Pump 'em full of lead

by Marilyn Yaquinto

In "Pump 'Em Full of Lead" author Marilyn Yaquinto takes a fascinating look at one of the most enduring themes at the movies: gangsters. She investigates the screen presence of the gangster since the birth of cinema while exploring with a journalist's insight the gangster's captivating links to real crime. Ms. Yaquinto charts the evolution of the screen gangster from silent superstar Lon Chaney's frightful criminals to Cagney, Robinson, and Bogart; to the mutant mobsters of the '50s; to the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde of the '60s; and finally to today's villains and wise guys in the films of, among others, Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, and Quentin Tarantino.