Hollywood Italians : dagos, palookas, romeos, wise guys, and Sopranos

From the silent era and The Black Hand (1906) to The Sopranos, Hollywood has had a love-hate affair with Italian Americans. This book is a celebration of nearly one hundred years of images of Italians in American motion pictures. It covers all the stars as well as directors: Danny Aiello, Frank Capra, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, Brian De Palma, Leonardo Di Caprio, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Dean Martin, Vincente Minnelli, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Martin Scorsese, Frank Sinatra, Marisa Tomei, John Travolta, Rudolph Valentino, and scores of others. Dozens of films are discussed, including, very often, their literary and European-cinematic roots. Hollywood Italians is capped by a definitive examination of Coppola’s Godfather films as well as the international-television phenomenon The Sopranos. "From the silent era and The Black Hand (1906) to HBO's hit series The Sopranos, Hollywood has had a love-hate affair with Italian Americans. Now in paperback, Hollywood Italians is a celebration of nearly a century of images of Italians in American motion pictures and their often under-appreciated, underpraised, and truly remarkable contribution to popular culture. Hollywood Italians covers the careers of dozens of stars among them Rudolph Valentino, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, John Travolta, Sylvester Stallone, Marisa Tomei, and James Galdolfini. In addition, the book reviews the work of such Italian American directors as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese in a fresh light. In all, Hollywood Italians discusses scores of films with a concentration on their literary and European-cinematic roots. The book is capped by a no-holds-barred examination of The Godfather and its two sequels as well as the international television phenomenon The Sopranos."-- Provided by publisher
From the silent era and The Black Hand (1906) to HBO's hit series The Sopranos, Hollywood has had a love-hate affair with Italian Americans. Now in paperback, Hollywood Italians is a celebration of nearly a century of images of Italians in American motion pictures and their often under-appreciated, underpraised, and truly remarkable contribution to popular culture.

Hollywood Italians covers the careers of dozens of stars among them Rudolph Valentino, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, John Travolta, Sylvester Stallone, Marisa Tomei, and James Galdolfini. In addition, the book reviews the work of such Italian American directors as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese in a fresh light. In all, Hollywood Italians discusses scores of films with a concentration on their literary and European-cinematic roots. The book is capped by a no-holds-barred examination of The Godfather and its two sequels as well as the international television phenomenon The Sopranos.

This is a celebration of images of Italians in American motion pictures. It covers the careers of dozens of stars including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as well as famous directors such as Frank Capra, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese