Conventions and realism
It is argued that the major conventions of the gangster genre were laid down during this classic period of the 1930s:
• the iconography e.g. the stylised suits, overcoats, shirts and ties etc., cigarettes, alcohol, guns, flash cars
• the sleazy settings and urban backdrop, of bars, clubs and police precincts
• the themes with which we have become so familiar, such as the ‘rise and fall’ structure, the mythology of the gangster as tragic hero, revenge as a prime motivating factor, the binary opposition between the family and the gang.
But the convention that is particularly worth commenting on here is Realism. Gangster films reflect a realist representation of contemporary society, and this is certainly so of the 1930 films and in particular The Public Enemy. (Key Concepts – Genre)
The two main characters in Little Caesar and Scarface, Rico and Tony Camonte respectively, are based on Al Capone; in The Public Enemy, Tom Powers is based on Hymie Weiss. These were real life gangsters and deadly rivals; Weiss was the only man Al Capone ever truly feared. In real life Hymie Weiss had a partner called Dion O’Banion who saw him rise as a gangster (like Matt Doyle in the film). The reason for Weiss’s hatred of Capone was that Capone arranged a successful hit on O’Banion’s life. Similarly, in The Public Enemy, the Burns Mob kills Tom’s partner Matt. Like Weiss, Powers wants vengeance for his friend’s death, so goes into enemy territory armed with only two guns. He is shot and ends up in hospital. Capone later killed Weiss, just as Tom is kidnapped and killed by the Burns Mob (Historical context and Key Concepts – Genre).
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