Glory is a movie about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the first official all black units in the United States during the Civil War. It’s an inspirational story of how a young Union soldier, Robert Gould Shaw, is offered the chance to lead an army unit that will change not only his life, but the lives of many other Americans.…
The Torrio-Capone organization, as well as the Sicilian-American Genna crime family, competed with the North Side Gang of Dean O'Banion. In May 1924, O'Banion discovered that their Sieben Brewery was going to be raided by federal agents and sold his share to Torrio. After the raid, both O'Banion and Torrio were arrested.[18] Torrio's people murdered O'Banion in revenge on October 10, 1924, provoking a gang war.[19][20]…
Al Capone. Everyone is bound to hear the name at least once in his or her life. The charming, broad smile, the greenish gray eyes, heavy set, and five foot ten and a half; a seemingly normal man. Until someone notices the scars. A faded purple, still fresh looking, Al Capone’s scars marred the normal face, they gave a glance into the life of the notorious gangster. But who was Mr. Alphonse “Scarface” Capone? One reporter comments, “… Here is a man [Capone] who is an enigmatic, a man who nobody knows, not even his closest intimates.’” (Eig 198) What did the public think of “Scarface”? Katherine Geroud said, "It is not because Capone is different that he takes the imagination; it is because he is so gorgeously and typically American." (Mr. Capone Quotes) What was this mysterious man involved in? Al Capone was a complex man who controlled countless illegal businesses and somehow managed to catch the attention and interest of America as a whole.…
Gone With the Wind is a classic movie that has been loved by many Americans over many generations. In 1939, the film won eight Academy Awards. It is a great love story set in the American Civil War and the period of Reconstruction afterwards. Told from the viewpoint of the South, the Confederacy, it is more of a dramatic love story than a war movie. David O. Selznick produced the film and he hired two southerners as advisors for accuracy, Wilbur G. Kurtz and Susan Myrick. With their help, Gone With the Wind is accurate in its portrayal of life for civilians in 1860s America, events, and the background details, yet inaccurate in its portrayal of race relations.…
There are many speculations to the actual cause of the Great Crash of 1929. Some link it to the false sense of opulence in the country, some think it might have had something to do with the numerous loans given to Europe who in turn subsequently defaulted on. Whatever the cause was is irrelevant. The fact is that on Tuesday October 29th 1929 the Dow Jones Stock Market plummeted over 40 points after a week of panic selling. Following the crash of 1929, the nation’s unemployment percentage rose to an all time high of 25% (Croft, 2010). With little to no work to be found, a failed banking system, and one of the worst recorded droughts in history. John Dillinger and George “Babyface” Nelson was just a couple of the people who were forced to turn to a life of crime just to survive.…
Hollywood entered a new phase with the coming of sound movies in 1927 and it was also chronicled as the golden decade for the crime film, with the flourishing of two classical genres-gangster film and prison film. The gangster films echoed the financial predicaments of many ordinary Americans during the Great Depression, and in doing so it influences the succeeding genres. Gangster films connected criminality with economic hardship and portrayed gangsters as underdogs. They soothed the financially struggling Americans and at the same time attacked crime and the government’s inability to control it. Prison films also had its root in silent films which became popular in the 1930s, left the audience cheering for the “wrong side” (Rafter 20).…
When we think of the American West, we often envision a cowboy saving the day and riding off into the sunset. Wistfulness often sets in, and we begin to wish for simpler times when the good guys and the bad guys were distinguishable, when everything was so simple. Unfortunately, those times never existed; what remains in our minds is the romanticized version of the American West, synthesized by Hollywood. John Henry, Paul Bunyan, and Pecos Bill are a few examples of these manufactured myths, however, not all of them were tall tales. One of the true legends of the American West was famous outlaw Jesse James. He conquered the hearts of many through his chivalrous deeds as well as his disobedience towards the law. With being involved in so much during a time of great chaos and deception, it is no wonder that even a legend such as his is full of mysterious myths and secrets.…
The movie begins in New York, in 1843, with a gang fight. Bill "the butcher" Cutting's gang of "nativists" have challenged the "dead rabbits" (a gang of mostly Irish immigrants) to a fight to settle once and for all who is the most powerful gang in the area. After an intense battle the "nativists" win by killing the leader of the "dead rabbits", also Amsterdam's (the main character's) father.…
One interpretation is that the American people were greatly angered by the activities of the gangsters in the 1920s.…
History Vs. Hollywood: The Roaring Twenties was a time of jazz and flappers and good times, however, other aspects of the twenties life were arduous and troublesome. The youth of America was lied to by the government and their parents during the 1910s and World War I. With the reintroduction of the car, the youth rebelled against their parents and standards previously created. Other minorities also began to change. The women of the 1920’s wanted more rights, which they received when Congress amended 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. When women gained the right to vote, they had more freedom than ever. Another aspect people do not think about in the Roaring Twenties was the innovation of the radio. The radio connected the disillusioned youth, women, and all minorities and the majorities together. The radio was enjoyed by nearly every household, and it also entertained them(Sterling). In 2002, director Rob Marshall combined the important topics of the 1920’s into the musical titled…
Gunfights, cowboys, gold mines and ranches are probably the first thing that pops into your head when you hear The Old West, however was that actually what happened? The movies portray the west as an action packed, good vs evil utopia of sorts. There’s always an antagonist, a protagonist, some love interest, and a gun fight of course. This just leaves me with a few questions: what is a myth and why are they important?, how has the old west myth affected our society?, and why was the west so popular?…
One of the most influential film movements in the 1940's was a genre that is known today as film noir. Film noir was a recognizable style of filmmaking, which was created in response to the rising cost of typical Hollywood movies (Buss 67). Film noir movies were often low budget films; they used on location shoots, small casts, and black and white film. The use of black and white film stock not only lowered production costs, but also displayed a out of place disposition that the conventions of film noir played upon. It is these conventions: themes, characters, lighting, sound, and composition, which are seen in the movie LA Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997). This paper discusses the techniques used in LA Confidential that link the movie with the typical cinematic conventions of the film noir style.…
I see that there are basic themes that remain in all movies from any decade and those are story’s revolved around love, good vs evil, adventure, fear and comedy. I see the main difference is the shock value that resides in current day movies and the ability to put anything on screen no matter how graphic or distorted the images may be. In Screening Out the Past, by Lary May he discusses regulation censorship of the youth in America and the goal being to preserve their morality and it seems to that they were successful in keeping their youth sheltered longer than in our society today. Another aspect of movies that has drastically changed the movie going experience is special effects and camera activity. With our current technology we can shoot a scene at the beach in front of a green screen. This enables more options for produces to magnify adventure and transcend you from your…
Yet, despite the constant applause and cries of "You go, girl!" during the showing of this film, Why Did I Get Married lacks many of the elements that comprise a film worthy…
One of the biggest milestones reached in the film industry was the narrative, movies that actually told a story. The first narrative movie was The Great Train Robbery, created in 1903 by Edwin S. Porter. The silent film is only about 10 minutes long, but was the precursor to the action and western genres. The popularity of the movie proved that motion pictures could be commercially successful. The plot of The Great Train Robbery was actually inspired from a real event. On August 29, 1900, four members from the famous outlaw George Leroy “Butch Cassidy” Parker’s “Hole in the Wall” gang stopped a train in Table Rock, Wyoming and stole $5,000. This movie was ripped from the headlines and captured the public’s imagination.…