Goodfellas
White Heat
Bugsy
Little Caesar
The Public Enemy
I think of the GF Trilogy as a story of a family, with the Mafia as the defining milieu--but it's not a gangster movie per se. To make an analogy: "Gone With the Wind" is a movie about a family with the Civil War as a defining milieu--but it's not a Civil War movie per se. "Mean Streets" almost made my list--a very great film that's even better than "Goodfellas" in some ways--but
I think of it more as a story about friendship than about the Mob.
Well there are two choices: is it a movie about the Mafia within a family context or a movie about a family within a Mafia context? I'm not sure. I think it shifts back and forth. Certainly, Mike's distancing himself from his family and then becoming its defender is certainly about family. But Vito ordering mayhem and murder is Mafia. I dunno.
By the way, what about Bella Mafia? Anybody seen it?
