2. Gangster
Gangster films are those which focus on the lives of
criminals or gangsters. It can also be based around the
Mafia, which has its own sub-genre of Mob Films. Film
gangsters are usually materialistic, street-smart, immoral,
and self-destructive. A significant plotline is usually a
rivalry with other gangsters. Crime plots also include
questions such as how the criminal will be apprehended
by police, or lawful authorities. There are also often
mysteries as to who stole a certain item. They rise to
power with a tough cruel exterior while showing an desire
for success and recognition, but underneath they can
show sensitivity and gentleness.
3. Early Gangster Films – The Silent Era
One of the first to mark the start of gangster/crime genre
was D. W. Griffith's The Musketeers of Pig Alley in 1912
about organized crime. It wasn’t the first gangster film,
however it is the first significant gangster film to have
survived. Films that were before this included Biograph’s
The Moonshiners in 1904.
4. The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
The Musketeers of Pig Alley is credited with being the first
gangster movie. It is also credited with being one of the
first films to use “follow focus”, later to become a major
tool in cinematography.
5. Underworld (1927)
Josef von Sternberg’s Underworld in 1927 is often
considered the first modern gangster film. It starred
George Bancroft and Clive Brook. It was also one of the
first to be shot from the gangster’s point of view.
Underworld won the very first Oscar for original
screenplay.
6. The Sound Era – 1930s
It wasn’t until the sound era that gangster movies became
a popular source of entertainment for viewers, who were
interested in breaking law and violence on screen. The
Prohibition Era (when the USA banned alcohol between
1920 and 1933), the St Valentines Day Massacre, real-life
gangsters such as Al Capone, and the rise of organised
crime and urban violence encouraged this genre.
The introduction of sound to films helped gangster films
massively, as the audience can really engage with the film
now they can hear machine gun fire and car brakes
screeching.
7. The St. Valentines Day Massacre
The St. Valentines Day Massacre was an important
moment for gangster films. It was the first real gangster
incident that was in the public eye, and got the public
interested in gang warfare. The St. Valentines Day
Massacre was the name given to the 1929 murder of 7
mob associates, during a fight between Al Capone’s
Southside Italian gang, and Bugs Moran’s Northside Irish.
8. The Lights of New York (1928)
The Lights of New York was reportedly the first “all-
talking” motion picture, and therefore the first sound
gangster film. It enhanced the urban crime dramas of the
time, crackling dialogue and sound effects of squealing
getaway car tires and gunshots. It was directed by Bryan
Foy and produced by Warner Bros. It cost $23,000 to make
and grossed over $1,000,000. It was also the first film to
define the crime genre.
9. Warner Bros
Warner Bros was considered the best gangster film
studio. They had three of the most established gangster
actors, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney and
Humphrey Bogart. They also used Scarface star Paul
Muni. All of these actors established and defined their
careers in this genre.
10. Scarface (1932)
Directed by Howard Hawks and produced by Howard
Hughes, the film centres on gang warfare and police
intervention when rival gangs fight over control of a city.
The extremely violent, landmark film in the portrayal of
Italian-American immigrant gangsters, included twenty-
eight deaths, and the first use of a machine gun by a
gangster. This film was the basis for the hugely popular
Brian De Palma 1983 remake featuring Al Pacino.
11. Hays Production Code
The Hays Production Code was the first form of
censorship placed on films. This spelled the end for
gangster films glorifying the criminal and approving their
ruthless methods. Film studios were forced to show the
audience that crime didn’t pay, and to present the
criminals as almost psychopaths.
12. G-Men (1935)
In William Keighley’s G-Men, screen tough guy James
Cagney starred as a ruthless, revenge-seeking, impulsive,
violent FBI agent to infiltrate criminal gangs on a crime
spree in the Midwest. Although he was on the side of the
law working undercover, he was just as cynical, brutal,
and arrogant as he had been in his earliest gangster films.
G-Men was the best example of the new ‘gangster-as-cop’
sub-genre, as film studios tried to get round the Hays
Production Code.
13. The Roaring Twenties (1939)
The Roaring Twenties is the first film made by Warner
Bros three prized employees, director Raoul Walsh, and
actors Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney. It was a
realistic, documentary-style, historical saga and
chronicling of the Prohibition Era. It ended with Cagney’s
memorable death scene on the snowy steps of a church.
14. High Sierra (1941)
High Sierra was directed by Raoul Walsh and also starred
Humphrey Bogart. The screenplay was adapted from a
William R. Burnett (also the author of Little Caeser and
Scarface). The film is also notable as the breakthrough in
Bogart's career, transforming him from supporting player
to leading man, and his success in High Sierra would lead
to his being cast in many of his iconic roles.
The film was noted for its extensive location shooting,
especially in the climactic final scenes, as the authorities
pursue Bogart's character, gangster "Mad Dog" Roy Earle,
from Lone Pine up to the foot of the mountain.
15. Film-Noir
During the 1940s, gangster films take on a very “film-noir-
ish” theme. This is partly down to the popularity of film-
noir in the 1940s, and also down the Hays Production
Code.
Film-noir is French for ‘Black film’, and in gangster films it
tends to involve a private detective fighting crime, for
example The Big Sleep.
