This paper traces the evolution of the American gangster film from its origins in the early twentieth century through its most influential modern incarnations. Beginning with the dime-store novel outlaw tradition and the moralistic crime dramas of the 1930s, the paper examines how Hollywood's portrayal of organized crime grew increasingly nuanced over the decades. The central focus falls on three landmark works—Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972, 1974), Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990), and David Chase's television series The Sopranos (1999–2007)—analyzing how each reframed the gangster as a complex, relatable figure shaped by family, ethnicity, urban environment, and the contradictions of the American dream.
The era of the gangster movie began shortly after the era of organized crime in the United States first emerged. The outlaw, in one form or another, has always fascinated mainstream America, and this fascination has been consistently reflected in popular culture. The dime-store novels of the nineteenth century were, in some ways, the precursors to the crime-based films of the twentieth century. In these books, characters like Billy the Kid and Jesse James were immortalized as rugged individualists who lived by their own rules and challenged authority in cunning and daring ways. The character of the outlaw has captivated American audiences for generations.
What the Wild West outlaw was to audiences of the nineteenth century, the urban organized crime figure came to represent many of the same values in the century that followed. Yet, although many of the same values were present, gangsters and Wild West outlaws — as portrayed in books and films — differed significantly in the degree of violence associated with them. Much of this distinction arose as a reaction to the highly visible and widely publicized acts of murder and mayhem that occurred in the 1930s in some of the nation's largest and most crime-ridden cities. During this period, Chicago emerged as the capital of organized crime in America. One figure in particular, Al Capone, managed to both captivate and disgust people across the nation. Literally dozens of Hollywood films were made either directly about Capone or loosely based upon his actions, many of them during his own lifetime. Films like Little Caesar (1930) and Scarface, Shame of a Nation (1931) adapted living characters and recent events into thrilling stories of a mobster's rise and fall from power. This established Capone, and the crime bosses of the 1920s and 1930s, as intensely compelling characters who thumbed their noses at authority and managed to live like kings for a brief period before being brought to justice.
This last theme — apparent in most crime films of the era — often served as a moral lesson to audiences: although these individuals were fascinating, living such a violent and morally reprehensible existence always carried dire consequences.
One of the most famous and popular crime films of the 1930s was Angels with Dirty Faces (1938). This intensely moralized tale depicted the rise and fall of gangsters in the United States, making clear that the consequences of a violent life are equally violent — as the famous closing scene of an execution in the electric chair reveals. The characters from this film, the Dead End Kids, proved so popular that it spawned a series of related films and spin-offs ranging from crime dramas to comedies.
The following decade saw a modest decline in the volume of gangster movies produced in Hollywood. After all, the Nazis had suddenly emerged as the primary enemy of most Americans, and the era of Prohibition and widespread bootlegging had come to a close. Nevertheless, a handful of popular gangster films still reached the big screen: Lady Scarface (1941), Johnny O'Clock (1947), and Dillinger (1945) all followed the familiar pattern of the rise and fall of compelling urban outlaws. The 1950s returned to the trend of producing biographical accounts of famous American mobsters with The Bonnie Parker Story (1958), Baby Face Nelson (1958), Machine-Gun Kelly (1958), and Al Capone (1959). Unlike many of their earlier counterparts — which were often thinly veiled biographies using different names — these films borrowed famous names but frequently embellished the stories to make them more appealing to moviegoing audiences.
One subtle shift in the persistent themes of these films was that in many cases it was no longer clear whether the police were consistently fighting for the common good or were themselves criminals. This may have reflected the early post-war political atmosphere, in which communists emerged as the enemy of the United States and many questioned the validity of condemning such a group in a society where political freedom was supposedly an innate right. During the 1950s and into the 1960s, heist dramas began to grow more popular with audiences and filmmakers alike. Robbery (1950) and Crime Wave (1953) are two examples of this trend. In these films the plots often became more complex, with the central action revolving around the ingenious schemes devised to commit a single crime — a clear departure from the biographical epic accounts of famous gangsters that had dominated Hollywood before.
Also during the 1960s, many crime-based films began to follow the trend established by the immensely successful James Bond series, surrendering realism for the sake of fantastically exciting storylines and incredible stunts. This campy approach spilled over into the gangster film genre, with spies frequently becoming a major component of crime dramas. Nevertheless, biographical epics remained fairly popular; Bonnie and Clyde (1967) was perhaps the most successful of these films and reflected Americans' continuing fascination with violent criminals who live by their own rules but often suffer an early demise as a result.
