The godparents from The godfather: gangsters on big screen

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the films “The public enemy” (Wellman, 1931), “Little Caesar” (LeRoy, 1931) and “Angels with dirty faces” (Curtiz, 1938) to compare their main characteristics with “The godfather” (Coppola, 1972), in such a way that it is discovered if the latter relies on characteristics of classic gangster cinema. After an analytical and perceptual process strictly linked to cinematographic point of view, it is identified that Coppola’s film includes elements of classic gangster cinema in its dramatic construction, approach to characters and creation of environments.