{"id":71955,"date":"2018-05-25T01:11:12","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T06:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=71955"},"modified":"2022-02-06T11:11:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T17:11:57","slug":"the-mafia-chronicles-the-gangsters-who-shaped-film-noir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=71955","title":{"rendered":"The Mafia Chronicles: The Gangsters Who Shaped Film Noir"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\">[AdSense-A]<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=71955\" rel=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=71955\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-71957 size-medium\" style=\"margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/owney-madden-248x300-248x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a>By Larry Henry<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fans of Mafia history who also enjoy those bleak, atmospheric crime thrillers known as film noir have had a lot to like about Sunday mornings.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when TCM airs its weekly film feature called \u201cNoir Alley.\u201d You can visit the site and view the schedule by clicking <a href=\"http:\/\/noiralley.tcm.com\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The weekly program is hosted by the Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller, who sets up each movie with an interesting, fact-filled introduction and then comes back on at the end with additional information and historical tidbits about that week\u2019s movie. To learn more about Muller, visit his website<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eddiemuller.com\/index.html\"> here<\/a>.\u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In some of his weekly remarks, Muller has discussed the ways that real-life mob figures have been involved to one degree or another in some of noir movies now regarded as classics.<\/p>\n<p>Several weeks ago, for instance, Muller mentioned that film star Barbara Stanwyck learned about a certain gun technique from an early New York City acquaintance of hers, gangster Owney Madden, and recreated it for the conclusion of the 1946 movie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sWUpRfFbzaw\">\u201cThe Strange Love of Martha Ivers.\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Click<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newzbreaker.com\/2017\/07\/10\/the-mafia-chronicles-from-al-capone-to-barry-seal-hoodlums-in-central-arkansas\/\"> here<\/a> to read an earlier NewzBreaker column I wrote about Madden and other mobsters in Hot Springs, Arkansas.<\/p>\n<p>Muller\u2019s on-air account of how Madden\u2019s gun technique was incorporated into the movie differs slightly from this official TCM online <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tcm.com\/this-month\/article.html?isPreview=&amp;id=1359829%7C60067&amp;name=The-Strange-Love-of-Martha-Ivers\">version<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On camera, Muller says the idea to use the gun technique was Stanwyck\u2019s, while the TCM online version \u2014 and a guest of Muller\u2019s on \u201cNoir Alley,\u201d author and \u201cNoir City\u201d magazine editor Vince Keenan \u2014 credit director Lewis Milestone with the idea.<\/p>\n<p>In his on-air commentary, Muller is suspicious of the director. Saying directors \u201calways take credit for everything,\u201d Muller adds, \u201cI\u2019m going to go with Stanwyck on this one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Either way, Stanwyck\u2019s association with the gangster Owney Madden is underscored in both accounts.<\/p>\n<p>Madden is not the only organized crime figure to show up on Muller\u2019s radar screen.<\/p>\n<p>The Czar of Noir has mentioned mobster Johnny Roselli on the air and in his book \u201cDark City: The Lost World of Film Noir.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Roselli, the Chicago Outfit\u2019s representative at times in Hollywood and Las Vegas, helped finance three noir movies, including the 1948 film \u201cHe Walked by Night.\u201d Click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tcm.com\/this-month\/article\/27937%7C0\/He-Walked-by-Night.html\">here<\/a> to read the TCM account of Roselli\u2019s involvement with film noir.<\/p>\n<p>While authorities allowed Madden to leave New York and settle in Hot Springs, Roselli met a more noirish fate. He was killed, dismembered, and stuffed into a 55-gallon drum that eventually was found in Biscayne Bay near Miami.<\/p>\n<p>MOB NOTE: Below is an update to this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newzbreaker.com\/2017\/09\/06\/the-mafia-chronicles-hot-springs-hotel-favored-by-mobsters-faces-closure\/\">NewzBreaker <\/a>column I wrote a couple of months ago about the Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa in Hot Springs, a vacation spot for many of the nation\u2019s most notorious mobsters decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>The historic Arlington was facing closure because of unsafe conditions, but as this recent Associated Press <a href=\"http:\/\/m.apnews.com\/ap\/db_268748\/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=CPleGXRb\">story<\/a> notes, the hotel will remain open while the owners complete a $30-million renovation.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Larry Henry\u2019s YouTube channel includes videos he shot of mob sites in Las Vegas, the apartment building in Santa Monica, California, where Whitey Bulger was arrested, and the remote Arkansas airport where Barry Seal transported drugs into the U.S for the Medellin Cartel. <\/strong><\/em><em><strong>Subscribe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCaWkZxaOleSFUrBXUt9hUyQ\">HERE<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>[si-contact-form form=&#8217;2&#8242;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[AdSense-A] By Larry Henry Fans of Mafia history who also enjoy those bleak, atmospheric crime thrillers known as film noir have had a lot to like about Sunday mornings. That\u2019s when TCM airs its weekly film feature called \u201cNoir Alley.\u201d You can visit the site and view the schedule by clicking here. The weekly program [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18117],"class_list":["post-71955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-the-mafia-chronicles-the-gangsters-who-shaped-film-noir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71955"}],"version-history":[{"count":-1,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}