Italian Cinema Final Project

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I T A L I A NC I N E M A

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

EXAMININGSTEREOTYPES Italian-Americans

GangsterFashion THE LATEST INMAFIA MENSWEAR

JANUARY 2014

WRITTEN & DESIGNED BY HUNTER PHILLIPS & KRISTEN CALABRO

MAFIA WOMEN

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THE MAFIA is notorious for its intimidation techniques and utter brutality. Whether they were “roughing up” small business owners or “knocking off” their enemies, the Mafia had an assortment of

weapons or tools that the preferred to use when carrying out violence. These weapons included the baseball bat, the saw-off shotgun, the Molotov cocktail, the ice pick and the Tommy gun. Each weapon, or

tool, was preferred for a specific circumstance or purpose.

Take for instance the baseball bat was used pretty frequently when extorting or intimidating people. If a man was

not paying his dues for Mafia protection than the gangsters would use a baseball bat to break some windows and make sure that the storeowner never forgot to make payment again. Or if that same person had not made his payment a second time or even for the first time, a baseball bat could be used to

tools of the tradeA Look Into a Gangster’s Arsenal

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break his legs or smash everything inside of his store. The baseball bat was a very versatile tool used by the Mafia in order to strike fear in the lives of their victims.

The sawed-off shotgun was used for the close courter fighting that occurred on the busy streets of Mafia controlled boroughs of cities like Chicago and New York City. If fighting broke out inside of a nightclub or bar, there was no better way to effectively kill one or two men then with a couple

of shells from a sawed-off shotgun. Another handy thing about this weapon was its size. Unlike a conventional shotgun that has a long stock, this weapon was small. It gets its name from the fact that many shotguns would have their stocks sawed off. Once the stock was gone, it was possible to hide the gun inside of the notorious Mafia trench coat. This feature made it possible for mobsters to conceal the weapon and to sneak up on their intended victims.

The Molotov cocktail was the grenade of the Mafia. This weapon is can be made very cheaply and efficiently. All one has to do is stick a rag or cloth inside of a bottle of high proof alcohol or gasoline or petroleum. Once this is done, the cloth or rag is lit on fire and the bottle is thrown at the target causing a large fireball and extensive damage.

The ice pick is a tool used by many people to break up large pieces of ice. The Mafia figured out that a tool for

breaking large pieces of ice might also be a good tool for killing. Not only was the ice pick an effective stabbing tool but its size and sharpness also increased its effectiveness. It could be concealed in a pant of jacket pocket. Ice picks are also incredibly sharp which made it easy to piece skin and body parts. The ice pick was the best combination of stealth and effectiveness when it came to Mafia weapons. An ideal choice for the career criminals that used them.

THE VIRTUAL MAFIA

These tools are not only the weapons of choice for mobsters in real life, but they are also popular in gangster-based video games

like “The Godfather” and “Mafia.”

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The most notorious and well known of all Mafia weapons was the Tommy gun. Named after its creator John T. Thompson, the Tommy is the most iconic and commonly used weapon of the Mafia. The reason this is so is because the Tommy gun was a sub machine and could be equipped with high capacity magazines. These features made this gun the preferred

weapon used for drive-by shootings and all out shootouts with the police or other gangsters. Once a favorite of Al Capone, the Tommy gun was given names such as the “Chicago Typewriter,” the “Trench Sweeper” and the “chopper.”

Clearly, the Italian Mafia was not afraid to get its hands dirty in order to get the job done. They

were weapons experts and when combined with their ruthlessness the men of the Italian Mafia were the ultimate killing machines. Its no wonder why there were Italian gangsters with names like “Machine Gun Kelly,” “Big Tuna,” and “The Butcher.”

JIMMY WHACKS MORRIE

The ice pick was immortalized in the gangster blockbuster Goodfellas by Jimmy (Joe Pesci) when he stabs Morrie in the back of

the head.

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Command respect with elegance. An accessory for the real man.

A Crown for Every Achievement

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Since the beginning of the gangster genre, Italian-

Americans have been the target of screenwriters, authors, directors and producers. We have seen every type of gangster from the bumbling, violence-prone buffoon to the generous,

intelligent boss. What all of these characters have had in common are their heritage.

Even when it’s not blatantly discussed or mentioned, hints are dropped and suggestions are made. For instance, in Little Caesar (1930)

the main gangster “Rico” never states that he is an Italian-American, yet the movie’s opening scene shows him eating spaghetti and meatballs with coffee – a dish strongly associated with the Italian-American group.

Unilaterally portraying gangsters as individuals of Italian descent has had real life consequences on American society. In the earlier half of the 20th century, Italian-Americans were faced with serious prejudices and discrimination. Being Italian was something a

The Italian-American as Portrayed in the Gangster Genre

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person had to overcome.

