Best Crime Movies of 1994

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.

Léon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling custodian of 12-year-old Mathilda. Before long, Mathilda's thoughts turn to revenge, and she considers following in Léon's footsteps.

Los Angeles SWAT cop Jack Traven is up against bomb expert Howard Payne, who's after major ransom money. First it's a rigged elevator in a very tall building. Then it's a rigged bus--if it slows, it will blow, bad enough any day, but a nightmare in LA traffic. And that's still not the end.

Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.

When timid bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss discovers a magical mask containing the spirit of the Norse god Loki, his entire life changes. While wearing the mask, Ipkiss becomes a supernatural playboy exuding charm and confidence which allows him to catch the eye of local nightclub singer Tina Carlyle. Unfortunately, under the mask's influence, Ipkiss also robs a bank, which angers junior crime lord Dorian Tyrell, whose goons get blamed for the heist.

Frank Drebin is persuaded out of retirement to go undercover in a state prison. There he has to find out what top terrorist, Rocco, has planned for when he escapes. Adding to his problems, Frank's wife, Jane, is desperate for a baby.

Michael is a 12-year-old drug pusher who lives in a crowded house with his cousins and aunt. His father has become a street bum, but still meets with Fresh on occasion to play chess. Fresh is rather quiet in a crazy world. Fresh's sister is a junkie who sleeps with the dealers that Fresh sells for. As the story progresses Fresh realizes that he doesn't want to sell drugs anymore, he wants revenge.

Baby Bink couldn't ask for more: he has adoring (if somewhat sickly-sweet) parents, lives in a huge mansion, and he's just about to appear in the social pages of the paper. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world is as nice as Baby Bink's parents—especially the three enterprising kidnappers who pretend to be photographers from the newspaper. Successfully kidnapping Baby Bink, they have a harder time keeping hold of the rascal, who not only keeps one step ahead of them, but seems to be more than a little bit smarter than the three bumbling criminals.

When accountant David, doctor Juliet and journalist Alex are searching for a fourth roommate for their trendy flat, they settle on the aloof Hugo. However, they soon find Hugo dead of a drug overdose, beside a large sum of cash. After some deliberation, the three others decide to keep the money and to dismember and bury Hugo's body. Soon, each roommate starts thinking about keeping all the money by scamming the others.

She's the perfect all-American parent: a great cook and homemaker, a devoted recycler, and a woman who'll literally kill to keep her family happy.

Looking to escape her unhappy marriage, villainous femme fatale Bridget Gregory convinces her husband, Clay, to sell cocaine, then steals the profits and runs out on him. She stops in a small town en route to Chicago, where she ensnares her next conquest, insurance man Mike Swale. After getting a job at his insurance company, Bridget convinces Mike to run a scam -- but things take a deadly turn when she recruits him to help get rid of her husband.

Caroline and Lloyd are a married couple constantly at each other's throats, masters at crafting acid-tongued barbs at the other's expense. Indeed, they are so obsessed with belittling each other that they never stop -- not even at gunpoint. The gunman is Gus, a thief on the run from the police, who kidnaps the couple as an insurance policy, planning to use their home as a hideout. But their incessant bickering proves more than Gus bargained for, forcing him -- for the sake of his own sanity -- into the unenviable role of peacemaker. To make things even worse for Gus, he discovers that he has taken the couple hostage the night of their big Christmas party, and the guests are already on the way. Not wanting to leave Lloyd and Caroline unattended, Gus opts to attend the party, pretending to be the couple's marriage counselor. This naturally leads to a series of comic confusions, as the hostage crisis and marital tensions head towards their inevitable conclusion.

Guy is a young film executive who's willing to do whatever it takes to make it in Hollywood. He begins working for famed producer Buddy Ackerman, a domineering, manipulative, coldhearted boss. When Guy also finds out that his cynical girlfriend, Dawn, has been using sex as a career move, he reaches his limit. Guy decides to exact revenge on Buddy by kidnapping him and subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment.

