Genre endures thanks to larger-than-life characters and lots of action

LOS ANGELES -- In director Michael Mann's "Public Enemies," which opened Wednesday, Johnny Depp's John Dillinger says he likes baseball and fast cars.

What could be more American than liking gangster movies? The great screenwriter Ben Hecht claims to have invented the gangster film with the script for Josef von Sternberg's 1927 "Underworld." And he has a legitimate claim, by winning the first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Hecht wrote another famous gangster film, "Scarface." No, not the 1983 Brian De Palma film starring Al Pacino that made famous the line "Say hello to my little friend!" That ultraviolent flick was written by Oliver Stone, but was based on the 1932 Howard Hawks film, starring Paul Muni as Tony Camonte, an Al Capone-inspired mob boss.

"It's a great movie," says Robert Osborne, the film historian best known as the host of the Turner Classic Movies network. The original "Scarface," along with Mervyn LeRoy's "Little Caesar" (1930) with Edward G. Robinson and William Wellman's "The Public Enemy" (1931) with James Cagney, really kicked off the genre.

Osborne believes that good gangster films work today for the same reasons they worked back then.

"They have great characters and awfully good actors in them," he says. "I think that gangster films have the same needs that most other films have. You have to have a good director and good script and good production values."

That is why he says Warner Bros. did so well with its early gangster films.

"They had so much vitality with their actors like Cagney, Robinson and Humphrey Bogart. They had a certain snap, crackle, pop -- more than other studios."

Osborne thinks that some of the gangster films of this era are a "a little too violent" and that the older films made their point by mostly suggesting violence.

"There weren't so many brutal things going on (in the older films)," he says. "We know those things go on in the world, but I think you can convey that without necessarily showing it on screen entirely."

Osborne cites "White Heat" as one of his favorite gangster films because "I think that James Cagney is one of the most dynamic actors around."

Another favorite is "Key Largo" with Robinson.

"I think that that was a definitive role for Robinson like 'White Heat' was for Cagney," Osborne says.

But why do bad guys attract us? In his 1948 essay "The American as Tragic Hero," critic Robert Warshow suggests: "The gangster -- though there are real gangsters -- is also, and primarily, a creature of the imagination. The real city, one might say, produces only criminals; the imaginary city produces the gangster: he is what we want to be and what we are afraid we may become."

Of course, not everybody agrees on what is a good gangster film.

Here is our list of the 10 best gangster films of all time.

1. THE GODFATHER (1972) and THE GODFATHER PART II (1974) -- These Francis Ford Coppola-directed movies are arguably one long film and have been shown as such. The original film was a perfect merging of art and trash. It was based on the novel by Mario Puzo, who along with Coppola wrote the script. At the time Coppola was considered an immense talent but hadn't had a hit. The "abundance" of the novel, as described by critic Pauline Kael, gave the director the large canvas on which he needed to work.

Fundamentally -- and this was its genius -- it was a different type of gangster film. In the "Godfather," crime is the family business, and those who succeed are the cool behind-the-scenes types like Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and his father, Vito (Marlon Brando), while hothead Sonny (James Caan) meets a violent fate. Ironically, the film's mantra -- "It's not personal; it's business" -- seems to have become a justification for everything these days.

2. WHITE HEAT (1949) -- James Cagney gives a killer performance as ruthless killer Cody Jarrett, who has a soft spot for dear old Ma, who is as ruthless as her son. When Cody goes to prison after a crime spree, another gang member tries to take over. Ma tries to stop it but she pays the price, and Cody breaks out of prison for revenge and another face-off with the law. The Raoul Walsh-directed film ends with the memorable scene where Cody climbs to the top of an oil tank -- completely insane -- and yells, "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" before exploding the tank with his bullets.

3. GOODFELLAS (1990) -- In Martin Scorsese's story of "wise guys" in Brooklyn, the mobsters can be considered mom-and-pop versions of those in "The Godfather" -- not as smart and more inherently violent. DeNiro's Jimmy Conway and Ray Liotta's Henry Hill are Irish, so they can't be "made guys" -- actual members of the mob -- and Hill is targeted by the feds. So the film, in a way, is about questions of identity and loyalties while being a gritty crime movie.

4. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967) -- Arthur Penn's reimagining of the gangster movie was shocking at the time for its violence and its suggestion of impotence in its macho gunman Clyde, played daringly by Warren Beatty. Faye Dunaway was sexy as Bonnie and like Clyde something of an innocent. Unlike gangsters of the past, they were somewhat sympathetic because of that. Lively, funny at times, the film has some great turns by Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Michael J. Pollard and Gene Wilder.

5. PULP FICTION (1994) -- Roger Ebert's review described Quentin Tarantino's deconstructed take on crime as a "comedy about blood, guts, violence, strange sex, drugs, fixed fights, dead body disposal, leather freaks and a wristwatch that makes a dark journey down through the generations." Ebert also called it "either one of the year's best films, or one of the worst." It is one of the best. It takes a lot of what we take for granted in crime films and turns it inside out while being constantly outrageous and entertaining.

6. THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931) -- Cagney again -- this time as the cocky, mean Tom Powers, who pushes a grapefruit in Mae Clarke's kisser in William Wellman's film. It's a classic story of a tough kid rising from the mean streets before his fall. Once again Mom is a big part of the bad boy's life.

7. THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987) -- Brian De Palma's story of Elliot Ness' takedown of Al Capone (De Niro) in Chicago during the dirty '30s, when Prohibition was being enforced. Ness (Kevin Costner) recruits an old Irish cop, James Malone (Sean Connery), in order to bring down the crime boss no one could touch. Connery won an Oscar, Ennio Morricone composed a great score and you've got to appreciate how De Palma borrowed the classic baby-carriage scene from Sergei Eisenstein's silent film "Battleship Potemkin."

8. THE DEPARTED (2007) -- This Scorsese film -- like "GoodFellas" -- is also about questions of identity and loyalty. Despite winning the Oscar as best picture, "The Departed" was considered not as good as some of the director's other films (expectations are always high). But it is, which is evident with subsequent viewings.

9. MILLER'S CROSSING (1990) -- The Coen brothers' peculiar take on the genre is perhaps too self-conscious but constantly interesting, with some powerful performances and memorable images.

10. SCARFACE (1932) -- Howard Hawks' film, produced by Howard Hughes, traces the rise of Paul Muni's cross-scarred Tony Camonte, who had no problem getting rid of friends and has something of a thing for his little sister.