Biographic - Sunday June 14, 2009 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Following the 1927 release of "The Jazz Singer" the first feature-length movie to incorporate sound, the days of silent film were numbered. The advent of "The Talkies" coincided with the final years of America's prohibition era nad the start of The Great Depression. The machine gun-blasting, tire squealing exploits of the hoodlums who thrived in that climate and dominated the headlines of the day provided Hollywood with a box office Bonanza. Thanks to the movies, the likes of Gangster Al Capone and the infamous St. Valentine's day massacre are now thoroughly ingrained in American Folklore, and such legendary actors as Rod Steiger and Robert De Niro have portrayed the crime boss on the Big Screen. The classic gangster of movies of the early 1930s made household names of three actors, James Cagney became a superstar with 1931's "The Public Enemy" and won an Oscar nomination for 1938's "Angels With Dirty Faces" Humphrey Bogart's early career saw him portray a series of racketeers and hoodlums, and Edward G. Robinson rocketed to Stardom as gangster Rico Bandella in 1931's "Little Caesar." "Little Caesar" was loosely based on the rise of real-life mobster Al Capone, as was 1932's "Scarface" starring Paul Muni. That movie also featured George Raft, who became another big star of genre. Raft, whose career later went into decline following some poor choices of roles, made no secret of his real-life ties to the underworld he portrayed. The late 1950's saw a revival of interest in depression-era hoodlums, thanks to music such as "Baby Face Nelson" "Machine Gun Kelly" and "Pretty Boy Floyd" and the hit tv series "The Untouchables" 1967s "Bonnie and Clyde" "The Godfather" was a sensation that spawned a smash-hot sequel and a host of gangster tv movies. Big screen reworking of "The Untouchables" earned Sean Connery an Academy Award in the late 1980s. Now one of this summer's most eagerly anticipated movies sees Johnny Depp follow in the footsteps of Warren Oates and Mark Harmon to portray hoodlum John Dillinger in "Public Enemies,"

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