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Genres in American Cinema
Crime Films
Focusing on ten films that span the range of the twentieth century, Thomas Leitch traces the transformation of three figures common to all crime films: the criminal, the victim and the avenger. He shows how the distinctions among them become blurred throughout the course of the century, reflecting and fostering a deep social ambivalence towards crime and criminals. 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.
- GenresFilm
400 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 23, 2020
Read for class. This one is pretty dense. It namedrops a ton of films every page with little context and them proceeds to compare and analyze them. It would've be a more enjoyable textbook if I was familiar with more of the titles.
December 15, 2022
This book reads like it was assigned by a university professor for some film history course. Dull, dull, dull.
With chapters apportioned into types within the crime film genre (e.g. crime film comedies, like Fargo), author Leitch typically establishes why each is a worthwhile subset, gives a bunch of films, dated, that he says belong in the category and the associated actors for each film, with character names and the names of the actors. Then, he typically wrote a substantial part about a benchmark film that is a uber-representative of the subgenre. He occasionally included photos, and I cynically thought that the films that he discussed were influenced by the photos that he got permission to print.
I just felt like I was sinking in a swamp of details. The better way to present his thesis would be by a presentation that includes film clips. But then it wouldn't be (like) a (text)book.
With chapters apportioned into types within the crime film genre (e.g. crime film comedies, like Fargo), author Leitch typically establishes why each is a worthwhile subset, gives a bunch of films, dated, that he says belong in the category and the associated actors for each film, with character names and the names of the actors. Then, he typically wrote a substantial part about a benchmark film that is a uber-representative of the subgenre. He occasionally included photos, and I cynically thought that the films that he discussed were influenced by the photos that he got permission to print.
I just felt like I was sinking in a swamp of details. The better way to present his thesis would be by a presentation that includes film clips. But then it wouldn't be (like) a (text)book.
November 29, 2017
A scholarly analysis of Hollywood’s (and America’s) love affair with crime films, and the complex, contradictory messages they send (crime does not pay, crime is heroic and glamorous, etc.), and what the genre says about American society: Do we crave law and order, or do we admire rebels and rule-breakers? Do we actually want both to exist in some carefully balanced tension that goes back at least to the Old West? Leitch writes in a very straightforward, easy-to-read style.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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