American Experience

The Era of Gangsters

Clip: Season 28 Episode 3 | 1m 32s  | Video has closed captioning.

During the Great Depression, gangsters became unlikely heroes. As film historian Jeanine Basinger notes in this clip, "The gangster figure represented somebody at the bottom of the social scale condemned to a life of nothing, who did not accept that as their fate and who found a way to change it, which was through violence." Bonnie & Clyde premieres January 19 at 9/8c on PBS.

Aired: 01/19/16

Rating: NR

Problems Playing Video? | Closed Captioning

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