Crime films focus on the lives of criminals and crimes they commit, ranging from realistic portrayals to dramatized depictions. Mob films deal specifically with organized crime and the mafia. The genre originated in silent films but was defined in the early 1930s during the Great Depression, producing classics like Little Caesar that chronicled criminals' quick rises and falls while still making them charismatic. The Godfather series in the 1970s was hugely influential, and later decades produced acclaimed mob films often loosely based on real crimes and criminals like Goodfellas in the 1990s and The Departed in the 2000s.

1. Genre Analysis
Crime films focus on the lives of criminals and the crimes they
commit. The approach to a crime film varies from realistic
portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the dramatized evil
doings of imaginary arch rivals.
Mob films are a sub genre of crime films that deal with
organized crime and the mafia.
Crime movies are often based on novels rather than plays.
In 1912, D. W. Griffith directed The Musketeers of Pig Alley, a
short drama film about crime on the streets of New York City
Though mob films had their roots in such silent films, the genre
in its most durable form was defined in the early 1930s. It owed
its innovations to the social and economic instability occasioned
by the Great Depression, which galvanized the organized crime
subculture in the United States.
The years 1931 and 1932 saw the genre produce three
enduring classics: Warner Bros.' Little Caesar and The Public
Enemy.
These films chronicle the quick rise, and equallyquick downfall,
of three young, violent criminals, and represent the genre in its
purest form before moral pressure would force it to change and
evolve. Though the gangster in each film would face a violent

2. downfallwhich was designed to remind the viewers of the
consequences of crime. Audiences were often able to identify
with the charismatic anti-hero.
In the 1970s there was a revival of mob films, notablywith The
Godfather, based on the novel of the same name by Mario
Puzo. It was followedby two sequels: The Godfather Part II and
The Godfather Part III. The Godfather series is one the most
influentialin movie industry.
The 1983 remake of Scarface was not particularlywell received
at the time of its release, but over time it has come to be seen
as a classic of the mob film genre. It went on to inspire films
such as King of New York.

3. The films of the 1990s produced several critically acclaimed
mob films, many of which were loosely based on real crimes
and their perpetrators. Many of these films featured long-time
actors well known for their roles as mobsters such as Al Pacino,
Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and ChazzPalminteri.
The most notable from the 1990’s decade was the film
Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Ray Liotta
as real-life associate of the Lucchese crime family Henry Hill.
The 2000s continuedto produce box office mob films cast with
high profile actors. Road to Perdition, a 2002 American crime
film directed by Sam Mendes
In 2006, director Martin Scorsese returned to the mob genre in
The Departed, starring the ensemble cast of Leonardo DiCaprio,
Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson,Mark Wahlberg and Martin
Sheen. The film proved to be a great success.

4. The 2010s continuedthe 2000s trend of bringing new movies
featuring both prohibitionandpost-WWII real life mob
incidentsinto the box office.