Crime movies

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Bibliographic Information

Crime movies

Carlos Clarens ; [updated] with an afterword by Foster Hirsch

Da Capo Press, 1997

1st Da Capo Press ed

  • : pbk

Other Title

Illustrated history of the gangster genre from D.W. Griffith to pulp fiction

Available at  / 5 libraries

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Note

Originally published: New York : Norton, 1980

Includes bibliographical references (p. [361]) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

}Crime movies are as old as filmmaking itself. They embody the American nightmare, functioning both as a mirror of society and a tool for educating the public about its enemies. In this history of the genre Carlos Clarens gives us a mini-history of crime American-style. From D. W. Griffith and New York's Biograph Studios, where raw violence was introduced to celluloid immortality, to today's multimillion-dollar celebrations of blood and power, Crime Movies shows us the whole picture: the unchanging cast of characters (the gangster hero, swaggering, charming, suspicious; the stoolpigeon or strikebreaker; the moll); the stars (James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Richard Widmark); the censorship battles, political pressure, and public outcry. This book illuminates movies such as Intolerance, Underworld, Little Caesar, Public Enemy, Kiss of Death, On the Waterfront, Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather, Goodfellas, Reservoir Dogs, and hundreds of others, while detailing the film-making strategies Hollywood has adopted to deal with the controversial yet profitable and enduring subject of American criminality. }

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Characters in Search of a Genre
  • The Nights of Chicago
  • The Morning After
  • The First Crusade
  • A New Deal for the Gangster
  • All Quiet on the Home Front
  • Shades of Noir
  • The Syndicate
  • Bonnie, Clyde, and the Kids
  • All in the Family
  • The Techniques of Violence.

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