The mob’s true role—more often than not—was elided. And even when the movies dealt ostensibly with mob influence within the unions, the force of the message was often subverted. For instance, On the Waterfront, which concerned the gangster-dominated longshore union in the New York area, was interpreted widely as a parable depicting the role of Communists.18 Similarly, Arthur Miller has told of writing a screenplay describing how gangsters murder and threaten union opponents, but studio executives wanted him to change the mobsters into Communists.19 According to James Agee, John Huston in his screenplay for Key Largo “wanted gangsters to represent ‘everything that is wrong with postwar America,’ but this intent, Agee says, was excised from the final cut.”

Coincidentally, the thematic trend toward gangster movies began as mobsters assumed more influence in the industry. Strikingly, according to the Hollywood left, these “gangster pictures played” a major role “in causing legislation against prohibition,” enabling an illicit mob-dominated business to become a legitimate mob-dominated business.21 Another critic has argued that “under the pressure of gangsters, art was being abandoned in favor of fast-buck productions designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of society.”22