I seem to have seen more than the usual numbers of trailers for the new
movie Gangster Squad, which may mean
that the movie’s very good, or it may mean it’s very bad – large amounts of
bought publicity attach to both. Either
way, there seems to be something all too familiar about the way it’s being sold:
lots of images of dangerous looking men walking (or I dare say striding or
strutting) across the screen or into the camera.
We’ve seen a lot of this before haven’t we? If we’ve seen Mulholland Falls we’ve already seen Nick Nolte, who actually appears
in Gangster Squad, doing something
very similar indeed.
If you saw any of these guys walking down the street towards you, you’d cross the street to avoid them right? The fact that they’re cops, that they’re morally ambiguous, but they’re more or less on our side, really doesn’t make any difference, does it?
If you saw any of these guys walking down the street towards you, you’d cross the street to avoid them right? The fact that they’re cops, that they’re morally ambiguous, but they’re more or less on our side, really doesn’t make any difference, does it?
Gangster Squad is
based on a “true” story - which somebody, somewhere, decided long ago was a
selling point for a movie – and it deals with the take down of gangster Mickey Cohen. There’s no denying that Cohen was a very bad guy,
but as a walker, above on the right, he just didn’t have that dangerous, threatening stride.
Compare and contrast with the Kray brothers. If you saw these two psychos walking towards you, you wouldn’t just cross the street - you’d leave the neighbourhood.
Certain kinds of rock band have always liked to employ a dangerous
strut, or swagger, as well as a bit of moral ambiguity. For me there’s always been some serious disconnect
between the image and the reality of the Clash, but there’s no denying they
looked and dressed the part, above.
And finally this image, by Terry O’Neill, of Chairman Frank
Sinatra, accompanied by admittedly fringe members of his “board.”
To some eyes, this picture shrieks “links to organized crime,” though defenders
say no, no, he’s actually with his stunt double, his bodyguard, his personal assistant
and the film set's head of security,
who was an ex-cop. The fact these guys
just happen to look like mobsters is a complete accident.
And even if
Sinatra’s guys are complete softies, the image still delivers the same message:
“I’m walking here, get out of my way.” And you can see in the picture that everybody has.
“Your way Frank, sure.”