Published: December 19, 2020 | Last Updated: December 20, 2024
THE SHORT VERSION
The gangster movie presents a narrative of a reality many people admire:
The audience is safe regardless of the death portrayed on screen.
It’s the story of a down-on-his-luck wiseguy rising through the ranks by any means necessary.
The movie’s themes (power, loyalty, and betrayal) relate to real history and the American dream.
Gangster films have been around for a while, continually breaking the rules of traditional filmmaking. So why are gangster movies so popular? To better understand the rise of the gangster film in Hollywood, we must first take a brief look at American history.
Once Upon a Time in America
To understand the appeal of gangster films, we must discuss an essential piece of American history. Gangster movies are a subgenre of crime films that depict real-life stories of gangs and organized crime from a real era.
Many in the United States are descendants of immigrants, so the tale of a fish out of water trope up against the world is relatable. The characters in the first gangster movies are based on crime families of immigrants.
The rise of organized crime in the US
Organized crime families have been around for a very long time in America. The height of their power was in the 1970s and 1980s, but according to Chicago Journals, their rise “during the early twentieth-century labor wars under national alcohol prohibition from 1919 to 1933” sparked their infamous popularity.
These criminals were dealing with gambling, illicit drugs, prostitution, extortion, and more. It was the rise of white-collar crime. But, beyond their wrongdoings, they lived a desirable life of wealth and power.
From the Western hero to the Gangster Anti-hero
Whereas early Westerns often followed the hero, gangster movies primarily take on a criminal or bad guy’s perspective. This was different for American cinema because now we no longer follow the stories of sheriffs and cowboys. Instead, we focus on the adventures of outlaws and robbers. They are outnumbered and outgunned but somehow manage to save the day.
White collar crime and the mafia in film
White-collar crimes, such as tax evasion, fraud, extortion, and bribery, are usually committed by people of a higher social class. But gangsters also know a thing or two about this, which is often depicted in the movies. Gangster movies take these realistic tales or historical adaptations and treat them heroically.
Again, even though the main characters are technically bad guys, in classic gangster movies, they’re the story’s heroes. This essentially makes them anti-heroes.
Next, let’s examine the first gangster movies and how their stories captivated audiences.
The Story of the Hollywood Gangster
Before Don Corleone and Tony Montana’s rise to fame, the gangster film already created an infamous reputation on the silver screen.
Before the Motion Picture Production Code was established, the gangster movie legacy began with Little Caesar (1931).
Based on William R. Burnett’s novel, Little Caesar follows a hoodlum who rises in organized crime ranks and becomes a shot-caller. This is one of the first full-fledged gangster features to represent this new story of the American dream.
The Public Enemy (1931), another Warner Bros. pre-code film about the rise of a young man in the prohibition-era criminal underworld, followed a similar formula: it took real-life criminals and illegal scenarios and transformed them into heroic Hollywood legends.
But these mobsters and wise guys are not your average heroes. They’re not sporting red capes or fighting for justice. The main characters in gangster films represent a world of dangerous criminals.
In The Public Enemy, the main character Tom Powers played by James Cagney, is an anti-hero.
The anti-hero is a protagonist without conventional heroic attributes like unwavering courage or good morality. While the reason for their actions can be ultimately noble, they’re not always in it for the right reasons.
Source: The Anti-Hero In Film Explained. Meaning, Definition, and Examples
The antihero journey follows similar themes to popular heroic storylines, but how the protagonists achieve their goals sets them apart.
Breaking the Rules as the Audience
It can be fun to break the rules, but it’s even more fun when you don’t have to face the consequences. Gangster movies keep the audience safe regardless of what crime, violence, and death are portrayed on screen. They allow people to fantasize about a life of dangerous crime without any consequence.
Watching gangsters at war with each other, running from the law, and partaking in illegal activities is a form of escape for audiences. However, these portrayals on-screen initially caused quite a stir in Hollywood.
Unfortunately, the popularity of these racy films set forth a series of strict rules, like the Hays Code – a set of rules for self-censorship – that would limit filmmakers’ ability to depict this dark underworld in the same fashion. Now, gangster films had to be told from the perspective of FBI agents or law enforcement. Messages were sprinkled throughout to remind viewers of the dangers of criminal activities, such as in G Men (1935), which also starred James Cagney.
Once Hollywood abandoned the problematic and outdated code in the late 1960s, the entire game changed, and the gangster film saw its second and most famous rise to prominence.
The Modern-Made Man
It can be argued that Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) is the best gangster film of all time if not one of the most celebrated pieces of cinema, period.
Following classic gangster films like Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, this film follows the reluctant hero’s rise and hits every theme of the famous gangster film. Godfather sparked two successful sequels and charged years of popular gangster films rising through the ranks of Hollywood.
You can’t talk about gangster films without mentioning the veteran New York director Martin Scorsese. Following the success of Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), and Raging Bull (1980), Scorsese solidified the “wise guy” character trope with Goodfellas (1990).
Goodfellas became one of the most celebrated gangster films, catapulting the careers of genre mainstays like Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta. Based on the book Wiseguy, this film gave a character trope name to the genre’s down-on-his-luck main character.
From that point, gangster movies came in all shapes and sizes and told stories worldwide. Gangster films didn’t necessarily mean a story about Italian immigrants in the big city. Films like John Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood (1991) tell the story of another American gangster, the African-American gangster from the streets of Los Angeles.
In this film, the main character follows the same trajectory and faces the themes of power, loyalty, and betrayal but from a completely different environment.
Gangster movies outside the US
Outside of the United States and Italy, gangster films can be based on local gang affiliations, such as the Yakuza in Japan, the Triad in China, or South America’s cartels.
Many films, television shows, and documentaries depict stories showing that this genre’s themes and popularity are universal. Films about the Triad, like Hong Kong’s Infernal Affairs (2002), came to inspire hit films like Martin Scorsese’s U.S. remake of The Departed (2006).
WARNING: Spoilers
The Future of Gangster Films
Today, the genre has conquered almost every form of popular media, with one of the most popular television shows, The Sopranos (1999) on HBO, the hit video game series Grand Theft Auto, and countless references to gangsters in hip-hop music.
The gangster film holds for similar reasons blockbuster movies about superheroes give the audience a chance to escape.
The heroic narratives, the suspenseful themes, and the safety of our movie screens prove that these types of movies aren’t going anywhere!
Read Next: The ten best gangster movies of all time
