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

(Paperback)

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Description

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, storiesthe overall iconographyof the gangster genre have proven resilient enough to be updated, reshaped, and expanded upon to connect even with todays 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.

Reviews

"A rich dazzler of a book that belongs on every film bookshelf."

Author Bio

John McCarty is an adjunct professor of cinema in the Department of Theatre at SUNY, Albany, and the author of more than thirty books, including The Fearmakers, The Sleaze Merchants, and The Films of Mel Gibson. He lives in upstate New York.