Welcome again to Gangster’s Paradise! We are giving tribute to the filmmakers who have produced works within the gangster film genre.
Gangsters, within the entirety of this post we are saluting the filmmakers who have given us countless films to enjoy time and time again. Within the genre, there have been a few filmmakers within the last fifty years who have time after time created gangster films that are a credit to the film industry and the genre of gangster films alike. Respectively, these filmmakers are: Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma and Francis Ford Coppola.
Martin Scorsese is a filmmaking giant. Graduating from NYU as a film major, its safe to say he got his monies worth out of that investment. Scorsese does films from all kinds of genres, but obviously the one we are concerned with is his gangster films. Under his belt, he has directed the following: Mean Streets (1973), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), and most recently, The Departed (2006). According to the International Movie Database, Scorsese has won 83 awards over this career. Hailing from Queens, New York, he has become one of the premier directors in the film industry. He works frequently with actors Robert DeNiro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Joe Pesi A fun fact about Martin is that he is one of fifty people banned from entering Tibet after a deal went sour with Disney and Chinese officials (Scorsese – IMDb, n.d.).
Brian De Palma is another filmmaker that produces films in many genres; along with his gangster films he has produced films like the horror film Carrie (1976). De Palma’s gangster film genre filmography is as follows: Scarface (1983), The Untouchables (1987), and Carlito’s Way (1993). Actors that he frequently casts include Robert De Niro, John Lithgow, Al Pacino, and Sean Penn. A fun fact about De Palma is that as a fan of Bruce Springsteen, he directed his “Dancing In The Dark” music video (De Palma – IMDb, n.d.).
Francis Ford Coppola is renowned for co-writing and directing the first installment of The Godfather (1972) trilogy, which is one of the highest grossing films of all time. Coppola graduated college with a degree in drama, and did graduate work at UCLA for filmmaking. His gangster film filmography is limited to The Godfather (1972), The Godfather: Part II (1974), and The Godfather: Part III (1990). Although his gangster film genre work is limited only to The Godfather trilogy, he was the man who made it happen and that is why we are saluting him (Coppola – IMDb, n.d.).
Here is to the men who created all the great films in the gangster film genre. Furthermore, the films that these men created are some of the great films of any genre, well, maybe not The Godfather: Part III, but we forgive Coppola for that one…
Keep on the lookout for the next Gangster’s Paradise post.
"Francis Ford Coppola - IMDb."The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000338/#Director>
"Brian De Palma - IMDb."The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. < http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000361/>
"Martin Scorsese - IMDb."The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. < http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000217/>
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