There is a moral tension at the heart of movies about criminals that often goes unspoken. Namely, the idea that crime is generally not something to aspire to or be proud of. This morality is essentially conventional wisdom and doesn't require being stated outright, certainly not after the days of the Hays Code imposing some sort of moral message on numerous crime movies. Most crime films (and, eventually, TV shows) made after the collapse of the production code took one of several approaches, such as presenting criminals in the form of a grounded character study (with depiction not necessarily equalling endorsement), or as lovable underdogs who make characters (or institutions) that are either morally just as bad or worse than they are their targets. This is all in service of the audience

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