Mafia Movies

Tweet

Hollywood is in love with the mafia. Always has been, always will. If you ask film acolytes what the greatest movie of all time is, they will undoubtedly mention The Godfather in their list -- after Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and the other seminal hits of the first half of the of the twentieth century.If you ask a television critic to disclose the greatest television series of all time, you will most assuredly hear The Sopranos somewhere in their list. Why have these crime movies been elevates to such lofty heights in our culture?Mafia movies are essentially the new western. In mafia movies, good versus evil plays itself out against a background of a complex fictive world, and an entertaining struggle emerges dramatically by heroes, villains, and the innocents caught in the crossfire.The key the success of the Mafia genre is the portrayal of the fact that the Mafia, although leading a life outside the law, is, at its best, simply a group of entrepreneurs and businessmen supplying the consumers with goods and services which Puritan WASP culture deprives them of.Organized crime is romanticized in these films as essentially an anarchist form of capitalism, a productive industry struggling to govern itself. Unorganized street crime, in contrast, is usually viewed as random, viciously aggressive, and destructive against the innocent. With no redeeming social values, our street crooks become the real criminals, whereas the gangster becomes the heroic protagonist.Our Mafia heroes embody the American Dream. They seek to better themselves and their families in a malicious world of uncertainty and corruption.Mafia movies come in all genres. From romantic comedy " Mickey Blue Eyes " to dark drama " Goodfellas. Check out Young Hollywood's top 10 list of mafia movies:The Godfather (1972)Goodfellas (1990)The Godfather Part II (1974)Donnie Brasco (1997)Scarface (1983)Brooklyn Rules (2007)The Departed (2006)Casino (1995)A Bronx Tale (1993)The Untouchables (1987)>