Mafia Movies: A Reader, Second Edition
© 2019
The mafia has always fascinated filmmakers and television producers. Al Capone, Salvatore Giuliano, Lucky Luciano, Ciro Di Marzio, Roberto Saviano, Don Vito and Michael Corleone, and Tony Soprano are some of the historical and fictional figures that contribute to the myth of the Italian and Italian-American mafias perpetuated onscreen. This collection looks at mafia movies and television over time and across cultures, from the early classics to the Godfather trilogy and contemporary Italian films and television series. The only comprehensive collection of its type, Mafia Movies treats over fifty films and TV shows created since 1906, while introducing Italian and Italian-American mafia history and culture.
The second edition includes new original essays on essential films and TV shows that have emerged since the publication of the first edition, such as Boardwalk Empire and Mob Wives, as well as a new roundtable section on Italy’s “other” mafias in film and television, written as a collaborative essay by more than ten scholars. The edition also introduces a new section called “Double Takes” that elaborates on some of the most popular mafia films and TV shows (e.g. The Godfather and The Sopranos) organized around themes such as adaptation, gender and politics, urban spaces, and performance and stardom.
Product Details
- Series: Toronto Italian Studies
- World Rights
- Page Count: 464 pages
- Illustrations: 28
- Dimensions: 7.5in x 1.3in x 9.1in
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Reviews
"This book provides compelling insight into the fascination that the world of the mafia holds for both filmmakers and audiences. It is clear that the popular appetite for mafia stories has not dissipated, as these narratives are now being reproduced across different media platforms, reflecting themes utterly pertinent to the global present."
Aine O'Healy, Loyola Marymount University"This new edition blurs any rigid distinction between cinema and television, mapping a growing transmedia arena through its characters, adaptations, and authors, and making space for discussion and for multiple takes on single issues. Mafia Movies is both a fundamental reference and a solid training ground for audiovisual analysis."
Luca Barra, Università di Bologna"This terrific collection of essays is the ultimate reader for those interested in grasping the full complexity of the mafia phenomenon and its many myths."
Sergio Rigoletto, Department of Romance Languages, University of Oregon -
Author Information
Dana Renga is an associate professor of Italian at The Ohio State University. She is the author of Unfinished Business: Screening the Italian Mafia in the New Millennium (2013) and Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television: Gomorrah and Beyond (2019) and has published extensively on Italian cinema and television. -
Table of contents
Acknowledgments
Part One. Setting the Scene
1. The Corleones at Home and Abroad
Dana Renga, Ohio State University2. Gender and Violence: Four Themes in the Everyday World of Mafia Wives
Jane Schneider, Graduate Center, CUNY (Emeritus) and Peter Schneider, Fordham University(Emeritus)Part Two. American Mafia Movies and Television: The Corleones at Home and Abroad
3. Wallace McCutcheon’s The Black Hand: A Different Version of a Biograph Kidnapping
Vincenzo Maggitti, University of Stockholm4 ‘Most Thrilling Subjects’: D.W. Griffith and the Biograph Revenge Films
JoAnne Ruvoli, Ball State University5. Ethnicity and the Classical Gangster Film: Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar and Howard Hawks’s Scarface
Norma Bouchard, San Diego State University6. Playing Good Italian/Bad Italian on ABC’s The Untouchables
Jonathan J. Cavallero, Bates College7 Prelude to The Godfather: Martin Ritt’s The Brotherhood
Robert Casillo, University of Miami8. Michael Corleone’s Tie: Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather
Anthony Julian Tamburri, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College/CUNY9. Nihilism and Mafiosita in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets
