Underbelly est une série australienne diffusée depuis février 2008 sur Nine Network.
La série, composée initialement de 13 épisodes, est basée sur le livre Leadbelly: Inside Australia’s Underworld qui donne un aperçu du monde criminel de Melbourne.
Underbelly raconte donc l’histoire de la guerre des gangs de factions rivales de Melbourne, basée sur des faits réels qui ont eu lieu entre 1995 et 2004, et qui a donné lieu à une série de meurtres.
1929: Wall Street crash. Prohibition is an attempt to decrease the revenue of alcohol.
1933: election of Franklin Roosevelt, who sets up the New Deal.
1934: Repeal of the Prohibition. Roosevelt had realized the importance of the ethnic vote, and especially the Catholic vote.
Creation of the Work Progress Administration (W.P.A.): the state provides the jobs. The Organized Crime became less of a necessity.
The vision of the gangster also evolved in the movies: he is now presented as a thing of the past.
When R. Sullivan gets out of prison after the repeal of the Prohibition, he does not fit in anymore: he is out of touch. The idea is that once you have been into illegal activities you can take the money and go into legal activities (some Jewish businessmen are grandchildren of earlier Organized Crime gangsters).
Gangsterism is doomed to vanish but the gangsters have not disappeared, they are still killed by other gangsters.
To go legit: to go legitimate. Gangland reconversion: gangsters could change by investing illegal money into illegal businesses.
The Organized Crime went more and more into legal activities. The State creates its counterpower: the lottery, which is legal in certain states.
Las Vegas was created by the Mafia (Bugsy Siegel). He opened the first casino, the Stardust; which was controlled by the Mafia and connected between legal and illegal activities.
Siegel was also interested in Hollywood but there was no very known widespread involvement of Organized Crime in the movie industry, except for the Browne-Bioff episode.
The Browne-Bioff episode started in Chicago: Willy Bioff was a Chicago racketeer in partnership with George Browne, a local official for a trade union (I.A.T.S.E.: International Association of Theatrical and Stage Employees).
The association had a campaign of extortion from the theatre director to avoid strikes and loss of money.
This campaign extended nationwide and touched Hollywood (RKO and Fox gave money in exchange for peace on the labour front). In 1941, all came to the surface.
Joseph M. Schenk, president of Fox, got arrested by the police and in exchange for a lighter sentence, he denounced the Browne-Bioff plan.
The structure of Organized Crime did not change except that it sometimes worked with the American government.
The Americans feared German submarines to attack the coast so Organized Crime ensured the waterfront workers’ liability to the government.
1951: the Kefauver Commission was set up to investigate crime and McCarthy was against the communists. Both are often associated. The Kefauver Commission was headed by Senator Kefauver (for Tennessee).
In 1950, he became chairman of the Senate Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce. The committee studied:
1967-1968: Omnibus Crime Bill, allowing for wire topping. Organized Crime is a reflection of American society. It places the Kefauver Commission in the Cold War atmosphere.
You cannot rely on newspaper articles. Recently, it featured the confessions of repenting organized crime members, i.e. the distorted truth for their interests. The police distorted the figures to get credit and money from the Federal Government.
Organized crime was considered a kind of un-American activity. Since more gangsters were ethnic (Jews, Russians, etc), calling them “un-American” was a way of dismissing American roots.
In Scarface, the motto “the world is yours” highlights the ironic vision between the American Dream and the gangsters.
The structure of organized crime is that of a bureaucratic and corporate model. It looks like a company organic line, with a complex hierarchy and a division of labour.
Responsibilities are carried out in an impersonal manner and the function is more important than the person.
Organized crime is a mirror of monopoly capitalism and from earlier gangster movies, it is considered as a business.
In Asphalt Jungle, “crime is just a left-handed form of human endeavour”.
The difference between organized crime and any corporation is that you cannot use written support: it relies on secrecy and personal networks.
Les frères Donnelly, au nombre de 4, sont prêts à tout pour se protéger les uns les autres, même à mentir, tricher, voler ou tuer. Par ordre d’importance, nous avons Tommy (Jonathan Tucker), Jimmy (Tom Guiry), Kevin (Billy Lush) et Sean (Michael Stahl-David).
L’histoire est racontée par une tierce personne, l’aspirant gangster Joey “Ice Cream” (Keith Nobbs), au moment même où les Donnelly s’apprêtent à faire leurs premiers pas dans le crime organisé.
Je viens de regarder Casino Royale et je le considère assurément comme l’un des meilleurs James Bond sortis depuis ces 10 dernières années. Haut la main.
Daniel Craig fait un bien meilleur 007 que Pierce Brosnan et l’action dans le film est bien plus réaliste que dans les précédents opus : finis les sauts en hélicoptère avec réception sur des skis en pleine descente – totalement burlesque ! -, l’action est ici plus réduite et le personnage de James semble gagner en profondeur.
Le nouveau James est un peu beaucoup plus sadique, voire même carrément masochiste et à la fois plus proche de quelqu’un de normal – sachant tout de même que dans tout James Bond la normalité est une valeur somme toute très relative.
Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) : Now you will receive us !
