Image via Complex Original
When the movie industry was in its infancy, producers would never dream of giving audiences a criminal that they could root for. Those unscrupulous characters were always meant to be booed and hated, but somewhere along the way the film industry began to glamorize the criminal culture until con-men, killers, and thieves slowly became cultural icons. But no other type of criminal in cinema has been more popular than the drug dealer.
There is something oddly inspiring—though undeniably tragic—about a person raising themselves up from the street to form a multi-million dollar empire. These drug dealers and kingpins have achieved the American dream, and people will always rally behind them, while ignoring the shades of grey that they work in.
This Friday marks the release of Pusher, an English remake of the first installment of Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn’s drug trilogy from the ‘90s and '00s. The original, a crime thriller about a mid-level drug dealer who winds up in serious debt to no-nonsense gangsters, was an absolute landmark in Danish cinema. With memories of Pusher and powder on the brain, Complex lines up The 25 Coolest Drug Dealers In Movies. Try it, you'll like it.
RELATED: The 25 Most Badass Gangsters in TV History
RELATED: The 20 Hottest Virgins in Movies and TV
Written by Jason Serafino (@serafinoj1)
25. Psycho Ed, High School (2012)
Portrayed by: Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody is known as a reserved, serious actor, but in High School the dude got in touch with his inner stoner when he played Psycho Ed, a deranged drug dealer who does business mostly with teenagers. Brody sported some faux-dreadlocks and fake ink to play up the character’s manic side for the role, but the truth is that these accessories weren’t necessary because Brody’s acting alone brought us right into Ed’s world.
The dude isn’t high-strung; he’s completely off his rocker. His intense stare and sardonic laugh add to a performance that we didn’t even know he was capable of.
24. Chon, Savages (2012)
Portrayed by: Taylor Kitsch
After starring in two big budget bombs—John Carter and Battleship—it could be said that Taylor Kitsch had one of the worst summers imaginable for a young actor. But when the Friday Night Lights standout starred in Oliver Stone’s Savages, Kitsch proved that he could be more than just a handsome face on the big screen. The talent surrounding him (Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, John Travolta) elevated his performance drastically, and Stone's direction was just what this young actor needed to capture the dangerous lifestyle of a career dealer.
Throughout the movie, Chon and his best friend Ben (Aaron Johnson) manage to get themselves into, and out of, trouble by being ruthless and savvy. Nobody expects a couple of white boys to turn the tables on a powerful Mexican drug cartel, but that’s what separates Chon and his boy from so many others. That, and sharing a girlfriend played by Blake Lively.
23. Tommy Bundy, Belly (1998)
Portrayed by: DMX
Belly won’t be replacing Scarface as the quintessential drug dealer movie of a generation, but director Hype Williams did have a stroke of genius when he cast DMX as Tommy “Buns” Bundy. Despite a lack of acting experience, he did an admirable job in the drug-dealing role. He was even in a few genuinely terrifying scenes where his short temper and intimidation skills were really on display.
He’s not the refined type of drug dealer you might see in most movies. Tommy Bundy brings the down-home seediness to the role that is more reminiscent of the real world. Skip the pretenses and just give us the real deal, even if it is a little less refined.
22. Reese Feldman, Starsky and Hutch (2004)
Portrayed by: Vince Vaughn
This list is filled with stone-cold badass drug dealers who are incredibly cutthroat and cunning. Reese Feldman more closely resembles how we would be if we were handed the keys to a multi-million dollar drug empire. Sure, he has a lot of money and resources, but he’s also incredibly stupid and winds up surrounding himself with people who are somehow even denser than he is.
However, you can’t deny that the dude is slick, especially when he’s cruising around on his yacht in his white pants with his gorgeous wife by his side. Also, you have to hand it to Vaughn for looking stylish while rocking the horseshoe mustache.
21. Louie Fomorowski, The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
Portrayed by: Darren McGavin
Back in the '50s, you couldn’t make a movie about drug addiction without being swarmed by controversy. A trailblazing spirit is exactly why Darren McGavin’s performance as heroin dealer Louie Fomorowski, who serves Frank Sinatra’s character, lands on this list. His role in The Man with the Golden Arm, directed by Otto Preminger, one of cinema’s great temperamental geniuses, was a groundbreaking role for the time, and McGavin played it perfectly.
The movie seems quaint now, but Fomorowski was an out-and-out scumbag who introduced audiences everywhere to a seedy underbelly of society that they were not aware of. In the end, he got exactly what he deserved, and in the process set up a template for most movie drug dealers to follow.
20. Carlos Ayala, Traffic (2000)
Portrayed by: Steven Bauer
Traffic proved what a master Steven Soderbergh could be when tackling the right material, and much of the film’s success comes from the multi-faceted portrayal of the worldwide drug trade as a multi-billion dollar epidemic.
