Prohibition, The Depression, and Organized Crime.

We all learned in school about the extremely unpopular 18th amendment, which for thirteen years made the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages illegal.
Also, in 1929 (while Prohibition was still in effect) we had a massive stock market crash which kicked off a 10 year 'Great Depression '

You may be saying to yourself ”What does all that have to do with movies?”. Well, one of the results of all this was that the 1920's and 30's saw an increase in organized crime and the rise of the American gangster.
While this isn't a piece of history to be particularly proud of, it was actually happening at a perfect time for a film industry that was transitioning to "talkies" in the late 20's.

By the early 1930's movies like The Public Enemy (1931), Scarface (1932), and Little Caesar (1930) were hitting American cinemas and would go on to become timeless classics. In the decades to come "Mafia Movies” would continue to be big crowd pleasers.

The Prohibition and Great Depression years were unfortunately a tough patch for America but at least something good did come out of it, as the events, the stories, and the people were a source of inspiration for many film makers and resulted in some of our most beloved movies.