Why films about Chicago are almost always crime stories
Spike Lee's upcoming tale about a black Chicago neighbourhood adds another violent chapter to the story of the Windy City
As the camera pans over the Chicago skyline in the opening frames of the 1953 noir City That Never Sleeps, a voice-over contemplates the nuances of "this giant, sprawling, sordid and beautiful, poor and magnificent city".
All these decades later, that description still rings true. The story follows a jaded beat cop who wants out of both the job and his marriage, with an eye on sexier doings with the stripper he keeps on the side. She's called Angel Face. Of course.
"When I first came to this town," she says, "I was gonna be ... oh, there were a lot of things I was gonna do. Become famous. But Chicago's the big melting pot, and I got melted but good."
Felonious doings in the Windy City have long been a Hollywood obsession, and plans are under way now for filmmaker Spike Lee's next project. Chiraq - which may be a permanent title, or just a place holder? - is to begin filming in Chicago this summer. Little else has been revealed. For now, we know this much: it will focus on black-on-black crime in the Englewood neighbourhood.
It is the latest entry in a tradition of movies about a violent Chicago. There is a marked consistency to entries in this cinematic history, nearly all of which are gangster stories that are directly about (or adjacent to) the era of Al Capone.