In gangster cinema, and crime cinema, the city facilitates both justice and crime. In addition, the city assists in communicating the role of the gangster, and acts as a stage for violence and mischief. Through an analysis of American gangster cinema, the role of the gangster, and his operations in civic space, can be understood. The city is employed as a backdrop to highlight the struggle, between crime and justice, for spatial possession of the city. However, while the gangster believes that the city is his domain, it is also his prison. His power, and wealth, is indebted to the city in which it was developed. In the city, the gangster often employs “the window” as his weapon. Though the window is useful to the gangster, it also exposes a separation between the gangster and his city. This divide between crime, and city is extended into an analysis of the American Dream. Through a variety of settings, the city offers a juxtaposition between the honest American Dream, and the undeserved American dream. Lastly, the gangster’s knowledge of civic life is best understood through his attention to city sound.

City as Backdrop for Spatial Possession

The dispute for spatial ownership is a theme that gangster cinema, and crime cinema, often elude too. There is a constant power struggle between the wealthy gangsters, and the police force, for control of the city. Civic spaces, and city skylines, act as a backdrop to this conflict, and assist in explaining the power hierarchy. As David Harvey attests in The Right to The City, “the right to the city, as it is now constituted, is far too narrowly confined, in most cases in the hands of … economic elite who are in the position to shape the city more and more after [their] own particular heart’s desire.”(Harvey 13). In The Untouchables, Al Capone, an elite of Chicago, and his gang members, reshape the city at street level. Capone keeps his bootlegged alcohol business quiet by bribing police officer, jury members, and other civic workers. When the honest members of the law attempt to defeat Capone’s men, the fight is often situated among public, civic spaces. For example Eliot Ness’ chase seen on the courthouse rooftop, or the famous shoot out inside the Chicago train station. These settings illustrate not only a struggle between criminal and law, but also a fight for the ownership of this city, and the civic spaces that are showcased.

The Untouchables, Eliot Ness Vs. Capone’s gangster

The Untouchables, chase scene on the course house rooftop in Chicago

Alternatively, in Wall Street, Gekko, a rich criminal of downtown New York City, is involved in the sneaky, white-collar, crime of insider trading which proves more challenging for the law to detect than Capone’s business. From inside his office, overlooking the city, Gekko’s plan to dismantle “Blue Star Airlines”, and deprive thousands of people of their jobs, unfolds. Jack Shadoian argues that the cinema gangster is always placed “above or below us”(Shadoian 30). Gekko is in the sky, and far out of reach from the people on the street. Through his office window, the people on the streets appear small, and unimportant. The backdrop of the city reinforces Gekko’s omnipotence as an elite criminal in New York. For Gekko, the city is a commodity. The glass through which he watches the city is situated opposite of a sixty-thousand dollar painting. Even his view of the city is a piece of high-class merchandise.

Wall Street, Gekko’s office over looking New York

While the city is a sellable commodity for Gekko, Capone’s business relies on the demand of the citizens, which makes him an elite of the street. He operates in civic space, and interacts closely with lawmen. In the end, the law enlists an unbiased jury to prove Capone guilty, and Gekko is set-up, and convicted, at ground level with the New York skyline in the distance, signifying his loss of power and ownership of the city.

Wall Street, Gekko is set-up and convicted with the New York skyline in the distance

In these films, the city is installed to illustrate the controversy between the potential “rulers” of the city. Harvey maintains that the right to the city should be democratized (Harvey 14), however, in crime films the possession of the city remains an issue of hierarchy. The use of city space in these films intensifies the relationship between the corrupt, dictator criminals, and the lawmen that work to protect the citizens.

