AllMovie

During the Prohibition era of the 1920s, speakeasies were common and crime was rampant. This period of American history coincided with the gangster era in America. Gangs of men began to capitalize on this law by breaking the law and selling liquor for their own profit, not letting anything or anyone stand in their way. This time period, because of the violence and infamous figures brought to light, caught the attention of the movie industry and Hollywood did a little of its own capitalizing. With their double-breasted suits and their machine guns, actors became real-life gangsters such as Al Capone or fictional criminals such as Tony Camonte (played by Paul Muni) from Howard Hawks' 1932 classic Scarface. With the first string of crime movies hitting the screens even before Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the crime syndicates obviously provided Hollywood with entertaining material and this video celebrates that golden age of crime films.