Best Crime Movies of 1981

Frank is an expert professional safecracker, specialized in high-profile diamond heists. He plans to use his ill-gotten income to retire from crime and build a nice life for himself complete with a home, wife and kids. To accelerate the process, he signs on with a top gangster for a big score.

In the midst of a searing Florida heat wave, a woman convinces her lover, a small-town lawyer, to murder her rich husband.

Kermit and Fozzie are newspaper reporters sent to London to interview Lady Holiday, a wealthy fashion designer whose priceless diamond necklace is stolen. Kermit meets and falls in love with her secretary, Miss Piggy. The jewel thieves strike again, and this time frame Miss Piggy. It's up to Kermit and Muppets to bring the real culprits to justice.

A shy and mute seamstress goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day. She wanders the New York streets at night in a sexy black dress with her attacker's gun strapped to her garter belt, blowing away any man who tries to pick her up.

The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.

An honest marshal in a corrupt mining colony on Io, Jupiter's sunless third moon, is determined to confront a violent drug ring even though it may cost him his life. After his wife angrily deserts him, he waits alone for the arrival of killers hired by the company to eliminate him.

New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice help eliminate corruption in the police department, as long as he will not have to turn in any close friends. In doing so, Ciello uncovers a conspiracy within the force to smuggle drugs to street informants.

An international terrorist has New York in a grip of panic and it's up to Det. Sgt. Deke DaSilva to take him down.

Richard spots a man dumping a body, and decides to expose the man he thinks is the culprit with his friend Alex Cutter.

A documentary of the decline of America. Featuring footage (most exclusive to this film) from race riots to serial killers and much-much more.

A cop clashes with his priest brother while investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.

Beautiful newcomer Cheryl Hanson, and a host of your favorite cover girls and centerspreads from the steaming pages of the world's hottest magazines. Expose their erotic talents in this sizzling adult extravaganza.

From the sight of a police officer this movie depicts the life in New York's infamous South Bronx. In the center is "Fort Apache", as the officers call their police station, which really seems like an outpost in enemy's country. The story follows officer Murphy, who seems to be a tuff cynic, but in truth he's a moralist with a sense for justice.

Police officer Tom Sharky gets busted back to working vice, where he happens upon a scandalous conspiracy involving a local politician. Sharky's new 'machine' gathers evidence while Sharky falls in love with a woman he has never met.

The lovable Munster family finds their placid world turned into turmoil by the diabolical Dr. Diablo, the mastermind of an art heist using monster robots, including clones of Herman and Grandpa.

Sean Kane is forced to resign from the San Francisco Police Department's Narcotics Division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered. He decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places.

The chronicle of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and his tyranic rule from 1971 to his overthrow in 1979.

A speculation on the fate of the famous hijacker who parachuted with his ransom and disappeared in the mountains. Has Cooper succeeded in following a meticulous plan to disappear into anonymity despite the best efforts of a dogged cop?

A flamboyant criminal lawyer named Nick Hellinger takes on the case of a syndicate's accountant (actually a Justice Department agent who has infiltrated the mob) accused of murdering a local TV newscaster.

Dramatization of the sensational Texas court case of the late '60s involving a noted Houston plastic surgeon accused of doing away with his socially prominent first wife in order to marry someone else.

After completing his training of ninjutsu within Japan, an American Angolan Bush War veteran by the name of Cole visits his war buddy Frank Landers and his newly wed wife Mary Ann Landers, who are the owners of a large piece of farming land in the Philippines. Cole soon finds that the Landers are being repeatedly harassed by a CEO named Charles Venarius.

A researcher for the CIA who convinces his superiors to send him to the eastern bloc in order to avenge the murder of his wife by enemy agents discovers a web of deception underneath his wife's death.

Robert Blake's second (of three) "Joe Dancer" movies has the hard-boiled private investigator teaming up with a chimp named Gregor, his trainer (who also happens to be an expert thief), and an electronics genius of questionable repute to steal back a priceless vase looted from a family collection during World War II.

A reconstruction of the possible events that might have led up to the real-life tragic case of the Luxton family who lived at West Chapple Farm, Winkleigh, Devon. Brothers and sister Robert, Alan and Frances Luxton had lived in the farm for many years. On 23 September 1975 their bodies were found with shotgun wounds outside their farmhouse.

Charthurst Green, Kent, 1966. Pauline Cox accompanies Mike Robins to a village cricket match in which he is playing, but becomes bored and wanders away. She fetches up at the local railway station, where she is first entertained to tea by the garrulous, hunchbacked station master, then upset by the intrusion of the latter's assistant Ewen, who proceeds to kill a rabbit in her presence. Making her way back to the match, Pauline is waylaid by the simple-minded Ewen as she crosses an apple orchard; when his advances become violent, she tries to fight him off and he strangles her. The station master helps in covering up the murder, burying the corpse in the orchard.

An Interpol agent is out for revenge against the gangsters that cut off his arm and killed his bride. This tragedy left him deeply depressed, and his battle with depression has to be won first before he can be thoroughly trained in martial arts. After his training, Ortega hunts down his adversaries for a final reckoning.

