This is a gangster film with rainbows and lollipops? When watching a movie viewers want to be convinced and entertained. Genres of movies, for example, a gangster film gives a certain type of expectation viewers want. When going to see a gangster film you expect to see blood, sweat, and tears not rainbows and unicorns. Click, clack, pow! American Gangster is a biographical gangster film that tells the story of Frank Lucas. The qualities that make American Gangster an excellent gangster film are realistic gun fights that show the real qualities of a gun, a superior actor who is convincing, and appropriate settings to set the mood for the audience.
In a gun fight people expect to see gunpowder and bullet holes. A gangster film needs this quality to show the realistic effects and to show how intense a situation can be. At the beginning of American Gangster Denzel Washington, who plays Frank Lucas, shot Tang who is played by Idris Elba, in the head for not having his twenty percent of a profit. Shooting him in broad daylight gives the audience a type of astonishment because the scene was so realistic. Although it was acted out, the scene showed blood, gun powder, and a bullet hole in Tang’s head which made the scene severe.
For that type of scene, the casting team for American Gangster needed someone convincing enough to play Frank Lucas. Denzel Washington was chosen to play this role because of how persuasive he is. The emotions he presents in front of the camera affect the people watching. Like for example, when Frank and his brother were riding in the car with his drugs, the cops pulled them over and found drugs in the trunk. After they got back in the car, Frank beat his brother for not being cautious and smart about the drug game. In that scene he gives the audience a sense of anger.
The Essay on Film Crime Gangster Films Gangsters
Film genres are categories, classifications or groups of films that have a similar, familiar or instantly recognizable patterns, techniques or conventions that include one or more of the following: setting, content, themes, plot, motifs, styles, structures, situations, characters, and stars (film site. org and notes). There are many categories of film genre. These categories can cover practically ...
The film is held in the late sixties, early seventies. The cast was dressed in bellbottom jeans, afros, and their homes were furnished with seventies furniture. A scene in American Gangster showed a cop introducing a microwave to his friend for the first time. In that scene it really gives the audience the visualization of the era. The film also showed how the heroin epidemic was on the rise. They had scenes where drug addicts were overdosing on heroin. With describing this type of era and the situations involved, rainbows and lollipops would not have been convincing to the audience.
To sum up my reasoning for American Gangster being an excellent gangster film, the fights, actors, and setting gave the audience a convincing analysis. Also with the actors giving a powerful performance to complement the fights and setting, it has been classified as a gangster film. The next time gangster is mentioned, think of the traits from American Gangster.
