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Eng 225 final film paper on the movie Scarface
Eng 225 final film paper on the movie Scarface
American gangster film analysis
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The gangster or mob film genre has captivated audiences for nearly one hundred years, dating back to the silent film era. Introduced through films such as The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) and Underworld (1927), the genre has become increasingly complex in its development, evidenced by the sophisticated narratives and advanced cinematographic techniques of more recent films such as Road to Perdition (2002) and The Departed (2006). This paper will serve to analyze only two of these brilliant works, and will do so through a compare and contrast format.
Howard Hawks’s Scarface: The Shame of the Nation (1932) focuses on gang warfare and police intervention during a power struggle for Prohibition-era Chicago. This pre-Hays Code gangster film also contains a cry for political and social change regarding the way in which the federal government handles crime. The earliest to be compared, this film employs all of the characteristics of classic Hollywood style, as well as setting the mode for subsequent films of this type. Melodramatic in nature, gangster films use conventional characters such as heroes, heroines, and villains often placed in narratives that include predictable plot elements such as improbable reversals of fortune, accidents, and last-minute rescues. These characteristics can be identified in both Scarface and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. Upon completion of critical analysis of both of these films, it may be recognized that Scorsese employs the use of allusion to previous works known in the art, and in particular, The Departed may be seen as paying homage to Scarface: The Shame of the Nation.
While Scarface shows the beginnings of the genre of gangster films, The Departed makes use of previous works and puts a spin ...
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...l Higher Education, 2009. Print.
2. Bergan, Ronald. Film. New York: DK Pub., 2006. Print.
3. The Departed. Dir. Martin Scorsese. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson. Warner Bros., 2006. DVD.
4. Derschowitz, Jessica. ""The Departed" Has Connection to James "Whitey" Bulger - Celebrity Circuit - CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. Web. 17 July 2011. .
5. Durks, Tim. "Crime and Gangster Films." Greatest Films - The Best Movies in Cinematic History. American Movie Classics. Web. 10 July 2011. .
6. Scarface. Dir. Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson. Perf. Paul Muni. Universal, 1932. DVD.
7. Sikov, Ed. Study Guide to Accompany American Cinema/American Culture. McGraw-Hill Humanities Social, 2009. Print.
The movie Gangs of New York takes place in Lower Manhattan’s Five Points’ neighborhood. It begins in 1846. The main protagonist Amsterdam Fallon, Priest Fallon’s son, watches his father who is the leader of the Dead Rabbit gang prepare and die in battle. As his father is on his last breadths of life giving his son counsel, Billy “the Butcher” Cutting snaps the Priest Fallon’s head. Amsterdam runs away from Cuttings henchmen to hide his father’s knife before he is captured by the Natives gang. He is taken to Hellgate orphanage. In 1862 Amsterdam returns to Five Point’s neighborhood and finds his old friend Johnny Sirocco. Johnny works now for Billy “the Butcher” and introduces Amsterdam to Cutting. Amsterdam makes his way into Cutting’s inner circle of Natives. Amsterdam also meets Jenny Everdeane while hanging out with Johnny. She bumps into Johnny to pickpocket his watch. Amsterdam notices and lets Johnny know. Johnny claims he always lets her take things. As both Cutting and Jenny take a liking to Amsterdam Johnny becomes jealous. He notices young Vallon quickly making his way into Cutting’s gang’s high ranks and into Jenny’s heart. Out of jealousy, Johnny reveals Amsterdam’s true identity to Cutting. Cutting decides to make Vallon angry. He succeeds by playing a dangerous game that involves knives with Jenny at the annual celebration of Priests Vallon’s death. Amsterdam then attempts to assassinate Cutting but fails and is taught a lesson by Cutting. Amsterdam lives at the help of Jenny. To avenge his father he starts the outlawed Dead Rabbit gang up again. He proposes a challenge to Cutting after his friend “Monk” McGinn is killed by Cutting. The fight takes place at Five Points’ neighborhood on the day the ...
In film, many times the auteur often uses the medium to convey a moral or make a social commentary. In the case of Howard Hawkes’s original version of Scarface, there is more being portrayed through the characters then merely the story. Hawkes makes a statement about the façade of organized crime, and the farce of the American Dream.
