Transcript Hays Code (1930-1968) and the Crime Movie

Hays Code
(1930-1968)
and the
Crime Movie
The start…
Hollywood’s
scandals:
Early 20’s: a murder, a drug overdose,
and a manslaughter trial.
Hollywood as “Sin City”
1922—Motion
Picture Producers and
Distributors Association
Slaps
on the wrists and a lot of “tsk, tsk, tsk”
Formal Enforcement : 1930-1934
Great Depression comes along,
film makers want to make $$
 Sex sells. Violence sells.
 1934: Production Code
Administration

Films required a certificate of
approval for showings and
distribution

What’s in the code…

specific restrictions on language and
behavior:
sex, violence, and crime = bad.

None of the following:
Illegal drug
use
Suggestive
dancing
Religious
ridicule
nudity
Venereal
diseases
childbirth
Profanity
Other Issues
No films that make audiences sympathize
with criminals
 Crime never pays (bad guys get bad ends)
 Murder and violent scenes must not be
shown to make it want to be imitated
 Murder and violent scenes cannot be
graphic, detail, or, in some cases, visible.

What? More issues?

Sanctity of marriage and the home will be
upheld
(Huh?)

Adultery and sex cannot be shown

Granted, these may be necessary to plot
 If
so, they are to be off camera and not
discussed.
 Directors did find ways around them.
Production Codes Tumble!
Golden Age of Hollywood goes
Ah-buh-bye!
 What happened to Hollywood?
 TV! Fie and a pox on that squawk box!
 Hollywood needed sex and violence to
sell tickets

There was none of that on TV!
Hays Code and the administrators needed to
change
 Films
were changing, becoming racier despite
tougher regulations in 1951
I don’t like these
here new dang Ticket sales were plummeting
fidnagled movies
 MGM released Blow Up even though it was
rejected. (Oh well. So much for the fun!)
1968, Rating system was then formed by
the Motion Picture Association of America.
 No
restrictions on what was filmed
 No crazy stuff quite yet—slow to change.
The Crime Film.
The original Gangstaz

1920’s—a wild time with lots of colorful figures


Many came straight out of history: Capone, Bonnie
and Clyde, Dillinger.
1930’s—Great Depression.
A time of unrest and turmoil
 Allowed viewers to do what
they could never do


Early gangster films helped give
birth to Hays Code



Violent! Violent! They were violent!
And un-American!
Once production codes came
along, gangester films need to
become more American
Crime film is American: hard
work brings power, wealth and
fame.

Bad guys die
dishonorably:
Gunned down in streets
 Die in the gutter
 Lovers die together but
cannot touch each other
 Falling from a height
(literal and figurative fall)
 Die a coward, begging
and pleading

James Cagney in Angels
with Dirty Faces (Curtiz,
1938)
Some symbols to watch for:


Guns: used as a sense of power and
prestige, also a charm to remain invinsible
Clothing: shows growth, from floppy hats
and rags, to pin stripe suits and fedoras.
Images from
Public Enemy
(Wellman, 1931)