Evoking this classic era is why using “Gimme Shelter” was such a perfect choice. Scorsese doesn’t give whole a lot of specific times or dates, but it’s evident that he’s referring to the 1960s due to the references to the Boston race riots and period of political upheaval.
As with many of his best films, Scorsese opens with a voiceover piece of narration that introduces the stakes, setting, and pivotal themes of the story Jack Nicholson’s Frank Costello (a character loosely based upon the real criminal Whitie Bulger) discusses the violent conflicts between various ethnic, religious, and political groups within Boston ever since Costello first rose to the top of the city’s criminal underbelly.
