WARNER BROS. TOUGH GUYS COLLECTION

Special Edition

This series of six documentaries investigates the influences, techniques, themes and popularity of the gangster movie as it mirrored - and influenced - American society in the 1930s and beyond, while simultaneously providing a fuller understanding of the genre’s significance to American cinema history.

MORALITY AND THE CODE: A How-to Manual for Hollywood - Rather than allow an outside agency to take control of their films’ content, Hollywood voluntarily adopted Hays’ self-censorship rules.

GANGSTERS: The Immigrant’s Hero - For the first time, immigrant audiences could find their immigrant counterparts in the movies - actors such as Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney and Paul Muni.

STOOL PIGEONS AND PINE OVERCOATS: The Language of Gangster Films - Gangster movies thrilled audiences not only to the sounds of machine guns and racing bootlegger engines, but with their unique, delicious language.

WELCOME TO THE BIG HOUSE - Men behind bars. When the bad guys didn’t die in a hail of bullets, they were shipped to the Big House to pay their debt to society.

PROHIBITION OPENS THE FLOODGATES - The enduring anti-hero status of the bootlegger in film, who profited by breaking a universally hated law.

MOLLS AND DOLLS: The Women of Gangster Films - Tough, resourcesful women broke the mold in gangster films. This film pays tribute to their influence on the cinema of their day - and their legacy.