Pellegrino D’Acierno, Hofstra University10. Thematic Patterns in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part II
John Paul Russo, University of Miami11. The Sexual Politics of Loyalty in John Huston’s Prizzi’s Honor
Rebecca Bauman, Fashion Institute of Technology12. Between Postmodern Parody and Generic Hybridization: The Gangsters of Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables
Norma Bouchard, San Diego State University13. The Bandit, the Gangster, and the American Army Shorts: Michael Cimino’s The Sicilian
Chiara Mazzucchelli, The University of Central Florida14. Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas: Hybrid Storytelling between Realism and Formalism
Fulvio Orsitto, California State University15. Redemption in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part III
John Paul Russo, University of Miami16. Narrating the Mafia, Las Vegas, and Ethnicity in Martin Scorsese’s Casino
Claudio Bisoni, University of Bologna17. ‘Nothing Romantic about It’: Gender and the Legacy of Crime in Abel Ferrara’s The Funeral
Lara Santoro, Drew University18. Inside the Mafia: Mike Newell’s Donnie Brasco
Robert Casillo, University of Miami19. Family Therapy: Harold Ramis’s Analyze This and the Evolution of the Gangster Genre
Louis Bayman, University of Southampton20. Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, or the Quest for a Departed (Ethnic) Identity
Margherita Heyer-Caput, University of California21. When Words Can Kill: David Chase’s The Sopranos
Franco Ricci, The University of Ottawa22. ‘Don’t Stop Believin’, Don’t Stop …’: (De)Structuring Expectations in the Final Season of The Sopranos
Giancarlo Lombardi, College of Staten Island & CUNY Graduate Center23. ‘History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Does Rhyme’: Fictionalizing History in Boardwalk Empire
Paolo Russo, Oxford Brookes University24. Mob Wives: Exploitation or Empowerment?
Jacqueline Reich, Fordham University and Fatima Karin, Fordham UniversityPart Three. Italian Mafia Movies and Television: Resistance and Myth
25. Which Law Is the Father’s? Gender and Generic Oscillation in Pietro Germi’s In the Name of the Law
Danielle Hipkins, University of Exeter, University of Exeter26. The Visible, Unexposed: Francesco Rosi’s Salvatore Giuliano
Laura Wittman, Stanford University27. Modernity, Mafia Style: Alberto Lattuada’s Mafioso
Nelson Moe, Barnard College, Columbia University28. Francesco Rosi’s Hands over the City: A Contemporary Perspective on the Camorra
Anna Paparcone, Bucknell University29. Prototypes of the Mafia: Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard
Elizabeth Leake, Columbia University30. The Failure of the Intellectual: Elio Petri’s Filming of Leonardo Sciascia’s To Each His Own
Daniela Bini, University of Texas31. Damiano Damiani’s The Day of the Owl: A Western Flirtation
Piero Garofalo, University of New Hampshire32. Smaller and Larger Families: Lina Wertmüller’s The Seduction of Mimi
Thomas Harrison, University of California, Los Angeles33. Deconstructing the Enigma: Logical Investigations in Francesco Rosi’s Lucky Luciano
Gaetana Marrone, Princeton University34. Power as Such: The Idea of the Mafia in Francesco Rosi’s Illustrious Corpses
Alan O’Leary, University of Leeds35. Marco Risi’s Forever Mary: Desperate Lives Converge in Sicilia ‘Non Bedda’
George De Stefano, Author and Critic36. Threads of Political Violence in Italy’s Spiderweb: Giorgio Ambrosoli’s Murder in Michele Placido’s A Bourgeois Hero
Carlo Testa, University of British Columbia37. Sacrifice, Sacrament, and the Body in Ricky Tognazzi’s La scorta
Myriam Swennen Ruthenberg, Florida Atlantic University38. Pasquale Scimeca’s Placido Rizzotto: A Different View of Corleone
Amy Boylan, The University of New Hampshire39. Marco Tullio Giordana’s The Hundred Steps: The Biopic as Political Cinema
George De Stefano, Author and Critic40. Roberta Torre’s Angela: The Mafia and the ‘Woman’s Film’
Catherine O’Rawe, University of Bristol41. Organized Crime and Unfulfilled Promises in Gabriele Salvatores’ I’m Not Scared
Michael O’Riley, Colorado College42. Growing Up Camorrista: Antonio and Andrea Frazzi’s Certi bambini
Allison Cooper, Bowdoin College43. Lipstick and Chocolate: Paolo Sorrentino’s The Consequences of Love
