. Please give this film a shot. Heat is one of the most fun films of all-time.

L.A. Confidential (streaming on Netflix)

It’s not often where we see a “modern” movie give so many nods to classic movies from the 40s and 50s and come out seeming original. L.A. Confidential feels like it should have been made way before its time, but in reality came out at the perfect time. Film seems to be cyclical. An audience loves a style of movie, gets tired of it, and then becomes interested in it again. That is where L.A. Confidential fits in so perfectly.

The “Golden Age” of Hollywood had so many recognizable faces like Jimmy Stewart and Marlon Brando. L.A. Confidential tries their damnedest to create two actors that are the modern day Jimmy Stewart. Director Curtis Hanson successfully shows us the talent of Russell Crowe and his career took off, partially because of this film. I wasn’t gravitating towards Russell Crowe, though. I felt myself gravitating towards Guy Pearce’s character. The straight-laced cop who is put into circumstances that pushes his boundaries. Hollywood clearly wanted Pearce to be the next big Hollywood hotshot. Unfortunately it didn't turn out that way. Anyone who has been in that situation understands Pearce’s character, Ed Exely. This character is trying so hard to find the approval of others. Pearce’s character is mirroring what the production company is trying to do. They want to show us the next big star and L.A. Confidential pushes Guy Pearce into the starring role. Almost as if the producers are yelling, “LOOK AT THE NEW BIG STAR.” Ironically, one of the major themes of the movie is Guy Pearce’s character trying to be the next big hotshot. Luckily, Pearce does amazing work in L.A. Confidential, but the actor that became a star after this was Russell Crowe.

The history of Hollywood and the weird push to designate the “next star” may not interest you, but through all this drama the 90s created one of the best noir films of all-time. L.A. Confidential should not have been good, but it is. It’s great.

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