In '18, responding in part to my criticism of Eddie Muller for not pushing hard enough on presnting "social outcry noirs" in the middle of the Trump Occupation, Mike (Solomon) started a list of "Film noirs that tackle institutional corruption and injustice."

The thread didn't go too far before it devolved into political hand-wringing (which, shockingly, I was actually not involved in), but we did identify a larger set of (mostly American) noirs that dealt with such matters. Below I've reworked the list to put it in a very rough chronological order (decades). While it's not as precise as it could be, it's still a useful list to have tucked away here at the Board, so...here 'tis. Feel free to add any titles or pose any questions related to it...

Note I have marked some films with asterisks and daggers. The asterisks are attached to war/spy films that I wonder if "institutional" is being properly applied (given the extraordinary conditions that ensue in wartime). The daggers refer to films that focus on "one bad apple" more than they reflect institutional corruption.

There's also the question about whether the films listed here from the 1930s belong on a list of noirs dealing with institutional corruption.

1930s
I Was a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, prison system
BLACK LEGION, hate groups
MARKED WOMAN, prostitution within organized crime
THEY WON'T FORGET, sham justice for political gain
HEROES FOR SALE, image manipulation via corrupt institutions
ONE THIRD OF A NATION, slumlords
Sabotage, German spies*

1940s
Notorious, German spies*
The Stranger, hidden Nazi*
Ministry of Fear, German spies*
Open Secret, patriotic organization that's anti-Semitic
Act of Violence, war (traitor)†
All the King's Men, government (demagoguery, corrupt populism)
Force of Evil, syndicate
The Snake Pit, medicine, psychiatry
Brute Force, prison system
Behind Locked Doors, mental hospitals
MEET JOHN DOE, Fascism disguised as fake humanism (ironically, of course, escaping the control of those attempting to manipulate it to their ends)
BODY AND SOUL, corruption in sports, soullessness incarnated by greed
WE WERE STRANGERS, the ethics of revolutionary insurgency
CROSSFIRE, anti-Semitism† (shown as one bad apple, but extrapolated to a larger, more encompassing force in the later stages of the film)
VIOLENCE, populist front organization for neo-fascist racketeering

1950s
The Big Heat, police
New York Confidential, syndicate
Touch of Evil, police
The Turning Point, syndicate + government
Ace in the Hole, media†
On the Waterfront, union
The Garment Jungle, business, union
Chicago Confidential, syndicate
Inside Detroit, union
Sweet Smell of Success, media
A Face in the Crowd, entertainment
Miami Expose, syndicate (mob)
The Mob, syndicate
Storm Warning, KKK
Phenix City Story, criminal control of a city
Rogue Cop, police
The Sellout, police
711 Ocean Drive, syndicate
TRY AND GET ME, mob violence
THE LAWLESS, racial prejudice and media manipulation (Bob covered)
M (1951), mob/syndicate complicity and orchestrated mob violence
THE WELL, the surface of prejudice when a young black girl is in peril
SALT OF THE EARTH, unions
THE UNDERWORLD STORY, rapprochement between organized crime and the media

1960s
Shock Corridor, mental hospitals
THE NAKED KISS, the emotional/sexual dysfunctions that endanger social stability