"A complete and detailed guide to crime on film: prison dramas, film noir, heist movies, juvenile delinquents, serial killers, bank robbers, and many other subgenres and motifs. The historical and social background to movie crime is covered by articles on the FBI, the Mafia, the Japanese yakuza, prohibition, boxing, union rackets, drugs, poisoning, prostitution, and many other topics."--Cover.

This guide describes the tales of organized crime, from James Cagney and his fellow 1930s mobsters right up to the hitmen of Quentin Tarantino and John Woo.

A reference and overview of the genre of crime fiction, primarily covering the 1950s onwards, although major earlier writers, such as Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler, also have entries.

Spans much of the modern history of the mystery genre and, along with it, many of the political and social changes from the classical detective story, the World War II spy story, and the Cold War thriller to postmodern detective and spy adventures and the politics of terrorism and confrontation of the twenty-first century.

No Marketing Blurb

Gives the reader and researcher a full sense of the depth and variety of British cinema from 1929 through the present day, with entries on all major British actors and directors as well as significant and successful films and genres.

Vols. 8-10 of the 1965-1984 master cumulation constitute a title index.

Thorough and in-depth coverage of reference materials is at your fingertips with American Reference Books Annual. With nearly 1600 descriptive and evaluative entries, it continues its tradition as a comprehensive review source for reference works published or distributed in the United States. It encompasses the entire subject spectrum, covering such areas as general reference, history, education, literature, urban studies, economics and business, and science and technology. Some CD-ROMs and Canadian reference publications are covered.