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Bugsy

This highly fictionalized account of Ben "Bugsy" Siegal's life looks and sounds great. I wish that films actually made in the 1940s looked this good. The ballroom scenes and the big bands are all perfect, the automobiles long and shiny. When Warren Beatty made a period piece, it usually looked very good, so this was not a surprise. So Beatty portrays Ben Siegal as a sociopathic gangster whose curse is that he is a dreamer who is careless with money. He somewhat dreams of being in pictures and enjoys the glamor of Hollywood, but ultimately dooms himself when he falls in love with an idea - building a casino in the middle of nowhere in Nevada, where prostitution and gambling are legal. He argues to his mob investors that they can be 100% legitimate. And if they decide to be less than 100% legitimate, he figures controlling the gambling interests in a state where it is legal and at that point - the 1940s - unexploited, he can eventually control the state. The other decision he makes that dooms himself is getting involved with Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), a kindred spirit in all the wrong ways. They fight violently, make up violently, and she ultimately gets grabby with the mob money that is the construction funds for the Flamingo. This was a very versatile role for Annette Bening as Hill, and is probably the best thing she ever did. She was slated to be Cat Woman in a film the following year, but she managed to do something much more remarkable - actually get Beatty to enter into matrimony - an institution he had skillfully avoided up to that point - in a union that yielded four children. And she also appears to be the model for the Columbia Lady with a Torch - although everybody denies it in spite of Beatty's heavy investment in Sony/Columbia. Other interesting performances - Ben Kingsley as the low key Meyer Lansky. In spite of being a Best Actor Oscar winner, that honor never really paid off for him in break-out roles. Elliott Gould as the hapless Harry Greenburg. Honestly, you rat on the mob and another member of the mob asks you to go for a ride and you say you love riding in the night air? The underrated Joe Mantagna as just "George". Since "George" was starring in the film "Manpower" that was shooting as Bugsy looks on, that had to be George Raft. Were they afraid the Raft estate would sue, and who exactly is the Raft estate since Raft never had any kids? Finally, not so much an interesting performance but an interesting vignette - Bugsy walks up to singer/actor Lawrence Tibbett's house and pays him sixty thousand in cash for it. Like so much of the movie, this never happened. But Tibbett's kids did object to the portrayal of their dad as a short elderly overweight wimpy guy. But somehow, the film makers were NOT afraid of the Tibbett estate! The one thing that annoyed me about this film - the score by Ennio Morricone. It never breaks out into any particular kind of mood, and it sounds enough like one of Morricone's other scores - the one for The Untouchables - that it sounds like if it were to take off it would sound exactly like that score.

A bid for "Godfather"-like immortality, "Bugsy" is an overly melodramatic mess that lurches from episode to episode featuring uncharacteristic overacting from both Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. One would hope a sensitive director would highlight the emotional hot spots from hopeless romantic James Toback's screenplay but Barry Levinson approaches this project with a dismaying literalness that makes certain sections utterly embarrassing (particularly the scenes focusing on Elliott Gould's half-wit, which seem directly lifted from Steinbeck). Without a sense of irony (something "The Godfather" had in spades), even the sets seem little more than phony representations of a bygone era.

I enjoyed watching this movie. Of course, I like all the actors - not the least of which are Beatty and Benning. Possible Spoilers: I have a few criticisms. 1) It was too long. It could definitely have been shorter and better. 2) I couldn't identify with why Benning's character went ballistic as often as she did. There was so little provocation when she did and yet, other times, there was so much more reason she should have, but she didn't. That was a glaring inconsistency. 3) I thought the lack of better "hands on" oversight by the mob was not believable. There is simply no way on earth a $1M investment would have ended up costing $6M without every penny being justified. The fact that she made off with $2M is beyond belief. Also, why on earth would they have let her live (if not before), then AFTER they took care of Beatty's character. They would have tortured her to get the money back. 4) How did Beatty get out of the murder wrap?? As I recall, one minute he is in jail with no bail and the next minute he is out prancing around. I may have missed something, but if I did it is the movie's fault because it was too nebulous. Despite those objections, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I think the main positive of the movie was that this was a true story about a flamboyant, charismatic, dreamer. And, not just any dreamer, but the person whose SINGLE, unilateral, dream eventually became one of the greatest American success stories of all time. He paid the ultimate price for his dream, but his dream ultimately came true - in fact to a much greater degree than he even imagined. Typical gangster movie in some ways - not up to the level of the Godfather or Goodfellas or others, but stylish and enjoyable to watch.