Murphy (Norman Reedus) : We do not ask for your poor, or your hungry.
Connor : We do not want your tired and sick.
Murphy : It is your corrupt we claim.
Connor : It is your evil that will be sought by us.
Murphy : With every breath, we shall hunt them down.
Connor : Each day we will spill their blood, ’til it rains down from the skies !
Murphy : Do not kill. Do not rape. Do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace.
Connor : These are not polite suggestions, these are codes of behaviour, and those of you that ignore them will pay the dearest cost.
Murphy : There are varying degrees of evil. We urge you lesser forms of filth, not to push the bounds and cross over, into true corruption, into our domain.
Connor : For if you do, one day you will look behind you and you will see we three, and on that day you will reap it !
Murphy : And we will send you to whatever god you wish.
Connor, Murphy, Il Duce (Billy Connolly) : And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be.
Il Duce : In nomine patris…
Connor : … et filii…
[All cock their guns]
Murphy : … et spiritus sancti.
[Gunshots]
– From The Boondock Saints
Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer): I wanna go home!
Jules (Samuel L. Jackson): Just hang in there, baby, you’re doing’ great, I’m proud of you and Ringo’s proud of you! It’s almost over. Tell her you’re proud!
Pumpkin (Tim Roth): I’m proud of you Honey Bunny.
Honey Bunny: I love you!
Pumpkin: I love you too Honey Bunny.
Jules : (to Pumpkin) Now. I want you to go in that bag and find my wallet.
Pumpkin: Which one is it?
Jules: It’s the one that says Bad Motherfucker.
(Pumpkin seeks in the bag)
Jules: That’s it! That’s my bad motherfucker. Open it up and take out the money.
(Pumpkin opens the wallet, and takes the cash)
Jules: Count it!
(Pumpkin counts)
Jules: How much is there?
(Pumpkin counts again)
Pumpkin: About fifteen hundred dollars.
Jules: Okay, put it in your pocket, it’s yours. Now with the rest of those wallets and the register, that makes this a pretty successful little score eh?
– From Pulp Fiction
Shooter: [busting the door, emptying his gun] Die you motherfuckers !!!
[Gun clicks, no ammo left]
[Pause]
[Jules and Vincent look at each other then reply with their guns]
Vincent (John Travolta): [to Marvin] Why the fuck didn’t you tell us somebody was in the bathroom? Slipped your mind? Did you forget that somebody was in there with a goddamn hand cannon?
Jules (Samuel L. Jackson): Did you see the size of that gun right in front of us? It was bigger than him!
[Pauses]
We should be fucking dead man!
Vincent: I know, we was lucky.
Jules: No no no no… that just wasn’t luck.
Vincent: Yeah maybe.
Jules: This was divine intervention. You know what “divine intervention” is?
Vincent: I think so. That means that God came down from Heaven and stopped the bullets?
Jules: That’s right! That’s exactly what it means. God came down from Heaven and stopped these motherfucking bullets.
Vincent: I think it’s time for us to leave Jules.
Jules: Don’t do that! Don’t fucking blow this shit up! What just happened here was a fucking miracle!
Vincent: Chill Jules, this shit happens.
Jules: Wrong! Wrong, this shit doesn’t just happen.
Vincent: Do you want to continue this theological discussion in the car or in a jailhouse with the cops?
Jules: We should be fucking dead my friend! What happened here was a miracle and I want you to fucking acknowledge it!
Vincent: Alright, it was a miracle. Can we go now?
– From Pulp Fiction
J’ai donné hier mes premiers cours au lycée et je suis très content de la manière dont cela se passe. Les élèves sont assez motivés et n’hésitent pas à participer et faire avancer le cours. Au niveau de la discipline, c’est vraiment le top : dès que le professeur prend la parole, le silence s’installe et tout le monde suit. Impressionnant. En fait, ce devrait être comme cela tout le temps, c’est juste que les élèves que j’ai en collège ne sont pas éduqués. J’ai donc eu le plaisir de donner plusieurs fois le même cours dans l’après-midi, chose qui m’arrivait pour la première fois. Je devais donner deux heures à des Terminales S mais ma tutrice m’a demandé si je voulais prendre aussi les BTS Commerce International. Pourquoi pas ! Le thème de la séance portait sur les gangsters aux Etats-Unis : extraits vidéo de Carlito’s Way (Rise to Power) et feuille de compréhension orale. Piece of cake. Cela m’a permis d’expérimenter avec le vidéo-projecteur et de faire cours avec juste une feuille, sans cassette audio ni book et workbook. Et je dois dire que c’est bien agréable. On se concentre plus sur ce qui est dit, les élèves prennent le cours en note au fur et à mesure. Vraiment le pied.
Tiens, vous saviez qu’il y avait grève jeudi ? Quasiment tous les professeurs du collège étaient là. Les seuls absents étaient mes élèves de quatrième : 12 absents sur 27 – beau score… Et devinez quoi : il sont tous revenus le lendemain avec un mot signé des parents comme quoi ils étaient malades. Mais bien sûr…12 élèves tombent malades le même jour et reviennent le jour suivant en pleine forme. Et la marmotte…