Crime drama in the context of "Narrative film"

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⭐ Core Definition: Crime drama

Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but also include comedy, and, in turn, is divided into many sub-genres, such as mystery, suspense, or noir.

Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identified crime film as one of eleven super-genres in his Screenwriters Taxonomy, claiming that all feature-length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres.  The other ten super-genres are action, fantasy, horror, romance, science fiction, slice of life, sports, thriller, war and western. Williams identifies drama in a broader category called "film type", mystery and suspense as "macro-genres", and film noir as a "screenwriter's pathway" explaining that these categories are additive rather than exclusionary. Chinatown would be an example of a film that is a drama (film type) crime film (super-genre) that is also a noir (pathway) mystery (macro-genre).

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Crime drama in the context of Crime fiction

Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, often a murder. Most crime drama focuses on criminal investigation and does not feature the courtroom. Suspense and mystery are key elements that are nearly ubiquitous to the genre.

It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as historical fiction and science fiction, but the boundaries are indistinct. Crime fiction has several subgenres, including detective fiction (such as the whodunit), courtroom drama, hard-boiled fiction, and legal thrillers.

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Crime drama in the context of Columbo

Columbo is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC from 1971 to 1978 as one of the rotating programs of The NBC Mystery Movie. Columbo then aired on ABC as a rotating program on The ABC Mystery Movie from 1989 to 1990, and on a less frequent basis from 1990 to 2003.

Columbo is a shrewd and exceptionally observant homicide detective whose trademarks include his rumpled beige raincoat, unassuming demeanor, cigar, battered Peugeot 403 car, love of chili, and unseen wife (whom he mentions frequently). He often leaves a room only to return with the catchphrase "Just one more thing" to ask a critical question.

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Crime drama in the context of Gangster No. 1

Gangster No. 1 is a 2000 British crime drama film directed by Paul McGuigan. It is based on the stage play Gangster No.1 written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto. The film stars Paul Bettany in the title role and features Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis and Saffron Burrows.

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Crime drama in the context of Todd Armstrong

Todd Armstrong (born John Harris Armstrong; July 25, 1937 – November 17, 1992) was an American actor who appeared in ten films and several television series. He is best known for playing the title role in the cult classic Jason and the Argonauts (1963), after which his career rapidly waned. He also starred in syndicated crime drama Manhunt.

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Crime drama in the context of Shoot the Piano Player

Shoot the Piano Player (French: Tirez sur le pianiste; UK title: Shoot the Pianist) is a 1960 French New Wave crime drama film directed by François Truffaut that stars Charles Aznavour as the titular pianist with Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger, and Michèle Mercier as the three women in his life. It is based on the novel Down There by David Goodis.

In the film, a professional pianist learns that he owes his entire career to his wife's affair with a talent agent. Following his wife's suicide, the widower starts using a pseudonym and finds work in a bar. When his brothers steal the loot of gangsters, the pianist and his new love interest are targeted for kidnapping.

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Crime drama in the context of Mean Streets

Mean Streets is a 1973 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, from a screenplay co-written with Mardik Martin. It stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro, along with David Proval, Amy Robinson, Richard Romanus, and Cesare Danova. Scorsese's third feature film, it centers on a group of troubled young men in New York's Little Italy, and centers on many themes the director would later revisit, including the Mafia, Italian-American identity, urban life, and Catholic guilt.

Produced independently and released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973, Mean Streets received positive reviews from critics and marked Scorsese's arrival as a major figure of the New Hollywood movement. Robert De Niro won the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle awards for Best Supporting Actor for his role as "Johnny Boy" Civello.

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Crime drama in the context of Top Boy

Top Boy is a British crime drama thriller television series created and written by Ronan Bennett. The series is set on the fictional Summerhouse estate in the London Borough of Hackney. It focuses on two drug dealers, Dushane (Ashley Walters) and Sully (Kane Robinson), along with others involved with drug dealing and gang violence in London.

There are 32 episodes across five series. The first two series, with 4 episodes each, were broadcast on Channel 4, with the first series airing over four consecutive nights from 31 October to 3 November 2011 and the second series airing from 20 August to 10 September 2013. Although storylines for a third series were proposed, the series was dropped by Channel 4 in 2014.

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Crime drama in the context of Columbo (character)

Lieutenant Frank Columbo is the main character in the American detective crime drama television series Columbo created by Richard Levinson and William Link. Columbo is a shrewd and exceptionally observant homicide detective who often disguises his aptitude with his inelegant, shambling manner; trademarks of his blue-collar ethos include his rumpled beige raincoat, cigar and relentless investigative approach.

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