*Dreams and Dead Ends* provides a compelling history of the twentieth-century American gangster film. Beginning with *Little Caesar* (1930) and ending with *Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead* (1995), Jack Shadoian adroitly analyzes twenty notable examples of the crime film genre. Moving chronologically through nearly seven decades, this volume offers illuminating readings of a select group of the classic filmsincluding *The Public Enemy* , *D.O.A.* , *Bonnie and Clyde* , and *The Godfather* that best define and represent each period in the development of the American crime film. Richly illustrated with more than seventy film stills, *Dreams and Dead Ends* details the evolution of the genre through insightful and precise considerations of cinematography, characterization, and narrative style. This updated edition includes new readings of three additional movies *Once Upon a Time in America* , *Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead* , and *Criss Cross* and brings this clear and lively discussion of the history of the gangster film to the end of the twentieth century.