"The classy gangster is a Hollywood invention." - Orson Welles
The 1990s saw the resurgence of the gangster genre ("King of New York", "Bugsy", "Godfather 3", "Miller's Crossing", "Billy Bathgate", "Goodfellas", "Casino", "Dick Tracy", "Heat", "Donnie Brasco", "A Bronx Tale", "State of Grace", "Kansas City" etc). Most of these told fairly familiar tales, with the exception, arguably, of the down-beat "Donnie Brasco" and the off-beat "Kansas City". The 1990s also saw a number of gangster films centering on African-American crime lords ("New Jack City", "Menace to Society", "Dead Presidents" etc), the best of these being "Clockers" and "Boyz n the Hood".
Released at the forefront of this cycle was Barry Levinson's "Bugsy". Based on a screenplay by James Toback, the film tells the story of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (Warren Beatty), the infamous American gangster.
The plot? It is 1941, and Bugsy has left Brooklyn for Southern California. Assisted by childhood pal George Raft (Joe Mantegna) and local mobster Mickey Cohen (Harvey Keitel), Bugsy sets about expanding his criminal empire. Along the way he meets Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), a Hollywood extra. She's proud, feisty, different, a cocktail which sets Bugsy's heart alight. They fall in love.
Warren Beatty specialised in playing doomed romantics ("Splendour in the Grass", "Bonnie and Clyde", "Shampoo", "Reds", "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" etc). In "Bugsy" he plays a guy caught between the barbarism of the gangster, and his own private idealisations. Bugsy dreams of a happy family, of an acting career, of Hollywood stardom, of legitimate business credentials, of assassinating Mussolini, of a life with Virginia, of being a "hero", all fanciful desires which are thwarted by the realities of being a crime lord. This tug-of-war plays out on the local newspapers, in which journalists refer to Siegel - much to his chagrin - by his gangland nickname "Bugsy" rather than "Benjamin", his proper name.
The world necessitates Bugsy be a monster, not a dreamer, but these are monstrous necessities which Bugsy quickly loses interest in. "Bugsy doesn't care about money," a fellow crime boss ( Ben Kingsley) says, as Bugsy embarks upon his dream to build a grand hotel in the empty deserts of Las Vegas. Siegel's Flamingo Hotel is originally budgeted at a million dollars, but because of his fanaticism it winds up costing investors six times as much. Unsurprisingly, Bugsy's shot and killed by his business partners. Years later his hotel not only blossoms into a multi-billion dollar industry, but becomes the seed from which the entire gambling city of Las Vegas springs. What other obscenities, the film asks, do neon lights mask?
Like most gangster films, "Bugsy" simultaneously romanticises and condemns its central character. Bugsy's nasty, unpleasant, but also likable, doomed, caught in a tragedy from which there is no escape. The film's tone itself veers wildly from farcical comedy to the macabre.
How to balance a "normal family life" with "the life of a criminal" is a trite theme common in gangster films ("Godfather", "Goodfellas", "Scarface", "Heat", "Public Enemies" etc). Your typical gangster just can't stop killing cops and bad guys long enough to settle down and please his woman. This is the double helix of the genre: the gangster's obsessed with cash, but never has time for enjoyment. It's a stance mocked in Robert Altman's subversive "Thieves Like Us". For Altman, there's little meaningful distinction between the desires of the criminal and the civilian, and even less distinction between crime, politics and "legal" business.
But Barry Levinson is no iconoclast. His Bugsy is yet another gangster constantly hounded by unhappy women, all of whom want his time. What's new in "Bugsy" is that EVERYONE wants a piece of Bugsy. Everyone wants Bugsy to operate on their terms. But Bugsy, a dreamer who refuses to abide, remains steadfast in his convictions. In a moment of Herzogian madness ("I will get that boat over that mountain!"), Bugsy insists that he will build that damn hotel. Nothing will stop him!
Unlike most gangster films of the 1990s, "Bugsy" eschews postmodern tricks for an austere, classical style reminiscent of Coppola's "prestigeous" gangster pictures. Though the film indulges in many genre clichés, it handles each in a slightly fresh manner. The film benefits from several fine bit parts (Keitel and Elliot Gould in particular), but mostly it's Warren Beatty who holds things together. Beatty plays Bugsy as a big child, and because he's a bit of a wide-eyed loser (shades of Al Pacino's in "Donnie Brasco"), his Bugsy's all the more endearing. Like most Hollywood "biographies", the film has very little to do with the "real" Benjamin Siegel. It was scored by Ennio Morricone, whose voluptuous soundtrack doesn't quite suit either Levinson's aesthetic or Toback's prose.
