This fascinating book begins with a new definition of the gangster film and a challenging exploration of the Hong Kong and Hollywood screen traditions.

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• Illuminates the way gangster films deal with the ambiguities of modern life, correcting the notion that this genre is inconsequential sensationalism
  
• Contends that both American and Hong Kong gangster films are against-the-grain reactions to the central fable of modern democracies that promise immigrant (and other) outsiders that they can become social insiders 
• Clarifies crucial and fascinating differences between American and Hong Kong approaches to enjoining the discussion of immigrant histories by placing them in counterpoint with each other
• Draws on a range of American films, ranging from Public Enemy and Scarface to Gangs of New York, Goodfellas, and The Godfather 
• Explores a number of Hong Kong's 21st century gangster films, including Andrew Lau's great trilogy, Infernal Affairs, and Election and Election 2, directed by Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To
  
• Concludes with an exclusive interview with The Sopranos' creator, David Chase

Martha P. Nochimson is Associate Editor of Cineaste Magazine, and the author of No End to Her: Soap Opera and the Female Subject (1993), The Passion of David Lynch: Wild at Heart in Hollywood (1997), and Screen Couple Chemistry: the Power of 2 (2002).