The early 1970s saw the creation of two of the most critically acclaimed and influential gangster movies ever made. The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974) arguably set the tone for organized crime films for the next three decades, taking a somewhat unique approach to the long-established biographical gangster narrative. Both installments were immersed in the Italian immigrant culture out of which much organized crime in the United States had originated. The characters were no longer sensationalized creations sprung purely from the minds of Hollywood writers and directors; instead, they strove for a level of realism that made intensely violent individuals relatable as well as compelling. The commercial and critical success of crime films in this period was remarkable: four consecutive years, from 1971 to 1974, crime-based dramas won the Academy Award for Best Picture — both installments of The Godfather, along with The French Connection (1971) and The Sting (1973).
Following these successes, gangster films experienced something of a subsidence during the 1980s. Few films were able to adapt the formula mastered in The Godfather and mold it into something original. Notable exceptions included Once Upon a Time in America (1984) and The Untouchables (1987). Although Once Upon a Time in America received considerable critical acclaim, it was a box office disappointment. The Untouchables, on the other hand, drew millions by once again evoking the mythic figures of Al Capone and Eliot Ness. The heroes of this film, like those in many crime films of the decade, were firmly on the side of the law; there was a clearer distinction between right and wrong, good and bad, than had appeared in the decade preceding it. Scarface (1983) was the major gangster biography of the decade, reflecting once again the theme of moral corruption followed by a violent demise.
The tone, theme, and plot of gangster and crime films took a dramatic turn during the 1990s, during which time two directors emerged as dominant influences upon the entire genre: Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. Scorsese's manner of storytelling followed, to some extent, the traditional plotline of rise and fall in the lives of gangsters. However, each of his films approached this from a gritty and realistic point of view — not shying away from violence — while humanizing the characters by strongly developing the Italian-American mobster culture out of which they emerged. His most notable films of the 1990s were Casino (1995) and what is widely considered his masterpiece, Goodfellas (1990).
The Godfather movies clearly represent a turning point in the biographical approach to crime films. Prior to The Godfather, gangsters had rarely been treated with empathy in the movies, and their characters had not been granted significant psychological depth or feeling. Coppola broke with this tradition and attempted to represent the organized crime families of the United States as operating in a manner similar to a feudal society. From this standpoint, the Corleone family was depicted as something of a royal family within the mafia underworld. In this way, the violent actions of the main characters — and particularly the transformation of Michael Corleone from a "civilian" into the Godfather — were characterized as being at least partially the result of family honor and pride. With this interpretation of Italian-based organized crime, Coppola made his characters decidedly more relatable than past filmmakers had attempted.
Coppola was not the first choice as director of The Godfather. Although he had won the 1971 Academy Award for his screenplay for Patton, he was a relative unknown as a director and was apprehensive about depicting the mafia in America (Hughes 126). He was nonetheless given the right to work on the film adaptation of the novel — originally written by Mario Puzo — alongside the original author. Coppola's earlier directorial work included Dementia 13 (1963), Finian's Rainbow (1968), and The Rain People (1969). Despite this inauspicious résumé, once assigned to The Godfather, Coppola immediately began reshaping the project away from Paramount executives' vision and toward the portrait of the Italian mafia he believed the film should be.
The fundamental theme of The Godfather is that there are essentially two sides to the Don. Publicly, he is the smiling friend to everyone and the gentle father. But this façade stands in stark contrast to the dark and secretive office in which all of his shady schemes are hatched — a theme that reappears in the more modern The Sopranos. This duality is a necessary component of humanizing a character who might otherwise be difficult to comprehend: a man who possesses deep loyalties to his family but who is also unafraid to commit heinous acts of murder and violence. Coppola's interpretation of the mafia underscores the idea that this violence is truly a consequence of family loyalty, carried over from long-established Italian social organizations.
Don Vito also functions as something resembling an unofficial member of royalty — a form of justice that the ordinary functioning of American society does not provide. His position as an organized crime figure allows matters of honor and injustice to be addressed in ways more violent or morally questionable than the American justice system will legally permit. This theme is reflected in one of the film's opening scenes, in which Amerigo Bonasera asks the Don to take revenge upon two men who have beaten his daughter and escaped the punishment he believes they deserve. Bonasera defends his appeal by saying, "I believe in America" (The Godfather, 1972). Yet it is clear that there is a point where the authority of the American government ends and the authority of the old Sicilian order begins.
One of the major reasons Marlon Brando won an Oscar for his performance is that he plays the family side of the Don as compellingly as the side that coldly orders men's deaths. In a crucial scene, he plays with his grandson in the garden before suffering a heart attack — revealing a man capable of tenderness, but primarily only toward those who are members of his family or to whom he owes a degree of respect. Otherwise, anyone is fair game in the interests of "business." Meanwhile, the Corleone family and its extended network weave a web of plot and subplot that reflects the dynastic culture the Italian mafia is supposed to represent: "Aside from the male members of the family's numerous business meetings, the clan is depicted domestically as a normal family, almost of soap opera dimensions" (Hughes 131).
