By Gene D. Phillips

In this book, noted film and literature scholar Gene D. Phillips looks at the crime film genre. In addition to the usual suspects like Little Caesar, and The Godfather Part II, which he examines with a fresh perspective, Phillips also calls attention to some of the less heralded but no less worthy films and filmmakers that represent the genre.;The rise of the gangster film -- Little Caesar and The public enemy -- The story of Temple Drake and No orchids for Miss Blandish -- Dead end and This gun for hire -- Criss cross and White heat -- John Huston's Key Largo and The asphalt jungle -- The lady from Shanghai and The great Gatsby -- Fritz Lang's You only live once and The big heat -- The godfather, part II -- Bonnie and Clyde and The untouchables -- The grifters and The departed -- Dillinger and Public enemies -- Gangster squad (2013) and other films.

Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. 191p.

By Jack Shadoian

Dreams and Dead Ends provides a compelling history of the twentieth-century American gangster film. Beginning with Little Caesar (1930) and ending with Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (1995), Jack Shadoian adroitly analyzes twenty notable examples of the crime film genre. Moving chronologically through nearly seven decades, this volume offers illuminating readings of a select group of the classic films--including The Public Enemy, D.O.A., Bonnie and Clyde, and The Godfather--that best define and represent each period in the development of the American crime film. Richly illustrated with more than seventy film stills, Dreams and Dead Ends details the evolution of the genre through insightful and precise considerations of cinematography, characterization, and narrative style.

Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 397p.

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By Ron Wilson

This volume examines the gangster film in its historical context with an emphasis on the ways the image of the gangster has adapted and changed as a result of socio-cultural circumstances. From its origins in Progressive-era reforms to its use as an indictment of corporate greed, the gangster film has often provided a template for critiquing American ideas and values concerning individualism, success, and business acumen. The gangster genre has also been useful in critically examining race and ethnicity in American culture in terms of "otherness." Films studied include Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912), The Racket (1928), The Captive City (1952), The Godfather, Part Two (1974), Goodfellas (1990), and Killing Them Softly (2012).

New York: Wallflower Press, 2015. 144p.