Mark Sevi

What Make Gangster Films & TV Shows Work? (Part 2)

What Make Gangster Films & TV Shows Work? (Part 2)
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Gangster Films

Characters: The Criminals   The Godfather, perhaps the traditional gangster film most people know, features a family involved in organized crime. They were our focal points, our POV characters. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) was outside of this world – almost. Their daily lives involved weddings, funerals, dinners, business meetings and – murder. What must the […]

 Mark Sevi

What Make Gangster Films & TV Shows Work? (Part 1)

What Make Gangster Films & TV Shows Work? (Part 1)
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Gangster Films

It’s hard to imagine a more enduring genre film type than the gangster movie. Of course, traditional gangster films, as with most genre films, have mutated into powerful crime TV shows like The Wire, Ray Donovan, and The Sopranos or films like Proud Mary and The Departed, but the core elements are still there. Since 1931’s […]