It is this obligation to the family that initiates virtually the entire plot of the film, and it is largely why the character of Michael — played by Al Pacino — is essential. By joining the armed services, Michael attempts to distance himself from the criminal foundations of his family and identify with a different cause — that of mainstream American society. He is ridiculed by his brother for this choice and is, for a time, excluded from the day-to-day workings of the family. After relating a violent story to his future wife, Kay, Michael says, "That's my family, Kay," and attempts to reinforce the notion that he is separate from his family and their values. Eventually, however, this proves untrue (The Godfather, 1972).
One of the defining moments for Michael's character occurs when the Don, nearing death in the garden, says, "I refused to be a fool, dancing on a string held by all those big shots" (The Godfather, 1972). He mentions that he had hoped Michael would become a senator or governor, but that there simply "wasn't enough time." Michael assures his father that "we'll get there" (The Godfather, 1972). This exchange reveals that Michael has been drawn fully into the family, and that despite his earlier claims that his values differ from his father's, they have actually become identical. The scene also establishes the root reasons why the Don and his family feel justified in breaking the law: they resent the power that the United States government holds over them, viewing it as corrupt and unjustified. According to the Corleones, power and stability come from the family and through the honor within it — not from some external, official entity such as the government. In this way, Coppola provides a moral template from which the Corleone family operates, a feature of the gangster film genre that had been almost entirely absent until this point.
Michael is perhaps the most relatable character because he possesses an obvious appreciation for the core values of American life, yet holds more powerful ties to his family than to the letter of the law. Through him, the audience can at least partially understand how an ordinary American citizen could potentially be drawn into a life of crime — when forced to choose between family and the abstract premises of the law. The morality of the characters in The Godfather is, in many ways, a reflection of a broader trend in American storytelling: the construction of a somewhat romanticized image of the outlaw. This had already occurred with Wild West figures in nineteenth-century novels and in Hollywood productions of the twentieth century. As Susan Faludi observes, "the cowboy of the myth wasn't trigger happy and he wasn't a dominator" (Faludi). Even Hollywood depictions of historical figures who were, in their time, vile brutes represent attempts to locate some innate morality in their actions.
Coppola, however, pulls few punches in his depiction of the American mafia. Although the characters are certainly moralized and positioned as pursuers of the American dream, the violence they perpetuate is neither toned down nor stylized. The death of Luca Brasi, for example, is exceptionally brutal: "He meets Bruno Tattaglia and Sollozzo in a bar, but ends up with his hand pinned to the bar with a knife and a garrote looped around his neck. Coppola doesn't spare us the sight of Brasi's choking" (Hughes 132). Similarly, when Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey, the murders are represented with gruesome realism — brain matter, blood, and final death struggles all depicted. There is nothing truly heroic or glorious about these killings; they are deliberately rendered this way to sustain the theme of dichotomy in the lives of the Corleone men. Nevertheless, this violence is presented as a true consequence of wanting the best for one's family — a skewed version of the American dream, in which the primary obstacle to power and prestige is the federal government.
The essential theme of family and the troubled pursuit of the American dream carries through into The Godfather Part II. Some of the most powerful scenes involve a young Vito Corleone rising as a mobster in early twentieth-century New York. One of the film's most brilliant juxtapositions occurs when Vito commits his first murder — that of Don Fanucci — and is then shown celebrating Independence Day on the steps of his apartment building with his infant son on his lap. The message is unmistakable: these murderous actions are done for the good of the family. In this way, Vito Corleone is depicted as a pursuer of the American dream, while his son Michael, by placing the needs of his business ahead of the needs of his family, ultimately brings about the destruction of both. The Godfather films thus rely consistently upon the importance of the family and the obstacles facing individuals attempting to attain the American dream — a dream that, the films suggest, is as much a theoretical promise as a practical reality.
"Scorsese's grittier vision of power-driven organized crime"
"Chase synthesizes Coppola and Scorsese for television"
There is a long tradition of gangster films in American cinema and entertainment. The emergence of organized crime in the urban regions of the United States in the early twentieth century spawned a new and fascinating breed of characters about whom the American public could not seem to get enough. At first, these characters were depicted as purely despicable — products of bad upbringings or individuals simply possessing innately vile natures. The character of the mafia man quickly filled the role of the Wild West outlaw in American popular culture: a hero to some and a grotesque villain to others. Just as in many nineteenth-century Wild West novels, the outlaws became the evil that heroic lawmen hunted down and brought to justice — a theme that appeared repeatedly in gangster movies throughout the first several decades of the genre.
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