UNIVERSITY OF NORTHTEXASMay 2013
RTVF 4415.001: Mafia, gangsters and gangland in the cinema and beyond
M –Thurs 9.00-12.50pm RTFP 184
Instructor: Dr G.S. Larke-Walsh, Office M&P 233. Email:
Office hours:Any day after class – just let me know
TA: Abbey Hoekzema
Course Outline
This course is split into three sections. Each section will examine aspects of organized crime in cinema. I have not structured this course chronologically, or by nationality. Instead it is a mix of styles and approaches. By completing this course you will be able to identify the components of the gangster genre, the various discourses that define it and the historical and cultural influences behind its development across various industries. You will be able to describe the aesthetics of each film and analyze how these aesthetics reflect cross-cultural mythologies of organized crime.
Course Objectives:
To encourage students to think critically about genre film (identifying both structural and thematic patterns)
To encourage students to understand the ideological relationships between film and larger cultural concerns
To encourage students to be able to present their own arguments/opinions about film both verbally and in written work.
Course Texts
Larke-Walsh, G.S. Screening the Mafia: masculinity, ethnicity and mobsters from the Godfather to The Sopranos, Jefferson, N.C. McFarland, (2010).
Extra Required Reading appears under each seminar description. All are available on blackboard.
Your required work for this class includes:
Two midterm examinations (in class)25% each
One final examination (in class)25%
Two 1,000-1,500 word written assignments25%
Students expecting to do well in this class should read the assigned materials, attend and take notes on all components of the class, including discussions and screenings. You do not need to notify me if you miss class, but it is up to you to get the lecture notes from another student, and/or view the assigned film(s), (most of which will be available at the ChiltonMediaCenter within a day or so after the class meeting). As a Maymester class moves so quickly,I can almost guarantee you will fail this class if you skip the assigned readings and/or continue to miss lectures and screenings.
Exams will be based on lectures, screenings, readings, and discussions. The final will be cumulative. The Written Assignments will be mini- research papers on related topics (1,000 – 1,5000 words approx 4-6 pages). Details will follow in a separate hand-out. Late papers will not be accepted. Your Final Grade will thus be based upon three in-class examinations, one written assignment. You must complete each of these components in order to pass the class. Any form of academic dishonesty will result in an F for this course.
NOTE: “The University of North Texas makes reasonable academic accommodation for students with disabilities. Students seeking accommodation must first register with the Office of Disability Accommodation (ODA) to verify their eligibility. If a disability is verified, the ODA will provide you with an accommodation letter to be delivered to faculty to begin a private discussion regarding your specific needs in a course. You may request accommodations at any time, however, ODA notices of accommodation should be provided as early as possible in the semester to avoid any delay in implementation. Note that students must obtain a new letter of accommodation for every semester and must meet with each faculty member prior to implementation in each class. For additional information see the Office of Disability Accommodation website at . You may also contact them by phone at 940.565.4323.”
BREAKDOWN BY WEEKS AND CLASS MEETINGS
TWO FILMS NOT INCLUDED IN THE SCREENINGS ARE Scarface (DePalma, 1983) and Once Upon a Time in America (Leone, 1984) – if you haven’t seen them try and find time to do so.
Unit 1 Please read Chapter 1 of the set text to familiarize yourself with the period and subjects of study in this course
WEEK ONE: Monday May 13th
Screening: The Godfather (1972) dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 175 mins
Seminar: The Postclassical ‘Classic’
Required Reading:
Larke-Walsh, G.S. “Theorizing the Gangster Genre” in Screening the Mafia: masculinity, ethnicity and
mobsters from the Godfather to The Sopranos, Jefferson, N.C. McFarland, (2010), pp.58-111.
Warshow, R “The Gangster as Tragic Hero” in The Immediate Experience, 1948 (on blackboard).
These next two are referenced on powerpoints and available on blackboard:
Man, Glenn “Ideology and Genre in The Godfather Films” in Browne, N (ed) Francis Ford Coppola’s The
Godfather Trilogy, NY, Cambridge Uni Press, (2000), pp.109-132.
Dika, Vera “The Representation of Ethnicity in The Godfather” in Browne, N (ed) Francis Ford Coppola’s
The Godfather Trilogy, NY, Cambridge Uni Press, (2000), pp. 76-108
Recommended Reading:
Shadoian, J “Little Caesar” in Dreams and Dead Ends: The American Gangster/Crime Film Camb
Mass, MIT Press (1977), pp25-42.
Screening Notes:
The Godfather trilogy is deemed a classic and as such it informs all gangster films made since. What themes does it present? (Identity through business; Romance; Ethnic identity for instance)
Consider The Godfather Pt I as a genre film. What conventions and themes are developed?