In the movie, one of the most powerful drug lords in Mexico and the U.S. is Carlos Ayala, played by Steven Bauer. He's mostly seen on trial during the movie, but his power and influence is enough to intimidate anyone policing or prosecuting him, especially once his wife becomes aware of his life as a drug kingpin. Her dedication to her husband and his business, plus her blatant disregard for legal precedent, shows just how powerful this man was, even when he wasn’t personally getting his hands dirty.
19. Jay & Silent Bob, Clerks (1994)
Portrayed by: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith
After six movies, you would think that Jay and Silent Bob would have worn out their welcome, but it’s almost the exact opposite. Whenever they are on screen, they instantly make any Kevin Smith movie watchable, even the dreadful Mallrats. Sure they spend most of their time leaning against the outside wall of a convenience store and making juvenile dick jokes, but through stilted acting and awkward dialogue, these two managed to become pure, uncut icons.
Unlike the vicious coke and heroin dealers of countless movies, Jay and Silent Bob are as gentle as a box of kittens. They won’t break people’s thumbs and legs if they haven’t paid up, and are just as likely to lose money dealing as they are to make it. They seemingly always find themselves in the middle of a conflict, and are usually prepared with plentiful weed to help them through it. Just as long as they never star in their own solo movie again—Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was a black eye on cinema—we wouldn’t mind seeing more Jay and Silent Bob on screen in the future.
18. Rip, Less Than Zero (1987)
Portrayed by: James Spader
The film version of Less Than Zero didn’t’ live up to the disturbing heights of Bret Easton Ellis' novel, but James Spader’s portrayal as Rip, an amoral drug dealer, went a long way towards matching the character from the book. Rip is a sleazy, rich, privileged, L.A. brat who has everything and decides to get into the drug trade, as opposed to doing anything meaningful with his life. He’s intimidating, without really showing off his violent nature, and manages to manipulate the much weaker Julian, played by Robert Downey Jr.
In Julian, Rip has a complete slave who he pimps out to other men so he can recoup the money that Julian owes him. It’s sickening in a way, but also completely mesmerizing because Rip shows over and over again his dominance over the weak-minded. He may be a scumbag, but there is no arguing his success.
17. Lance, Pulp Fiction (1994)
Portrayed by: Eric Stoltz
Most men dream of lounging around a house full of good looking women all day while making money hand over fist without working hard to earn it. And that’s exactly why Lance from Pulp Fiction is on this list. He doesn’t do much during the movie, but just a quick glimpse at the way he lives, coupled with how much money he makes off of the heroin deal with Vincent Vega (John Travolta) alone, makes us realize just how made this dude has it.
16. Will Gaines, Rush (1991)
Portrayed by: Gregg Allman
Who knew rocker Gregg Allman had it in him? The rocker harnessed a silent, frightening rage as vicious Texas drug lord Will Gaines, a master of manipulation and evasion who causes two undercover cops (Jason Patric, Jennifer Jason Leigh) to falsify evidence to try to take him down. Even that proves incapable of stopping him, as an attempted hit on the officers (organized while he's behind bars) ultimately leads to him being released from prison. With the mind of a criminal genius—and the hair of a professional wrestler—Gaines is a bad man no police force wants to deal with.
15. Frank Lucas, American Gangster (2007)
Portrayed by: Denzel Washington
We always appreciate when a movie crafts an original story with vile drug dealers plucked from the twisted mind of a tortured screenwriter, but sometimes it’s nice to get a dose of reality as well. In American Gangster, director Ridley Scott brought us the story of Frank Lucas, one of the most notorious drug kingpins in New York history, played by Denzel Washington.
Lucas is famous for cutting out the middle-man and getting his drugs directly from the source, rather than go through a complicated system of dealers. This is genius in terms of profit maximization and it led to Lucas making a fortune in the 1970s. Somehow Washington’s performance makes it hard to root against him, and when you find yourself connecting with a man who's poisoning his community, he’s done his job.
14. Milo, The Pusher Trilogy (1996-2005)
Portrayed by: Zlatko Burić
During Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher trilogy, there were scant few people who could touch Milo, a powerful Serbian drug lord with endless resources and limited patience. But what separates Milo from the rest are small character touches, such as his relationship with his daughter and his love of cooking. Burić is so good as Milo that he reprises the role in the English remake.
Milo also isn’t above violence, as he’s often shown torturing and beating those who have wronged him with the help of his army of criminals. Yet as the Pusher series unfolds, we see an ageing Milo attempting to move on with his life by quitting drugs and becoming a better father. Somehow all of that actually made him cooler.