A street-wise kid, Mark Sway, sees the suicide of Jerome Clifford, a prominent Louisiana lawyer, whose current client is Barry 'The Blade' Muldano, a Mafia hit-man. Before Jerome shoots himself, he tells Mark where the body of a Senator is buried. Clifford shoots himself and Mark is found at the scene, and both the FBI and the Mafia quickly realize that Mark probably knows more than he says.

Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.

Back in sunny southern California and on the trail of two murderers, Axel Foley again teams up with LA cop Billy Rosewood. Soon, they discover that an amusement park is being used as a front for a massive counterfeiting ring – and it's run by the same gang that shot Billy's boss.

A computer specialist is sued for sexual harassment by a former lover turned boss who initiated the act forcefully, which threatens both his career and his personal life.

While on a family vacation, rafting expert Gail takes on a pair of armed killers while navigating a spectacularly violent river.

Blown Away tells the story of Jimmy Dove who works for the Boston bomb squad. Shortly after Dove leaves the force his partner is killed by a bomb that Dove thinks might have been made by someone he knows.

A homeless man is hired as a survival guide for a group of wealthy businessmen on a hunting trip in the mountains, unaware that they are killers who hunt humans for sport, and that he is their new prey.

The Lone Rangers have heavy-metal dreams and a single demo tape they can't get anyone to play. The solution: Hijack an FM rock radio station and hold the deejays hostage until they agree to broadcast the band's tape.

An officer for a security agency that regulates time travel, must fend for his life against a shady politician who has a tie to his past.

Jack Hammond is sentenced to life in prison, but manages to escape. To get away from the police he takes a girl as hostage and drives off in her car. The girl happens to be the only daughter of one of the richest men in the state. In a while the car chase is being broadcast live on every TV-channel.

Doc McCoy is put in prison because his partners chickened out and flew off without him after exchanging a prisoner with a lot of money. Doc knows Jack Benyon, a rich "business"-man, is up to something big, so he tells his wife (Carol McCoy) to tell him that he's for sale if Benyon can get him out of prison. Benyon pulls some strings and Doc McCoy is released again. Unfortunately he has to cooperate with the same person that got him to prison.

The film follows the personal relationship between a father and his two sons, one of whom is a hit-man for the Russian mafia in Brooklyn.

Dysfunctional friends Dignan and Anthony plan and execute a robbery with their pot-growing friend, Bob. The short film that inspired Wes Anderson’s feature debut.

Hercule Poirot is summoned to a mansion house for Christmas and is confronted with murder.

Emma is an attractive girl in her 20s who has been blind for 20 years. A new type of eye operation partially restores her sight, but she is having problems: sometimes she doesn't "remember" what she's seen until later. One night she is awakened by a commotion upstairs. Peering out of her door, she sees a shadowy figure descending the stairs. Convinced that her neighbour has been murdered she approaches the police, only to find that she is unsure if it was just her new eyes playing tricks on her.

A mother and daughter pair kill their two-timing lover, and the mother tries to seduce Columbo in an effort to divert suspicion.

L.A. radio moderator Fielding Chase kills Gerry Winters, a member of his staff who tried to help Chase's daughter Victoria (also a staff member) to leave her father and become a novelist

The story of a young man who must confront his own fears about love as well as his relationships with family and friends.

Two championship rodeo partners travel to New York to find their missing friend, Nacho Salazar who went missing there.

A man wakes up in an alley, bleeding and with no memory of who he is. He stumbles into a coffee shop and is befriended by a charitable ex-nun who is failing in her attempts to write marketable pornography.

Mousie and Sad Girl are childhood best friends in a contemporary Los Angeles poor Hispanic neighborhood. But when Sad Girl becomes pregnant by Mousie's boyfriend, a drug dealer named Ernesto, the two become bitter enemies. While their dispute escalates towards violence, the violence of the world around them soon also impacts their lives.

Deidre Holland is a novelist. A rich novelist. When her imagination gets the better of her, she seeks help for her sexual compulsions from a famous psychotherapist. Past-life therapy takes Deidre back to more than one erotic encounter of a lifetime. But is the Doc for real, or are his methods - and motives - unsound? And will the fantasies she is imagining become reality?

