‘Gangster’ style

The fast-and-loose Los Angeles of the late 1940s swam back into focus at Monday’s preem of Warner Bros.’ “Gangster Squad” at the Chinese.

“What I tried to do was write a Western because L.A. was still the Wild West,” mused screenwriter Will Beall at the afterparty at the Hollywood Roosevelt, redone as pic’s Slapsie Maxie’s. “We had originally planned to do the Park Place shootout scene right here at the hotel.”

Producer Kevin McCormick liked the Warner Bros. connection. “Los Angeles has always been a great source of crime stories,” he said. “And these were the kind of movies, the Cagney films, that kept the lights on at Warner Bros. during the 1930s.”