Gangsters and G-Men on Screen

Gene D. Phillips

doi:10.5771/9781442230767

Summary

While the gangster film may have enjoyed its heyday in the 1930s and ’40s, it has remained a movie staple for almost as long as cinema has existed. From the early films of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson to modern versions like Bugsy, Public Enemies, and Gangster Squad, such films capture the brutality of mobs and their leaders.

In Gangsters and G-Men on Screen: Crime Cinema Then and Now, Gene D. Phillips revisits some of the most popular and iconic representations of the genre. While this volume offers new perspectives on some established classics—usual suspects like Little Caesar, Bonnie and Clyde, and The Godfather Part II—Phillips also calls attention to some of the unheralded but no less worthy films and filmmakers that represent the genre. Expanding the viewer’s notion of what constitutes a gangster film, Phillips offers such unusual choices as You Only Live Once, Key Largo, The Lady from Shanghai, and even the 1949 version of The Great Gatsby. Also included in this examination are more recent ventures, such as modern classics The Grifters and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed.

In his analyses, Phillips draws on a number of sources, including personal interviews with directors and other artists and technicians associated with the films he discusses. Of interest to film historians and scholars, Gangsters and G-Men on Screen will also appeal to anyone who wants to better understand the films that represent an important contribution to crime cinema.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2014
ISBN-Print: 978-1-4422-3075-0
ISBN-Online: 978-1-4422-3076-7
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 192
Product type: Book Titles

1. CONTENTS No access
2. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS No access
3. INTRODUCTION. In Search of the Gangster Genre No access
CHAPTER ONE. THE RISE OF THE GANGSTER FILM No access Pages 1 - 6
CHAPTER TWO. LITTLE CAESAR AND THE PUBLIC ENEMY No access Pages 7 - 18
CHAPTER THREE. THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE AND NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH No access Pages 19 - 28
CHAPTER FOUR. DEAD END AND THIS GUN FOR HIRE No access Pages 29 - 42
CHAPTER FIVE. CRISS CROSS AND WHITE HEAT No access Pages 43 - 54
CHAPTER SIX. JOHN HUSTON’S KEY LARGO AND THE ASPHALT JUNGLE No access Pages 55 - 66
CHAPTER SEVEN. THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI AND THE GREAT GATSBY No access Pages 67 - 82
CHAPTER EIGHT. FRITZ LANG’S YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE AND THE BIG HEAT No access Pages 83 - 94
CHAPTER NINE. THE GODFATHER: PART II No access Pages 95 - 106
CHAPTER TEN. BONNIE AND CLYDE AND THE UNTOUCHABLES No access Pages 107 - 120
CHAPTER ELEVEN. THE GRIFTERS AND THE DEPARTED No access Pages 121 - 132
CHAPTER TWELVE. DILLINGER AND PUBLIC ENEMIES No access Pages 133 - 144
AFTERWORD. GANGSTER SQUAD AND OTHER FILMS: Time Marches On and So Does the Gangster Genre No access Pages 145 - 154
NOTES No access Pages 155 - 172
BIBLIOGRAPHY No access Pages 173 - 180
INDEX No access Pages 181 - 190
ABOUT THE AUTHOR No access Pages 191 - 192