Mary P Wood, Birkbeck, University of London44. The In(di)visibility of the Mafia, Politics, and Ethics in Bianchi and Nerazzini’s The Mafia Is White
Robin Pickering-Iazzi, The University of Wisconsin45. Marco Turco’s Excellent Cadavers: An Italian Tragedy
Maddalena Spazzini, Richmond College46. Dispatches from Hell: Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah
Pierpaolo Antonello, The University of Cambridge47. From Comedy to Commemoration: Pierfrancesco Diliberto’s La mafia uccide solo d’estate
Millicent Marcus, Yale University48. Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s Salvo: The Sound of Redemption in an Infernal Landscape
Amy Boylan, The University of New Hampshire49. Of Renegades and Game Players: Shifting Sympathies in Gomorra: la serie
Giancarlo Lombardi, College of Staten Island & CUNY Graduate CenterPart Four. Italy’s Other Mafias in Film and on Television: A Roundtable
50. Introduction – The Banda della Magliana, the Camorra, the ’Ndrangheta, and the Sacra Corona Unita: The Mafia On Screen beyond the Cosa Nostra
Dana Renga, Ohio State University51. Historicizing Italy’s Other Mafias: Some Considerations
John Dickie, University College London52. Romanzo criminale: Roma Caput Violandi
Allison Cooper, Bowdoin College53. Romanzo criminale: la serie
Catherine O’Rawe, University of Bristol54. Toxic Tables: The Representation of Food in Camorra Films
Amy Boylan, The University of New Hampshire55. The New Mafia in Una vita tranquilla
Giovanna De Luca, College of Charleston56. Soap Operas
Giancarlo Lombardi, College of Staten Island & CUNY Graduate Center57. Response #1
Robert Gordon, The University of Cambridge58. Response #2
Danielle Hipkins, University of Exeter59. Response #3
Robin Pickering-Iazzi, The University of Wisconsin60. Conclusion
Allison Cooper, Bowdoin CollegePart Five. Double Takes
The Godfather
61. The Godfather: Performance and Stardom
Dominic Holdaway, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuor62. The Godfather: Adaptation
Alberto Zambenedetti, University of Toronto63. The Godfather: Gender
Dana Renga, Ohio State University64. The Godfather: Scene Analysis – Don Vito’s Office
Alberto Zambenedetti, University of Toronto65. The Godfather: Scene Analysis – The Baptism/Murder
Alberto Zambenedetti, University of Toronto66. The Godfather: Scene Analysis – The Finale
Daniel Paul, The Ohio State UniversityThe Sopranos
67. The Sopranos: Antiheroic Masculinity
Dana Renga, Ohio State University68. The Sopranos: Gender
Dominic Holdaway, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuor69. The Sopranos: (Sub)Urban Space
Alberto Zambenedetti, University of Toronto70. The Sopranos: Episode 1.01, ‘The Sopranos’
Dominic Holdaway, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuor71 The Sopranos: Episode 1.05, ‘College’
Sean O’Sullivan, The Ohio State University72. The Sopranos: Episode 2.04, ‘Commendatori’
Sean O’Sullivan, The Ohio State UniversityRomanzo criminale
73. Romanzo criminale: Performance and Stardom
Catherine O’Rawe, University of Bristol74. Romanzo criminale: Adaptation/Transmedia
Dominic Holdaway, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuor75. Romanzo criminale: Gender
Danielle Hipkins, University of Exeter76. Romanzo criminale: Politics and Terrorism
Dominic Holdaway, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuor77. Romanzo criminale: Scene Analysis – The Aldo Moro Kidnapping
Catherine O’Rawe, University of Bristol78. Romanzo criminale: Scene Analysis – The Bologna Bombing
Alan O’Leary, University of LeedsGomorrah
79. Gomorrah: Gender
Elena Past, Wayne State University80. Gomorrah: Metacinematic References
Alberto Zambenedetti, University of Toronto81. Gomorrah: Urban Space
Monica Seger, William and Mary University82. Gomorrah: Scene Analysis – Opening Sequence
Alberto Zambenedetti, University of Toronto83. Gomorrah: Scene Analysis – The Initiation of Totò
Alberto Zambenedetti, University of Toronto84. Gomorrah: Scene Analysis – The Finale
Monica Seger, William and Mary UniversityFilmography
Selected Bibliography
Contributors
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Subjects and Courses