City as Prison

Scarface, Tony’s front foyer, a re-creation of downtown Miami

Robert Warshow argues that “for the gangster there is only the city”(Warshow 13). Since his business functions in a city environment, and his success is measured by his accomplishments in that environment, the gangster must always remain in the city in order to maintain his prestige. Regular citizens can comprehend the possibility of living elsewhere in America, while the gangster depends solely on his own city (Warshow 13). Simply put, the gangster is confined to the city, because it is a singular space that will perpetuate the success of his business. This idea is emphasized in Scarface in Tony’s home. Tony, having recently arrived in Miami from Cuba, quickly becomes a successful cocaine supplier in the city. Earning almost fifteen million dollars per month, Tony resides in an enormous estate that mimics the streets of Miami which are seen throughout the film. The main entrance of his home houses a sculpture identical to the public monument that is seen earlier in the film on the street. The sculpture in his house is reflected in a pool of water, referencing the public pool that Tony and his friend use to meet at. The sculpture has a neon sign that resembles the neon lights which illuminate Miami, and the Babylon Club where Tony use party. Tony’s re-creation of the city is a symbol of his power. He gleaned his wealth from the streets of the Miami, and now the city belongs to him. However, this counterfeit city also emphasizes Tony’s reliance on the Miami.

Scarface, The sculpture in the city, later seen in Tony’s foyer

As a direct reference to Miami, Tony’s home acts like a prison. A two-story gate seals his estate, and the grounds are monitored by an excessive camera system, much like the surveillance system of a maximum-security prison. While inside his home, Tony only sees the outside world, and the real Miami, through a television news program. Similarly, in Dreams and Dead Ends: The American Gangster Film, Jack Shodian explains the gangster’s relationship with the city stating that he “comes to the city and makes it his home. His home becomes a prison, a place of no exit.”(Shodian 45). Scarface is a literal translation of Shodian’s observation. The imprisoning aspects of Tony’s home reinforce his need for Miami. He can leave the city temporarily, but he must always return, because the city is gave him his power, and without it he has nothing.

Scarface, the gate at the entrance of Tony’s home that blocks him from the outside world.

Scarface, the surveillance system in Tony’s house.

Windows: The Weakness of the City and its Dwellers

Scarface, Tony staring out of his car at the Miami nightlife

In American gangster cinema windows are used to present the disconnect of person and city. A pain of glass denotes a barrier between public and private, and between dream and reality. In The Wall, The Window, and The Alcove, Catherine Liu argues that in cinema “the transparency of glass promotes an illusion of permeability that actually promotes hermeticism and separation.”(Liu 204) In the case of Scarface, Tony is entirely disconnected from the city. The reflection of city-lights drift over his car window as he stares out onto the street. The city is a fleeting blur of light on the other side of the windowpane. Tony sits divided from the city and its citizens. Ronald Bogue’s essay, De Palma’s Postmodern Scarface and The Simulacrum City, explains this divide as a separation of dream and reality. Bogue attests that the images of the Miami sunset on Tony’s shirt, his boss’ wall, and the billboard above the Cuban eatery are juxtaposed with real images of the city to highlight division between Tony’s dreams of city, and the true appearance of Miami.

Scarface, The mural of the Miami sunset in Tony’s boss’ office

The same argument can be made for the windows through which Tony views the city. At the beginning of the film, Tony peers out from the Cuban eatery to look at the nightclub across the street. He is separate from the glamour of the city, and only able to see it from the window of a low class eatery.

Scarface, Tony and his friend looking out from the Cuban eatery at the nightclub across the street

Later in the film, once Tony begins to make money through importing cocaine, he begins to dwell in spaces such as the nightclub, and the upscale restaurant, which have an apparent lack of windows. In an analysis of early noir gangster films such as The Maltese Falcon, Foster Hirsch examines the “small doses”(Hirsch 78) of the outside world, and cities, that can be “glimpsed [at through] windows”(Hirsch 78). These momentary elusions to the outer world make the city look like “a painting; it is an insert, lifeless, far away”(Hirsch 78). In Scarface, Hirsch’s argument is amplified because of the absence of windows in many locations. There is no indication that a world exists beyond the Babylon Club. Tony is therefore completely separate and out of touch with the city and its streets.

