The Verdict secures its viewers empathy for Paul Newman’s redemptive lawyer in such devastating effect, that when it’s revealed that his girlfriend Laura (Charlotte Rampling) was a plant from the opposition (led by James Mason), it seemed only fitting that she receive a knock on the jaw for her deception.

Based on true events, Donnie Brasco is a stirring crime drama that, at its core, explores the relationship between Johnny Depp’s undercover FBI agent and Al Pacino’s small time mafia mentor, with Depp injecting the right amount of guilt, anger, and confusion into a role which proved that he did not have to play quirky to be effective.

Michael Mann’s powerful thriller, based on the true story of corporate tobacco whistle blower Jeffrey Wigand, features an in form Russell Crowe (complete with extra tire and grey hire) as a man pushed to the brink after he decides to take on the monster which is the tobacco industry.

Where most films do not depict just how undercover cops learn their tools of deception, Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs shows Tim Roth’s Mr. Orange taught the methods of his trade, so he can be as natural as Brando and fool his fellow bandits into thinking he is legit, a bullet to the gut helping things along.

While there have been maybe an undercover cop film (as seen in this list), not many throw the spotlight on the rats wearing blue. Infernal Affairs changed on that, featuring two cops working undercover for opposing teams, with Andy Lau’s conflicted mob mole the more interesting of the two.

Matt Damon’s take on the character in the 2006 remake The Departed also comes up aces, his Colin Sullivan yearning for a spiritual respite in his constant glances at the local church, while failing to fit in at his increasingly hostile precinct.

Frank Serpico was a hero informant to a city who had to bear the brunt of their crooked cops, and a rat to his fellow police officers who wished him dead. But to Serpico himself, he was a guy who just wanted to do his job without feeling the pressure from either side, Pacino injecting the right amount of sensitivity and fiery passion into the role.

The most infamous rat of all, there have been many films which depict just how Judas betrayed Jesus, with Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ the most visceral and closest to the source material, with Judas (Luca Lionello) selling out his saviour to the authorities for a handful of silver, with latter scenes showing him literally plagued by demons before taking his own life.

In the plethora of undercover cops portrayed of the silver screen, Johnny Utah remains a favourite. “Young, dumb, and full of cum”, Utah thrusts himself into his task at hand – the finding and dismantling of a group of bank robbing surfers – and encrusts himself into an alternate lifestyle that opens the eyes of the straight laced FBI man, and has him fall in admiration for yoda of the waves and gang leader, Bodhi (played by the late, great Patrick Swayze).

Big wave surfing and high octane sky diving follows, as well as a foot chase that ends with the stargazed comrades at a crossing point in their relationship.

Described by Simon Pegg as “the modern Judas”, Lando Calrissian will forever be known as the man who sold out Han Solo to the Empire, damning him to an eternity in frozen carbonate on the wall of space mobster Jabba the Hut.

Yet unlike Judas, Lando is given a shot at redemption in the following Star Wars film, The Return of the Jedi. Despite the heroic exploits shown in that film, Lando’s reputation as an opportunistic weasel will always haunt him.    

Poor Fredo.

Of the Corleone brood, he was considered the weakest. In the first Godfather, he watched on helplessly after failing to protect his father from assassins. The sequel has him disrespected by his bimbo wife. Feeling powerless and (above all) jealous, Fredo did the unforgivable: he took sides against the family, lured by the prospect of making his own moves, to establishing himself, to regain some pride.

To his horror, his betrayal resulted in an attempted hit on his younger brother, Don Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), who would go on to seal Fredo’s fate with a kiss.