The gangster/crime film portraying the rise and (usually) fall of the gangster/criminal became popular during the 1930s and 1940s with films such as Little Caesar and Scarface, reflecting audiences’ fascination with figures who, such as Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, achieved financial success consistent with the American dream, but did so through illegal means.

See The Ultimate Gangster and Crime Film Web Site.

Audiences adopted an ambiguous stance towards these characters — they admired their willingness to work hard to achieve success consistent with a “rags to riches” scenario, often through defeating rival gang members, but were repulsed by their use of violence and crime to achieve their goals. The audience also knows the hero is ultimately fated to die or go to prison, given the prevailing value that “crime doesn’t pay.” This ambiguous stance reflects some of the basic contradictions in American culture regarding what constitutes “success” — as defined in terms of financial success and power or as defined in terms of ethical or moral integrity.

During the 1930s, after the Hays Production Code Office objected to the glorification of crime, gangster films focused more on the destruction of the gangster by detective, “gang-fighter” heroes. The gangster/criminal activity from the 1930s to 1950s was associated with bootlegging, racketeering, theft, and bank robbery, as portrayed in Bonnie and Clyde in 1968.

Then, during the 1970s to the 1990s, the gangster film portrayed the ways in which the gangster operated through alternative, more institutionalized criminal activities associated with drugs, extortion, prostitution, and gambling operations, as portrayed in Godfather I, II, III, Goodfellas, Miller’s Crossing, Billy Bathgate, Bugsy, Casino, Prizzi’s Honor, Donnie Brasco, and Reservoir Dogs. More recently, films such as Pulp Fiction, Miller’s Crossing, The Usual Suspects, Fargo, and Jackie Brown, and the television series The Sopranos reflect a more ironic, postmodern stance towards crime, combining comic and psychological elements with portrayal of crime.

The setting for the gangster film has typically been dark, urban worlds. One of Martin Scorsese’s early films, Mean Streets, portrayed the world of small-time, petty gangsters who congregated in pool halls and bars of lower Manhattan. One primary reason that the film noir films of the 1940s, such as The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep were often gangster/crime films was that the world of those films is often portrayed through the images of dark, back-alley, urban worlds. The role of darkness as associated with criminal activity was reflected in the opening scenes of both The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II. In those scenes, there are large, outdoor parties in which guests are enjoying themselves, scenes bathed in a bright whiteness. These “out-front” party scenes are contrasted with dark “back-room” dealing with The Godfather main characters played by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino granting favors or ordering executions. As with the gangster, audiences adopt ambiguous stances towards the characters in these films, admiring their resistance of constraints, but recognizing that they are not entirely above the law.

Crimeculture: crime film genre

Bibliography on Gangster films

For further reading:

Hardy, P. (Ed.). (2000). The Overlook film encyclopedia: The gangster film.
New York: Overlook Press.

Leitch, T. (2002). Crime films. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Mason, F. (2003). American gangster cinema: From “Little Caesar” to “Pulp Fiction.” New York: Palgrave.

Munby, J. (1999). Public enemies, Public heroes: Screening the gangster from Little Caesar to Touch of Evil. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Rafter, N. (2000). Shots in the mirror: Crime films and society. New York: Oxford University Press.

Shadoian, J. (2003). Dreams & dead ends: The American gangster film. New York: Oxford University Press.

Module 7: Word document

Different Perspectives on Genre Study

Audience-based Approaches to Film/Television Genre Study

Critical/Ideological Analysis of Genres

The History and Evolution of Genres

Devising Genre-analysis Activities

Different Genre Types

Action/Adventure

The Western

Gangster/Crime

Detective/Film Noir

Comedy

Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Horror/Monster

Suspense Thriller/Spy/Heist

Soap Opera

The Talk Show

Sports

Game Shows/
Reality TV

Animation

Comics

Graphic Novels

Teaching Activity

References

Teaching activities on genre developed by students in CI5472, Spring, 2004