"Bullets Over Hollywood" delves into America's fascination with gangsters and features historical perspective, analysis, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and details about the connection between real-life hoods and their cinematic alter egos. The documentary chronicles films such as the _American Mutoscope & Biograph [us]_ film The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) (the 1912 film directed by D.W. Griffith that began it all), 1930's and '40s classics including "Little Caesar," "The Public Enemy," "The Roaring Twenties," "The Petrified Forest" and "High Sierra," to such modern tales as "The Godfather," "Scarface," "Goodfellas," "Donnie Brasco," "Casino," "A Bronx Tale," "Carlito's Way," "Once Upon a Time in America" and many more. The special takes a look at television with shows such as "The Sopranos" and "Growing Up Gotti," all part of America's parallel fascination with fictional and real-life gangsters.

Featured in the documentary is the historic gangster film The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) produced by _American Mutoscope & Biograph [us]_ which is still in existence today. It was also one of the first gangster films ever made, and was an inspiration to filmmaker Martin Scorsese for his films such as Goodfellas (1990).