2011: The danger of writing the “Ultimate Book” of anything is if you wind up demonstrating that you ultimately don’t know much about anything. That didn’t turn out to be an issue for George Anastasia and Glen Macnow, co-authors of The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies. Their list of the 100 greatest gangster films of all time includes just enough of the films you’d expect to see and enough surprises to convince the skeptics among us that they did their research.
GEORGE ANASTASIA podcast excerpt: "Goodfellas caught a vibe. You don't necessarily have to like guys like Henry Hill, but I think they did a good job putting this movie together."The book is packed with detail and affirmation of why any one of the one-hundred deserves its place on the list, from The Godfather films at No. 1 & 2 through The Freshman at No. 100. (Yes, it’s truly Marlon Brando’s world and if we keep accepting his offer we can’t refuse, he’ll keep letting us live in it.) They know no one will agree with the entire list; they want us to debate the merits of certain choices – like Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway, for example. Of course, with a thoroughly gangsta name like Anastasia, my guest today knows it has to be good, right?
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