Kevin's Watch

1. Because they are set in the mundane world-- I also hate TV shows about cops, lawyers, and doctors for this reason.

2. Because I am repulsed by the greed, avarice and corruption, and the way it is often romantisied in such films.

3. Because it involves money, and I am like the exact opposite of materialistic.

4. Because I am sick to death of the same character actors in the same roles in every f---ing gangster movie.

5. Because I am not in the least enticed by crime.

I'm probably the only one here who just loathes "the Godfather."

I loathe it! God how I hate that movie!

That being said, there are exceptions to every rule:

I love "Scarface."

... and if there's anything I hate worse than gangster films it's Casinos and gambling, but...

I love "Casino"!

I'm a strange duck, aren't I?

I edited this post to include "Ghost Dog" although I really don't consider that a gangster film.

It is more of a Jim Jarmusch thing, which always defies genre-- "Dead Man" is by no means a western, for example!

Hmmm.

I loved the Godfather. Was it romanticised? None of the Godfather films ended well, to be honest. I've heard people say it was romanticised, but I don't see it. GoodFellas was very unromanticised. It was set in a mundane world, and that's what made it so good. It showed how greed, avarice and corruption are bad, mmkay. It showed how money is, in fact, the root of all evil in the wrong hands. It's highlighting what you hate - ie. you hate greed avarice and corruption - it's highlighting how bad it is.

The same character roles have developed because of movies like The Godfather - it was made in 1971. Anything else made is a copy of sorts. But when depicting American gangsters, there has to be a certain sameness to them. IMO.

Casino wasn't my favourite film. I enjoyed Scarface. I can't say I hate or like "gangster" movies as such, I really just take each one individually. I have heard good things about the Soprano's, but I haven't seen a single episode. Does anyone have an opinion on it?

The Sopranos did romanticize the life to a certain extent. Even though Scarface didn't, you still see dumbass wannabes wearing Scarface t-shirts (they're cut from the same dumbass cloth as the twits that wear Che shirts).

I can't say that I'm a fan of the genre, but there have been some awfully good gangster films like The Untouchables.

Lord Zombiac wrote:1. Because they are set in the mundane world-- I also hate TV shows about cops, lawyers, and doctors for this reason.

2. Because I am repulsed by the greed, avarice and corruption, and the way it is often romantisied in such films.

3. Because it involves money, and I am like the exact opposite of materialistic.

4. Because I am sick to death of the same character actors in the same roles in every f---ing gangster movie.

5. Because I am not in the least enticed by crime.

I'm probably the only one here who just loathes "the Godfather."

I loathe it! God how I hate that movie!

That being said, there are exceptions to every rule:

I love "Scarface."

... and if there's anything I hate worse than gangster films it's Casinos and gambling, but...

I love "Casino"!

I'm a strange duck, aren't I?

I edited this post to include "Ghost Dog" although I really don't consider that a gangster film.

It is more of a Jim Jarmusch thing, which always defies genre-- "Dead Man" is by no means a western, for example!

It's like we were locked in a Vulcan mind-meld and were typing this out together.
Word for word my friend, word for word.
I haven't seen Casino though, might have to check it out now.

LZ, I too am not fond of the Gangster Genre in general, and always turn off Godfather (not sure if it's 'cause I never gave it a chance, or it doesn't appeal to me).

And I too, saw Scarface, (as a kid in the theaters when it first came out), and have a fond memory of it, as a rare Gangster Movie I like. Bonnie and Clyde, though, I love, and also Lana Turner/Kirk Douglas The Bold and The Beautiful. The Untouchables was pretty good too.

I don't know all that many gangster movies. But I don't see that the whole lifestyle is romanticized in The Godfather of Goodfellas. Take Goodfellas. Henry became a drug dealing and using loser who had to turn on everyone he knew from childhood in order to not be killed by them. Tommy was a psycho killer who was executed by one of the most important people in his life. Jimmy was a paranoid loon who arranged for Henry to be killed, and ended up in jail when Henry turned on them all. Paul died in prison, just as he feared, despite trying to pevent it. Several other relatively big characters were killed by Jimmy's hand or order. Karen was swept up by an enormous amount of money and glamour, and paid for it by living a horrible life where her husband cheated on her continually, went to prison, endangered the family, etc etc.

There's nothing admirable or romantic anywhere in there. Just horrible people living horrible lives, and dying horrible deaths.

(as I've said before) What ruined Casino for me was Pesci's never ending tirade of f-bombs. Whether Miller's Crossing fits into this genre or not it's, still, from an acting standpoint, an incredible movie.

Godfather was great, as were the flashback scenes in Godfather II. If there's one thing I hate, however, it's hater threads.

Lord Zombiac wrote:3. Because it involves money, and I am like the exact opposite of materialistic.

There are plenty of other vices that are equally annoying, like arrogance, nihilism, contemptuousness, egotism........

I find little to love in the gangster flicks. I did force myself to sit down and watch Godfather 1-3. In general, I did really like them when I watched them, but the genre definitely leaves me cold, and I remember so little about them now. I'm not interested in power, and I think that is the appeal of these flicks. But yeah, there are some good movies that have come out of this genre, and some especially dull ones. Pretty much like any genre. Like Cail, I would put The Untouchables as one of the best ones. And without the popularity of this genre, Johnny Dangerously wouldn't exist, which would be a pity.

Millers Crossing.

SleeplessOne wrote:Millers Crossing.

I will take it under advisement. May be years before I get back to thank you for it, kicking my own ass along the way, but yeah, never seen it and it there was a lot of buzz!

I'm not particularly into gangster films by any stretch, seen the Godfather movies one time apiece (liked the second one mainly due to the scenes with DeNiro, the rest of the whole saga was very soap-y to me), Goodfellas is really, er, good, and nothing else really grabbed me.
But I'm pretty big on the Coens, and Millers Crossing is one of their finest - the rich language and dialogue alone is worth the time spent viewing it imo
...

Robert DeNiro
Let us salute him for:
Travis Bickle
Tuttle
Rupert Pupkin

Let's also salute him for James 'Jimmy' Conway in Goodfellas . Yeah, I like a lot of the Coens work, and, thanks to Jeopardy last night, I just found out they also did The Hudsucker Proxy. I've never seen it...will have to put that in my queue ASAP!

Bronx Tale................outstanding!

Lord Zombiac wrote:

SleeplessOne wrote:Millers Crossing.

I will take it under advisement. May be years before I get back to thank you for it, kicking my own ass along the way, but yeah, never seen it and it there was a lot of buzz!

I will second Miller's Crossing.
It's an amazingly crafted movie that just happens to be cloaked as a 'gangster film'.
Marvelous dark humour, one of the best scripts EVER (I have a copy which I read at least once a year -- gives a chance to forget the amazing visuals and concentrate on the amazing dialogue).
And the entire cast is fantastic.
Modern noir at its best.