The document discusses the history and evolution of crime films over different eras and regions. It provides examples of influential crime films from the silent era like Les Vampires, through the Hays Code era with films like Public Enemy and Little Caeser. It then outlines key films that defined genres like film noir, New Hollywood crime films, French crime films of the 50s and 60s, Yakuza films from Japan, Triad movies from Hong Kong, and contemporary American crime films and TV shows.

1. Crime Film

2. Crime Film
• Archetypes – Typically materialistic, immoral,
self-destructive, lack empathy
• Subgenres/Hybrids – Heist, mob, hood, neo-
noir, hardboiled
• Closely related to crime fiction
• Stories typically chronicle the rise and fall of
theprotagonist

3. Silent Era
• Louis Feuillade - Les Vampires (1915-1916)
• Fritz Lang – Dr. Mabuse (1922)

4. Hays Code Era
• William Wellman – Public Enemy (1931)
• MervynLeRoy- Little Caeser (1931)

5. Film Noir
• Billy Wilder – Double Indemnity (1944)
• John Huston – The Maltese Flacon (1941)
• Distinctly American genre

6. New Hollywood
• Martin Scorsese – Mean Streets (1973)
• Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather (1972)

7. France in the 50s & 60s
• Jean Piere Melville – Le Samourai (1967)
• Jules Dasin – Rififi (1955)

8. Yakuza Films
• Seijun Suzuki – Tokyo Drifter (1966)
• Takeshi Kitano – Sonatine (1993)
• Nikkatsu Studios

9. Triads Movies
• John Woo - The Killer (1989)
• Johnny To – Election (2005)

10. Contemporary America
• Michael Mann – Miami Vice (2005)
• David Simon – The Wire (2002-2008)