Pablo Escobar is possibly the most notorious and recognizable of cartel kingpins in recent years, his notoriety attributed in part to being the face of the infamous Medellín cartel in 1980s and '90s Colombia, but also from being the subject of the Netflix smash hit, Narcos where his reputation as the most fearsome man in South America preceded him. Charlie, chang, snow, blow, or as many know it, cocaine, the drug that has as many names as Salvador Dalí, was the commodity Escobar dealt in. That white powder which is hoovered up through rolled-up dollar notes is associated with wealth, addiction, and a seductive quality that can be traced back to the days of 1920s Hollywood.
From TheWolf of Wall Street to Scarface, glamorizing drug use has become a habit within itself, and drugs have become the centerpiece of a surprisingly large amount of television lately. Aside from Narcos, the past 20 years have seen TV shows like Ozark, Breaking Bad, Weeds, and Queen of the South which focus on drug dealing and drug cartels, but Hollywood cinema might be the most prolific. Having become a Hollywood mainstay, these are some of the best movies about drug cartels.
Updated June 2023: If you are interested in films about drug cartels, you're in luck. This article has been updated with additional content and entries by Danilo Raúl.
12 Robocop 2 (1990)
Robocop 2 is usually relegated to the realm of lesser sequels, yet this film offers powerful commentary about the dealings of drug cartels in America. Directed by Irvin Kershner, the story takes place in a dystopian future where the OCP takes over Detroit by force by privatizing every service, including police protection. In the film, Robocop must face Cain, a cult-like leader of the drug cartel trading Nuke on the streets.
Even after Cain gets captured, the drug cartel he runs keeps the business running, and they do their best to buy political influence to keep themselves in business. OCP can't have that, so they unleash their new weapon: Robocop Mark II, powered by Cain's brain patterns, retaining his crippling addiction to drugs to keep him in check. It's a great movie that treats an authentic problem in a sci-fi scenario, unlike anything else.
11 American Gangster (2007)
The story of Frank Lucas is one worthy of recognition. The Godfather of Harlem rose to prominence in the '70s by dealing with the purest heroine ever sold in the USA. While a retelling of this man's life is taking place in an Epix series, Ridley Scott did it in 2007 with the film American Gangster. The film recounts the gritty journey of Frank Lucas through the criminal underworld of Harlem in the '70s.
The film tells the true story of one of the most powerful drug lords in the USA and how he rises to prominence by importing and distributing the purest form of heroin, you can find in Southeast Asia. The movie portrays how Lucas ran a clean operation and his immense influence over the community, establishing a face as a man of the people while slowly killing them with poison. The movie also highlights the outstanding efforts of Detective Richie Roberts to bring him down.
10 Sabotage (2014)
Sabotage is an interesting film that poses a recurring question about authority figures: "Who watches the watchmen?" Directed by David Ayer, this gritty action thriller delves into the dangerous world of drug cartels and their dealings with the DEA, one of the most corrupt agencies in the USA. It's a film that touches on multiple subjects, such as greed, necessity, and the morality of law enforcement.
Led by Arnold Schwarzenegger, in Sabotage, an elite team of agents raids a cartel's safe house and decide to keep the loot for themselves, as many lead complex lives full of family commitments and debts. The cartels find out about this and target every single one of the agents. Every squad member is picked individually, while a small squad gets together to face off against the criminals and find out who ratted them out.
9 Loving Pablo (2017)
Pablo Escobar has reached nearly mystical levels in the history of the war against drugs. This man waged war against his own country, surrendered on his terms, and built his prison to do the time he negotiated with the Colombian government. In Loving Pablo, directed by Fernando León de Aranoa, we revisit the story of the notorious drug lord and his relationship with journalist Virginia Vallejo, with whom he had a secret romance, according to many press outlets.
Although the film doesn't glamorize the life of a drug cartel, it explores the human side of Pablo Escobar and how the environment he was raised shaped his beliefs. Vallejo conducted several interviews with the drug lord, and their relationship grew closer over the years. Pablo revealed his political struggles, which targeted some of the most influential people in Colombia who couldn't risk being exposed. Vallejo meets a terrible ending after learning too much about the wrong people.
8 No Country for Old Men (2007)
Despite being a neo-Western, No Country for Old Men is about a drug deal gone wrong. The Coen brothers direct the film, a gripping thriller set in the Texas-Mexico borderlands. The movie's main plot revolves around the cat-and-mouse chase between hitman Anton Chigurh, tasked by the drug cartel to get their money back. On the other hand, we have Llewelyn Moss, a man who is way over his head.
The drug cartel soon realizes Anton is a loose cannon, so they move other assets to salvage the situation, but things go south far and fast. Anton is unwilling to drop the assignment, even after realizing his employers have double-crossed him. Behind them is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, who can't make a lick of sense of anything happening in his county. It's a story about the brutal nature of drug dealings and how law enforcement can't hope to catch up with bad actors.
