Every genre has its cliches and convention which make it distinctly the genre which it aims to be. In this post I shall be assessing some of the cliches associated with the crime genre:
The Don
- Merciless
- Handy with a baseball bat.
- Tends to kill his friends for no particular reason eg: calling him a boy instead of a man.
- Either laid back yet dangerous, or just plain crazy...or a mixture.
- Strokes small pets such as kittens.
- Smokes a humungous cigarette.
- Italian-American.
- Inherited title.
- Calls his gang a family - in italics.
- Has a moral code, such as wont kill children.
- Is blessed with the coolest lines in cinema history: 'I'll give him an offer he can't refuse', 'Say hello to my little friend', 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'.
The Story
- Police as bad as gangsters.
- The rat.
- Undercover cop.
- Trilbies
- Cuban Cigars
- Comb overs.
- 'Hit's'
- Corrupt courtroom scenes.
- Corrupt doctor.
- Drugs.
- Voiceover.
- Experienced cop and young, eager cop.
- Inventive murder technique.
- Symbolic gestures such as horses heads in beds.
- Swear words.
- Catholic gangsters.
- Bank Robberies.
- Extravagant heists.
- Prison comforts.
- Ingenius torture methods.
- Awesome accents.
- Business in nightclubs
- Mysterious drug dealers
- The names 'Jimmy' and 'Tony'
