Gangster Films

A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform certain illegal acts. The genre is differentiated from Westerns and the gangs of that genre.

Overview

In 2008, the American Film Institute defines the genre as "centered on organized crime or maverick criminals in a twentieth century setting". The institute named it one of the 10 "classic genres" in its 10 Top 10 list, released in 2008. The list recognizes 3 films from 1931 & 1932, '' Scarface'', ''The Public Enemy'' & '' Little Caesar''. Only 1 film made the list from 1933 to 1966, 1949's '' White Heat''. This was at least partly due to the limitations on the genre imposed by the Hays Code, which was abandoned in favor of the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system in 1968.

Beginning in the 1960s, the genre was revitalized in the New Hollywood movement. New Hollywood directors were honored with 5 of the top 6 films on the list—1967's ''Bonnie and Clyde'' by Arthur Penn, 1972's ''The Godfather'' and 1974's ''The Godfather Part II'' both by Francis Ford Coppola, 1983's '' Scarface'', a remake of the 1932 original, by Brian De Palma, and 1990's '' Goodfellas'' by Martin Scorsese. The rise and fall of a mobster in a classic gangster film is often a thematic trope.

In the 1970s, as genre theory came to the focus of academic study and the creation of a more specific taxonomy of genres was defined, gangster films started being distinguished from other subgenres, especially that of western. The genre has been predominantly defined by its historical, ideological, and sociocultural context. Three main categories of gangster films can be distinguished, according to Martha Nochimson: films that follow the escapades of outlaw rebels, such as ''Bonnie and Clyde'', melodramas of villain gangsters against whom the in-story victims and the audience identify, such as ''Key Largo'' and, most predominantly in the genre, films following an outsider, immigrant gangster protagonist, with whom the audience identifies.

The first Japanese films about the Yakuza evolved from the Tendency films of the 1930s. They featured historical tales of outlaws and the abuses suffered by the common people, often at the hands of the corrupt powers that be. The so-called "Chivalry movies" of the 1960s gave way to the violent realism of Kinji Fukasaku, whose 1973 ''Battles Without Honor and Humanity'' would inspire future filmmakers across the globe.

Gangster films in the United States

Early Hollywood

In 1931 and 1932, three of the most enduring gangster films ever were produced. ''Scarface'', ''Little Caesar'' and ''The Public Enemy'' remain as three of the greatest examples of the genre. However, starting in the mid-1930s, the Hays Code and its requirements for all criminal action to be punished, and all authority figures to be treated with respect, made gangster films scarce for the next three decades.

Politics combined with the social and economic climate of the time, influenced how crime films were made, and how the characters were portrayed. Many of the films imply that criminals are the creation of society, rather than its rebel, and considering the troublesome and bleak time of the 1930s, that argument carries significant weight. Often the best gangster films are closely tied to the reality of crime, reflecting public interest in a particular aspect of criminal activity. Thus, the gangster film is in a sense, a history of crime in the United States.

The institution of Prohibition in 1920 led to an explosion in crime, and the depiction of bootlegging is a frequent occurrence in many early mob films. As the 1930s progressed, Hollywood also experimented with the stories of rural criminals and bank robbers, such as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd. The success of these characters in film can be attributed to their value as news subjects, as their exploits often thrilled the people of a nation who had become weary with inefficient government and apathy in business. As the newly formed FBI increased in power, there was a shift to favour the stories of the FBI agents hunting the criminals, instead of focusing on the criminal characters. In 1935, at the height of the hunt for Dillinger, the Production Code office issued an order that no film should be made about Dillinger, for fear of further glamorizing his character.

Many of the 1930s crime films dealt with class and ethnic conflict, notably the earliest films, reflecting doubts about how well the American system was working. As stated, many films pushed the message that criminals were the result of a poor moral and economic society, and many criminal protagonists are portrayed as having foreign backgrounds or coming from the lower class. Thus, the film criminal is often able to evoke sympathy and admiration from the viewer, who often shift the blame from the criminal's shoulders, onto a cruel society in which success is difficult. At the end of the 1930s, crime films became more figurative, representing metaphors, as opposed to the more straight forward films produced earlier in the decade, showing an increasing interest in offering a thought provoking message about criminal character.

New Hollywood

With the abolition of the Hays Code in the late 1960s, studios and filmmakers found themselves free to produce films dealing with subject matter that had previously been off-limits. Early examples include Arthur Penn's 1967 depression-era tale of ''Bonnie and Clyde''. In 1973's ''Mean Streets'', Scorsese directed a cinema vérité story of a young aspiring mobster and his problem-gambler friend, played by Robert De Niro. In 1974, Sam Peckinpah directed ''Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'', about the Mexican mob, family honor, and the opportunistic Bennie (Warren Oates), friend of the eponymous Alfredo Garcia, looking to make a big score when the chance drops in his lap.

