Bullets Over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture from the Silents to "The Sopranos"

By John McCarty

Book Overview

The gangster, like the gunslinger, is a classic American character-and the gangster movie, like the Western, is one of the American cinema's enduring film genres. From Scarface to White Heat , from The Godfather to The Usual Suspects , from Once Upon a Time in America to Road to Perdition , gangland on the screen remains as popular as ever.In Bullets over Hollywood , film scholar John McCarty traces the history of mob flicks and reveals why the films are so beloved by Americans. As McCarty demonstrates, the themes, characters, landscapes, stories-the overall iconography-of the gangster genre have proven resilient enough to be updated, reshaped, and expanded upon to connect with even today's young audiences. Packed with fascinating behind-the-scenes anecdotes and information about real-life hoods and their cinematic alter egos, insightful analysis, and a solid historical perspective, Bullets over Hollywood will be the definitive book on the gangster movie for years to come.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306813017
• ISBN13: 9780306813016
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 325 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A copiously informative history of the "mob movie"

Bullets Over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture From The Silents To "The Sopranos" by John McCarty (Adjunct Professor of Cinema, Department of Theatre, SUNY, Albany, New York) is an inherently fascinating and copiously informative history of the "mob movie", as it comparatively surveys archetypal criminal stereotypes from the earliest days of silent movie story telling down to the "made for TV" gangland series. Bullets Over Hollywood is replete with anecdotal "behind the scenes" stories and even goes into the minds of the audiences for this enduringly popular genre of film entertainment. The impact of movie gangsters on popular culture has always been immense and immediate from slang to clothing to mannerisms, to career choices. Bullets Over Hollywood is informed, informative (and, enhanced with a photo inserts showcasing some of the greatest moments of mob movies) and a filmography dating back to 1915), and strongly recommended reading for students of American film history and American popular culture.