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 has taught in the Department of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and at Mercy College, where she developed and chaired a program in Film Studies, and she is the author of four other books, including her internationally acclaimed studies The Passion of David Lynch: Wild at Heart in Hollywood (1997); Dying to Belong: Gangster Movies in Hollywood and Hong Kong (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007); No End to Her: Soap Opera and the Female Subject; and Screen Couple Chemistry: The Power of 2. Dr. Nochimson has been invited to appear on television in her capacity as a film and media critic in the United States, Canada, and France, and she has covered international film festivals in New York, Montreal, and Istanbul for over a decade. Her numerous articles about world film and interviews of major directors have appeared in Cineaste, Film Quarterly, and The New Review of Film and Television Studies. Further information is available at her website www.marthapnochimson.com.