For decades now, movies about gangsters have been exceedingly popular, and some of the very best gangster movies also rank among the greatest films - from any genre - of all time. Gangster movies can be seen as a sub-genre of the crime genre, with such films tending to focus on organized crime, conflicts between or within gangs, and explorations of rules and regulations that exist within unofficial/illegal groups not recognized by the law.

Some gangster movie characters are defined by the way they can talk a mile a minute, and some are quieter, more calculating, and far more selective with the words they choose to speak. Both kinds of characters - and all those in between - mean that gangster movies are a great source of quotable lines of dialogue. The following intends to cherry-pick some of the absolute best of the best, with a limit of one quote per movie, to keep things interesting... otherwise, we could be here all day, reciting just about everything that comes out of Tony Montana's mouth.

10 "You don't keep a man waiting. The only time you do is when you want to say something. When you want to say f--k you."

'The Irishman' (2019)

Though it has a reputation for being contemplative, downbeat, and also particularly long, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is by no means a slog to sit through, nor is it 100% depressing. The story revolving around a hitman and his involvement in the disappearance of union boss Jimmy Hoffa is, in many ways, a tragic one, but the more somber moments are balanced throughout with some comedy.

A consistent source of that is the rivalry between Hoffa and a mobster known as Tony Pro, with a meeting between the two going wrong before it even starts, on account of Tony Pro’s lateness. Al Pacino’s Hoffa is especially impatient, with his observation about the message behind keeping someone waiting standing out as one of the highlights of a scene that’s already a highlight in The Irishman.

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9 "You slap me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize."

'Angels with Dirty Faces' (1938)

Angels with Dirty Faces is an old-school gangster movie that still holds up well, benefiting from the fact that it stars the likes of James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, of course. It’s a film that contrasts the lives of two men who were once childhood friends, with one of them becoming involved in a life of crime as he matures, and the other choosing to devote his life to joining the priesthood.

Cagney, always great at playing a wise guy, has an iconic response to someone threatening to slap him, and it’s a line that’s held up in relevance thanks to being “borrowed” by Quentin Tarantino. In Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino’s feature film directorial debut, it’s Harvey Keitel’s Mr. White who drops a near-identical line in the movie’s opening scene: "You shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize."

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8 Policeman: "What's in the car?" Turkish: "Seats and a steering wheel."

'Snatch' (2000)

Though there are plenty of great British crime/gangster movies that weren’t directed by Guy Ritchie, his contributions to the genre seemed to resonate in a particularly notable way. His style is defined by fast-paced editing, bursts of shocking violence, numerous characters all interacting in unpredictable ways, and lots of dark humor; all qualities that are apparent in Snatch.

Narratively, much of Snatch revolves around people trying to get their hands on a stolen diamond, and a somewhat connected story about a ruthless gangster making life hell for a boxing promoter. It’s all dizzying by design, but that’s okay when much of it’s fun to watch and surprisingly funny, as the above exchange demonstrates (Turkish is played by Jason Statham, and it's his unique voice and overall bluntness that really sells it).

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7 "One of us had to die. With me, it tends to be the other guy."

'The Departed' (2006)

You could classify The Departed as one of Martin Scorsese’s most thrilling movies, as though it does have a premise that involves plenty of crime and gangsters, it’s a little more narratively dense than some of his looser character-focused crime films (see Mean Streets, for example). The Departed is dense, moves very fast, and follows an undercover cop infiltrating a prominent gang while a member of that gang also infiltrates the police force.

It's a movie that marks the only time Scorsese’s directed Jack Nicholson, and like Nicholson tends to do, he steals much of The Departed and gets some of the film’s best lines. Frank Costello gets some great boastful dialogue throughout, and those lines coupled with his bizarre and alarming behavior make him rank up there as one of Nicholson’s best villains (alongside the Joker and The Shining’s Jack Torrance).

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6 "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."

'The Godfather' (1972)

You can’t really talk about iconic gangster movies without at least briefly bringing up The Godfather, and similarly, it’s hard to talk about great quotes from this sub-genre without talking about the legendary Best Picture-winning crime epic. The first movie introduces the Corleone family exceedingly well, revolving around an aging mob boss and his various sons, none of whom seem poised to take over the criminal empire he’s built once he’s gone.

Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone is obviously a character for the ages, demonstrating charisma, loyalty, empathy, and ruthlessness, sometimes all within the one scene. It’s possible to believe that someone like him could’ve achieved what he’s shown to have done, and nothing really sums up the more ruthless side of his character as well as the legendary line: “I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.”

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5 "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"

'White Heat' (1949)

One final and explosive last hurrah for the for the Golden Age of Hollywood gangster movie, White Heat is arguably James Cagney’s best gangster movie, which is really saying something. He plays a criminal who breaks out of prison and throws himself right back into a life of crime, assembling a gang and setting out to execute a grand robbery. Naturally, this has severe and increasingly dramatic consequences.

The best line of White Heat comes right near the end, so while describing it might sound like it could be a spoiler, it’s not too surprising that a gangster movie like White Heat ends the way it does. "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" is the final thing Cagney’s Arthur "Cody" Jarrett says before being consumed by a huge explosion during his fiery last stand, and it’s an unbelievably effective way to conclude a wild (for its time) gangster film.

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4 "From now on, I want you to put an equal amount of blueberries in each muffin."

'Casino' (1995)

Casino is another compelling gangster movie directed by Martin Scorsese, and notably one that stars some of his favorite actors, including Robert De Niro and an ever-angry and terrifying Joe Pesci. It’s also something of an epic, owing to how sprawling it is, the fact it plays out over almost three hours, and because of how many characters come in and out of this rise-and-fall narrative about the mob ruling Las Vegas through owning its lucrative casinos.

Like The Irishman, Casino can be an emotionally intense and heavy film that nevertheless has a few memorable comedic beats to break up the tension every now and then. De Niro’s Ace Rothstein has a particularly memorable outburst at a baker who had the audacity to not put an equal number of blueberries in every single muffin; a funny moment that does also speak to the petty and controlling nature of the criminal figure at Casino’s center.

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3 "So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you."

'Scarface' (1983)

Scarface is a movie that unleashes Al Pacino at his biggest and, some would argue, his best. He goes all out and then some when depicting ambitious small-time criminal turned kingpin Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who arrives in Miami and soon makes a name for himself as a fearsome gangster. A spectacular rise is then followed by an equally spectacular fall, playing out over almost three bombastic, stylish, and enthralling hours.

The script - courtesy of Oliver Stone - keeps up with Brian De Palma’s larger-than-life direction and Pacino’s over-the-top performance, with countless quotable lines that have become iconic, perhaps none more so than that part about a small acquaintance being greeted. Yet just as memorable is Montana’s drunken outburst at a restaurant late in the film, feeling like a post-modern take on a stage monologue, befitting Scarface being something of a modern Shakespearean tragedy. It’s more on-the-nose than all the cocaine seen towards the film’s end, but it works wonders.

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2 "I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to f--king amuse you?"

'Goodfellas' (1990)

Similarly iconic within the pantheon of gangster movies to The Godfather, Goodfellas is a front-to-back incredible film, and arguably the greatest thing within the filmography of Martin Scorsese. Perhaps Tony Montana was right when he said people were never going to see a bad guy like him again, because Goodfellas was released some years later and provided a more grounded and perhaps honest look at life as a gangster.

That being said, Goodfellas is still immensely stylish and slick from a cinematic perspective; it’s just that the typical rise-and-fall story it tells has a little more nuance and moral complexity, which is what helps make it fascinating and timeless. And then, of course, there’s also a never-better Joe Pesci, with his entire rant during the “funny how” scene being the stuff of legends.

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1 "I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies."

'The Godfather: Part II' (1974)

While 1972’s The Godfather was a pretty much perfect movie, it was 1974’s The Godfather: Part II that made an already epic film feel like one part of an overall – and perhaps never equaled – crime saga. Serving as both a prequel and a sequel, The Godfather: Part II shows how Vito Corleone came to America and started to build his empire, all the while also showing how Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone fails to continue running it properly the way his father managed.

Michael’s moral descent may have started by the end of The Godfather, but it’s painfully apparent just who he is throughout much of The Godfather: Part II, with the film being about how his coldness and ruthlessness isolates him and makes him lose almost everything that matters. His claim that: “I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies,” is impactful for so many reasons, perhaps the principal one being that his actions throughout the story, ironically enough, pretty much leave him stranded in life with no one but enemies.

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