Bullets Over Hollywood

Library Bookwatch, Sept, 2004

Bullets Over Hollywood

John McCarty

Da Capo Press

11 Cambridge Ctr, Cambridge, MA 02142

0306813017 $25.055 www.perseusbooks.com

Bullets Over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture From The Silents To "The Sopranos" by John McCarty (Adjunct Professor of Cinema, Department of Theatre, SUNY, Albany, New York) is an inherently fascinating and copiously informative history of the "mob movie", as it comparatively surveys archetypal criminal stereotypes from the earliest days of silent movie story telling down to the "made for TV" gangland series. Bullets Over Hollywood is replete with anecdotal "behind the scenes" stories and even goes into the minds of the audiences for this enduringly popular genre of film entertainment. The impact of movie gangsters on popular culture has always been immense and immediate from slang to clothing to mannerisms, to career choices. Bullets Over Hollywood is informed, informative (and, enhanced with a photo inserts showcasing some of the greatest moments of mob movies) and a filmography dating back to 1915), and strongly recommended reading for students of American film history and American popular culture.