Written by James M. Tate / 7/12/2012 / No comments / biopic , gangster , harvey keitel , nineties , warren beatty
WARREN BEATTY IS BUGSY
![]() |
year: 1991 cast: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould rating: ***1/2 |
At least for the first half – the better part of an entertaining gangster biopic directed by Barry Levinson with lavish production, taking us back to the 1940’s when Siegel traveled from New York to Hollywood. The best scenes have Bugsy (but never call him that) taking over tinsel town with bullheaded gusto, buying a mansion and car like shopping at a yard sale – and then meeting actress Virginia Hill who soon becomes his moll, then Achilles’ heel.
The future Mrs. Beatty does a good job as the temperamental moll, but scenes where Bugsy thinks she’s sleeping (or has slept) with every man around borrows too heavily from RAGING BULL and gets in the way of the real story: Siegel’s vision of a giant casino in the middle of the Nevada desert, in a town called Las Vegas, as he spends too much mafia money on a gamble that might not work. Beatty plays the role with delightful energy yet he’s surprisingly formidable too... especially when dealing with people that owe. It's a shame the searing romantic melodrama gets in the way of the rough stuff.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
All Time Popular
-
Robyn Hilton enters into an eclectic exploitation comedy career in Wonder Women circa 1973 As mentioned a few posts ago, ROBYN HILTON, b...
-
year: 1978 cast: Allen Garfield, Leif Garrett, Kathleen Lloyd, Tony Alva, Pam Kenneally rating: ***1/2 Although promoted as a Leif Garr...
-
Kari Michaelsen in Saturday the 14th year: 1982 In LOVE AT FIRST BITE, a popular comedy that took the vampire genre by satire, Richard ...
-
Mary-Louise Weller in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE ANIMAL HOUSE, directed by John Landis and produced by Ivan Reitman, stars John Be...
-
Robyn Hilton on STARSKY AND HUTCH Model/Actress ROBYN HILTON played Mel Brook's secretary in BLAZING SADDLES and turns up in an epis...
-
Cornelia Sharpe in BUSTING Year: 1974 Rating: **** Starring Elliott Gould and Robert Blake as determined vice cops BUSTING hookers, makin...
-
Kerri Green and John Candy in SUMMER RENTAL Year: 1985 John Candy, in his first leading role, plays a burnt-out air traffic controller ...
-
WILLIAM SMITH AS FALCONETTI ON RICH MAN POOR MAN The baddest of all TV bad guys… Matt Dillon’s character in BEAUTIFUL GIRLS calls Antho...
-
Robyn Hilton in Video Vixens the same year as Blazing Saddles: 1974 The Anthology of Comedic Parodies, already done in several Woody All...
-
Susan Dey in Skyjacked YEAR: 1972 Some of the best elements of hijacking, plane crashing, ship sinking, building burning or any other di...
Featured Post
CHARLES BRONSON & ROBERT DUVALL BAND APART FOR 'BREAKOUT'
Charles Bronson in BREAKOUT Year: 1975 Rates: ***1/2 The violent prologue of the 1975 Tom Gries jailbreak flick is so Sam Peckinpah you cou...

No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.