WEEK ONE: Tuesday May 14th
Screening: Goodfellas (1990) dir. Martin Scorsese, 146 mins
Required Reading:
Larke-Walsh, G.S. “Mafia Myths” in Screening the Mafia: Masculinity, Ethnicity and Mobsters from “The
Godfather to The Sopranos”Jefferson, NC, McFarland Press, 2010, pp. 112-159.
This is referenced on powerpoints and available on blackboard:
Freedman, C“Hobbes after Marx, Scorsese after Coppola: on Goodfellas” inFilm International v.9 Iss.1 (2011) pp.42-62 (on blackboard)
Screening Notes:
Considered the film that ‘exposed’ the realities of Mafia life, Goodfellasis arguably the antidote to The Godfather. Released the same year as The Godfather Pt III, what do you think? Is it ‘real’ or is it myth?
The use of voice-over encourages audiences to identify with certain people more than others. How does it affect your reading of the film?
WEEK ONE: Weds May 15th
Screening: Miller’s Crossing (1990), dir. Joel & Ethan Coen, 115 mins.
Seminar: Narrative and Film Form
Required Reading:
Coughlin, P “Acting for Real: Performing characters in Miller’s Crossing and Fargo” in Journal of Popular
Culture, V.41, N.2, 2008, pp.224-244
Nolan, W “Miller’s Crossing’s Tom Reagan: Straight as a corkscrew, Mr Inside-outsky” in Post Script,
Winter, v.27 Iss. 2, 2008, pp.48-61
Recommended Reading:
Herling, Bradley “Ethics, Heart and Violence in Miller’s Crossing” in Conrad, M (ed) The Philosophy of the
Coen Brothers, Lexington, Uni Press of Kentucky, 2009, pp. 125-146
Mottram, J The Coen Brothers: The Life of the Mind, London, B.T. Batsford, 2000
Screening Notes
Based on narratives from Dashiell Hammet’s pulp crime novels of the 1920s, Miller’s Crossing owes as much to Film Noir as it does to the gangster genre. However, make note of the use of Mafia mythologies. How is the mafia presented in this film?
Costumes, especially hats, are a semi-comic motif in this film. This marks a shift in gangster film aesthetics towards ‘performance’ as a central signifier of criminality. Note how costume denotes character.
WEEK ONE: Thurs May 16th
EXAM 1 will take place at 9am (do not be late)
UNIT 2 (Intro to Week TWO)
10:30 Introduction to Screening:Donnie Brasco (1997), dir. Mike Newell, 127mins
Seminar: Masculinity
Required Reading:
Larke-Walsh, G.S. “Masculinities and Ethnicities” in Screening the Mafia: Masculinity, Ethnicity and
Mobsters from “The Godfather to The Sopranos”Jefferson, NC, McFarland Press, 2010, pp.160-
218.
Recommended Reading:
Jeffords, S “The Big Switch: Masculinity in the Nineties” in Collins, Radner & Preacher Collins (eds) Film
Theory Goes to the Movies (1993)
Screening Notes:
I included this film because it continues the themes of masculinity in crisis, but it also presents itself as an education on Mafia behaviour. This is a popular narrative convention in evidence since The Godfather. What do we learn and how is the information relayed to us?
****Submit your first essay through blackboard before midnight Friday 17thMay****
WEEK TWO: Monday May 20th
Screening: The Funeral (1996) dir. Abel Ferrara, 99mins
Seminar: Mafia Madness
Required Reading:
Larke-Walsh G.S. “Mafia and Madness: Abel Ferrara’s The Funeral” in Journal of Popular Film and TV v.40:2 pp.75-82
Screening Notes:
This film has been largely ignored by critics and reviewers. It is a film about madness and criminality. What does the film suggest is at the route of the brothers’ neuroses?
Consider the revelation of the real killer. What does this say about violence and masculinity?
WEEK TWO: Tuesday May 21st
Screening:Leon/The Professional (1994) dir. Luc Besson
Seminar: Hitmen/Assassins
Required Reading:
Midgley, Henry “Mother to the Man? Rethinking Luc Besson’s Leon” in Bright Lights Film Journal (2007),
Nov. p.58 (no pagination)
Warshow, R “Movie Chronicle: The Westerner” in Braudy, L & Cohen, M (eds) Film Theory and Criticism
(6th ed). New York, Oxford University Press (2004) pp.703-716
Recommended Reading:
Palmer, Tim “Le Samurai” in Powrie, P (ed) The Cinema of France London, Wallflower (2006), pp.123-31
Suárez, Juan “Citing, touching, dwelling: Ghost Dog” in Jim Jarmusch Urbana, University of Illinois Press
(2007)
WEEK TWO: Wednesday May 22nd
Screening: The Sopranos (1999-2007) written by David Chase
Seminar: Has TV killed the Gangster film?
