The respect garnered by these gangster characters, simply by others knowing who they are, also goes towards the film’s general take on masculinity. One could look perhaps at the film’s most famous sequence where Henry takes Karen to, or more precisely though, the Copacabana nightclub. By his connections and abilities to maneuver the corridors of the night club, bypassing the lines of the “regular people,” Henry does a good deal to appeal to Karen. He is, to her, quite a guy. This is what a man should do. It’s amusing then, after the two have seated, that Henry tells Karen he is in construction, a stereotypically manly profession, one that does not, however, usually account for such rights and influence as Henry clearly has.
Additionally, Karen