''Bonnie and Clyde'' was one of 1967's biggest box office hits and garnered 2 Academy Awards and 8 other nominations, including best picture. It, along with the others, were overshadowed by Francis Ford Coppola's ''Godfather'' saga.

''The Godfather'' pioneering Italian-American Mafia films

In 1972, Francis Ford Coppola's ''The Godfather'' was released. The epic story of the Corleone family, its generational transition from post-prohibition to post-war, its fratricidal intrigues, and its tapestry of mid-century America's criminal underworld became a huge critical and commercial success. It accounted for nearly 10% of gross proceeds for all films for 1972. It won the Oscar for Best Picture, as well as the award for Best Actor for Marlon Brando and is widely considered one of the greatest American films of all time. In 1974, ''The Godfather Part II'' became the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year and garnered 11 Academy Award nominations. It again won Best Picture. Coppola won Best Director and Robert De Niro won best supporting actor for his portrayal of a young Vito Corleone.

The lesson of the films' successes was not wasted on Hollywood. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the studios issued a steady flow of films about Italian American gangsters and the Mafia. Some of these were critically acclaimed. Scorsese's '' Goodfellas'' about Henry Hill's life and relationship with the Lucchese and Gambino crime families, was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director and won the award for Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci's performance. Italian-American film ''Once Upon a Time in America'' directed by Sergio Leone about David "Noodles" Aaronson played by Robert De Niro is considered one of the best gangster films of all time.

The 1987 film ''The Untouchables'' was nominated for four Academy Awards. Sean Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in his role as an associate of Eliot Ness who helped bring down Al Capone. Others, however, strayed into stereotypes and the gratuitous use of Italian ethnicity in minor characters who happened to be criminals. This created a backlash in a portion of the Italian American community.

Scorsese and the 1990s–2010s

In the 1990s there were several critically acclaimed mob films, many of which were loosely based on real crimes and their perpetrators. Many of these films featured long-time actors, well known for their roles as mobsters such as Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Chazz Palminteri.

In 1990, '' Goodfellas'', directed by Martin Scorsese, starred Ray Liotta as real-life associate of the Lucchese crime family Henry Hill. It was one of the most notable gangster films of the 1990s. Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci also starred in the film, with Pesci earning an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, making ''Goodfellas'' one of the most critically acclaimed crime films of all time.

In 1990, ''The Godfather Part III'' was released. Al Pacino reprised his role as the iconic Michael Corleone. The film served as the final installment in The Godfather trilogy, following Michael Corleone as he tries to legitimize the Corleone family in the twilight of his career.

In 1993, Pacino starred in ''Carlito's Way'' as a former gangster released from prison who vows to go straight.

In 1995, following their collaboration in ''Goodfellas'', Scorsese, De Niro and Pesci teamed up again to make ''Casino'', based on Frank Rosenthal, an associate of the Chicago Outfit, that ran multiple casinos in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 1980s. The film was De Niro's third mob film of the 1990s, following ''Goodfellas'' (1990) and ''A Bronx Tale ''(1993).

In 1996, Armand Assante starred in the television film '' Gotti'' as infamous New York mobster, John Gotti.

In 1997's ''Donnie Brasco'', Pacino starred alongside Johnny Depp in the true story of undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone and his infiltration of the Bonanno crime family of New York City during the 1970s. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

In 2006, Scorsese released ''The Departed'', his adaptation of ''Infernal affairs'', the Hong Kong film. ''The Departed'' was also loosely based on the Whitey Bulger story, and Boston's Winter Hill Gang, which Bulger led. It earned Scorsese an Academy Award for Best Director, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

A 2018 biographical mafia film, '' Gotti'', directed by Kevin Connolly, stars John Travolta as John Gotti, released in June. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 0% based on 38 reviews, and an average rating of 2.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Fuhgeddaboudit." In 2019, Martin Scorsese released a biographical mafia film distributed by Netflix, ''The Irishman'', starring all three heavyweights in the genre, Robert De Niro as Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa and Joe Pesci as Russell Bufalino.

2020s

In 2021, ''The Many Saints of Newark'' was released, as a prequel to David Chase's HBO New Jersey Italian mafia series, ''The Sopranos''. Directed by Alan Taylor and produced by David Chase and Lawrence Konner, the film focuses on the young future mafia boss Tony Soprano, with the 1967 Newark riots as a backdrop.

