The gangster genre in films in America has garnered numerous positive reviews and consistently receptive audiences due to outstanding performances and mind-blowing action. The Godfather, being second in the IMDb Top 250 Movies chart, gave birth to a new popular concept within the mafia from their point of view. In this way, a positive association is created. Yet in Italy the same topic contains a completely different vision. Films like One Hundred Steps demonstrate an unenthusiastic view on the part of those outside but negatively influenced by those members. Unlike American films, gangsters are not often seen as protagonists and are the main cause of problematic events. But how different are the Italian mafia and the American mafia in cinema? The Godfather, one of the most famous American films of all time, began as a book written by Mario Puzo (published March 10, 1969) and was subsequently directed by Francis Ford Coppla in 1972 with subsequent trilogies in 1974 and again in 1990. The trilogies are seen as an epic tale of the Corleones, an Italian-American family, and their rise in and around organized crime. The story begins as "Don" Vito Corleone, the head of a New York mafia "family", supervises his daughter's wedding. His beloved son Michael has just returned home from the war, but does not intend to join his father's business. Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo seeks out mafia families who will offer him protection in exchange for profiting from drug money. He turns to Don Corleone for this, but the Don is morally against drug use and refuses the offer. Since this was the only request Don Vito refused, displeasing Sollozzo, and had the Don shot down. The Don barely survives, which brings... middle of paper... and negative associations within the genre. Despite the obvious differences, both styles borrowed concepts from each other, enriching each with their own popularity in cinema. Bibliography Bondella, Peter. (2009), A history of Italian cinema, NY, The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. Ferraro, Thomas. (1993) Ethnic passages. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.Grahm, Paul. (2005) The Journal of Religion and Film: Revisiting Violence in The Godfather: The Ambiguous Space of the Victim Model. http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Vol9No2/grahamGodfather.htm accessed 10 December 2010Nowell-Smith, G. (ed.) (1996), Companion to Italian Cinema, London, BFIRusso, G. (1995) . Mafia nation: cinema, ethnicity and identity. Amherst, Mass: s.nSmall, Pauline. (2005) New Cinemas: journal of Contemporary Film Volume 3, Queen Mary, University of London