Gangster Films

Both films involve underlying assumptions about the force of the American Dream and the way in which that dream has been distorted as a justification for crime by certain individuals. Both films reflect the view that some criminals are born and some are made, thus taking the middle-ground in the debate over whether society or the criminal is at fault for crime. Both films also involved issues of family, the importance and meaning of family, and the relationship between family and crime. Both films are critical of American society while at the same time affirming certain American values, though perhaps in a distorted fashion. Both films reflect certain conventions of the gangster film genre, including the iconography of guns, meetings in warehouses, and the by-play and politics of the gang hierarchy.

The Public Enemy was presented as a social document when it was first

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n Americans at all but as the "business" in which this family operates. The family structures and social relations of the family, however, do reflect aspects of the Italian-American experience for a first- and even second-generation immigrant family such as this one. The story of The Godfather is the story of the Corleone family, headed by Don Corleone, also the head of a crime "family" made up of his own sons and other Italian-American men. The family ostensibly owns an importing firm that sells olive oil, but the real business of the family is found in criminal enterprises. In the film, there is a growing battle between the Corleone family and another crime family over territory and over the nature of the business to be conducted. The other crime family wants to go into the drug trade, and Don Corleone is opposed to this particular type of criminal enterprise as one that is not safe and that would endanger his other businesses. His son, Sonny, the son who most helps control the family businesses, makes the mistake of expressing some interest in the drug trade, and the other crime family tries to kill Don Corleone, thinking Sonny will be more conducive to their ideas once he takes over. The youngest son, Michael, has been
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Tom Powers, Don Corleone, American Dream, Tom Hagan, World American, Public Enemy, American Italian, Putty Nose, Italian Americans, Francis Coppola, tom powers, crime family, don corleone, american society, corleone family, business family, american dream, public enemy, family structure, extended family, gangster film genre, family tom powers,
Approximate Word count = 2366
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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