African Americans

Apart from telling their own tales of African American gangsters in syndicates, films like '' Black Caesar'' feature the Italian mafia prominently. Often the blaxploitation films of the 1970s such as '' Shaft'' tell the tale of African American gangsters rising up and defeating the established white criminal order. African Americans were under-represented in filmmaking roles during much of the 20th century. It took African American producers and directors of the 1990s like John Singleton, Spike Lee and the Hughes Brothers to begin exploring the criminal lifestyle in American urban communities, telling stories of drugs, gang culture, gang violence, racism and poverty in African American communities. Examples of films from the 1990s fitting the African-American gangster genre include ''Boyz N The Hood'', ''Menace II Society'' and ''New Jack City''.

Cocaine and the cartels

Brian De Palma's 1983 remake of '' Scarface'' stars Al Pacino as Tony Montana, a Cuban exile and ambitious newcomer to Miami who sees an opportunity to build his own drug empire. Abel Ferrara's 1990 ''King of New York'' tells the story of Frank White, (Christopher Walken) and his return to New York City from prison. He navigates both the traditional Italian mafia authorities as well as the new cartels, as they are producing, smuggling and distributing cocaine in an uneasy business alliance.

Latino gang films

* Boulevard Nights (1979)
* Walk Proud (1979)
* Zoot Suit (film) (1981)
* American Me (1992)
* Blood In Blood Out (1993)
* Carlito's Way (1993)
* Mi Vida Loca (1994)
* My Family (film) (1995)

French gangster films

An early example of the Gallic gangster film is Maurice Tourneur’s 1935 film '' Justin de Marseille'' set in Marseille. Tourneur's gangster-hero differentiates from his American equivalent by valuing honour, artisanship, community and solidarity. Four years before of the rise of film noir, in 1937, Julien Duvivier created ''Pépé le Moko'', a French gangster film in the style of poetic realism that takes place in the Casbah. Its distribution in America was blocked by the US-makers of its 1938 remake Algiers. French gangster films appeared again in the mid-1950s, most notably Jacques Becker's ''Touchez pas au grisbi'', American blacklisted filmmaker Jules Dassin's ''Rififi'' and Jean-Pierre Melville's ''Bob le flambeur''. Melville would directed 1967's
''Le Samouraï'' starring Alain Delon as mob hitman Jef Costello.

1969 and 1970 saw the release of three successful French gangster films featuring the day's biggest French movie stars. All three films featured good looking star Alain Delon. In 1969, Jean Gabin, Delon, and Lino Ventura starred in '' Le clan des siciliens'', about a jewel thief and the Mafia. In 1970, '' Borsalino'', a tale of the Italian Mafia in 1930 Marseilles, featured Delon, along with Jean-Paul Belmondo. In 1970, in ''Le Cercle Rouge'', Delon, Gian Maria Volonté, and Yves Montand team up to rob an impenetrable jewelry store.

All three of the films were domestic successes, and ''Borsalino'' was popular elsewhere in Europe. None of them, however, broke through in the United States.

* ''22 Bullets''
* Mesrine (2008 film)

Italian-made gangster films

* The Bankers of God: The Calvi Affair
* Belluscone: A Sicilian Story
* The Big Family
* Biùtiful cauntri
* Black City
* Black Turin
* Blood Brothers
* Blood Ties
*Il Boss
*Caliber 9
*Camorra
* Canne mozze
* Il Capo dei Capi
* A Children's Story
*The City Stands Trial
*Confessions of a Police Captain
*The Consequences of Love
*Contraband
*Corleone
*The Day of the Owl
*Il Divo
*Excellent Cadavers
* Fort Apache Napoli
* From Corleone to Brooklyn
* Gang War
*Gang War in Naples
*Giovanni Falcone
* Gomorrah
* How to Kill a Judge
*Illustrious Corpses
* In the Name of the Law
*The Italian Connection
* Johnny Stecchino
*The Legendary Giulia and Other Miracles
* Mafia and Red Tomatoes
* Mafia Connection
* The Mafia Kills Only in Summer
* Mafioso
* The Man of Glass
*The Mattei Affair
* Napoli violenta
* The New Godfathers
* One Hundred Days in Palermo
* One Hundred Steps
* The Palermo Connection
* The Payoff
* La piovra
* The Professor
* Red Moon
*The Repenter
*Romanzo Criminale
* Salvatore Giuliano
* Sacred Silence
* Secret File
* Tatanka
* The Sicilian Girl
*The Sicilian
*La sfida
* Sgarro alla camorra
*Suburra
* The Immortal
*Black Souls
* Turri il bandito
* Vento del sud
*We Still Kill the Old Way
* Weapons of Death
* Where's Picone?