16. The Big Sleep (1946)
Directed and produced by Howard Hanks, the movie stars
Humphrey Bogart as a male detective, and Lauren Bacall
as the female lead in a film about the "process of a
criminal investigation, not its results.”
In 1997, the U.S. Library of Congress deemed this film
"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,"
17. Post-War Films
As stated earlier, as the decade of the 40s and the post-
war period emerged, crime films became darker, more
brutal, violent, and cynical. Many crime/gangster films
were actually film noirs. After World War II, gangsters
were often businessmen who represented large and
corrupt corporations (often anonymous). The first film to
illustrate changes in the character of gangsters after WWII
was Byron Haskin's I Walk Alone (1948). Burt Lancaster
took the role of Frankie Madison, an ex-con who faced a
changed world and a double-cross by his partner after his
release from 14 years in prison.
18. Gun Crazy (1949)
Also known as Deadly Is the Female, Gun Crazy was
selected for the National Film Registry. It is a film noir
feature film starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a
story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and
wife. It was directed by Joseph H. Lewis.
19. Changing Styles
Crime dramas of gun-crazed killers, daring or troubled
protagonists, or real-life criminals were commonplace,
often with charismatic characters that evoked the earlier,
30s style gangster films. There was an increased link
between original gangster films and the more modern
film-noirs.
20. Machine-Gun Kelly (1958)
Machine-Gun Kelly is a film directed by Roger Corman,
chronicling the criminal activities of the real-life George
"Machine Gun" Kelly. The film was considered low budget,
but received good critical reviews. The film was the first
lead role for actor Charles Bronson.
21. The St. Valentines Day Massacre (1966)
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is film based on the
1929 Chicago mass murder of seven members of the
Northside gang that I mentioned earlier. It was directed
by Roger Corman and written by Howard Browne. It had a
budget of $2 175 000, making it one of the largest films of
its time.
22. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Arthur Penn's landmark film set new screen standards for
violence, although it was joined by blue-grass music (a
mixture between African-American music and jazz) and
slapstick-style robberies. It has a budget of $2 000 000
and grossed over $70m at the box office. Like Gun Crazy,
Bonnie and Clyde portrays crime as attractive and
intertwined with sex. It is regarded as one of the first films
of the New Hollywood Era, and its success made more
directors be more forward about presenting sex and
violence. The film’s ending also became iconic as one of
the “bloodiest death scenes in cinematic history”
23. The Godfather Trilogy
The Godfather Trilogy are three of the most successful
gangland 'Mafia' films ever made. They define the
Organised-Crime subgenre.
The Godfather is an American epic crime film directed by
Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario
Puzo. It stars Marlon Brando, and is Al Pacino’s first major
film. It received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best
Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, and has been
selected for preservation in the United States National
Film Registry. It had a budget of $6.5m, and grossed over
$245m. It is arguably known as the best gangster film of
all time.
24. Continued…
The Godfather, Part II was released in 1974 under the
direction of Francis Ford Coppola, from a script co-written
by Mario Puzo. The film is both a prequel and sequel to
The Godfather, with two parallel storylines. It was
nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 6, including
Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actor. It
was also selected for preservation in the U.S. National
Film Registry.
The Godfather, Part III was released in 1990. It completes
the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries
to legitimize his criminal empire.
25. Continued…
It had a budget of $54m, and grossed over $136m. It was
nominated for 7 Academy Awards.
Director Francis Ford Coppola states that the Godfather
series was in fact two films, and the third film is an
epilogue.
26. Scarface (1983)
Scarface is directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver
Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and starring Al
Pacino as Tony Montana. A contemporary remake of the
original 1932 film of the same name, the film tells the
story of Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who comes to
Miami in 1980 as a result of the Mariel Boatlift, and
becomes a drug cartel kingpin during the cocaine boom of
the 1980s. The movie chronicles his rise to the top of
Miami's cocaine empire. It had a budget of $25m and
grossed over $65m.
27. Recent Gangster Films
Recent gangster films have shied away from the Mafia
obsession of the 70s and 80s and more towards a violent,
yet very clever criminal. For example, Bumpy in American
Gangster.
28. American Gangster (2007)
American Gangster is an American biographical crime film
directed by Ridley Scott and written by Steve Zaillian. The
film is based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a
gangster from La Grange, North Carolina who smuggled
heroin into the United States on American service planes
returning from the Vietnam War. It stars Denzel
Washington and Russell Crowe. It’s budget was $100m
and it returned over $266m. It is the second biggest
grossing gangster film of all time.
29. The Departed (2009)
The Departed is a 2006 American crime thriller film,
fashioned as a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film
Infernal Affairs. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese
and written by William Monahan. Like Infernal Affairs
before, The Departed is noted for its star-studded cast,
including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack
Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone,
Vera Farmiga, Anthony Anderson and Alec Baldwin. It had
a budget of $90m, and grossed a record-breaking $289m,
making it the highest grossing gangster film of all time.
30. Conclusion
In conclusion, the development of gangster films has
come a long way since the ultra-violent days of the 20s
and 30s. Some of that change has been forced due to the
implementation of Hays Production Code, but taste has
changed as well. There was an almost obsession with the
Mafia and mob films in the 80s, which followed the dip
into film-noirs in the 50s. More recent gangster films have
been heist films, about intelligent gangsters who defy
technology and high security measures to get what they
want.
