The Musketeer's of Pig Alley was written and directed by DW Griffith and is generally credited as the first "gangster" movie. Shot on location in the streets of New York, it is reputed to have used actual gang members as extra's in the shoot. The major gangs of the time were the Five Points Gang and Monk Eastman's crew who both supposedly had a hand in the film. If you ever get a chance to see it, you should just to see what New York really looked like back then. It is very interesting.Thursday, January 8, 2009
The first gangster film.
The Musketeer's of Pig Alley was written and directed by DW Griffith and is generally credited as the first "gangster" movie. Shot on location in the streets of New York, it is reputed to have used actual gang members as extra's in the shoot. The major gangs of the time were the Five Points Gang and Monk Eastman's crew who both supposedly had a hand in the film. If you ever get a chance to see it, you should just to see what New York really looked like back then. It is very interesting.
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8 comments:
Cobblestones. I can still remember how shocked I was when cobblestoned Jamaica Avenue in East New York was paved over, the avenue that ran past the apartment house I grew up in, 246 Jamaica Avenue. For a young kid any change in his environment is a shock. I grieved over that change. Cobblestones were everywhere in the earlier New York. Avenues, streets, alleys -- much more atmospheric.
Ricpic: Cobblestones are still everywhere in Europe.
Trooper: I will definitely look for this and watch it. N/A on Netflix.
I never saw "Gangs of New York"-- is that "authentic" early Manhattan?
Scorcese said he took a lot of the look of that film from The Musketeers of Pig Alley.
The Gangs of New York condensed and altered a lot of history but it was basicly correct in a lot of what it showed. The Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys lasted well into the twentieth century and the gangs integerated a lot more after the end of the Civil War. The No-nothing fights depicted in the film happened earlier but were a good compromise to give you a feel for the era.
Scorcese has also said that the Musketeers had influenced Good Fellas as well.
Hey, you think that's something? DW actually hung a few real mulattos in BoaN....
HOT DAMN!!!
A Tag!!
I promise not to let it go to my head!
I just found this short online (ain't the intertubes a wunderful thing) and watched the whole thing- about 17 minutes. Just google the film title & it comes up in Google Video.
Interesting flick; your right- it does hold up well.
It was made on the streets with the actual tough guys who lived there. One of the first times the movies had to pay off the criminals to shoot on location.
It is just a short jump from there to Tropic Thunder.
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