Bullets Over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture From The Silents To "The Sopranos" [Hardcover]

John McCarty (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2004

The gangster, like the gunslinger, is a classic American character-and the gangster movie, like the Western, is one of the American cinema's enduring film genres. From Scarface to White Heat, from The Godfather to The Usual Suspects, from Once Upon a Time in America to Road to Perdition, gangland on the screen remains as popular as ever.In Bullets over Hollywood, film scholar John McCarty traces the history of mob flicks and reveals why the films are so beloved by Americans. As McCarty demonstrates, the themes, characters, landscapes, stories-the overall iconography-of the gangster genre have proven resilient enough to be updated, reshaped, and expanded upon to connect with even today's young audiences. Packed with fascinating behind-the-scenes anecdotes and information about real-life hoods and their cinematic alter egos, insightful analysis, and a solid historical perspective, Bullets over Hollywood will be the definitive book on the gangster movie for years to come.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to McCarty, Americans admire the antihero gangster because he's an unbound character who goes where he wants, does what he wants and "takes no bull from anybody." The author conveys the appeal of these reckless outlaws, personified in film by such icons as Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, through concise analyses of key crime films and well-drawn personal histories of the genre's central stars, directors and writers. McCarty, who's written some 30 books (The Fearmakers; etc.), astutely charts the inextricable link between gangster movies and westerns to a point where one mobster film, High Sierra (1941), was reshaped for cowboy fan consumption via Colorado Territory (1949), then underwent a gangster remake as I Died a Thousand Times (1955). McCarty kicks off with 1915's Regeneration and shoots through White Heat (1949), The Godfather (1972) and Chicago (2002). He credits D.W. Griffith for making the first gangster picture of any importance, The Musketeers of Pig Alley. He applauds Silky Jane Greer for her haunting, indelible portrayal of Kathy Moffat in 1947's Out of the Past and brings Richard Widmark vibrantly alive as the psychopath who pushes wheelchair-bound Mildred Dunnock down a flight of stairs. The book's most telling line powerfully indicates how vital gangster movies have been by citing George Raft—"gangster movies... taught gangsters how to talk"— and concludes that real-life criminals now define themselves by the mob images they've seen in The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Sopranos. Photos.
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Review

"Bullets Over Hollywood hits its target." -- Louisville Courier-Journal 7/25/04

"Bullets over Hollywood will be the definitive book on the gangster movie for years to come." -- Mafia International 6/2/04

"Exhaustive history of the gangster film...drawing attention to the forgotten gems." -- Philadelphia News-Gleaner 9/15/04

"Fascinating and copiously informative history of the 'mob movie.'" -- Midwest Book Review 9/04

"In Bullets over Hollywood you will find a rich vein of cinematic history, well mined and analyzed by John McCarty." -- Chicago Sun-Times 6/6/04

"McCarty provides an expansive look at the history of the gangster film in Hollywood." -- Choice January 2005

"More than just a recap of great films; it doubles as a social history of American organized crime." -- New York Post 06/6/04

"The section on women in [gangster] films - 'Molls, Twists, Babes, and B Girls' -- is particularly well done." -- Denver Post 6/6/04

"Thoroughly reviews a century of bad guys, tough broads, and blood-soaked conflict resolution." -- Variety 8/8/04

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (June 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306813017
• ISBN-13: 978-0306813016
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,391,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A copiously informative history of the "mob movie", September 15, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bullets Over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture From The Silents To "The Sopranos" (Hardcover)

Bullets Over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture From The Silents To "The Sopranos" by John McCarty (Adjunct Professor of Cinema, Department of Theatre, SUNY, Albany, New York) is an inherently fascinating and copiously informative history of the "mob movie", as it comparatively surveys archetypal criminal stereotypes from the earliest days of silent movie story telling down to the "made for TV" gangland series. Bullets Over Hollywood is replete with anecdotal "behind the scenes" stories and even goes into the minds of the audiences for this enduringly popular genre of film entertainment. The impact of movie gangsters on popular culture has always been immense and immediate from slang to clothing to mannerisms, to career choices. Bullets Over Hollywood is informed, informative (and, enhanced with a photo inserts showcasing some of the greatest moments of mob movies) and a filmography dating back to 1915), and strongly recommended reading for students of American film history and American popular culture.

3.0 out of 5 stars I learned some things, November 28, 2010

By 

Brett Fletcher (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bullets Over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture From The Silents To "The Sopranos" (Hardcover)

Bullets Over Hollywood is a worthwhile read, but there's probably better out there. The best part of the book is dedicated to identifying the three main gangster archetypes. The James Cagney type is naturally violent and almost born to be a gangster. The Edward G. Robinson type is greedy and becomes a gangster for riches. The Humprey Bogart type is a haunted criminal who's trapped in a life of crime. There's an entire chapter dedicated to Boris Karloff, which is good and bad. Karloff gangster films aren't well known and I appreciate knowing about them. But considering the many films either left out or receiving little attention, Karloff should take up less space.

That brings me to the horrid treatment of Scarface (original and remake). The 1932 Scarface receives a couple of pages of some interesting analysis, and that's it. It deserves far more. The 1983 Scarface doesn't even get a full page and the author seems to condescend it as well. When Scarface is on your book cover, it's a unspoken obligation the book is going to give it a serviceable treatment. A much better cover would be Karloff, Cagney, Robinson and Bogart; so readers not interested in older stars, beware. The Sopranos get a minimal bit at the end, though it's nothing special.

I honestly haven't read a really good book on gangsters. Thus, (even though it's flawed) Bullets Over Hollywood is technically one of the best in the subject.

3.0 out of 5 stars BETTER STUFF OUT THERE THAN THIS, March 28, 2008

By 

Samuel S. Gellura (NEW JERSEY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bullets over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture from the Silents to "The Sopranos" (Hardcover)

I FELT THE BOOK WAS POORLY WRITTEN AND RESEARCHED , IT DISCUSSED MANY MOVIES THAT DON'T REALLY FIT INTO THE GANGSTER MOVIE GENRE AND IRONICALLY WHEN IT LISTED THE FILMS BY YEAR , SCARFACE(1983) WAS NOT LISTED , THOUGH IT IS ON THE COVER OF THE BOOK. I GAVE IT 3 STARS JUST BECAUSE A BOOK ABOUT GANGSTER MOVIES IS COOL , BUT I HAD JUST FINISHED A MORE COMPLETE AND BETTER WRITTEN BOOK ABOUT GANGSTER FILMS CALLED "PUMP EM'FULL OF LEAD" MY OPINION OF COURSE , SO MAYBE I WAS BIAS.