Crime film: History and Key Facts

The crime film is a genre where the element of crime is key the films plot. Researchers of the genre, such as Nicole Hahn Rafter and Thomas Leitch noted the difficulty in defining the genre, saying it would be impractical to call every film in which a crime produces the central dramatic situation. Various interpretations of the crime film include Carlos Clarens described the crime film as a symbolic representation of crime, law and society while Leitch said they present defining subjects as part of a culture which normalizes a place where crime is both shockingly disruptive and also completely normal, while Rafter said the films in the genre are ones that are defined by plots that focus on crime and their consequences.

Crime film had been popular since the dawn of the sound era of film. While crime films featuring criminal gangs existed since the silent film period generally involved American productions that contained criminals who were described by Alain Silver and James Ursini as being "constrained by a strong moral code" and prior to Little Caesar (1931), were essentially romance films. European films of the period explored the mystique of criminal figures, such as in film serials like Fantômas. Early gangster films of the 1930s borrowed from pulp magazines and newspaper articles about real life gangsters. These films were under pressure from public interest groups such and led to gangster films by the end of the decade that were grew less straightforward and more conflicted in their actions which influenced crime films of the next two decades. The level of amped-up violence only returned in the 1960s. Films showcasing more direct violent characters would continue into the 1990s ranging from films about serial killers and rogue cops.

The crime genre includes various sub-genres, including the gangster film, heist film and prison films.

Source and attribution

Text excerpted from Crime film by Wikipedia contributors, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The extract is abridged and formatting has been adjusted; the adapted text on this page is shared under the same licence. Revision history.