Dreams & dead ends: the American gangster film

Introduction; 1. THE GOLDEN AGE; The "Classic" Gangster Film; Little Caesar (1930); The Public Enemy (1931); 2. DARK TRANSFORMATIONS; The Descent Into Noir; High Sierra (1941); The Killers (1946); 3. THE GENRE'S "ENLIGHTENMENT"; The Stress and Strain for Affirmation; Kiss of Death (1947); Force of Evil (1948); Gun Crazy (1949); 4. GOING GRAY AND GOING CRAZY; Disequilibrium and Change at Midcentury; D.O.A. (1949); White Heat (1949); 5. FOCUS ON FEELING; "Seeing" Through the Fifties; Pickup on South Street (1953); 99 River Street (1953); The Phenix City Story (1955); The Brothers Rico (1957); 6. CONTEMPORARY COLORATIONS; The Modernist Perspective; Bonnie and Clyde (1967); Point Blank (1967); The Godfather (1972); The Godfather II (1975); 7. TOWARDS THE 21ST CENTURY; Frenzies & Despairs; Once Upon a Time in America (1984); Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995); Appendix 1: Criss Cross: "One to Watch Over and Over"; Appendix 2: Gangster/Crime/Noir/Post-Noir: The Top 14; Appendix 3: 50 Post-Godfather Crime/Noir Films Worth a Look; Appendix 4: Aging Well: 50 Vintage Gangster/Crime/Noir Films; Notes; Selected Bibliography