Winner of two Oscars (and nominated for many more), Bugsy is a tour DE force in the area of biography on film. It is the definitive film of it's genre for the 1990s and on.I love the biographical film genre for many reasons. First of all, they offer a glimpse of what life was for people we all know, and in many cases wish we could be. Secondly, most of the time you know the outcome of the story. The main character dies, makes millions, goes to jail etc. With out the pressure of guessing the ending, the viewer is free to concentrate on the film as a whole, and thus, enjoy it totally. Bugsy Seigel's world holds film appeal for two reasons. First, and most obvious, is that he was a gangster. Gangster movies have held the attention of the movie going public since the 1920s. Secondly,he was in Hollywood in the 1940's, possibly the most glamorous decade Tinseltown ever saw.Director Barry Levinson managed to take these two very different, yet very intoxicating styles and stories to create a heady blend that produced what may be the best biopic made. Levinson's and writer James Toback's genius was in the decision to forgo the usual hodgepodge of life events, in favor of making what is essentially a love story.The focus of the film is essentially the tempestuous love affair between Siegel and Virginia Hill, with the secondary plot being the creation of Vegas as we know it today from Benny's vision of the Flamingo.The best acting by far was by Benning. She was so into her character that if I had not known before hand who she was, I would never had known. Her sassy,passionate and jealous personality creates fireworks on the screen. It is easy to see that this is where Benning and Beatty met and fell in love. They have a chemistry that I have not seen equaled since Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were still making movies. Beatty's performance is stellar as well,he seems at ease in the personification of the first celebrity gangster, and is completely believable in his desperation near the end. All the supporting players, Keitel, Kingsley and Gould especially were amazing as the famous crime figures they portrayed. My one complaint on the casting side is Joe Montagna's George Raft. Why he is continually allowed to appear as and thus insult the memory of famous screen personalities is beyond me. (All though he is not nearly as horrible here as he was as Dean Martin in "The Rat Pack"). To compliment the intense fireworks both romantic and violent, a bright visual style is incorporated. The sleek look is total 1940's, and the cinematography is genius (notably the shot with Benny and Virginia's first kiss.) Everything meshes together beautifully to create a gem among films. This is a film about a man of extreme vision and passion, and it is a must to see if only to appreciate the beauty of a job well done.

My girlfriend wanted to see this (lol this is the case a lot)...so I rented it. Then I saw how acclaimed this was nominated for 10 Oscars. GREAT! this should be good ol' drama. This movie had a lot of potential...the direction and the way everything was paced was very well. But once the movie ended, I couldn't help but ask myself if this story was really worth making a film for. Virginia Hill (Annette Bening) was EXTREMELY annoying, I just couldn't tolerate her character at all. Warren Beatty was excellent in the film acting-wise, but again I just found it hard to have sympathy for his character....he just came off essentially as a idiotic, hotheaded loser of a gangster..who had no place in 'the life' in the first place. How'd he get in with the likes of Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano anyway??? This film just left me with a bland but uneasy feeling...what was the big deal with this movie? I just didn't feel a completeness with Bugsy. Beatty's antics, although acted quite well, just seemed too random and illogical. I'm guessing that's how Siegel really was....but it was just too much of that. There just didn't seem to be much of a real story here. My basic assessment of it would be "a hot-headed, playboy, underachieving gangster falls in love with a loser of a woman, comes up with the idea of 'Las Vegas'....but his failed attempt at the casino he builds, along with having no regard for his mob bosses' money gets him killed." What else is there besides that? I just didn't see the big deal with this, and it was a big disappointment. There must've not been many movies to come out in 1991, how this was nominated for 10 Oscars is beyond me (although the two it won is justifiable). 1.5/4 stars.

A tedious gangster film that leaves you wishing someone had edited it farce more ruthlessly. I would have thought that the story of the creation of Las Vegas would prove interesting but it fails at almost every turn. Warren Beatty's performance as the stupid and unlikeable Bugsy Seigel leaves you wishing you were watching someone else. Once or twice he flashes through the fog of his performance to deliver an interesting scene but most of the time you just can't care about him. Annette Benning gives a skilled turn as his untrustworthy lover but even she's only faintly more savoury than he is. I really wouldn't bother with this turgid drama unless you're a Benning devotee.