For anyone anxiously awaiting the release of Mafia: The Old Country, these classic gangster films should help pass the time.

From gangster movie classics like Scarface to iconic dramas like Citizen Kane, these are the best movies that tell rise-and-fall stories.

A number of stylish gangster movies came out in the '80s, and like this classic starring Mickey Rourke, they were all overshadowed by Scarface.

Raoul Walsh's 1949 gangster film White Heat, starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, and Edmond O'Brien, paved the way for the genre.

The Untouchables (1987) Technically, Brian De Palma's classic gangster movie The Untouchables was based on Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley's memoir recalling their Prohibition-era war on organized crime.