British gangster films

Various British film noir and crime dramas from the 1930s, 40s and 50s were set in the underworld with gangster or racketeer character, such as ''Night and the City'' (1950).

The 1947 adaptation of the Graham Greene novel by the same name, '' Brighton Rock'', is a stark portrayal of a young gang leader and the racketeers in Brighton. It has been recognized as one of the greatest UK films ever by the British Film Institute.

The late 1960s to early 70s saw a brief boom in British gangster films, alongside spy films and heist films, mirroring similar trends in Hollywood, Italy and elsewhere. Some films from this era took a lighthearted comedic approach to crime stories, like ''The Italian Job'' (1969), while others like ''Villain'' and ''Get Carter'' (both 1971) had a much darker neo-noir tone, a more fatalistic story, and a more gritty and violent portrayal of gangster life.

The early 2000s saw a resurgence of British gangster films, popularised by director Guy Ritchie's black comedy ensemble caper films ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998) and '' Snatch'' (2000), and by Jonathan Glazer's ''Sexy Beast'' (2000).

Notable British gangster films from the 1960s onward include:

* Robbery (1967) – a fictionalised portrayal of the 1963 Great Train Robbery
* The Italian Job (1969)
* Performance (1970)
* Villain (1971)
* Get Carter (1971)
* Sitting Target (1972)
* The Long Good Friday (1980)
* The Hit (1984)
* Mona Lisa (1986)
* Stormy Monday (1988)
* Face (1997)
* Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
* Essex Boys (2000)
* Gangster No. 1 (2000)
* Love, Honour and Obey (2000)
* Sexy Beast (2000)
* Snatch (2000)
* I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003)
* Layer Cake (2004)
* The Business (2005)
* A Very British Gangster (2006) – documentary
* Eastern Promises (2007) – Russian Mafia in the UK
* RocknRolla (2008)
* In Bruges (2008)
* Dead Man Running (2009)
* Down Terrace (2009)
* London Boulevard (2010)
* Wild Bill (2011)
* The Wee Man (2013) – Scottish gangster film
* We Still Kill the Old Way (2014)

Films about the Kray Twins (active in the 1950s and 60s) include:
* The Krays (1990)
* The Rise of the Krays (2015)
*Legend (2015)
* The Fall of the Krays (2016)

Richard Burton's character in ''Villain'' (1971) was also loosely based on Ronnie Kray.

Japan and the Yakuza

The ''ninkyo eiga'' (chivalry films) were replaced in the late 1960s and early 1970s by a new style, pioneered by Kinji Fukasaku and inspired by the French New Wave and American Film noir called ''Jitsuroku eiga'' (true record films). The new style is considered to have begun with Fukasaku's ''Battles Without Honor and Humanity'' (1972), a violent, realistic portrayal of post-war gangs in the ruins of Hiroshima.

Prior to ''Battles'', the films of Seijun Suzuki had departed from the ''ninkyo eiga'' formula, but had met with limited commercial success. Suzuki's ''Branded to Kill'' later inspired other directors in the gangster film genre, including John Woo, Chan-wook Park and Quentin Tarantino.

Indian cinema

Indian cinema has several genres of gangster films.

* Dacoit films, a genre about dacoit gangs in rural India. The genre often draws inspiration from real dacoits. Examples:
** '' Aurat'' (1940)
** ''Mother India'' (1957)
** ''Gunga Jumna'' (1961)
** ''Sholay'' (1975)
** ''Bandit Queen'' (1994)
* Mumbai underworld films, a genre about the Mumbai underworld, gangs hailing from the urban slums of Mumbai, formerly Bombay. The genre often draws inspiration from real Mumbai underworld gangsters, such as Haji Mastan, Dawood Ibrahim and D-Company.

Examples include:
**'' Zanjeer'' (1973)
** ''Deewaar'' (1975)
** '' Don'' franchise (19782012)
** ''Nayakan'' (1986)
** ''Salaam Bombay!'' (1988)
** ''Aryan'' (1988)
** ''Parinda'' (1989)
** ''Abhimanyu'' (1991)
** ''Baashha'' (1995)
** ''Satya'' (1998)
** ''Company'' (2002)
** '' Black Friday'' (2004)
**''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 film which is inspired by Mumbai underworld films from Indian cinema.
**'' Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai'' (2010) and ''Once Upon ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara!'' (2013)
* ''Gangs of Wasseypur'' is a film series which is based on the Mafia Raj.
*''Aaranya Kaandam'' is a 2010 Tamil-language film which was based on North Madras crimes.
*''Subramaniapuram'' is a 2008 Tamil-language film Based on real life events in Madurai.
*''Pudhupettai'' is a 2006 Tamil-language film written and directed by Selvaraghavan.
*''Kammatipaadam'' is a 2016 Malayalam-language gangster film by Rajeev Ravi about the land mafia in Ernakulam.
*''Vikram Vedha'' is a 2017 Tamil-language film directed by Pushkar-Gayatri based on a folk tale ''Baital Pachisi''.
*'' Vada Chennai'' is a 2018 Tamil-language film by Vetrimaran which explores about the North Madras people and their lifestyle in the 90s
*'' Om'' is a Kannada-language film written and directed by Upendra which explores Bangalore Underworld and mafia.
*''Ugramm'' is a 2014 Kannada-language film which explores the underworld with world-building and revenge themes.
*''Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu'' is a 2022 Tamil-language film by Gautham Vasudev Menon which revolves around an MBBS graduate turning into a gangster

