A true British gangster film is “the krays” which is based on gangster life in London in the sixties. This film is a representation on two of Britain’s most notorious gangsters “Ronald Kray” and “ Reginald Kray”. The film taken from the sixties era shows how different gangsters are represented from then to modern day gangsters. The Kray twins are stereotyped as having two sides to them, one side showing their love for family life for example their care for their mother and each other, and their “gangster” image which we see through their crimes, brutal killings and fighting. The film represents gangsters as serious and well-spoken professionals but also shows their brutal side, this is why I would class this film as a straight up British gangster film.

The “Krays” is very different to modern day gangster films such as Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, stock, and two smoking barrels” where it tries to stereotype British gangst

An example of this is the guns they use in one scene – the gangsters are about to commit a robbery of drugs and money and they are prepared with the common gangster artillery of handguns and shotguns, an then you have the stereotyped “big dopey” gangster that pulls out a massive “Brenn gun” which is about twice the size of a machine gun, he uses this in a small robbery which is obviously used to make the film have a comedy edge to it.

Storylines in gangster films has changed, as gangster films are now unrealistic and everything is very obviously quincidental for example in lock stock the group of young men (main characters) live next door to gangsters, this is were they get their idea to regain there money and pay off their debts, and the fact that all of the gangsters end up dead in one house.

The pyrotechnic camera work used makes it into more of a blockbuster film, this results in the film losing its gangster serious image and opens the film up to a wider audience. Director “Guy Ritchie” was a music video and commercials director before this debut film and it shows in “lock, stock” as Ritchie uses every camera trick in the book from the use of slo-mo to documentary-style cinematography to odd camera angles.

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