Required Reading:
Three articles from Lavery, D (ed) This Thing of Ours: Investigating the Sopranos N.Y. Columbia
University Press (2002).
Creeber, G “TV ruined the movies”: television, Tarantino, and the intimate world of The Sopranos”
Pattie, D “Mobbed Up: The Sopranos and the modern gangster film” in Lavery, D (ed) This Thing of Ours:
Investigating The Sopranos New York, Columbia University Press (2002) pp.135-145
Willis, E “Our mobsters, ourselves” also in Lavery pp. 2-9.
Highly Recommended:
Johnson, M L “Gangster Feminism: the Feminist Cultural work of HBO’s The Sopranos” in Third Wave
Feminism and Television: Jane puts it in a Box Johnson, ML (ed) London, I.B. Taurus (2007)
pp.28-55
Screening Notes:
It has been suggested that The Sopranos has closed the book on Hollywood Mafia narratives for the time being.
We can only watch a selection of episodes and/or clips in class, but I hope to discuss the series as a whole. If you haven’t seen it all, please read as much as you can. I want to discuss the development of characters and various important storylines.
WEEK TWO: Thursday May 23rd
EXAM 2 will take place at 9am (do not be late)
UNIT 3 (Intro to Week THREE)
10.30 Intro for Screening:Gomorrah (2008) dir. Matteo Garrone, 137mins.
Seminar: Italian Mafia
Required Reading:
Behan, T “Introduction” & “The ‘business camorra’ of the Nuvoletta gang” in See Naples and Die: The
Camorra and Organized Crime London, I.B. Taurus (2002), pp.1-16 &106-130
Radovic, Rajko “McMafia Rising” in Film International 7.1 (2009), pp.6-11
Recommended Reading:
Allum, Felia “Chaper 6: The Camorras in the 1980s-2000s” in Camorristi, Politicians, and Businessmen:
The Transformation of Organized Crime in Post-war Naples, Leeds, UK, Northern Universities
Press (2006), pp.117-156.
Small, P “Giordana’s I cento passi: renegotiating the Mafia codes” in Journal of Contemporary Film V.3
n.1 (2005), pp.41-54.
Screening Notes:
This film is very different to Saviano’s book except in its focus on the social environment. Its narrative is much more related to the Hollywood gangster genre, emulating various well-known characters.
Consider the impact of such decisions in the film’s structure and characters. How does this change the film and what does it do to its connection to the realities of life in the Naples area of Campania.
****Submit your second essay through blackboard before midnight Friday 25thMay****
WEEK THREE: Tuesday May 28th
Screening: Brat (1997) dir. Aleksey Balabanov, 96mins.
Seminar: Organized crime in Russia
Required Reading:
Anemone, Anthony “About Killers, Freaks and Real Men: The Vigilante Hero of Aleksei Balabanov’s
Films” in Norris, S.M. & Torlone, Z.M. (eds.) Insiders and Outsiders in Russian Cinema,
Bloomington, Indiana Uni Press, pp.127-141
Beumers, Birgit "To Moscow! To Moscow? the Russian Hero and the Loss of the Centre" in Russia on
Reels: The Russian Idea in Post-Soviet Cinema Beumers, B (ed.) London, I.B. Taurus (1999),
pp.76-87
Recommended Reading:
Gillespie, David “The Sight and Sound of Russian Cinema” in Russian Cinema New York, Longman (??)
Pozefsky, Peter “Russian Gangster Films as Popular History: genre, ideology and memory in Pavel
Lungin’s Tycoon” in Studies in Russian and Soviet cinema v.2 n.3 (2008), pp.299-325
Screening Notes
This is a very impressive film. The violence is brutal, but – as always – it’s the reasons behind the violence (and the attitudes towards it) that are interesting not the violence itself.
Danila is a introverted character (hints of a ‘Travis Bickle’ style vigilantism). He emerges from the unknown (war, water) and attempts to find his place back in civilization. What skills does this ‘civilization’ prize the most? Who does Danila connect with?
WEEK THREE: Wednesday May 29th
Screening:The Long Good Friday (1980) dir. John Mackenzie, 114mins.
Seminar: British Gangland
Required Reading:
Hill, J “Allegorising the Nation: British Gangster films of the 1980s” in Chibnall, S & Murphy, R (eds.)
British Crime Cinema London, Routledge (1999).
Recommended Reading:
Keefe, Barrie “Haunting Friday” in Sight and Sound v6:8 Aug 1996), pp20-21.
Walsh, M “Thinking the Unthinkable: Coming to terms with Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s” in Ashby, J & Higson, A (eds.) British Cinema: Past and Present London, Routledge (2000).
Screening Notes:
Considered one of the best films about British gangland, this film is an exercise in British politics, class and paranoia. Note the layering of clues and red herrings in this narrative. The intention is to lead the audience down the wrong path, so that the revelation is more chilling at the end.
