Gangster Movies: Why Do They Appeal To Men?

Most gangster flicks have certain elements that are common with each other. The main characters live and breathe by committing what society has deemed crimes. Violence is a key ingredient to throw in the shock factor and to bring home the point of what life as a gangster really is. A good portion of the films in this genre portray the characters living inside of some family unit, at least a surrogate unit, and all of the movies about the Mafia portray how intricate and important this "family" life is.

Another very important element in gangster movies is the "something from nothing" angle. Almost all mafia or gangster movies include a storyline where the character or characters were poor and gained success through their own means and wits.

Westerns are not all that different in their appeal in that they usually involve a gang of lawless individuals who live a carefree life until the final showdown. Since the days of Frank and Jesse James fighting the Railroad Barons, we have cheered for the bad guy, to a point.

And what of the 'gumshoes'? Popularized by the likes of Raymond Chandler's character Private Investigator Phillip Marlowe, the movie adaptations portrayed a man that skirted the law. The differences between the gumshoe and the gangster are primarily in the fact that the gumshoe trades a family organization in for a set of higher morals. Marlowe enjoys chess and poetry and as Chandler stated once, "I'm fairly certain that Marlowe would seduce a duchess, and quite sure he wouldn't spoil a virgin."

In the case of all three genres, we seem to root for men who are dirty, beyond the gray area, and downright ruthless as they battle foes who are even more despicable.

Public Enemy In 1931 James Cagney, as Tom Powers, burst on the scene as small time thief to a major underworld figure in prohibition-era America. Major points in the film include the fact that his father was a largely disinterested policeman who finally takes a strap to Tom for Tom's increasing delinquency. This is when Tom begins to turn to crime. Tom eventually rises to the top, but greed gets the better of him and he is killed by a rival gang.

Tom was loyal to two families throughout his career. He never forgot his mother and often went to visit her bringing her money and his crime family that he vigorously worked for.

Godfather The most popular gangster movie of all time is full of the family crime syndicate theme. Men involved in all types of crime and fiercely loyal to both their home and crime families. So loyal are the men that it is forbidden for their wives, sisters, and girlfriends to know exactly what they do at the office. The saga of the Corleone Family portrays the rise of Michael to succeed his father as the head of the most powerful crime family in New York.

Godfather II continues with the crime family theme, but we are also treated to how Vito rose to power from the austere start as an Italian immigrant with no money. He built his empire with the help of friends and support of his wife who only knew he had influence, but not how he acquired it.

Throughout the entire Godfather series the Corleone family battles rival crime syndicates, dirty politicians, and even a tainted leadership in the Catholic Church.

Goodfellas was the true story of Henry Hill and his experience in a crime syndicate. The gangster's family life and "code of ethics" are the central theme in this movie as Henry becomes more involved with the crime family and both "takes one" for the family and works against the unwritten codes. He was advised not to get into the drug trade, but did anyway. In the end, this was his downfall as he was arrested and then turned State's Witness. He and his wife are currently enrolled in the Witness Protection Program.

The Great Train Robbery In 1903 the twelve minute movie became the first movie produced with the intention of commercial distribution. By using innovative editing techniques, the film's makers were able to capture the audiences while telling the tale of a group of cowboy bandits who robbed a train, nearly got away, and died in a brave shootout with a posse.

Interesting to note that when the film was distributed, the theater owners had a choice when to show the famous desperado leader shooting at the camera scene. Most showed it as the last frame, and in many instances this caused such a reaction in the crowd that there were guns a blazing. Men got so wound up they fired their pistols, shooting into the theater ceilings.

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid The popular western starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford set us up to love the famous outlaws. The appealing desperadoes were pursued by a ruthless posse during the entire film and when they met their fate in Bolivia, director George Roy Hill edited the scene to not show the two criminals getting shot. The film faded into a still photograph as we hear the gunfight raging.

True Grit John Wayne plays respected if not well liked U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn in this tale of a manhunt for frontier murderers. Cogburn is the type of lawman who would rather mete out justice than operate within the boundaries of the law.

The family theme was present in this movie as Rooster's family included Mattie and LeBoeuf, a family that looked after one another as they tracked down the killer of Mattie's father.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly actually, any of Clint Eastwood's westerns would fit the bill. His characters were always gray area men who battled those who were more than a bit ruthless.

The Maltese Falcon The 1941 adaptation of Dashell Hammett's book was actually the third one released by Hollywood. Sam Spade was the consummate gumshoe; smart, worked outside of the law, and high morals. He got things done the way he thought they should be. Justice served, and he got more bruises than the bad guys.

Office annoyances at a punch the clock, goin' nowhere job. Neighbors leaves piling up in your treeless yard. Idiots needlessly holding the line up at a busy grocery store. An asshole beats his wife and the cops won't do a thing about it.

All of the things that pisses a good guy off is made worse by the fact that he can't bring about order in his own way. Stifled by the law or society's moral set. So, most of us men seek refuge in the fantasy of these movies. We live vicariously through the lawless characters who become our anti-heroes.

Clay Steinman, professor of Communications at Macalester College in Minnesota, says,"It appeals to the male's rebellious potential of making things right in his own world. The movies allow us to kind of play at being violent and rebellious."

"Crime films of the 1930's and later efforts such as Bonnie and Clyde, the principals become more like Robin Hood figures to the common folk," says Dan Berman, who teaches a film course at USC.

During the 1930's nearly everyone was poor, and real life criminals were actually cheered on because they were taking from those who had money; banks and the like. So it's easy to see why films of that era were appealing. As far as The Godfather, Scarface, and The Sopranos, I like those shows because for the most part any violence is perpetrated against rival criminals. Kind of makes it clean for me, and I still root for a bad guy type of one fashion or another.

Man, how I wish I could kill five low life scumbags because they laughed at my mule or keyed my car. Guess all I can do is pop in a DVD and fuggedaboutit.

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