History of Gangster movies

• Gangster film were invented and became

very popular in the 1930’s but at the time
this genre of film was also related to film
noir and Mob films. This genre of film
originated from the US but later came to
Britain.
 Film 1
• Kidulthood 2006
• Kidulthood (rendered as Kidulthood) is a 2006 British
drama film about the life of several teenagers in
Ladbroke Grove and Latimer Road area of inner west
London. It was directed by Menhaj Huda and written by
Noel Clarke, who also stars in the film and directed the
sequel Adulthood.
• In1940s, a new type of crime thriller emerged, more dark
and cynical - see the section on film-noir for further
examples of crime films. Criminal and gangster films are
often categorized as post-war film noir or detective-
mystery films - because of underlying similarities
between these cinematic forms. See also AFI's 10 Top
10 - The Top 10 Gangster Films
 Film 2
• Scarface 1983
• An update of the 1932 film, Scarface (1983) follows
gangster Tony Montana and his close friend Manny Ray
from their trip on the Cuban Boat Lift for refugees to their
arrival in Miami. After killing a powerful Cuban figure,
Tony Montana and company gain the ability to leave
their refugee camps and roam around the U.S. After
unsuccessfully trying to make it legitimately in the
country, Tony Montana and Ray resort to selling cocaine
to dealers around the world. Tony’s rise is quick, but as
he becomes more powerful, his enemies and his own
paranoia begin to plague his empire.
 Film 3
• Once upon a time in America 1984
Epic, episodic, tale of the lives of a small group of New York City Jewish
gangsters spanning over 40 years. Told mostly in flashbacks and flash-forwards,
the movie centers on small-time hood David ‘Noodles’ Aaronson and his lifelong
partners in crime; Max, Cockeye and Patsy and their friends from growing up in
the rough Jewish neighborhood of New York’s Lower East Side in the 1920s, to
the last years of Prohibition in the early 1930s, and then to the late 1960s where
an elderly Noodles returns to New York after many years in hiding to look into the
past.
 Film 4
Casino 1995
This Martin Scorsese film depicts the Janus-like quality of Las
Vegas–it has a glittering, glamorous face, as well as a brutal, cruel
one. Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro, mobsters who move to Las
Vegas to make their mark, live and work in this paradoxical world.
Seen through their eyes, each as a foil to the other, the details of
mob involvement in the casinos of the 1970′s and ’80′s are revealed.
Ace is the smooth operator of the Tangiers casino, while Nicky is his
boyhood friend and tough strongman, robbing and shaking down the
locals. However, they each have a tragic flaw–Ace falls in love with a
hustler, Ginger, and Nicky falls into an ever-deepening spiral of drugs
and violence.
 Film 5
• Mean Streets 1973
• In a series of character-led incidents set against the
background of New York City’s Little Italy, we follow the
life of Charlie, a small-time member of the wiseguy
community who collects protection money. His friends
Tony and Michael are part of the community, but his
other friend Johnny Boy is unreliable and therefore must
be shunned. Charlie’s secret girlfriend Teresa has
epilepsy, and so must also be shunned. When Charlie’s
uncle Giovanni offers him a restaurant – the first step up
the ladder – Charlie is forced to choose between his
desire for power, his love for Teresa and his duty to
protect his friend Johnny Boy.