In the early 1970’s, young director Martin Scorsese was still struggling to make his mark. At that time, just after the release of ‘Boxcar Bertha’, Scorsese had started displaying his talent, but it was the release of ‘Mean Streets’ in 1973 that moved the director much ahead in his career as a director. The movie, starring Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro and David Proval, was made with the encouragement of directors such as John Cassavetes, Samuel Fuller, and Jean-Luc Godard, and was released by Warner Brothers. Based on his experience with Boxcar Bertha, Scorsese had learned how to make movies at low cost, and Mean Streets was also a low budget movie, costing only around $500,000. This was one of the first movies that Scorsese made after being told to make movies in the style he wanted rather than make movies for somebody else, and the movie established his signature style (macho men, lots of violence, emotions based on Catholic notions of guilt, and a soundtrack based on rock). The movie is set in a gritty location in New York, again like many of his other movies. Scorsese was originally planning to make the movie called as ‘Season of the Witch’, but he later changed this to ‘Mean Streets’, based on a line from author Raymond Chandler’s novel ‘The Simple Art of Murder’.

The movie was very close to Martin Scorsese, since this was based on events that he used to see everyday in the areas of New York in which he lived. The end result was a movie that earned critical acclaim, with movie critic Pauline Kael being very enthusiastic in support. The movie also earned De Niro an award (not an Oscar though) as Best Supporting Actor for his role as the destructive guy who increasingly heads towards destruction inspite of the efforts his friend Charlie. Charlie in turns plays the role of an Italian-American who is a wannabe mafia member, and who acts as a debt collector for his uncle Giovanni. He also has an ongoing affair with Teresa, who is Johnny Boy’s (De Niro) cousin.
The meat of the movie is about the conflict that Charlie faces, with his devout Catholic faith (with its concepts of good vs. bad, redemption, and guilt) versus his ambitions of making it big in the mafia (in direct conflict to his Catholic faith). How does Charlie resolve this dilemma ?

The story of Al Capone, and the mafia as such, is a popular story with dramatists. There have been numerous books and movies that deal with the story of gangsters, and many of them have been exceedingly popular. The story of Al Capone, his rise, the terror he inflicted on society, the way he fought his way to the top, his exploitation of Prohibition to smuggle alcohol, all these were part of his mystique. What was equally remembered about him was the St. Valentine’s Day massacre that he committed on his rivals, first disarming 7 of them using his men in police uniform, and then using Tommy guns on them. Equally remembered about him were the efforts of the Government to bring him down (even when Chicago and neighboring towns were controlled by his men, with the police and officials on his payroll), and how we was brought down on a charge of tax evasion rather than for the numerous crimes he committed. The jail term on him was a stiff one, and effectively broke his empire.

Brian De Palma made 4 gangster movies, these 4 being Scarface, Wise guys, Carlito’s way, and The Untouchables. The other 3 movies were all about the gangsters, while The Untouchables takes the action from the perspective of lawkeepers, the persons out on a mission to capture the gangster, even when they have to follow rules and laws, while the Gangster can use any kind of force, can subvert the authorities, and threaten whoever they want. The Untouchables is the real life story of the people who managed to break the power of a mob lord against all these factors, and the methods they used (who would have believed that you could send a gangster to prison for tax evasion rather than for the various crimes!).
The movie is based on a subject that has been created earlier as well, and is essentially based on the autobiography of Eliot Ness. Eliot Ness was the agent who was sent to bring Al Capone to justice, and to free Chicago from his destructive and criminal ways. The movie starred Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro and Andy Garcia. Sean Connery won a best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of the Irish American cop Jim Malone. The movie does not fully present this as a good vs. evil fight, also portraying the parts where Capone showed support for the poor by running soup kitchens and other similar efforts, as also the role where Ness actually throws a hood off the roof of a building rather than bring him in for justice.
The movie is well choreographed, with the scenes bringing out the drama. The scene right at the end, where the juries are switched is gripping, especially if you don’t know the story. An eminently watchable movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Untouchables_(1987_film)

Sergei Leone became famous for the spaghetti westerns that he made, and for which he was the prime creator. At the same time, some of these westerns were very acclaimed movies, ranked among the great movies. One of the great westerns he made was ‘Once Upon a time in the West’ made in 1968, and it was almost from that time that he read a book by a mafia insider (known by a pseudonym called Harry Grey) called ‘The Hoods’. He was inspired by this book, and wanted to make a movie out of this book, but because the movie rights of the book was held by another producer, it took him a couple of decades to finally make this movie. Over this long time, a number of different actors were thought of for the key roles of Max, Noodles, and Deborah (with the number of people being thought reading like a roll call of the actors of the movie industry), in the end, the main adult roles of the characters were played by Robert De Niro, James Woods, and Elizabeth McGovern (adult female lead), Jennifer Connelly (younger female lead).

