The best John Hawkes’s crime movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best John Hawkes’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about John Hawkes.
Rush Hour
7/10
When Hong Kong Inspector Lee is summoned to Los Angeles to investigate a kidnapping, the FBI doesn't want any outside help and assigns cocky LAPD Detective James Carter to distract Lee from the case. Not content to watch the action from the sidelines, Lee and Carter form an unlikely partnership and investigate the case themselves.
From Dusk Till Dawn
7.2/10
Seth Gecko and his younger brother Richard are on the run after a bloody bank robbery in Texas. They escape across the border into Mexico and will be home-free the next morning, when they pay off the local kingpin. They just have to survive 'from dusk till dawn' at the rendezvous point, which turns out to be a Hell of a strip joint.
American Gangster
7.8/10
Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Partly based on a true story.
Police Academy
6.7/10
New rules enforced by the Lady Mayoress mean that sex, weight, height and intelligence need no longer be a factor for joining the Police Force. This opens the floodgates for all and sundry to enter the Police Academy, much to the chagrin of the instructors. Not everyone is there through choice, though. Social misfit Mahoney has been forced to sign up as the only alternative to a jail sentence and it doesn't take long before he falls foul of the boorish Lieutenant Harris. But before long, Mahoney realises that he is enjoying being a police cadet and decides he wants to stay... while Harris decides he wants Mahoney out!
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
8.1/10
After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.
Blue Streak
6.3/10
Miles Logan is a jewel thief who just hit the big time by stealing a huge diamond. However, after two years in jail, he comes to find out that he hid the diamond in a police building that was being built at the time of the robbery. In an attempt to regain his diamond, he poses as an LAPD detective.
Miami Vice
6.1/10
A case involving drug lords and murder in South Florida takes a personal turn for undercover detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. Unorthodox Crockett gets involved romantically with the Chinese-Cuban wife of a trafficker of arms and drugs, while Tubbs deals with an assault on those he loves.
Life of Crime
5.8/10
Two common criminals get more than they bargained for after kidnapping the wife of a corrupt real-estate developer who shows no interest in paying the $1 million dollar ransom for her safe return.
S. Darko
3.6/10
S. Darko follows Samantha Darko, the younger sister of Donnie, the protagonist of Donnie Darko, and her friend Corey. On their way to California, their car breaks down, forcing them to wait in a small town until it is fixed. While there, Samantha begins to have dreams that warn her of the end of the universe.
Playing God
5.6/10
Stripped of his medical license after performing an operation while high on amphetamines, famed LA surgeon Dr Eugene Sands abandons his former life only to find himself crossing paths with Raymond Blossom, an infamous counterfeiter. Employed as a "gun-shot doctor" when Raymond's associates cannot risk visiting a hospital, Eugene is lured deep into the criminal world and becomes entangled with his boss's girlfriend.
Small Town Crime
6.6/10
Mike Kendall, a disgraced ex-cop, is fighting a losing battle with the bottle. When he finds a woman left for dead at the side of a road, Kendall turns private eye to track down her killers, taking one last shot at redemption.
Too Late
6.7/10
Explores the tangled relationship between a troubled private investigator and the missing woman he's hired to help find.
The Driftless Area
5.3/10
Pierre Hunter, a bartender with unyielding optimism, returns to his tiny hometown after his parents' death. When he falls for the enigmatic Stella, Pierre is unknowingly pulled into a cat-and-mouse game that involves a duffel bag full of cash, a haphazard yet determined criminal, and a mystery that will determine all of their fates. A contemporary fable about the ways we struggle to control time and fate in a possibly predetermined universe.
Boogie Boy
5/10
A man who has just been released from prison vows to start a new life, but is put to the test when an old cellmate appears.
Outlaw Country
5.6/10
A crime thriller/family drama set against the backdrop of southern organized crime and Nashville royalty where music, love, hope and tragedy collide. Created as a pilot for a TV Series which was not taken up, this has now been aired as a TV Movie.
The Pardon
5.5/10
Toni Jo tries to break her husband, Cowboy, out of prison and becomes an instant sensation due to her beauty.
Nails
5.3/10
The wife of a wild Los Angeles police detective becomes a hostage of the heroin ring he and his partner have exposed.
Murder Rap
5.7/10
When a young audio fanatic accidentally records a brutal murder, his pursuit of the killer lures him into a sinister plot of revenge and deceit, Texas style.