13. Li’l Ze, City of God (2002)
Portrayed by: Leandro Firmino da Hora
Li’l Ze isn’t the type of criminal that you secretly root for because you find his lavish lifestyle attractive. A homicidal child gangster grown up, he’s a malicious, cold-blooded drug lord who stops at absolutely nothing to slaughter anyone in his way—including children. He gets the job done because he's ruthless and sadistic. The movie City of God deals with crime in Rio de Janeiro during the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, and Li’l Ze’s empire is among the most dangerous in the land.
To see someone go about their business with such apathy towards his fellow man is simply astounding, and anyone with even a shred of a conscience should be absolutely repulsed by it. However, Leandro Firmino da Hora’s strong performance makes it impossible to turn away.
12. Rupert Guest, Rules of Attraction (2002)
Portrayed by: Clifton Collins Jr.
By no means is Clifton Collins the star of Rules of Attraction, but his role as Rupert Guest, a completely unhinged drug dealer, is the high point of the entire film. Collins’ performance is pure scenery-chewing goodness as his off-the-wall demeanor alternates between psychotically comical and dangerously serious. The over-the-top nature of the performance gives you a look inside of Guest’s drug-addled head in a way that makes us crave more from him.
The work of Bret Easton Ellis has been a mixed bag on the screen so far, but the character of Rupert Guest is arguably the most enjoyable character adapted from of all of his books, outside of American Psycho's Patrick Bateman.
11. Brady Kincaid, Leaves of Grass (2010)
Portrayed by: Edward Norton
In Leaves of Grass, Ed Norton plays identical twin brothers from Oklahoma—Bill, who's fled the rural existence to become a philosophy professor in the northeast, and Brady (above, right), who embraces his hick identity but is equally brilliant and develops an awe-inspiring, all-natural marijuana growth system.
Despite a debt to a business partner, Brady refuses to put his technical know-how to work on synthetic drugs to drive up profit and kills his threatening investor instead. Murder isn't cool, but you have to love a drug dealer who challenges your assumption of what a "yokel" has upstairs and is homicidally devoted to keeping green.
10. Thurgood Jenkins, Half Baked (1998)
Portrayed by: Dave Chappelle
Half Baked was the big break that propelled Dave Chappelle into the mainstream. It also proved that drug dealers don't need to be ultra-serious and violent to be awesome. Thurgood, a harmless stoner janitor who starts selling pot with his red-eyed boys to bail their friend out of jail, then runs afoul of a powerful drug lord who demands that they fork over $20K per week, is more of a menace to himself than to society. Chappelle's fish-out-of-water character delivers with gut-busting style. We're rather high on it, at least.
9. Saul Silver, Pineapple Express (2008)
Portrayed by: James Franco
Saul Silver is the familiar slacker drug dealer everyone has run across as some point in their lives, only he’s in need of a friend, absolutely hilarious, and elevates Pineapple Express above just a vapid stoner comedy. He’s a drug expert, and because of that he lands legendary weed that is capable of stopping a full-grown elephant in its tracks.
Unfortunately for Saul, his trademark buds land him in the middle of a violent conspiracy and he spends most of the movie either getting shot at or stabbed with kitchen utensils. Still, the dude made more money selling pot than most people with bachelors degrees do at their real jobs, so it’s hard not to look at this slacker’s lifestyle choice without a little envy creeping up.
8. Ronald "Strike" Dunham, Clockers (1995)
Portrayed by: Mekhi Phifer
In Spike Lee’s underrated gem Clockers, Mekhi Phifer plays Strike, a low-level, round-the-clock dope peddler who realizes how trapped he is in the game and hates it. Employed by a local drug lord who fronts paternal but will snuff out anyone who threatens his operation, harassed by cops, and surrounded by black-on-black violence, Strike has an ulcer he attempts to soothe with chocolate milk and retreats from the stress of his job by playing with model trains.
With all the glorification of the drug trade and its violence, it's a pleasant departure to see a character who's worn down by the grind of it and dreams of escaping. Strike serves as a reminder of the reality of the dope game: For every king there are thousands of pawns going nowhere fast.
7. Big Worm, Friday (1995)
Portrayed by: Faizon Love
“Playing with my money is like playing with my emotions.” It’s with that one quote that the personality of Big Worm is spelled out for audiences. Despite being significantly overweight and rocking a colony of curlers in his hair, Big Worm is still someone you don’t want to cross, especially if your voice is as high and whiny as Chris Tucker’s.
The site of Worm cruising down the block in his convertible is enough to send anyone who owes him money into a panic. And while the audience never see him curb-stomping cheapskates into oblivion, it's clear that he’s more than capable of it.
