I died a million times : gangster noir in midcentury America / Robert Miklitsch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miklitsch, Robert, 1953- author.

Series:

Illinois scholarship online.

Illinois scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gangster films--United States--History and criticism.

Gangster films.

Motion pictures--Social aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 269 pages) : illustrations ;

Place of Publication:

Urbana, Illinois : University of Illinois Press, [2021]

Summary:

In the 1950s, the gangster movie and film noir crisscrossed to create gangster noir. Robert Miklitsch takes readers into this fascinating subgenre of films focused on crime syndicates, crooked cops, and capers. With the Senate's organised crime hearings and the brighter-than-bright myth of the American Dream as a backdrop, Miklitsch examines the style and history, and the production and cultural politics, of classic pictures from The Big Heat and The Asphalt Jungle to lesser-known gems like 711 Ocean Drive and post-Fifties movies like Ocean's Eleven. Miklitsch pays particular attention to trademark leitmotifs including the individual versus the collective, the family as a locus of dissension and rapport, the real-world roots of the heist picture, and the syndicate as an octopus with its tentacles deep into law enforcement, corporate America, and government.

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on August 10, 2021).

Also issued in print: 2021.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780252052491

0252052498

OCLC:

1157841198