This document discusses the evolution of crime films from the 1920s to the 1990s and how they reflected social and economic conditions of the time periods. It begins with gangster films of the 1920s mirroring the prohibition era, then film noir of the 1930s adopting darker themes. Crime capers of the 1960s had lighter narratives reflecting the optimism of the time. Crime films of the 1970s captured the economic depression through drugs and violence. Blaxploitation films of the 1970s dealt with issues of racism. Postmodern crime films of the 1990s used nonlinear storytelling, pastiche, and breaking the fourth wall.