Hong Kong

The Hong Kong gangster film genre began with 1986's ''A Better Tomorrow'', directed by John Woo and starring Chow Yun Fat. Woo's tale of counterfeiters portrays a gangster who balances "Kung Fu honor" and the materialistic goals of the Triads. It was the all-time biggest grossing Hong Kong film at the box office and was critically acclaimed. Woo followed with a string of successes, including '' The Killer'', ''Bullet in the Head'', and ''Hard Boiled''.

* Gun fu
* Heroic bloodshed
* ''A Better Tomorrow'' (1986)
* '' City on Fire'' (1987)
* '' The Killer'' (1989)
* '' To Be Number One (film)'' (1991)
* ''Infernal Affairs'' (2002)
* '' Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In'' (2024)

Russian cinema

Soviet propaganda has always said that organized crime exists only in the West. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, people of Russia had to face the fact of what they used to previously read only in newspapers. Gang wars accompanied the formation of a free market in Russia. This decade in Russia received the name of the " Dashing 90s" (, translit. ''Lihie devyanostye'').

In 1997, director Aleksei Balabanov released ''Brother'' which acquired cult status, and started to return interest of local people to Russian cinema, which had been in crisis since the early 1990s. In 2000 came the sequel '' Brother 2'', which was even more successful. In 2001, actor Sergei Bodrov Jr., who played a major role in both of those films, released ''Sisters'', which was his directorial debut. Other notable films of those years were '' Antikiller'' (2002) by Yegor Konchalovsky and ''Tycoon'' (2002) by Pavel Lungin.

In 2004, Pyotr Buslov, a young 26-year-old director, released '' Bimmer'', which instantly became a hit. This movie about four friends was made in the road movie style. In 2006, Buslov released the sequel '. In 2005, Aleksei Balabanov returned to the theme of gangster cinema and filmed a black comedy '' Dead Man's Bluff''. In 2010, Balabanov returned to the theme of bandits in ''The Stoker''. In 2010, '' The Alien Girl'' was released by Anton Bormatov.

Russian television shows a lot of series about bandits, however, they are mostly of poor quality. A great success was the 2002 mini-series ''Brigada'', which received cult status.

Comedy and parodies

*''Johnny Dangerously'' (1984)
*'' The Freshman'' (1990)
*''Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood'' (1996) (not a Mafia film, but a hit gangster parody, by The Wayans Brothers)
*'' Mafia!'' (1998)
*'' Mickey Blue Eyes'' (1999)
*''Analyze This'' (1999)
*''Analyze That'' (2002)

See also

*

References

Bibliography

Film Study: An Analytical Bibliography, Volume 1


* Cortés, Carlos E. “Italian-Americans in Film: From Immigrants to Icons.” MELUS, vol. 14, no. 3/4, 1987, pp. 107–126. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/467405.
*

Further reading

Gangster Films at oxfordbibliographies.com

Exploring the South African gangster film genre prior and post liberation: a study of Mapantsula, Hijack Stories and Jerusalema

Researcher studies a century's worth of gangsters in film, TV – K.U. School of the Arts

Paris, city of shadows: French crime cinema before the New Wave

Gangster film: Glasgow's Traditional Identities (available pages: 155–158)

The Gangster Film: Fatal Success in American Cinema

Melodramas Of Ethnicity And Masculinity: Generic Transformations Of Late Twentieth Century American Film Gangsters by Larissa Ennis

External links

Gangster Films at encyclopedia.com

Gangsters and Genre at criminology.oxfordre.com

100 Greatest Gangster Films


* ttps://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/aug/16/french-gangster-movies Pretty crime: French gangster movies
Russian gangster films as popular history: genre, ideology and memory in Pavel Lungin's Tycoon

The Gangster as Hero in Hong Kong Cinema

{{Authority control

Film genres