"I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me…"
As Jack Nicholson's deep voiceover began, "The Deceased" started to play, and the silver screen was filled with a montage of historical footage, depicting fights between Irish gangs and the Italian mafia on the streets of New York, a turbulent and violent black era. The 1960s were highlighted with a grim, gray atmosphere that hit the audience with full force.
The pacing at the beginning seemed deliberate and measured. With the dialogues of the Irish gang leader Frank, the scenes changed, now focusing on Frank's villainous life, but more often on the separate childhoods of the youngsters Billy and Colin, and then their adolescence.
