4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today is National Bootleggers Day so remember to speak easy! In honor of everyone’s favorite entrepreneurs, it’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Films About Bootleggers
The Roaring Twenties (1939, dir by Raoul Walsh, DP: Ernest Haller)
Thunder Road (1958, dir by Arthur Ripley, DP: David Ettenson and Alan Stensvoid)
Once Upon A Time In America (1984, dir by Sergio Leone, DP: Tonino Delli Colli)
The Great Gatsby (2013, dir by Baz Luhrmann, DP: Simon Duggan)
Through the Shattered Lens 
By coincidence this past year, I saw ‘Thunder Road’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ (this Baz Luhrmann version). So these pictures invoke scenes still fresh in my mind. I took, from both movies, a story about struggling for ‘status’ (separate from ‘class’, although that struggle is also depicted). Younger ‘brother’ James Mitchum wanting to be like his physically imposing, deep-voiced, great driving older ‘brother’, where girls want to be with him and even the police respect him. And Jay Gatsby, who changed his name to something more Anglo-Saxon, and then squandered his time-and-money throwing attention-getting parties so Daisy might blah, blah, blah. I have seen the examples of “Top Hats” and “polo” (and golf!) as indicating status. There is no practical value to owning or wearing a Top Hat, or developing skills to play polo or golf. It takes a lot of money to keep a horse, and to maintain polo grounds/golf courses. But money is only part of the status. When I describe Jay Gatsby as a fraud, and criminal scum that doesn’t pay his taxes and trades illegal alcohol, people are surprised to hear this recounting. People think all the subjects of these four photos are ‘cool’. And, even though I consider them all sociopathic criminals who make the world worse, I must admit that I think they are ‘cool’, too!:-) Great photos, thank you Lisa!
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