Crime Cliches

For starters, gangster films almost always showcase tough guys off the hardscrabble streets of blighted metropolises who turn to a life of crime because a)it is the only way to get ahead; b)they were wronged by the authorities at a young age; c)they realise that Credit Suisse and Bank of America almost never hire people from their ethnic background, so they might as well become leg-breakers. Even tough the code is vaguely defined, it cannot be violated. Crime movies almost always have a rat, and sometimes several. The rat can be undercover cop, a member of the gang, or even the gang leader himself. Rod steiger was a superb rat On the Waterfront. Gangsters have a hard time identifying the rat in the crew, even though the rat is always the newest and best-looking member of the gang, and never seems to belong to the same ethnic group as everyone else in the gang. Gangster movies often include a scene in a restaurant or nightclub where somebody says the wrong ting to the wrong guy and later regrets it. In crime movies, there is usually one straight arrow whom the gangsters respect because he is not completely crooked like them. For a crime film to work, there must be a wizened, cynical cop who is close to retirement and has seen it all. There must be a young cop who just got marries, and who will almost certainly die. There must be a full-dress funeral service, preferably in the rain. Finally, gangster movies would not be a gangster movies without the crucial scene in the hospital where a good-looking young cop comes on duty to replace the cop who is guarding an important witted, and then turns out to be a hit man.