The American Gangster | |
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Directed by | Ben Burtt |
Written by | Ray Herbeck Jr. |
Produced by | Ray Herbeck Jr. |
Narrated by | Dennis Farina |
Music by | Marco D'Ambrosio |
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 45 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The American Gangster is a 1992 American crime documentary film directed by Ben Burtt and written and produced by Ray Herbeck Jr. The documentary is narrated by Dennis Farina and explores the lives of America's gangsters such as Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, Al Capone, and Bugsy Siegel. It was directly released on VHS in 1992 and later released as part of a DVD box set in 2006.
The American Gangster is a documentary that chronicles the formation of the first generation of American gangsters. The documentary explores the illegal businesses involving gambling, prostitution, and defiance of the prohibition of alcohol that empowered the gangsters. [1] The documentary shows actual film footage and photographs of gangsters like Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, Al Capone, and Bugsy Siegel. [2]
The American Gangster was released on VHS on July 1, 1992. [3] The documentary was later part of a box set of DVDs, The Mob Box Set, released on January 3, 2006. The documentary accompanied films like Bugsy (1991), Donnie Brasco (1997), and Snatch (2000). [4]
Bugsy is a 1991 American biographical crime drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by James Toback. The film stars Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Bebe Neuwirth, and Joe Mantegna. It is based on the life of American mobster Bugsy Siegel and his relationship with wife and starlet Virginia Hill.
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel sometimes known as Ben Siegel, was an American mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Siegel was influential within the Jewish Mob, along with his childhood friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky, and he also held significant influence within the Italian-American Mafia and the largely Italian-Jewish National Crime Syndicate. Described as handsome and charismatic, he became one of the first front-page celebrity gangsters.
Bugsy Malone is a 1976 gangster musical comedy film written and directed by Alan Parker. A co-production of United States and United Kingdom, it features an ensemble cast, featuring only child actors playing adult roles, with Jodie Foster, Scott Baio and John Cassisi in major roles. The film tells the story of the rise of "Bugsy Malone" and the battle for power between "Fat Sam" and "Dandy Dan".
Road to Perdition is a 2002 American crime drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by David Self, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner. It stars Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stanley Tucci, Daniel Craig and Tyler Hoechlin in his film debut. Set in 1931 during the Great Depression, the film follows a mob enforcer and his son as they seek vengeance against the mobster who murdered the rest of their family. The film explores themes such as father-son relationships and the consequences of violence.
The National Crime Syndicate was a multi-ethnic, closely connected, American confederation of several criminal organizations. It mostly consisted of and was led by the closely interconnected Italian American Mafia and Jewish Mob. It also involved, to a lesser extent, other ethnic criminal organizations such as the Irish Mob and African-American crime groups. Hundreds of murders were committed by Murder, Inc. on behalf of the National Crime Syndicate during the 1930s and 1940s.
Mobsters is a 1991 American crime drama film directed by Michael Karbelnikoff. It details the creation of The Commission. Set in New York City, taking place from 1917 to 1931, it is a semi-fictitious account of the rise of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. The film stars Christian Slater as Luciano, Patrick Dempsey as Lansky, Costas Mandylor as Costello and Richard Grieco as Siegel, with Michael Gambon, Anthony Quinn, Lara Flynn Boyle, and F. Murray Abraham in supporting roles.
Virginia Hill was an American organized crime figure. An Alabama native, she became a Chicago Outfit courier during the mid-1930s. She was famous for being the girlfriend of mobster Bugsy Siegel.
A gun moll or gangster moll or gangster's moll is the female companion of a male professional criminal. "Gun" was British slang for thief, derived from Yiddish ganef, from the Hebrew gannāb. "Moll" is also used as a euphemism for a woman prostitute.
Dillinger is a 1973 American biographical gangster film, dramatizing the life and criminal exploits of notorious bank robber John Dillinger. It is written and directed by John Milius in his feature directorial debut, and stars Warren Oates as Dillinger, Ben Johnson as FBI Agent Melvin Purvis, and Michelle Phillips in her first film performance as Dillinger's moll Billie Frechette. Other actors in the film include Cloris Leachman, Harry Dean Stanton, and Richard Dreyfuss.
"Public enemy" is a term which describes individuals whose activities are seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, including pirates, highwaymen, bandits, mobsters, and similar outlaws.
Public Enemies is a 2009 American biographical crime drama film directed by Michael Mann, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman. It is an adaptation of Bryan Burrough's 2004 non-fiction book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. Set during the Great Depression, the film chronicles the final years of the notorious bank robber John Dillinger as he is pursued by FBI agent Melvin Purvis, Dillinger's relationship with Billie Frechette, as well as Purvis' pursuit of Dillinger's associates and fellow criminals John "Red" Hamilton, Homer Van Meter, Harry Pierpont, and Baby Face Nelson.
The Bugs (Bugsy) and Meyer Mob was a Jewish-American street gang in Manhattan, New York City's Lower East Side. It was formed and headed by mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky during their teenage years shortly after the start of Prohibition. The Bugs and Meyer mob acted as a predecessor to Murder, Inc.
Baby Face Nelson is a 1957 American film noir crime film based on the real-life 1930s gangster, directed by Don Siegel, co-written by Daniel Mainwaring—who also wrote the screenplay for Siegel's 1956 sci-fi thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers—and starring Mickey Rooney, Carolyn Jones, Cedric Hardwicke, Leo Gordon as Dillinger, Anthony Caruso, Jack Elam, John Hoyt and Elisha Cook Jr.
Mafia films—a version of gangster films—are a subgenre of crime films dealing with organized crime, often specifically with Mafia organizations. Especially in early mob films, there is considerable overlap with film noir. Popular regional variations of the genre include Italian Poliziotteschi, Chinese Triad films, Japanese Yakuza films, and Indian Mumbai underworld films.
The George Raft Story is a 1961 American biographical film directed by Joseph M. Newman that stars Ray Danton as Hollywood film star George Raft. The picture was retitled Spin of a Coin for release in the United Kingdom, a reference to Raft's character's nickel-flipping trick in Scarface (1932), the film that launched his career as an actor known for portraying gangsters.
The era of American film production from the early sound era to the enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934 is denoted as Pre-Code Hollywood. The era contained violence and crime in pictures which would not be seen again until decades later. Although the Hays office had specifically recommended removing profanity, the drug trade, and prostitution from pictures, it had never officially recommended against depictions of violence in any form in the 1920s. State censor boards, however, created their own guidelines, and New York in particular developed a list of violent material which had to be removed for a picture to be shown in the state. Two main types of crime films were released during the period: the gangster picture and the prison film.
Al Capone is a 1959 biographical crime drama film directed by Richard Wilson, written by Malvin Wald and Henry F. Greenberg and released by Allied Artists. It stars Rod Steiger as Al Capone.
Young Dillinger is a 1965 gangster film directed by Terry O. Morse. It stars Nick Adams as the notorious criminal John Dillinger, and co-stars Robert Conrad, John Ashley and Mary Ann Mobley.
A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform a certain illegal act. The genre is differentiated from Westerns and the gangs of that genre.
Dillinger and Capone is a 1995 American action film directed by Jon Purdy and starring Martin Sheen, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Oliver, Catherine Hicks, and Don Stroud. The film was screened at MystFest in Cattolica, Italy and the Cannes Film Festival in 1995. Written by Michael B. Druxman, the film is not based in real events but imagines a world in which John Dillinger is not killed at the Biograph Theater and lives on to work with Al Capone. The film was acquired by Cinemax and aired on their cable television network periodically in 1996. In 1997 the film was acquired by HBO and aired periodically on that television network.