A Brief History Of Gangster FIlms....

            Welcome back to Gangsters Paradise! As promised, the following post contains a brief history of gangster films. Now let's dive right in!

            According to Hughes (2006), probably the most significant moment in history that would give gangster films their cultural significance, is the prohibition era of the 1920’s. With the combination of prohibition, and the influx of immigrants that poured into the United States, organized crime was destined to flourished. Gangsters like Al Capone created real life stories fit for the movies. Such as the “St. Valentines Day Massacre”, where men employed by Capone, dressed as police officers and brutally murdered a rival gang with Thompson sub-machine guns (later nicknamed the “Chicago Typewriter”) (Hughes, 2006).

            Thus, the gangster film was born, and it was 1930’s Hollywood where classic films like Scarface, Shame of a Nation directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Paul Muni made their stake in gangster film history (Hughes, 2006). Furthermore, the 1940’s and 1950’s gave birth to the film noir movement, which had unmistakable uses of plot elements, shadows, camera angles, and lighting contrast that gave gangster films in that era a distinctive common feel and look about them (Harvey, 1972). The 1960’s found the gangster film in an interesting time. The cutthroat killers that were portrayed in the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s, were now becoming super agents, such as Ian Fleming’s book adapted for the screen Dr. No, and also caper films such as Ocean’s Eleven, which depicts a heist of five casinos (Hughes, 2006).

            Nonetheless, and as Hughes (2006) continues, the gangster film prevailed entering the 1970’s with the release of The Godfather parts I & II And into the 80’s with Sergio Leone’s epic Once Upon a Time in America, and Scarface directed by Brian De Palma starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana. To continue, the 1990’s gave us some of the most notable gangster films yet created. They are: GoodFellas and Casino, both of which were directed by Martin Scorsese, and Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction directed by Quentin Tarantino (Hughes, 2006). In recent years, the gangster film is still a staple in the American moviegoers diet. Films such as Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day, Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, and Ridley Scott’s American Gangster, have developed a solid following in the years since their release.

            It is this knowledge of the history and progression of the gangster film genre that we will employ, and ultimately build on top of to explore all that this genre has to offer. The gangster films genre elements, semiotics, gender, function of mise-en-scene, shots and editing, sound/ score/ music, and the filmmakers, along with isolating and analyzing a scene, and discussing how gangster films have become successful over time, will become the frame work that we will utilize to create a sound structure of knowledge within the genre of gangster films.

            So, until next time on the Gangster’s Paradise fan blog when we will discuss the elements of the gangster film genre, we will part with a few words from one of our favorite bad guys...

"What you lookin' at? You all a bunch of fuckin' assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be? You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy." So... what that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem. Me, I always tell the truth. Even when I lie. So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you." - Al Pacino as "Tony Montana" in Scarface (1983)

Harvey, S. (1972). Woman's place: the absent family of film noir . Screen,13(3), 5-44.

Hughes, H. (2006). Criminal Record: An Introduction to Crime Movies. Crime wave the filmgoers' guide to the great crime movies (pp. xi-xxvi). London: I.B. Tauris