Once Upon a Time In America (1984) Starring Robert De Niro, James Woods and Joe Pesci

Once Upon a Time In America Shows the Immigration of Jews to America and shows how they were successful in organized crime as early as the 1920s. The story starts in the 1930s and moves forwards to the 1960s and then 1920s and then shifting several more times between the three periods. The story is focused around prohibition in the 1920s and how crime is organized around that. 

Gangs Of New York (2002, Martin Scorsese) Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day - Lewis and Cameron Diaz.    

Gangs of New York addresses the fact of people over seas Immigrating over to New York in the 1800s such as Italians, Irish, Jews and Africans . The film takes place in 1863 and shows the two major issues of the era in New York which were Irish immigration and other immigration  to the city and the ongoing Civil war in America at that time. Martin Scorsese highlights the problems of immigration  which is crime affected  by the  immigrants joining gangs and fighting the native born gangs creating damage and death with in the streets of New York.  

The God Father Part II (1972) Francis Ford Coppola Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall.

Francis Ford Coppola addresses the fact in the God Father 2 that  Italian - American Gangsters have Immigrated over to America in this case in 'The God Father 2 ' Vito Corleone in his younger life played by  Robert De Niro Immigrates from Sicily to New York to start a new life and falls into Crime and becomes the head of a very powerful Gangster family. Francis Ford Coppola  also addresses the Italian American Stereo-type how an Italian as Immigrated over to America and has gotten involved with ' Mafia' and criminal activities.

Race and Stereo - type

Italian - Americans  through out time in the USA, and through out the world have been associated with the ' Mafia' with the help of  media and television this has been accepted by the American people. However films such as 'The God Father', 'Good Fellas' and many other Gangster films have created a negative effect on the Italian Americans showing them to be Violent and glorifying them through their extravagant lifestyle and wealth. These films however have done exceedingly well at the box office due to it appealing to the public and through this many Italian Americans have accepted it as their heritage. Through out America the Italian American Mafia has been a large wide spread phenomena with the likes of Al Capone one of the most infamous and powerful Gangsters of all time who was an Italian - American names like this have created the idea of the Mafia as being Italian - American and have created a stereotype through this by using Italian - American Characters in Films such as God Father and Good Fellas and throughout the media has been used.

"At bottom, the gangster is doomed because he is under the obligation to succeed, not because the means he employs are unlawful... This is our intolerable dilemma: that failure is a kind of death and success is evil and dangerous, is - ultimately - impossible. The effect of the gangster film is to embody this dilemma and resolve by his death" ( Robert Warshow, ' The Gangster as Tragic Hero', The Immediate Experience, 1948)

Legend Trailer Starring Tom Hardy directed by Brian Helgeland

 Gangster films are based around the violence acts of Gangsters. Gangster films represent the life of real Gangsters and represent the ruthlessness of their character throughout the film. They also glorify the rise of the Mob / Gangster family which is clearly shown in Francis Ford Coppolla's ' The God Father' Which follows the rise of the Corleone family and how they came to power and shows the Stereo-type of race used in these films which a predominantly Italian Americans .