Agangster film organgster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses ongangs andorganized crime. It is a subgenre ofcrime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform certain illegal acts. The genre is differentiated fromWesterns and the gangs of that genre.
In 2008, theAmerican Film Institute defines the genre as "centered on organized crime or maverick criminals in a twentieth century setting".[1] The institute named it one of the 10 "classic genres" in its10 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'sWhite Heat. This was at least partly due to the limitations on the genre imposed by theHays Code, which was abandoned in favor of theMotion Picture Association of America film rating system in 1968.[2]
Beginning in the 1960s, the genre was revitalized in theNew Hollywood movement. New Hollywood directors were honored with 5 of the top 6 films on the list—1967'sBonnie and Clyde byArthur Penn, 1972'sThe Godfather and 1974'sThe Godfather Part II both byFrancis Ford Coppola, 1983'sScarface, a remake of the1932 original, byBrian De Palma, and 1990'sGoodfellas byMartin Scorsese. The rise and fall of a mobster in a classic gangster film is often a thematictrope.[3]
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.[4] Three main categories of gangster films can be distinguished, according to Martha Nochimson: films that follow the escapades of outlaw rebels, such asBonnie and Clyde, melodramas of villain gangsters against whom the in-story victims and the audience identify, such asKey Largo and, most predominantly in the genre, films following an outsider, immigrant gangster protagonist, with whom the audience identifies.[5]
The first Japanese films about theYakuza evolved from theTendency 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.[6] The so-called "Chivalry movies" of the 1960s gave way to the violent realism ofKinji Fukasaku, whose 1973Battles Without Honor and Humanity would inspire future filmmakers across the globe.
In 1931 and 1932, three of the most enduring gangster films ever were produced.Scarface,Little Caesar andThe 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,[7] 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.[8]
The institution ofProhibition 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 asJohn Dillinger,Baby Face Nelson, andPretty 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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11]
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With the abolition of theHays Code in the late 1960s, studios and filmmakers found themselves free to produce films dealing with subject matter that had previously been off-limits.[2] Early examples includeArthur Penn's 1967 depression-era tale ofBonnie and Clyde. In 1973'sMean Streets, Scorsese directed a cinema vérité story of a young aspiring mobster and his problem-gambler friend, played byRobert De Niro. In 1974,Sam Peckinpah directedBring 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 2Academy Awards and 8 other nominations, including best picture. It, along with the others, were overshadowed by Francis Ford Coppola'sGodfather saga.
In 1972,Francis Ford Coppola'sThe Godfather was released. The epic story of theCorleone 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.[12] It won theOscar for Best Picture, as well as the award for Best Actor forMarlon Brando[13] and is widely considered one of thegreatest American films of all time. In 1974,The Godfather Part II became the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year and garnered 11Academy Award nominations. It again won Best Picture. Coppola won Best Director andRobert De Niro won best supporting actor for his portrayal of a youngVito 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'sGoodfellas aboutHenry Hill's life and relationship with theLucchese andGambino crime families, was nominated for sixAcademy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director and won the award for Best Supporting Actor forJoe Pesci's performance. Italian-American filmOnce Upon a Time in America directed bySergio Leone aboutDavid "Noodles" Aaronson played byRobert De Niro is considered one of the best gangster films of all time.[14]
The 1987 filmThe Untouchables was nominated for fourAcademy Awards.Sean Connery won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor in his role as an associate ofEliot Ness who helped bring downAl Capone.[15] 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.[16]
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 asAl Pacino,Robert De Niro,Joe Pesci andChazz Palminteri.
In 1990,Goodfellas, directed byMartin Scorsese, starredRay Liotta as real-life associate of theLucchese crime familyHenry 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, makingGoodfellas 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 iconicMichael 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 inCarlito's Way as a former gangster released from prison who vows to go straight.
In 1995, following their collaboration inGoodfellas, Scorsese, De Niro and Pesci teamed up again to makeCasino, based onFrank Rosenthal, an associate of theChicago 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, followingGoodfellas (1990) andA Bronx Tale(1993).
In 1996,Armand Assante starred in the television filmGotti as infamous New York mobster,John Gotti.
In 1997'sDonnie Brasco, Pacino starred alongsideJohnny Depp in the true story of undercoverFBI agentJoseph Pistone and his infiltration of theBonanno crime family of New York City during the 1970s. It was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
In 2006, Scorsese releasedThe Departed, his adaptation ofInfernal affairs, the Hong Kong film.The Departed was also loosely based on theWhitey Bulger story, and Boston'sWinter Hill Gang, which Bulger led. It earned Scorsese anAcademy Award for Best Director, and won theAcademy Award for Best Picture.