Paul Kersey is back at working vigilante justice when his fiancée, Olivia, has her business threatened by mobsters

Unexpected events occur when Pat, a glamorous British-born star of American soaps, returns home to plug her auto-biography on television and meets, for the first time since they were teenagers, Margaret her plain and frumpy younger sister. The meeting is painful for both women highlighting the vast differences in their lives and resurrecting painful memories of their unhappy childhood with an uncaring, errant mother. The tabloid press smell a juicy story and a race ensues to trace the whereabouts of the long lost parent.

1994. Cagney, now a Lieutenant, re-teams with Lacey, who has left the force, to search for a cache of missing firearms.

Based on an actual case, Fatima Buen Story mixes tabloid sensationalism with paranormal symbolism and features O’ Hara’s trademark qualities: sudden violence and heroic love against a background of cinematic magic.

Two cops try to solve the murder of a former prostitute while fighting for their jobs in a crime-ridden precinct of a Northwestern city.

A black detective becomes embroiled in a web of danger while searching for a fortune in missing drug money. During the course of his investigation, he encounters various old connections, ultimately confronting the criminal responsible for Shame's expulsion from the force. He must also deal with two women, Angela, a beautiful old flame, and Peaches, his energetic but annoying sidekick.

In 1939, WBN, a fourth radio network, is about to take to America's airwaves. As if the confusion of the premiere night wasn't enough, Penny Henderson, the owner's secretary, must deal with an unhappy sponsor, an overbearing boss and a soon-to-be ex-husband who desperately wants her back. As the broadcast begins, a mysterious voice breaks the broadcast and suddenly members of the cast turn up dead. It's up to her husband Roger, to find out whodunit as the police chase him through the halls of WBN.

The alleged suicide of a gubernatorial candidate triggers a series of mysterious deaths leading to the governor's mansion, and "Wild" Bill McKenzie, a friend of Perry Mason, is on the case.

Small-time criminal Watty Watts attempts to rob a convenience store with his drug-addict buddy, Billy Mack Black. The robbery, however, leads to murder, and soon Watty leaves Billy behind and goes on the run with his beloved girlfriend, Starlene. Heading toward Mexico, the fugitive couple gets plenty of media coverage, until there are even more people on their trail. Can Watty and Starlene make it south of the border without getting caught?

Ray, an ex-con and widower, is planning a coin heist with two accomplices to help him to buy his own bakery. However, he doesn't expect his son Timmy, who was living with Ray's sister, to show up at the house right in the middle of planning. Timmy is ignored and Ray and his buddies pull off the heist. Timmy gets his father's attention by stealing the coins and hiding them. To get them back, his father must take him to a number of different places and treat him like he enjoys his presence. They grow fond of each other but Timmy won't stay with his dad unless he gives up the coins.

This psychological mystery/thriller, adapted from Barbara Vine aka Ruth Rendell's novel of the same name, depicts a family on the edge. Two sisters, the elder, obsessive Vera, and the younger, manipulative Eden, cut a path of secrecy and jealousy that leads to disaster.

A former associate of Perry Mason returns to handle the defense of a world-class chess player accused of murdering a prominent TV personality.

J.J. is a rookie in the Sheriff's Department and the first black officer at that station. Racial tensions run high in the department as some of J.J.'s fellow officers resent his presence. His only real friend is the other new trooper, the first female officer to work there, who also suffers similar discrimination in the otherwise all-white male work environment. When J.J. becomes increasingly aware of police corruption during the murder trial of Teddy Woods, whom he helped to arrest, he faces difficult decisions and puts himself into grave personal danger in the service of justice.

Detective Philip Lovecraft lives in Los Angeles in the 1950s when an ambitious Senator is holding hearings, on Magic. Magic is the new influence in Tinsel Town. Lovecraft is unique in that he is the only one who refuses to use magic in his work. Shortly after he is hired, he finds his client, Kim Hudson, accused of the murder of her husband, a film executive. Philip uses the talents of a local witch, Kropotkin, to explain what is happening only to see her accused of the murder and sentenced to be burnt at the stake. Reminiscent of Roger Rabbit, without the toons.