Monday, January 24, 2011

Greatest Mob Movies Of All Time

By Dave Vower


The mob has always been one of the great themes for films. The combination of apparently easy wealth, moral compromise and violence has provided rich themes for generations of film makers. This article, I will discuss the ten greatest mob movies of all time, listed chronologically: Public Enemy (1931): This movie is an especially dark, film noir look at the life of a petty criminal who becomes increasingly ruthless and violent and is ultimately destroyed. The film was released before any film codes, so it is a surprisingly modern film.

The Big Sleep (1946): The Big Sleep is my personal favorite Humphrey Bogart film, and it is a tense crime drama set in Florida including blackmail and murder. The movie code washed out many of the more explicit elements of the film, so have a look at the book by Raymond Chandler. Then you'll watch the film and say, "Oh, that's what's going on." On the Waterfront (1954): Wait, this isn't a mob movie! It's about a boxer and his relationship with a corrupt union that... Yep, it's a mob movie, but it's a movie that shows the other side of mob life, not from the point of view of the gangsters, but from that of people who are force to live within mob-controlled institutions.

The Godfather (1972): The Godfather is the mob film, establishing it as a definite style, but in addition altering the mob film in necessary ways. It established the idea of gangsters as being glamorous, something that basically had not been seen in earlier films. It also taught filmgoers concerning the rules and institutions of the mob, providing an "official" context for future mob films.

Mean Streets (1973): Mean Streets is the anti-Godfather. Rather than focus on the wealth and prestige of crime, it focuses on petty criminals in Little Italy. The film takes a great deal of its inspiration from films like Public Enemy. Compare the approach to crime in Mean Streets with The Godfather, Part II (set largely in the same area), and you'll see a huge contrast.

The Godfather, Part II (1974): The Godfather, Half II expanded the mob mythos by taking viewers by manner of the history of the development of Vito Corleone's management in the mob. In effect, it tied the mob back to the street. On the same time, we saw extra of the corruption of Michael Corleone, main him to be nearly inhuman by the tip of the film.

Pulp Fiction (1994): Pulp Fiction is the most influential film since Star Wars, redrawing the boundaries of what can be considered "plot" in a film. It has a number of interweaving stories, and they revolve around the crew of Marcellus Wallace, a Los Angeles crime lord. The film is a mixture of clever dialogue and sudden violence and is still Quentin Tarantino's most-watched film. Traffic (2000): Traffic takes a different approach to mob life, following parallel stories of drug traffickers and the police who try to bring them down. The film is unambiguously on the side of the police officers, but manages to do this without ever treating the criminals like they are not human. It also has the advantage of dealing with some of the effect that the drug trade has on people living in countries such as Mexico.




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