Bullets Over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture From The Silents To "The Sopranos"

by John McCarty

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 even with 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.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[The Book Nazi · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to McCarty, Americans admire the antihero gangster because he's an unbound character who goes where he wants, does what he wants and "takes no shit from anybody." The author conveys the appeal of these reckless outlaws, personified in film by such icons as Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, through concise analyses of key crime films and well-drawn personal histories of the genre's central stars, directors and writers.

The book's most telling line powerfully indicates how vital gangster movies have been by citing George Raft-"gangster movies... taught gangsters how to talk"- and concludes that real-life criminals now define themselves by the mob images they've seen in The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Sopranos.

All in all, a satisfactory book about why america loves gansters like John Dillinger and many more, Mccarty should have emphasized more on how Gangster movies such as The Godfather, Scarface has inspired a nation of gun-toting gangsta rappers who epitomize the leads in these movies..

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a useful book for tracing the history of gangster movies, and I have created a list of (mostly silent) films to watch. However the author insists on bringing everything down to Robinson style, Cagney style and Bogart style gangsters, suggesting all subsequent movie mobsters are some variation or combination of these. I find this a bit simplistic. Still, it's worth a read.

[Heather Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provides interesting perspective and detail to the fascinating shows and films that depict American violence. Thoroughly addresses the issue of Italian-Americans, stereotypes and, 'living on the hyphen'. An interesting read.

[Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read if you like the gangster movie genre , which I do . Covers the first films , then Cagney and Bogart right up to modern times . Nice details and reviews .