On September 18, Johnny Depp portrays the Irish-American Boston gangster Whitey Bulger in Black Mass, the big budget film adaptation of the novel Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob. In preparation for the explosive film, why not catch up with some other great gangster films like these:
GOODFELLAS (1990)
“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” This is the prophetic first line of this masterpiece that marks the first collaboration of actor Robert De Niro, director Martin Scorsese and Mafia scholar Nicholas Pileggi (the second being the spectacularly violent Casino, 1995). Goodfellas is the story of gangster Henry Hill’s experiences with the Lucchese crime family, a small-scale cocaine empire, and finally, his retirement to the government witness protection program. Nominated for six Academy Awards when it came out in 1990, it found its way ten years later into the National Film Registry, which selects films of important cultural standing for preservation.
EASTERN PROMISES (2007)
Set in London, England, Eastern Promises depicts a chain of spiraling events that come to be when a midwife, looking for the family of a patient that died giving birth, crosses paths with the Russian Mafia. Starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen, this movie marks the second time (back to back) that Mortensen has teamed up with director David Cronenberg to create a crime thriller. The film is noticeable for its attention to mafia lore. Another key feature is the lack of any kind of firearm—all the violence in the film is done through bladed weapons. The film is very dark, as it deals with sex trafficking, and ends with a twist that manages to bring ambiguity rather than clarity to the climax, and is not for everyone.
CITY OF GOD (2002)
Co-directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, City of God is a Brazilian masterpiece based on Paulo Lins’ novel of the same name. Set in the 1970s, City of God tells the story of what it was like growing up in the slums of Rio by following two divergent paths: the “hoods” and a teen trying to make due with an honest living. The film uses a series of flashbacks to tell its story and culminates in a brutal gang war involving many children. The film examines the nature of violence and how living in impoverished situations leads children to lash out and attach themselves to criminal behaviors. The film also shows the audience the violence that children both cause and are subjected to, and culminates in a brutal gang war involving many children. This film is one of the hardest to watch on the list — but asks the viewer the most important questions.
AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007)
Denzel Washington steps into the role of the notorious Frank Lucas, the real life Harlem gangster that inherited “Bumpy” Johnson’s crime empire in 1968. Frank Lucas grew in power and notoriety through smuggling heroin from Thailand by hiding it on military planes returning from the Vietnam War (one time even hiding it inside the coffins of the soldiers themselves). Russell Crowe co-stars as police detective Richie Roberts, marking the first time in twelve years that he and Washington shared top billing on a project. Director Ridley Scott, of Aliens and Blade Runner fame, changes some of the circumstances of the real life story, but still manages to tell a powerful, deeply human story
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