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Crime movies are as old as filmmaking itself. They embody the American nightmare, functioning both as a mirror of society and a tool for educating the public about its enemies. In this history of the genre Carlos Clarens gives us a mini-history of crime American-style. From D. W. Griffith and New York's Biograph Studios, where raw violence was introduced to celluloid immortality, to today's multimillion-dollar celebrations of blood and power, Crime Movies shows us the whole picture: the unchanging cast of characters (the gangster hero, swaggering, charming, suspicious; the stoolpigeon or strikebreaker; the moll); the stars (James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Richard Widmark); the censorship battles, political pressure, and public outcry. This book illuminates movies such as Intolerance, Underworld, Little Caesar, Public Enemy, Kiss of Death, On the Waterfront, Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather, Goodfellas, Reservoir Dogs, and hundreds of others, while detailing the film-making strategies Hollywood has adopted to deal with the controversial yet profitable and enduring subject of American criminality.
Anthony Mann (1906-1967) is renowned for his outstanding 1950s westerns starring James Stewart (Winchester '73, The Naked Spur, The Man from Laramie). But there is more to Mann's cinematic universe than those tough Wild West action dramas featuring conflicted and secretive heroes. This brilliant Hollywood craftsman also directed fourteen electrifying crime thrillers between 1942 and 1951, among them such towering achievements in film noir as T-Men, Raw Deal, and Side Street. Mann was as much at home filming dark urban alleys in black-and-white as he was the prairies and mountains in Technicolor, and his protagonists were no less conflicted and secretive than his 1950s cowboys. In these Mann crime thrillers we find powerful stories of sexual obsession (The Great Flamarion), the transforming images of women in wartime and postwar America (Strangers in the Night, Strange Impersonation), exploitation of Mexican immigrants (Border Incident), studies of the criminal mind (He Walked by Night), and Civil War bigotry (The Tall Target). Mann's forceful camera captured such memorable and diverse stars as Erich von Stroheim, Farley Granger, Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Richard Basehart, Ricardo Montalbán, Ruby Dee, and Raymond Burr. The Crime Films of Anthony Mann features analysis of rare documents, screenplays, story treatments, and studio memoranda and reveals detailed behind-the-scenes information on preproduction and production on the Mann thrillers. Author Max Alvarez uses rare and newly available sources to explore the creation of these noir masterworks. Along the way, the book exposes secrets and solves mysteries surrounding the mercurial director and his remarkable career, which also included Broadway and early live television.
This book surveys the entire range of crime films, including important subgenres such as the gangster film, the private eye film, film noir, as well as the victim film, the erotic thriller, and the crime comedy. Focusing on ten films that span the range of the twentieth century, Thomas Leitch traces the transformation of the three leading figures that are common to all crime films: the criminal, the victim and the avenger. Analyzing how each of the subgenres establishes oppositions among its ritual antagonists, he shows how the distinctions among them become blurred throughout the course of the century. This blurring, Leitch maintains, reflects and fosters a deep social ambivalence towards crime and criminals, while the criminal, victim and avenger characters effectively map the shifting relations between subgenres, such as the erotic thriller and the police film, within the larger genre of crime film that informs them all.
'Crime Films' analyses the wide body of films that fall under the rubric of crime, from the gangster film to the film noir, and from the classic whodunnit to TV series like 'Law and Order' and 'CSI'.
The crime film genre consists of detective films, gangster films, suspense thrillers, film noir, and caper films and is produced throughout the world. Crime film was there at the birth of cinema, and it has accompanied cinema over more than a century of history, passing from silent films to talkies, from black-and-white to color. The genre includes such classics as The Maltese Falcon, The Godfather, Gaslight, The French Connection, and Serpico, as well as more recent successes like Seven, Drive, and L.A. Confidential. The Historical Dictionary of Crime Films covers the history of this genre through a chronology, an introductory essay, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on key films, directors, performers, and studios. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about crime cinema.
This is the first substantial study of British cinema's most neglected genre. Bringing together original work from some of the leading writers on British popular film, this book includes interviews with key directors Mike Hodges (Get Carter) and Donald Cammel (Performance). It discusses an abundance of films including: * acclaimed recent crime films such as Shallow Grave, Shopping, and Face. * early classics like They Made Me A Fugitive * acknowledged classics such as Brighton Rock and The Long Good Friday * 50s seminal works including The Lavender Hill Mob and The Ladykillers.
The crime film genre consists of detective films, gangster films, suspense thrillers, film noir, and caper films and is produced throughout the world. Crime film was there at the birth of cinema, and it has accompanied cinema over more than a century of history, passing from silent films to talkies, from black-and-white to color. The genre includes such classics as The Maltese Falcon, The Godfather, Gaslight, The French Connection, and Serpico, as well as more recent successes like Seven, Drive, and L.A. Confidential. The Historical Dictionary of Crime Films covers the history of this genre through a chronology, an introductory essay, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on key films, directors, performers, and studios. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about crime cinema. -- from Amazon.com.
Analyzing crime movies set in Detroit, Miami, Boston, Las Vegas, and the fictional Gotham City, this book examines the role that American cities play as characters in crime films. Furthering our awareness of how popular media shapes public understanding of crime and justice in American cities, this book contributes to scholarship in popular criminology by providing insight into the development of criminological theory in cinematic representations of crime and urban space. Each chapter focuses on a different city, starting with an overview of the social, economic, and political history of the city and proceeding to discuss the cinematic depiction of crime and justice in the city. At the heart of each chapter is a discussion of themes that are common across films set in each city. For each theme, the book makes connections to the criminological theory discussed in that chapter and concludes by focusing on real-world implications that stem from the social construction of urban crime in crime films. Bridging the gap between criminology and media studies, The American City in Crime Films will appeal to students of criminology and media studies, and urban sociology/criminology.
The American crime film has recently enjoyed a surge in popularity and proliferation, making it the most pervasive genre in contemporary cinema. Though it now tackles current issues, it continues to reference the classic narratives and archetypes established in the great crime pictures of past decades. The titles explored in this critical survey feature a variety of themes and show that the crime film genre has fused with other genres to create fascinating hybrids. Focusing on character and plot construction, the author highlights the gangster and film noir traditions that still run strongly through recent American cinema. Among the many filmmakers analyzed within these pages are David Lynch, Gus Van Sant, David Mamet, Werner Herzog, Sam Raimi, David Cronenberg and the Coen Brothers. Stuart Gordon, director of the cult classic Re-Animator, provides the lively and incisive foreword.