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Musketeers of Pig Alley
This is believed to be the first gangster movie released. In black and white and with no sound, it is a wild contrast to films of today. It's based on a poverty stricken man who goes away on business. When he returns, he is attacked by a gangster. Note that in this film the main character IS NOT the gangster but infact the victim, which portrays crime in a bad light like later films do. -
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History of Gangster genre
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Little Caeser
Little Ceaser tells the story of a young man who moves to Chicago with his friend to find fortune. When he arrives he joins a gang, and the movie tells the story of his career within the gang. Unlike earlier movies, this movie is much more focused on the criminal side of gangster movies opposed to the victim/law enforcement side. Some people believe that there is also hints that the main character is battling with his sexuality, which shows a focus on the gangster instead of victim. -
The Public Enemy
Film companies are careful to glamorise crime in their movies during this time, which is evident on The Public Enrmy. While the movie focuses on the gang once again and shows a young mans rise to the top on the criminal career ladder, he also meets his fate at the end, which is in-line with the 'crime doesn't pay' message of this era. -
Scarface
The original Scarface involes two gangs fighting over control of the city. However, it is yet again another example of how directors and script writers are hesitant to glamorise crime. At the end, the main character surrenders to the police in a 'cowardly fashion' before being shot by an officer, which suggests the law always wins. -
Bonnie and Clyde
A bored small-town girl and a small-time bank robber leave in their wake a string of violent robberies and newspaper headlines that catch the imagination of the depression-struck Mid-West in this take on the legendary crime spree of these archetypal lovers on the run. -
The Godfather
The Godfather trilogy is one of the first examples of movies where gangsters and crime is glamorised. It also marks the beginning of the regeneration of gangster movies, which saw a demise after the 40's. -
The Godfather: Part II
The continuing saga of the Corleone crime family tells the story of a young Vito Corleone growing up in Sicily and in 1910s New York; and follows Michael Corleone in the 1950s as he attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba. -
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a relitavely recent italian-American gangster movie. It's based on a real life story (not often done before) focusing on Henry Hill, a young man who by his own admission 'always wanted to be a gangster'. -
The Godfather: Part III
In the final instalment of the Godfather Trilogy, an aging Don Michael Corleone seeks to legitimize his crime family's interests and remove himself from the violent underworld but is kept back by the ambitions of the young. While he attempts to link the Corleone's finances with the Vatican, Michael must deal with the machinations of a hungrier gangster seeking to upset the existing Mafioso order and a young protoge's love affair with his daughter. -
Pulp Fiction
Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega are two hitmen who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace. Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his next fight. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled-for incidents. -
Layer Cake
A successful cocaine dealer, who has earned a respected place among England's Mafia elite, plans an early retirement from the business. However, big boss Jimmy Price hands down a tough assignment: find Charlotte Ryder, the missing rich princess daughter of Jimmy's old pal Edward, a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite. Complicating matters are two million pounds' worth of Grade A ecstasy, a brutal neo-Nazi sect and a whole series of double crossings.
