HOLLYWOOD ITALIANS
(CMLT-C310; FRIT M391; CMCL-C 392)
M  1--2:15 pm; Film screenings M 7 pm
Professor Peter Bondanella

Hollywood Italians examines the long history of Hollywood's
treatment of Italian Americans from the silent era to the present.
The course will screen a number of important films dealing with the
dominant Hollywood images of Italian Americans: "Dagos" (Italian
American immigration and Little Italy) and la famiglia; "Palookas"
(Italian-American boxers); "Romeos" (Italian-American romantic
leads); and "Wise Guys" (Italian-American gangsters).  The class
will conclude with a brief look at several key episodes of the
important HBO television series, "The Sopranos".

We shall also read a two Italian-American novels as well as an
anthology of Italian-American writing.

Films will be chosen from the following works:

Dagos:  The Italian (1915; Reginald Barker, director); Christ in
Concrete (1949; Edward Dmytryk, director); The Rose Tatoo (1955;
Daniel Mann, director);Marty (1955; Delbert Mann, director); Mean
Streets (1973; Martin Scorsese, director); Do the Right Thing (1989;
Spike Lee, director); A Bronx Tale (1993; Robert De Niro, director);
Moonstruck (1987; Norman Jewison, director).

Palookas--Stallone and De Niro:  Rocky (1976; John Avildsen,
director); Raging Bull (1980; Martin Scorsese, director).

Romeos--Valentino and Travolta: Cobra (1925; Joseph Henabery,
director) and Son of the Sheik (1926; George Fitzmaurice, director);
Saturday Night Fever (1977; John Badham, director).

Wise Guys:  Little Caesar (1930; Merlyvn LeRoy, director); Scarface
(1932; Howard Hawks, director); The Godfather (1972; Francis Ford
Coppola, director); The Godfather II (1974; Francis Ford Coppola,
director); The Godfather III (1990; Francis Ford Coppola, director);
Goodfellas (1990; Martin Scorsese, director).

Textbooks:  Bondanella, Hollywood Italians (Continuum); Puzo, The
Godfather (Signet); Di Donato, Christ in Concrete (Signet); Tonelli,
ed., The Italian-American Reader (Morrow).  Plus reserve materials
in the reserve room, the electronic reserve, and the media reserve
of the main library.