Al Capone, America’s most prominent Mafia figure in the 1920’s, also known as “Scarface” for a scar running down his left cheek. Capone didn’t hide in the shadows like most figures in such a shady occupation. He didn’t shy away from the camera, more like he welcomed it, and aimed to be seen by the public as a respectable businessman and a pillar of the community. Surprisingly, Capone wasn’t from a distinctly poor community, his father earned a living as a barber. Capone was introduced to the gang life by a friend and from there it all went downhill and into the life of a gangster.
Aside from its acting, the other major influence which Mean Streets had upon American film-makers was through it's use of a rock n' roll soundtrack (almost perfectly integrated with the images), and in its depiction of a new kind of screen violence. Unexpected, volatile, explosive and wholly senseless, yet, for all that, undeniably cinematic violence. The way in which Scorsese blends these two - the rock and roll and the violence - shows that he understood instinctively, better than anyone else until then, that cinema (or at least this kind of cinema, the kinetic, visceral kind) and rock n' roll are both expressions of revolutionary instincts, and that they are as inherently destructive as they are creative. This simple device - brutal outbreaks of violence combined with an upbeat soundtrack - has been taken up by both the mainstream cinema at large and by many individual `auteurs', all of whom are in Scorsese's debt - Stone and Tarantino coming at once to mind.
TELOTTE, J. P. (1989). Voices in the dark: the narrative patterns of film noir. Urbana, University of Illinois Press.
Another common theme of this wildly intoxicated era was that of the gangsters. In the twenty-first century when the word gangster is uttered, often times images of minorities in baggy clothes comes to mind. However, when discussing the Prohibition Era the lives of gangsters are seen as much more glamorous, and none were more glamorous than that of the ultimate American gangster, Al “Scarface” Capone. Capone’s name brings to mind images of pinstripe suits, underground bars, bootleggers, flappers, and gun fights. His image embodies that of the Prohibition Era and his influence throughout society carries through it. Alphonse Capone is the ultimate American gangster.
The Godfather is most notably one of the most prolific films of its time. This "gangster" film displayed many transformations of permeating color to give the viewer observable cues in its mise en scene that drew one right into the movie. The dramatic acting set the tone of the film with a score that lifted the viewer right out of their seat in many scenes. The directing and cinematography made The Godfather ahead of its time. The nostalgic feel of family importance and the danger of revenge lets us into the life of the Mafia. Even though no other techniques would have given the viewer a feeling of inside the mob like the mise en scene of the power the godfather held, the characters are reinforced literally and figuratively because the story views the Mafia from the inside out, and the cinematography of the film gives it a dangerous and nostalgic feel.
The noir style is showcased in Sunset Boulevard with its use of visually dark and uncomfortable settings and camera work, as well as its use of the traditional film noir characters. In addition, the overall tone and themes expressed in it tightly correspond to what many film noirs addressed. What made this film unique was its harsh criticism of the film industry itself, which some of Wilder’s peers saw as biting the hand that fed him. There is frequent commentary on the superficial state of Hollywood and its indifference to suffering, which is still a topic avoided by many in the film business today. However, Sunset Blvd. set a precedent for future film noirs, and is an inspiration for those who do not quite believe what they are being shown by Hollywood.
Something else that surprised me was the competition between the gangs, who could give the most flowers and give the most lavish funerals to the men they killed from the opposite side of town. Al Capone was a very ruthless killer but he still had style, a certain classy air about him.
Inglourious Bastards. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Perf. Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz. The Weinstein Company, 2009. DVD.
The Godfather is the “dark-side of the American dream story” (Turan, pp2). The film follows the practices of a fictional Italian mafia family, the Corleone’s. Though most Americans do not condone the practices of the Italian mafia, they cannot deny that Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather is a cinematic masterpiece. This film gave insight to a mysterious way of life that the average person does not have knowledge of. As the audience is educated about the mafia they also are introduced to many stereotypes.
An Analysis of How Narrative and Genre Features Create Meaning and Generate Response in the Opening of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas
While there are many different ways to classify a Neo-noir film, Roman Polanski’s, Chinatown captures many. The 1974 movie consists of many of these elements, including both thematic and stylistic devices. One of the main themes of neo-noir film that is constant throughout the film is the deceptive plot that questions the viewers’ ideas and perceptions of what is actually happening in the film. Every scene of Chinatown leads to a twist or another turn that challenges the practicability of the film’s reality. All of the never-ending surprises and revelations lead up to the significant themes the movie is trying to convey in the conclusion of the film.
In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.
Secret Window. Dir. David Koepp. Perf. Johnny Depp, John Turturro. Colombia Tristar Home VideÌo, 2004. DVD.