Amanda Heather is a high-class call girl trying to go straight. A last "favor" for a former pimp/lover results in the death of one of Amanda's young prostitute friends and she is inexorably drawn into a spiral of brutality, corruption, violent sensuality, and ever-building tension as the murderer stalks her. Amanda's emotions are brought to the boiling point by the persistent, tormenting questions of detective Ambrose Harte as he struggles to solve the murders and free Amanda from the treacherous web of lust that is her "working" life.

Three buddies after 'Fast Money' try flying drugs into the U.S. from Mexico. When they meet with unexpected dangers, the trip turns turbulent.

When architect Stephen Booker loses his partnership, he finds jobs hard to come by, and with money in short supply, he unwittingly becomes involved in a daring scheme to rob one of London's biggest bank vaults.

A police sergeant and a parole officer endeavor to stop a rapist-on-parole before he can follow through his threats on five women whom testifed against him years earlier.

Spider-Man goes to China to help an official accused of World War II treachery. Two episodes of the TV series "Spider Man" edited together and released as a feature.

When D. C. Dangerous Davies, not held in high regard by his superiors, is assigned to find a notorious criminal kingpin, he uncovers the details of 15-year-old cold case.

Magazine mogul, Hugh Heffer, sends private eye Ginger Trueheart on a sex-sizzling search through San Francisco's infamous "Tenderloin" district. It seems that Mr. Heffer is looking for a missing enchantress who is "the best in the world".

Hoodwink is based on the true story of an Australian con artist who briefly won the hearts of the media (if not the authorities). John Hargreaves stars as a criminal serving time in a New South Wales prison. He's not partial to the physical labor required of the convicts, so he hits upon a labor-saving plan. Hargreaves pretends to be totally blind, thus lightening his work load....and carries off the hoax for years.

Couples and Robbers is a 1981 English language comedy/crime film written and directed by Clare Peploe, starring Frances Low, Rik Mayall and Peter Eyre. Two couples -- one with all the riches that dreams are made of, the other with only dreams and schemes -- are brought together by the plotting of the poorer couple. A pair of newlyweds wander through the city streets, bickering about their poverty, until they are distracted by the opulent home of a lawyer. Impulsively, the couple makes off with the lawyer's vehicle for one night of extravagant indulgence. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

Based on the real-life ordeal of Baltimore priest Bernard Pagano, who was accused of several armed robberies in the late Seventies.

A woman who uses a handgun to defend herself and shoots a man who is assaulting her in her home is doggedly prosecuted by the district attorney, bent on making an example of her case.

The first of three private-eye movies created by Robert Blake about rugged Joe Dancer as the forerunner to a prospective but unrealized series after the retirement of his "Baretta" character. In the initial outing, Blake, as Dancer, follows a trail of bodies through a maze of corruption involving a politically ambitious Beverly Hills family.

Mickey Spillane's hard-hitting '50s private eye, Mike Hammer, returns to television in the guise of Kevin Dobson to track down the killer of his best friend who was driving Hammer's car. Joining in the hunt are the detective's Girl Friday, the ever-hopeful Velda, and his cop friend, Pat Chambers.

Novak is a police inspector to whom any means is fair in getting evidence on criminals - especially drug dealers. He is after a drug ring that includes a city official and desperately needs evidence to bring the corrupt politician to trial, and to close down the ring. To that end, he involves Helene, the politician's secretary, causing her intensive emotional stress as he destroys her home life and unintentionally costs the life of her sister. By the time events have completed their course, the inspector has a chance to help Helene back to normalcy, and to reflect on the ultimate worth of his methods.

Prisoners of Detention Satellite 3 plan an impossible escape.

Three women start a lunch wagon business but run into stiff resistance from a competitor.

Exotic Eastern European beauty, Linda Allen, flies in to Los Angeles to track down the evil mobsters who tortured and murdered her sister. Meanwhile, the mobsters are trying to find a tape with information that would be incriminating to them. Linda's investigation deals with a pimp who may be the murderer she is after, and a helpful FBI agent who may not be the crime hunter he pretends to be. Cunning and deadly she is, but will she be up to the tangled web of corruption, violence, and death she falls into?

A social worker tries to break up a ring of crooks who buy newborn babies from teenaged mothers and sell them to couples who can't obtain them through legal adoption channels.

When his father - who owned a circus - dies, Oscar inherits 5 million dollars - and 3 orang outangs. However there's a condition connected to the money: if he gives away the apes or just one gets sick or dies during the next 3 years, the zoologic society will get all the money. So he not only has to deal with 3 apes and an annoyed girlfriend, but also with a greedy zoologic society's president.

A teenage boy who runs off to join the circus as a side show puppeteer stumbles onto the dark secrets of the fellow performers.

A 1981 Filipino parody film starring Redford White and Pia Moran.

Accountant Roy is sentenced to prison because he cooked up balances. He hopes that his companions, who profited from his cheat, will help him to a revision of his judgment. Meanwhile he has to adapt to a life in jail - which works out quite well, especially when he meets the self-conscious convicted thief Jane and falls in love. He starts to woo her. But then, while working in the prison's accounting department, he discovers that the prisoners' accounts are not properly kept. The director tries to keep him in her prison as long as possible.

The film tells the story of three teenagers, based on real life gangsters Charles "Lucky" Luciano (Michael Nouri), Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (Joe Penny) and Michael Lasker (Brian Benben) (a fictional character who was most likely modeled after Meyer Lansky), growing up in New York's ghettos during the early 1900s to their rise though organized crime.