Scarface, Club Babylon, a space with no windows

Scarface, the restaurant, a space with no windows

In The Untouchables, windows in the city signify a barrier between public and private. However, the gangster often disregards this boundary. Mason describes the gangster as a man that can “use space as if there were no obstacles”(Mason 19). The gangster can “obliterate inside/outside barriers”(Mason 19). In The Untouchables Jim Malone, a police officer, and a downtown Chicago dweller, is watched through his apartment window by one of Capone’s gangsters. The gangster opens the window, crosses over from the city street into Malone’s house, and kills him. In this instance, the gangster uses the window as a device to complete his work in the city. If the gangster denies boundaries, than windows are the cities biggest weakness. The window is what allows the police to fall victim to the criminal elite. A gangster can easily infiltrate a space in the city with the use of a window.

The Untouchables, Malone being spied on by one of Capone’s Gangsters

In The Untouchables, the gangster is a part of the city, he is in the street, and the window is his advantage in the fight for the control of the city. Alternatively, in Scarface the window acts as a barrier between dream and reality. Tony believes he can control Miami, however, with the progressive lack of windows towards the end of the film, its clear that Tony is completely out of touch with the city, unable to see the separation between his dream, and reality.

The American Dreamer in the City

Hirsch argues that gangster films are “an intriguing image of the American Dream gone wrong.”(Hirsch 9)Both the gangster, and the regular citizens, have come to the city to live the American Dream. However, as the gangster approaches the pinnacle of an underserved American Dream, the settings which he occupies are juxtaposed by the space of the hardworking, and honest citizens.

Similar to other city dwellers, the gangster comes to the city in hopes of success. As Warshow explains, the gangster is “thrown into the crowd…[and] required to make his own way”(Warshow 14). Like any figure of the American Dream, the gangster starts at the bottom. For example, Tony arrives as an immigrant in Miami and begins his work as a dishwasher in a gungy food stop. Warshaw states “the gangster’s activity… is a form of rational enterprise, involving…definite goals, and various techniques for achieving them.”(Warshow 14) While the priorities of the gangster are similar to that of an honest city dweller, the gangster is easily tempted by the glamour of the city, and decides to peruse the American Dream through crime, and illegal money making tactics. After working at the food stop for one day, Tony takes up a job working with a drug dealer in order to earn money quickly. He exits the food stop, and he is never seen in a low-class, city setting again. Due to his almost effortlessly acquired wealth, Tony begins to live the American Dream immediately.

Conversely, both Scarface, and The Untouchables, present characters, other than that of the gangster, that portray an honest attempt of the American Dream. These characters live in city locations that are realistic in comparison to the grand, and almost unimaginable, mansions of the gangster. As well, these characters homes serve to emphasize the undeserving American Dream that the gangsters live. Firstly, in The Untouchables, Capone lives in a lavish hotel suite where the concierge protects his identity, and he is served breakfast in bed each morning. Meanwhile, Eliot Ness, a newly appointed government agent in Chicago, resides in a modest house, located on a middleclass, residential street. Ness’, along with his wife and daughter, juxtapose the lavish life of Capone, and serve as a reminder of reality. Capone’s lifestyle is unrealistic. Though some city dwellers attain great wealth, there are very few, in cinema, that choose to live in a hotel. The variety of Chicago street settings portrays a separation between a realistic American Dream life, and a nonsensical, and implausible, American Dream life.

The Untouchables, Eliot Ness’ townhouse on a busy street.

The Untouchables, Capone’s Hotel Lobby

The Untouchables, downtown hotel where Capone and his gang live

Similarly, in Scarface, Tony’s mother’s house gives Miami a sense of realism. Tony’s house is the “look of cocaine experience”(Bogue 192), with colours that are “warmer, richer, and more intense”(Bogue 189). Alternatively, Tony’s mother lives in a small house on the open street, with industrial oilrigs in the distance. This setting gives Tony’s mother a sense of dignity and truth. She is a real city dweller, and she comes by her money honestly. Tony has come by his American Dream in an unlawful way, and the city articulates his convoluted dream by comparing his world to a realistic, industrial setting.In gangster cinema, the city is a tool for deconstructing, and differentiating, the unrealistic American Dream, and the attainable American Dream.

