If you've ever watched The Godfather, or other movies or shows like it, you might have noticed that popular culture has a definite take on Italian immigrants: barrel-chested men with gargantuan bellies; rotund grandmothers carrying overflowing pots of pasta; and chain-smoking, hard-drinking people for whom a party is not complete without thick slabs of meat and cheese. Not to mention all of the guns and exuberant hand gestures.

We're sure that there are plenty of holes in the big-screen version of Italian American life in the mid-20th century, but it turns out that the movies get a few things right. If you can look past the violent plotlines and horribly dated stereotypes, you'll also notice the other images and depictions that crop up—big families who live with each other or near each other and a tight-knit community where trust, religion, and loyalty are valued.