Untitled Prezi

History of gangster genre

Safe

2010s

The Frightened City

1960s

The Black Hand

Jason Statham stars in American action/crime film, Safe. The film was released on the 27th of April 2012 and made a profit of $17,120,019. The film was in colour and ran for 94 minutes. Safe was directed by Boaz Yakin.

Winning a fixed fight, protagonist Luke Wright, ex cage fighter angers the head of the Russian mafia. Wright's pregnant wife is killed and Wright is forced to leave his life behind and become a homeless man. Mei, a young chinese girl is a mathamatical genius and Triad boss uses her to memorize a number that is key for opening a safe. This soon entails great upcoming danger for her. Mei is ambushed by the Russian mafia for the secret number, on the subway Wright notices the girls distress and also recognizes the Russian man and what he did to his wife, he decides to protect the young girl and with protecting comes masses of vengeance and violence.

The English crime/drama film Frightened City was released first in America on the 20th July 1962. The film is in black and white, was directed and written by John Lemont and ran for 97 minutes. There were 50 cast members as well. It is about a thief that likes to keep it low key being asked by a mobster to help out with some racketeering. Reluctant to pursue the life of crime hes pressured to by the mob. He has a lady at home and a friend that's rather sick, he needs to keep his wits about him.

The Black Hand was an American crime film shot on the 29th March 1906 and this film is allegedly one of the first crime films to be created. It was directed by Wallace McCutcheon and stared Anthony O'Sullivan and Robert G. Vignola.

The film was in black and white and lasted approximately 11 minutes.

The film entails two gang members sending a sinister letter to the butcher demanding money otherwise his family and shop are in grave danger. The butcher is unable to scrape the funds needed and the gang are now out for revenge!

Differences

Similarities

Differences

In both films social problems were introduced making the film more interesting to a viewer as they touch upon real life situations. Both films also have the idea of mafias and gangs to scare other characters.

Safe, cleverly has the character Mei played by a young girl. This creates innocence and makes the crime film more intense as she is young and the viewers would not want her to be harmed, the films in the earlier decades did not introduce this concept. Statham's character is almost made more scarier as he fights and kills people with his hands which is uncommon in the earlier decades so the crime films in the 2010s could be considered better. The film is called "safe" which reinforces the impression of a modern gangster film as he is keeping peopl

Films during the 1960s have many common similarities with films during the 1940s. Both films contain femme fetals and affairs with another woman. Also a common theme i noticed was a thief being recruited by someone else to commit crimes.

Both films are in black and white so technology has not improved greatly in the 20 years.

A difference i noticed was in the 1960s film, The Frightened City, a man was more reluctant to commit the crimes but felt pressured to by the intimidating mob- they would be after him. In the 1940s film the man wanted to because the stress of a gang after you was not introduced back then. Also in The Frightened City the main character had a sick friend to look after so more social situations were added into films 20 years later.

Best Directors

Quentin Tarantino

Martin Scorsese

Quentin Tarantino has won 2 Oscars, 124 wins and received 166 nominations which is considerably a large amount. Martin Scorsese has also won a large collection, 1 Oscar, 134 wins and received 189 nominations. Therefor the two directors have proven to be two of the best directors.

Goodfellas

1990s

High Sierra

1940s

Best Crime Films

Pulp Fiction

Pulp fiction also successfully achieves all of the above yet cleverly has a hint of humor within it. Accomplishing this makes the film even more appealing to a range of people.

The American drama/crime film, Goodfellas was directed by Martin Scorsese and was released on the 21st September 1990. The film approximately made $46,836,394 profit which is considerably a lot more than crime films back in the day. Goodfellas was filmed in colour and ran for 146 minutes.

Goodfellas is based on a true story and explores in detail how living the life of a mob can get turned upside down. Henry Hill and his two best gangster friends Tommy DeVito and Jimmy Conway climb there way up the mob hierarchy, they begin as young petty criminals to big time thiefs, committing murders and they become cocain addicts and dealers. The film allows the watchers to have a great insight on the boys troublesome lives and that's what truly compels you to watch more.

Henry Hill was played by Ray Liotta, Tommy DeVito was played by Joe Pesci and Jimmy Conway by Robert De Niro.

High Sierra is an American drama/crime film released on the 25th of january 1941 so it was considered an early heist film for the film noir genre. It was directed by Raoul Walsh, it was filmed in black and white and ran for 100 minutes which is considerably longer than a film in the 1900s. It made a estimated profit of $455,000.

Main character Roy Earle played by Humphrey Bogart is broken out of prison by an old boss to help him with an upcoming robbery. The robbery does not go to plan and takes a turn for the worst when a man gets shot and killed. Roy is forced to go on the run, the police and press are after him.

Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs has captured all things gangster with this best selling film, gore, death, fighting, weapons and stealing. With all these components Tarantino has achieved the ideal gangster film.

Differences

Similarities

Many crime films during the 1940s developed a more cynical nature to them and it's called film noir. The films would typically be filmed in black and white as technology was rather under developed and the films would embody a theme of mystery and include femme fetals and a doomed hero. Films would be rather melodramatic and scenes would be considered quite predictable. Additionally as you can see high sierras front cover is drawn so this emphasizes the lack of technology.

As you can see Goodfellas has realistically acted out how three mens lives get turned upside down. By filming a real social problem and including such vivid emotions, Scorsese has sucessfully made his gangster film a best seller unlike crime films in the earlier decades. A major difference, of course is one of technology's biggest improvements, coloured films.

In The Frightened City they also began to introduce more social problems and also another thing explored in both films were relationships between characters so the viewers can sympathize.

Both films include the idea of mobs and gangs.