7 Elite Squad (2007)
Some of the best films about drug cartels are set outside of the USA. It's unsurprising, considering the country is the largest buyer of illegal substances worldwide. The countries where the drugs are manufactured always have the best tales about how these cartels are formed. Elite Squad is a Brazilian film directed by José Padilha. It's a story about the gritty streets of Rio de Janeiro, where drug cartels reign supreme.
In the movie, we follow the rise of Captain Nascimento, a member of an elite police squad tasked with combating the drug trade and maintaining order in the city's favelas. Through Nascimento's eyes, we get a lot of insight into how this underworld works and the dire consequences they have on the lives of ordinary people. It's a compelling film highlighting the complexities of a corrupted system filled with violence.
6 Blow (2001)
With the Heard/Depp defamation trial a permanent fixture in the papers, some allegations from Heard regarding Depp’s relationship with cocaine makes the selection of his 2001 movie Blow, in retrospect, a tad ironic. Nonetheless, Depp is incredible as usual in Ted Demme’s screen adaptation of Bruce Porter’s book of the same name, a biographical account of the fascinating life of George Jung, a drug smuggler for the Medellín cartel and one of the most prominent US smugglers of the 1980s.
5 American Made (2017)
Based on the remarkable story of TWA airline pilot Barry Seal, Doug Liman’s American Made (previously known as Mena) follows Tom Cruise as Seal and his work as a Medellín cartel drug smuggler, and subsequent position as a DEA informant. Cruise plays Seal in all his ostentatious glory, unburdened by the weight of responsibility, and of the tons of cocaine he is entrusted to transport on behalf of Escobar and the like.
American Made is the kind of showy, exhilarating, adrenaline-fueled over-indulgence that Cruise has built his reputation off. The 2017 screenplay screams big-picture presence, and along with Cruise’s "leave nothing on the field" performance, it provides just shy of two hours' worth of cartel-infused drama.
4 End of Watch (2012)
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as the film’s protagonists, End of Watch utilizes a dash-cam-like, POV style, commonly used in factual TV cop shows, to brilliant, heavily-stylized effect. The film kicks off with a voiceover from Officer Taylor (Gyllenhaal) delivering the standard police spiel that they’re just the good guys, doing their job by enforcing the law. However, as the movie trundles on the likable and at times off-the-(hand)cuff duo, they frequently take advantage of their position, while simultaneously earning the respect of the criminals they deal with.
After a routine traffic stop leads the pair into uncovering a Mexican drug cartel’s operation, they are duty-bound to follow the lion into its den despite potentially life-threatening consequences. The film’s great needle drops and killer soundtrack, most memorably Public Enemy’s Harder Than You Think, is an ingenious accompaniment to a movie that emphasizes how violence breeds violence in a community that is, in part, self-governing, “'F the Police' but who's stopping you from killing me?” a poignant lyric goes, in a film full of boyish fun, excitement, and reflections on the community it represents.
3 Sicario (2015)
The masterful director Denis Villeneuve helmed 2015’s Sicario. The extremely tense film follows the story of naive FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), who is tasked with the mission to bring down a Mexican drug cartel operating across the American/Mexican border, alongside the tormented ex-prosecutor Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) and Kate’s boss, special agent Matt Graver. The trio must navigate their way through the ever-mounting pile of bloodied bodies, or in Sicario’s case, hanging. While the film is a largely fictionalized account of the horrors that occur under a cartel’s merciless jurisdiction, a lot of its context appears to be harrowingly accurate and truly highlights the barbarianism of cartel “business.”
2 Traffic (2000)
Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic scooped up four Academy Awards, including Best Director at the 2001 Oscars. The film follows the stories of four people’s lives across America, all of which are interlaced due to the impact the country's drug trade has had on their lives directly or indirectly. Traffic is a true modern masterpiece, and Soderbergh carefully pieces together a powerful cinematic jigsaw puzzle.
As Roger Ebert so excellently put it, “The movie is powerful precisely because it doesn't preach. It is so restrained that at one moment — the judge's final speech — I wanted one more sentence, making a point, but the movie lets us supply that thought for ourselves." The film is a brilliant exposition of drug wars and drug cartels, while also detailing the devastating effects of substance use.
1 Scarface (1983)
As Michelle Pfeiffer’s Elvira Hancock turns to a geared-up, unobservant Tony Montana (Al Pacino), and retorts “Don’t get high on your own supply,” she not only conceives a common, now globally-recognized quote, but she foreshadows the precarious and inevitably fatal route Montana is soon to take. A Cuban refugee, Montana is forced to flee his native home in Scarface and seeks the unattainable American Dream. Along with his friend Manny (Steven Bauer), the pair form their own drug cartel and begin to take on the criminal underworld’s head honchos.
In the present day, Brian De Palma’s Scarface is paid homage by millions worldwide, and not just through its quotable dialogue, but through the iconic black, white, and red poster that decorates the walls of homes (and dorm rooms) around the world. The colors denote Montana’s quasi-three-dimensional worldview: things are simplistic in uncomplicated black and white, but the deathly blood-red is always lurking if interests don’t align with his. It's simply one of the best films about gangsters, crime empires, and drug cartels ever made.
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