The movie itself came in for controversy because of its long length. After the shooting, the director and editor found themselves with more than 8 hours of footage. Leone, not wanting to cut down from the many scenes, initially wanted to release the movie as 2 three hour long movie parts, but had to back down after the producers insisted. He finally cut down the movie to an almost 4 hour long, 229 minute movie (which is also fairly long by most standards). This 229 minute long movie was very well received by critics; but the US release had a different story. Against Leone’s wishes, the movie was cut down further, by cutting another 90 minutes from the movie, resulting in a movie that was not welcomed by the critics. However, when they saw the original 229 minute cut, they changed their opinion, and that is the version that is the popular one now, with most people pretending that the shorter version does not exist.
The movie takes 3 different timelines, with different ages for the main characters. In the early part of the movie, in the early 1910’s, with the characters in their early years, struggling to survive in the ghettoised neighborhood. Noodles and Max meet up, and become the local leaders of a small gang, until they have a fight with another gang, at which Noodles kills the the other gang leader and attacks a police officer. He is now jailed for 12 years.
After Max comes out of jail in 1932, he re-joins Noodles and other gang members, and they slowly start getting involved in Mafia matters, taking part in jobs, getting involved in strikes and being on the side of the union leaders. However, Noodles is hesitant at the pace proposed by Max and tries to get them to slow down. He calls the police when the gang is at another job in order to get them to slow down, but this results in an encounter in which his gang friends, including Max, are killed. Noodles goes to get the gang money, but finds that missing. He eventually changes his identity to escape the hunt by the Syndicate for the traitor, and lives in Buffalo for decades.
In the fast forward to the future, in 1968, Noodles returns to New York City, and finds that there are some surprised. He discovers that Max had actually faked his death with help from the Syndicate, and then deceived his friends, and had stolen the money. He now wants Noodles to assassinate him, but when Noodle refuses, Max commits suicide by throwing himself into a garbage truck (an iconic scene).
However, there is a flashback, where the Noodles of 1933, in an opium den, on the run from the Syndicate is shown; he is an opium induced trance, and the supposition is that the entire future events of 1968 are actually a dream, and this is something that Sergei Leone has confirmed in an interview.

There are many movies that have been adapted from screenplays or from books, and West Side Story is one of the most successful of the lot. The movie was adapted from a running screenplay of the same name, which was adapted from a very famous piece of work by Shakespeare called ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The movie credits the direction by 2 people – Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Jerome Robbins was the first director, and he was also the director of the stage version, as well as being responsible for planning and directing all music and dance sequences in the film, as well as all the fight scenes. However, when around 60% of the movie had been shot, the producer of the movie (Robert Wise) felt that the costs had not been in check, and Robbins was fired. In the end, when the movie earned 10 Oscars (out of a total of 11 Academy Awards nominations), Robbins got a special award.

The concept of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is an extremely old concept, valid in different cultures and across geographies. The theory that a girl and boy from 2 rival clans meet, fall in love, and fall victim to the enmity between their clans (and getting killed due to this rivalry) is something that finds mention in a lot of different cultures. This movie is also based on the same concept, with the clans being modified to be 2 different gangs set in New York in the 1950’s. These are 2 rival gangs called the American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks (and these are composed of members from different racial backgrounds), fighting for supremacy over the New York neighborhoods in which they operate.
The romantic duo are Tony (Richard Beymer), who is a former member of the Jets gang (and also its co-founder), and Maria (Natalie Wood), who is the sister of Bernardo (George Chakiris), the head of the rival Puerto Rican immigrants gang, the Sharks. These 2 meet at a dance, to which Tony has gone to convey a message about a challenger between the 2 gangs, something that would decide the rivalry once and for all.
The movie is a musical, so there are several song and dances about the tension in the gangs as they proceed to a final rumble (the challenge) between them, along with the excitement in the life of Tony and Maria as their love increases. The story climaxes when Maria requests Tony to stop the rumble, and Tony is subject to ridicule from the gang members when he tries to stop them. His attempts are met with scorn, and the Jets head Riff cannot stand to see this ridicule of his close friend and starts fighting with Bernardo. In this tussle, Bernardo kills Riff, and Tony kills Bernardo in revenge. At this point, the police arrive and the gang members disperse.
Maria is informed by another gang member Chino (Jose DeVega) about the fight and about Tony killing her brother. When Tony arrives, Maria is very angry, but Tony manages to convince her by detailing what happened at the fight, and by offering to surrender to the police. However, the story happens in tragedy when Tony and Maria are about to meet, Chino comes in and shoots Tony. It is in this tragedy that the gangs unite, when member of both gangs carry Tony’s body.

Academy awards:

Wins:

Academy Award for Best Picture – Robert Wise, producer
Academy Award for Directing – Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – George Chakiris
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Rita Moreno
Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Set Decoration, Color) – Victor A. Gangelin and Boris Leven
Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Color) – Daniel L. Fapp
Academy Award for Costume Design (Color) – Irene Sharaff
Academy Award for Film Editing – Thomas Stanford
Academy Award for Original Music Score of a Musical Picture – Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irwin Kostal, and Sid Ramin
Academy Award for Sound – Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD), and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Nominations

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium – Ernest Lehman