6. George Jung, Blow (2001)
Portrayed by: Johnny Depp
This entry is another example of a real-life criminal getting dramatized on the big screen with perfect results. In Blow, George Jung isn’t concerned with cornering a small market of coke to make his money. During an early stint in prison for selling weed, he makes Colombian connections (“Danbury wasn't a prison, it was a crime school. I went in with a Bachelor of marijuana, came out with a Doctorate of cocaine.”) and becomes the trusted U.S. runner for Pablo Escobar. At one point he's making so much money that he has stacks of bills up to the ceiling like an episode of Hoarders.
Depp’s performance gave a glimpse at the man behind the headlines and showed Jung’s resourcefulness and drive to create an empire. As part of the Medellín Cartel, it is rumored that Jung and his associates were involved in over 80% of the cocaine distribution in the U.S. You have to admire an entrepreneur with big ideas, even if he is in the drug game.
5. Frank White, King of New York (1990)
Portrayed by: Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is known for a résumé full of psychotic characters, and in King of New York he is at his most complex as Frank White, a drug lord from New York who is released from prison as the movie opens. He spends most of the film at odds with the cops, killing anyone opposed to him, and eyeing a potential political future. But under the surface, he’s much more than that, which is probably why the Notorious B.I.G. took to calling himself Frank White (or maybe he just fancied himself the king of New York).
The most interesting part about the character is that he’s not entirely bad. He actually attempts to give back to the community while going about his criminal ways and he seems genuinely concerned with those living in poverty. He views himself as some sort of savior to the people of New York. But his attempts at social justice usually fall to the wayside as his violent profession often overshadows any good he is capable of. He’s the dealer with the heart of gold, even if his lifestyle catches up to him by film’s end.
4. Drexl Spivey, True Romance (1993)
Portrayed by: Gary Oldman
He’s not in the film for a long time, but the few scant moments that Gary Oldman plays the psychotic dealer Drexl Spivey make True Romance a classic. Spivey, who's scarred up, racially confused, and sports some gnarly dreads, is both humorous and vicious, as seen in a coke theft and his negotiation for the freedom of one of his prostitutes, where he snaps from jokes to murder in an instant.
It’s a credit to the ability of Oldman that he can be such a recognizable actor yet be so unrecognizable here. Spivey is completely unhinged and unafraid of the enemies he’s gained during his various indiscretions. His line of work winds up getting him at the end, but for a brief moment, Oldman gave us a glimpse at one of cinema’s most unfiltered sociopaths.
3. Ralph Wiley, Reefer Madness (1936)
Portrayed by: Dave O’Brien
Reefer Madness was released in the 1936 basically to scare the hell out of anyone even thinking about smoking a joint. The main dealer here was Ralph Wiley, who turned into a dangerous criminal because of his pot habit. It is suggested that the drug causes him to attempt to rape and kill anyone in his path, until he's eventually thrown into a mental asylum.
This is propaganda of the highest order without any factual basis for the effects of marijuana on the human mind. Although the brainwashing attempted here is pretty obvious, Wiley is still an icon in terms of on-screen drug dealers. This over-the-top performance has entered into the pantheon of it’s-so-bad-it’s-good, and it still ranks among our favorites.
2. Nino Brown, New Jack City (1991)
Portrayed by: Wesley Snipes
In New Jack City, Wesley Snipes plays drug lord Nino Brown, who makes a fortune dealing crack cocaine in NYC in the 1980s. He and his Cash Money Brothers even take over an entire apartment complex, named the Carter, and transform it into a crack manufacturing lab and den. This is Snipes at his best, and he plays the role of Nino Brown with a cocksure combination of street smarts and business savvy.
Nino’s shining moment comes at the movie’s end when he makes an impassioned speech against the lawmakers in the U.S., claiming he’s not to blame for the drug epidemic. It’s almost enough to make you stand up and cheer until you realize the man is attempting to save the name of his crack empire.
1. Tony Montana, Scarface (1983)
Portrayed by: Al Pacino
In the history of film, no drug dealer has been able to touch the influence or the empire of Tony Montana in Scarface. A criminal Cuban immigrant pursuing the American dream, he uses his balls and his word to rise up the ranks in the drug trafficking world from soldier to coke kingpin before unraveling and meeting his inevitable end in an unforgettable, white-nostril, machine-gun-toting finale. Film had never seen anything like it before and hasn't since.
Nearly every word out of Tony’s mouth is absolutely terrifying and iconic. When Pacino was still putting the proper care into his performances, he was able to bring a certain underlying rage to his characters, and Montana was perhaps his most volatile role ever. But above all of that, he was incredibly relatable as a man driven to succeed in a world out to get him.
Since Scarface hit theaters in 1983, nearly every real and imagined drug kingpin has walked in Montana’s footsteps, but no one has come close to putting the complete package of rage, intimidation, and cool that Pacino brought to the role.