Bugsy

Benjamin Siegel.

Bugsy is directed by Barry Levinson and written by James Toback. It stars Warren Beatty, Annette Benning, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould and Joe Mantegna. Music is by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Allen Daviau. Film is a biography adaptation of Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, a notorious American mobster who rose to prominence in the 30s and 40s.

Barry Levinsons epic film didnt turn out to be the mobster film many had hoped for. There was great anticipation that this would be Levinsons Goodfellas. What ultimately came to pass was a film of epic scope and detail, alive not with violence and mobster edginess, but of romanticism, of visionary peccadilloes and of folly. This is both a blessing and a curse, for ...

I just reviewed Reds, a movie where they managed to make John Reed boring and now I am reviewing Bugsy... a movie where they manage to make Bugsy Siegel boring.

And honestly, like with Reds, Bugsy helped Luciano rise to power in what is one of the most interesting mafia stories in American history... which you really don't see here. In fact, it's hardly even mentioned.

But... after Bugsy did that he built Vegas, that has to be a cool story, right?

And... yeah, it is a pretty cool story, only they kind of ignore that and focus on a love story instead with the whole Vegas thing as a secondary plot.

So, you know, at least they made Bonnie and Clyde good.