Scarface, Tony’s mother’s home in the industrial part of the city.

Scarface, Tony’s lavish home.

Gangsters and the Language of the City

The gangster is “the man of the city, with the city’s language and knowledge”(Warshow 13). The gangster is closely tied with the city streets through its signals and sounds. As well, the locomotive, and lively sounds of the city mimic the gangster’s need to act quickly. In The Godfather, Michael Corleone is sent by his father to kill two men in a restaurant. While seated at the table with the two men, Michael procrastinates shooting them. There is the sound of a train passing outside. The noise of the subway drowns out the silence of the restaurant. At this moment, Michael shoots the men and exits the restaurant. The sound of the train references the continuous motion of New York’s streets. Despite his unwillingness, the subway sound signals Michael’s need to move forward, and to accomplish this task for his father. The movement of the city is mirrored in Michael’s urgency to progress.

Additionally, the gangster utilizes city noise to control his visibility as a criminal. Tony’s first drug purchase ends with him firing a gun on the iconic Ocean Drive in Miami. The moment his gun is fired, the sound of a siren is heard in the distance. The siren offers a duality for the gangster. While the siren may force the gangster to flee the scene at a heightened pace, the siren also offers the gangster a head start at escaping the law. The civic sounds work in favor of the criminal. Similarly, in the Godfather Part II, Vito, is determined to kill his enemy Fanucci. Vito hides in Fanucci’s apartment building, with a gun, while there is a street festival happening outside. The moment the crowd begins to cheer, Vito shoots Fanucci. The sound of the gun is overpowered by the sound of the city. The sound of New York allows Vito to commit a murder unnoticeably.

Shodian comments on the emerging importance of the gun silencer in modern gangster cinema stating “the silencer comes into its own…in accord with the daylight merging of crime into the social mainstream.”(Shodian 237) While neither Scarface, The Untouchables, Wall Street, or The Godfather have characters that use a silencer, Shodian makes an interesting point about the relationship between the gangster, and crime in the daylight. Gangsters learn to accommodate the drawbacks and advantages of city sound in order to bring crime into the daylight. For example, the Columbian gangsters, in Scarface, amplify the sound of the television in their hotel room to diminish the sound of the chainsaw they use to torture Tony and his friend. The sound of the television detracts the attention of passersby on the bustling street. The manipulation of sound allows gangsters to operate on the city street, unbeknown to citizens.

Scarface, Columbian gangster turning up the volume on the television to drown out the noise of the chainsaw

Works Cited

Bogue, Ronald. “De Palma’s Postmodern Scarface and the Simulacrum of Class.” Gangster Film Reader. New Jersey: Limelight Editions, 2007. 183-95. Print.

 

The Godfather. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino. Paramount Pictures, 1972. DVD.

The Godfather Part II. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Niro Robert De. Paramount Pictures, 1974. DVD.

Harvey, David. “The Right To The City.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 27.4 (2003): 939-41. Print.

Hirsch, Foster. The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir. New York, NY: Da Capo, 1983. Print.

Liu, Catherine. “The Wall, The Window and The Alcove: Visualizing Privacy.” Surveillance and Society 2nd ser. 9.1 (2011): 203-14. Proquest Sociology New Platform. Web. 4 Apr. 2013.

 

Mason, Fran. American Gangster Cinema: From Little Caesar to Pulp Fiction. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Print.

 

Scarface. Dir. Brian De Palma. Perf. Al Pacino, Michelle Phiffer. Universal Pictures, 1983. DVD.

Shadoian, Jack. Dreams and Dead Ends: The American Gangster Film. New York: Oxford UP, 2003. Print.

The Untouchables. Dir. Brian De Palma. Perf. Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner. Paramount Pictures, 1987. DVD.

Wall Street. Dir. Oliver Stone. Perf. Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen. 20th Century Fox, 1987. DVD.

Warshow, Robert. “The Gangster as Tragic Hero.” Gangster Film Reader. New Jersey: Limelight Editions, 2007. 11-18. Print.