The great Joe DiMaggio even had to work against the negative stereotypes of the time. In 1939, Life magazine wrote, “Although he learned Italian first Joe, now 24, speaks English without an accent and is otherwise well adapted to most U.S. mores. Instead of olive oil or smelly bar grease he keeps his hair slick with water. He never reeks of garlic and prefers chicken chow main to spaghetti” (Cavallero, 52).

In The New Yorker a

doctor credited the survival of his famous patient, Italian director Capra, after his appendix burst to his Sicilian background. Apparently he was “conditioned by generations of knifings, [and had] very hardy interiors” (52).

Italian-Americans started rebelling against the media enforced stereotyping. An article written in a 1960 issue of the New York Times called “Italian-American Group Assails Gangster Stereotypes in Shows” calls for change. It reads, “A national Italian-American

service organization voted here yesterday to combat the ‘vilification’ of Italian-Americans as gangsters in television, movies and radio plays” (Love, 39). Sources in the article accused the media portrayal of Italian-Americans of “generally vilifying the entire ethnic group.”

The Godfather (1972) was the first gangster movie that presented Italian-American mafia members and families as more than animalistic, greedy thugs. Vito Corleone was a complicated, intense character. He grew with

the movie and, along the way the audience could see both the good and the bad in him. Finally, we had a gangster that the majority of America could relate to.

The Godfather and its successors paved the way to smoother race relations in the media, painting multifaceted portraits of family men just trying to make it in America and still retain some of their ethnic identity (Larke-Walsh, 77).

Italian-American Stereotypes over the YearsRico Caesar from Little Caesar (1931) was a power hungry thug of a gangster who’s main drive was to become “somebody.” He was

drawn to fame and fortune, which eventually led to his downfall. Vito Corleone from The Godfather (1972) was a calm and collected

mafia boss. Family came first and he kept his business separate. It was never personal. Tony Soprano from the HBO series The

Sopranos was a hybrid of the animalistic gangster of the 1930s and the family focused mob boss of the modern mafia.

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GET THE MAFIA LOOK

The Mafia is known for many things, which includes crime, violence, and the way they dress. The Mafia cam to power during the 1920’s and it was during this time that their image and style came to be. Throughout the 20th century, the way the men of the Mafia dressed changed very little. They wore essentially the same thing throughout the 1900’s with minor changes to stick with the times. One cannot simply be a gangster without dressing like one. As the past films have shown us, there is a certain mystique and charisma associated with mobster fashion.

Dress Like A Gangsta

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THE HOMBURG (the hat pictured above) was a very popular hat during the Prohibition era and the mobsters of that time. Made popular to many Americans by the fictional Michael Corleone, the Homburg hat became a staple in the mafia wardrobe. Dubbed “the godfather” after the release of the Godfather.

THE FEDORA (the hat pictured below) also became popular during the Prohibition era. Unlike the Homburg, the fedora was almost always associated with the Mafia. If you were an Italian gangster selling bootleg alcohol during the 20s then you were definitely wearing a fedora to do so. Men such as Al Capone (pictured above) helped to secure the fedora into the legend of the mafia man.

The mafia dress code can be summed up by the dress suit. Of course in the early part of the 20th century most men dressed in nice suits but as times became more modern the average mans dress code became less formal and more casual. However, men in the mafia are not average and have continued to wear suits on a regular basis no matter what the occasion. Not only do mobsters prefer to wear suits but also they commonly wear a three-piece suit to increase their formalness. As the photos above show, the mafia not only likes to look good but above all else, they dress the way they do to demand respect.

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MAFIA WOMEN Over the Years

Cesca in Scarface (1932)

Marta in Mafioso

(1962)

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Kay in The Godfather Part II (1974)

Karen Hill in Goodfellas (1990)

Angela in Angela (1995)

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Works Cited

Bruzzi, Stella. Undressing cinema: clothing and identity in the movies. Psychology Press, 1997.

By, Kennett L. “Italian-American Group Assails Gangster Stereotypes in shows.” New York Times

(1923-Current file) Jul 23 1960: 39. ProQuest. 28 Jan. 2014 .

Cavallero, Jonathan J. “Gangsters, Fessos, Tricksters, And Sopranos.” Journal Of Popular Film &

Television 32.2 (2004): 50-63. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.

Daedalus, Vol. 130, No. 3, Italy: Resilient and Vulnerable, Volume II: Politics and Society (Summer, 2001), pp. 157-185

Italy, Mafia Violence In. “Guns in the Family.”

Larke-Walsh, George S. “The Family Curse: Mafia Identity As Inheritance In Abel Ferrara’s The

Funeral.” Journal Of Popular Film & Television 40.2 (2012): 75-82. Communication & Mass

Media Complete. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.