7.9/10 – See "Mccabe and Mrs Miller".
The 1990s saw the resurgence of the gangster genre ("King of New York", "Bugsy", "Godfather 3", "Miller's Crossing", "Billy Bathgate", "Goodfellas", "Casino", "Dick Tracy", "Heat", "Donnie Brasco", "A Bronx Tale", "State of Grace", "Kansas City" etc). Most of these told fairly familiar tales, with the exception, arguably, of the down-beat "Donnie Brasco" and the off-beat "Kansas City". The 1990s also saw a number of gangster films centering on African-American crime lords ("New Jack City", "Menace to Society", "Dead Presidents" etc), the best of these being "Clockers" and "Boyz n the Hood".
Released at the forefront of this cycle was Barry Levinson's "Bugsy". Based on a screenplay by James Toback, the film tells the story of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (Warren Beatty), the infamous American gangster.
The plot? It is 1941, and Bugsy has left Brooklyn for Southern California. Assisted by childhood pal George Raft (Joe Mantegna) and local mobster Mickey Cohen (Harvey Keitel), Bugsy sets about expanding his criminal empire. Along the way he meets Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), a Hollywood extra. She's proud, feisty, different, a cocktail which sets Bugsy's heart alight. They fall in love.
Warren Beatty specialised in playing doomed romantics ("Splendour in the Grass", "Bonnie and Clyde", "Shampoo", "Reds", "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" etc). In "Bugsy" he plays a guy caught between the barbarism of the gangster, and his own private idealisations. Bugsy dreams of a happy family, of an acting career, of Hollywood stardom, of legitimate business credentials, of assassinating Mussolini, of a life with Virginia, of being a "hero", all fanciful desires which are thwarted by the realities of being a crime lord. This tug-of-war plays out on the local newspapers, in which journalists refer to Siegel - much to his chagrin - by his gangland nickname "Bugsy" rather than "Benjamin", his proper name.
The world necessitates Bugsy be a monster, not a dreamer, but these are monstrous necessities which Bugsy quickly loses interest in. "Bugsy doesn't care about money," a fellow crime boss ( Ben Kingsley) says, as Bugsy embarks upon his dream to build a grand hotel in the empty deserts of Las Vegas. Siegel's Flamingo Hotel is originally budgeted at a million dollars, but because of his fanaticism it winds up costing investors six times as much. Unsurprisingly, Bugsy's shot and killed by his business partners. Years later his hotel not only blossoms into a multi-billion dollar industry, but becomes the seed from which the entire gambling city of Las Vegas springs. What other obscenities, the film asks, do neon lights mask?
Like most gangster films, "Bugsy" simultaneously romanticises and condemns its central character. Bugsy's nasty, unpleasant, but also likable, doomed, caught in a tragedy from which there is no escape. The film's tone itself veers wildly from farcical comedy to the macabre.
How to balance a "normal family life" with "the life of a criminal" is a trite theme common in gangster films ("Godfather", "Goodfellas", "Scarface", "Heat", "Public Enemies" etc). Your typical gangster just can't stop killing cops and bad guys long enough to settle down and please his woman. This is the double helix of the genre: the gangster's obsessed with cash, but never has time for enjoyment. It's a stance mocked in Robert Altman's subversive "Thieves Like Us". For Altman, there's little meaningful distinction between the desires of the criminal and the civilian, and even less distinction between crime, politics and "legal" business.
But Barry Levinson is no iconoclast. His Bugsy is yet another gangster constantly hounded by unhappy women, all of whom want his time. What's new in "Bugsy" is that EVERYONE wants a piece of Bugsy. Everyone wants Bugsy to operate on their terms. But Bugsy, a dreamer who refuses to abide, remains steadfast in his convictions. In a moment of Herzogian madness ("I will get that boat over that mountain!"), Bugsy insists that he will build that damn hotel. Nothing will stop him!
Unlike most gangster films of the 1990s, "Bugsy" eschews postmodern tricks for an austere, classical style reminiscent of Coppola's "prestigeous" gangster pictures. Though the film indulges in many genre clichés, it handles each in a slightly fresh manner. The film benefits from several fine bit parts (Keitel and Elliot Gould in particular), but mostly it's Warren Beatty who holds things together. Beatty plays Bugsy as a big child, and because he's a bit of a wide-eyed loser (shades of Al Pacino's in "Donnie Brasco"), his Bugsy's all the more endearing. Like most Hollywood "biographies", the film has very little to do with the "real" Benjamin Siegel. It was scored by Ennio Morricone, whose voluptuous soundtrack doesn't quite suit either Levinson's aesthetic or Toback's prose.
7.9/10 – See "Mccabe and Mrs Miller".