A 2018biographical mafia film,Gotti, directed byKevin Connolly, starsJohn Travolta as John Gotti, released in June. On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the filmholds an approval rating of 0% based on 38 reviews, and an average rating of 2.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Fuhgeddaboudit."[17] In 2019, Martin Scorsese released a biographical mafia film distributed byNetflix,The Irishman, starring all three heavyweights in the genre,Robert De Niro asFrank "The Irishman" Sheeran,Al Pacino asJimmy Hoffa andJoe Pesci asRussell Bufalino.[18]
In 2021,The Many Saints of Newark was released, as a prequel toDavid Chase's HBO New Jersey Italian mafia series,The Sopranos. Directed byAlan Taylor and produced by David Chase andLawrence Konner, the film focuses on the young future mafia bossTony Soprano, with the1967 Newark riots as a backdrop.[19]
Apart from telling their own tales of African American gangsters in syndicates, films likeBlack Caesar feature the Italian mafia prominently. Often theblaxploitation films of the 1970s such asShaft tell the tale of African American gangsters rising up and defeating the established white criminal order.[20] African Americans were under-represented in filmmaking roles during much of the 20th century. It took African American producers and directors of the 1990s likeJohn Singleton,Spike Lee and theHughes 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.[21] Examples of films from the 1990s fitting the African-American gangster genre includeBoyz N The Hood,Menace II Society andNew Jack City.[22][21]
Brian De Palma's 1983 remake ofScarface starsAl Pacino asTony Montana, a Cuban exile and ambitious newcomer toMiami who sees an opportunity to build his own drug empire.Abel Ferrara's 1990King 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.
An early example of the Gallic gangster film isMaurice Tourneur’s 1935 filmJustin de Marseille set inMarseille. Tourneur's gangster-hero differentiates from his American equivalent by valuing honour, artisanship, community and solidarity.[23] Four years before of the rise offilm noir, in 1937,Julien Duvivier createdPépé le Moko, a French gangster film in the style ofpoetic realism that takes place inthe Casbah. Its distribution in America was blocked by the US-makers of its 1938 remakeAlgiers.[24] French gangster films appeared again in the mid-1950s, most notablyJacques Becker'sTouchez pas au grisbi, American blacklisted filmmakerJules Dassin'sRififi andJean-Pierre Melville'sBob le flambeur. Melville would direct 1967'sLe Samouraï starringAlain Delon as mob hitman Jef Costello.[25]
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 starAlain Delon. In 1969,Jean Gabin, Delon, andLino Ventura starred inLe clan des siciliens,[26] about a jewel thief and theMafia. In 1970,Borsalino,[27] a tale of the Italian Mafia in 1930 Marseilles, featured Delon, along withJean-Paul Belmondo. In 1970, inLe Cercle Rouge, Delon,Gian Maria Volonté, andYves Montand team up to rob an impenetrable jewelry store.
All three of the films were domestic successes, andBorsalino was popular elsewhere in Europe. None of them, however, broke through in the United States.
Various Britishfilm noir andcrime dramas from the 1930s, 40s and 50s were set in the underworld with gangster orracketeer character, such asNight and the City (1950).
The 1947 adaptation of theGraham 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 theBritish Film Institute.
The late 1960s to early 70s saw a brief boom in British gangster films, alongsidespy films andheist films, mirroring similar trends in Hollywood, Italy and elsewhere. Some films from this era took a lightheartedcomedic approach to crime stories, likeThe Italian Job (1969), while others likeVillain andGet Carter (both 1971) had a much darkerneo-noir tone, a morefatalistic story, and a more gritty and violent portrayal of gangster life.
The early 2000s saw a resurgence of British gangster films, popularised by directorGuy Ritchie'sblack comedy ensemble caper filmsLock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) andSnatch (2000), and byJonathan Glazer'sSexy Beast (2000).
Notable British gangster films from the 1960s onward include:
Films about theKray Twins (active in the 1950s and 60s) include:
Richard Burton's character inVillain (1971) was also loosely based onRonnie Kray.
Theninkyo eiga (chivalry films) were replaced in the late 1960s and early 1970s by a new style, pioneered byKinji Fukasaku and inspired by theFrench New Wave and AmericanFilm noir calledJitsuroku eiga (true record films).[29] The new style is considered to have begun with Fukasaku'sBattles Without Honor and Humanity (1972), a violent, realistic portrayal of post-war gangs in the ruins ofHiroshima.
Prior toBattles, the films ofSeijun Suzuki had departed from theninkyo eiga formula, but had met with limited commercial success. Suzuki'sBranded to Kill later inspired other directors in the gangster film genre, includingJohn Woo,Chan-wook Park andQuentin Tarantino.[30]
Indian cinema has several genres of gangster films.
Examples include:
The Hong Kong gangster film genre began with 1986'sA Better Tomorrow, directed byJohn Woo and starringChow Yun Fat.[32] Woo's tale of counterfeiters portrays a gangster who balances "Kung Fu honor" and the materialistic goals of the Triads.[32] 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, includingThe Killer,Bullet in the Head, andHard Boiled.
Soviet propaganda has always said that organized crime exists only in the West. With thedissolution 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" (Russian:Лихие 90-е,translit.Lihie devyanostye).[33]
In 1997, directorAleksei Balabanov releasedBrother 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 sequelBrother 2, which was even more successful. In 2001, actorSergei Bodrov Jr., who played a major role in both of those films, releasedSisters, which was his directorial debut. Other notable films of those years wereAntikiller (2002) by Yegor Konchalovsky andTycoon (2002) byPavel Lungin.[33][34]
In 2004, Pyotr Buslov, a young 26-year-old director, releasedBimmer, which instantly became a hit. This movie about four friends was made in the road movie style. In 2006, Buslov released the sequelBimmer 2 [ru]. In 2005, Aleksei Balabanov returned to the theme of gangster cinema and filmed a black comedyDead Man's Bluff. In 2010, Balabanov returned to the theme of bandits inThe Stoker. In 2010,The Alien Girl was released by Anton Bormatov.[33]
Russian television shows a lot of series about bandits, however, they are mostly of poor quality. A great success was the 2002 mini-seriesBrigada, which received cult status.[33]
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