This film, like Goodfellas, is representative of the excess of the 1980s (Long Good Friday anticipates it, Goodfellas comments upon it). Note the similarities and differences between British gangland identity and images of the American Mafia
WEEK THREE: Thursday May 30th
FINAL EXAM: 9am
RECOMMENDED EXTRA VIEWING:
Little Caesar (1931) dir. Mervyn LeRoy, 79mins.
Scarface: shame of a nation (1934) dir. Howard Hawks
The Public Enemy (1931) dir. William A. Wellman
Kiss of Death (1947) dir. Henry Hathaway
The Big Heat (1953) dir. Fritz Lang
Le Samurai (1967) dir. Jean Pierre Melville
Gloria (1980) dir. John Cassavetes
Scarface (1983) dir. Oliver Stone
Mean Streets (1974) dir. Martin Scorsese
Casino (1995) dir. Martin Scorsese
Grosse Point Blank (1997) dir. George Armitage
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) dir. Jim Jarmusch
Films from eras/industries not covered
Sarkar (2005) dir. Ram Gopal Varma
A Better Tomorrow (1986) dir. John Woo
Sonatine (1993) dir. Takeshi Kitano
Sexy Beast (2000) dir. Jonathan Glazer, 89 mins.
Appendix:
To save time in class, I am including a synopsis of the course here as well as a historical overview of Hollywood gangster film production.
MAIN THEMES OF THE COURSE:
The Gangster genre since The Godfather (1972) operates as a 'continuous narrative' (each film refers to those gone before, but specifically The Godfather)
The gangster genre includes films that define gangsters in particular ways – ‘Gangsters as Mafia’, ‘Gangsters as gangs and wannabes’, ‘Gangsters as outlaws’
The mythology that surrounds the structure and activities of the 'real' mafia in 20th century US history influences all the films from The Godfather and beyond.
Gangster films are male melodramas that offer interesting perspectives on gender identity, featuring issues such as identity through the collective, male-male intimacy, emotional instability.
Gangster films are representations of the ambiguous state of 'white ethnicity' specifically in US society.
Unlike the classical films that focused on contemporary society, most postclassical gangster films are set in the past. Therefore, they offer nostalgic (romantic) visions of Masculinity and ethnicity (nostalgia for lost 'traditions' or masculine behaviors).
WHY HAVE I INCLUDED FILMS FROM OUTSIDE THE US?
The three films from Italy, Russia and Great Britain all draw upon the same themes but in very different societies. We will look at both the universal and the local themes they present.
------
Historical Overview of the Gangster Genre in the US
1912 - D.W. Griffith's Musketeers of Pig Alley - a story of a 'likeable' hoodlum (considered to be the first Gangster film)
1930 - Little Caesar dir. Mervyn LeRoy
1931 - The Public Enemy dir. William A. Wellman
1932 - Scarface: Shame of a Nation dir. Howard Hawks
- These are the films cited by Robert Warshow as the classic form of the gangster genre
1934 - The Production Code is enforced in Hollywood. This effectively eliminates the gangster character as the main agent of a narrative
1938 - Angels with Dirty Faces dir. Michael Curtiz
- Post-code example of a film that includes a character alongside the gangster whose background was the same, but whose life choices shower greater moral integrity
1949 - White Heat dir. Raoul Walsh
- Post-code example of gangster film that has a gangster as a main character, but who is clearly shown as mentally disturbed. ("Look Ma, Top of the World!!")
1947 - Kiss of Death dir. Henry Hathaway
1950 - Asphalt Jungle dir. John Huston
1953 - The Big Heat dir. Fritz Lang
- Examples of heist films/film noirs that feature psychotic gangsters
REAL LIFE:
1950 - The Kefauver Committee Hearings in the US senate - failed to conclusively prove the existence of a national organized criminal network
1957 - The Apalachin Incident - a group of known crime bosses meet in a small town in NY State. The house is raided, people arrested, but no one is charged.
HOLLYWOOD:
1960 - The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond dir. Budd Boetticher
1960 - Underworld USA dir. Samuel Fuller
- Examples of a slow re-emergence of gangster films. These are in effect 'syndicate films' - the Mafia is a shady organization hinted as controlling criminal activities
REAL LIFE:
1963 - Joe Valachi testifies at the McClellan Committee hearings (his later book is a major influence on Mario Puzo's Godfather novel)
1967 - President's Crime Commission concludes that a criminal network exists and it resembles the structure of the Sicilian mafia
HOLLYWOOD:
1967 - Bonnie and Clyde dir. Arthur Penn
- hails the end of the production code. Criminals reappear as central characters. Not truly a gangster film though as they are rural outlaws drawing upon the myth of the Western outlaw and John Dillinger
REAL LIFE:
1969 - Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather is published