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US Mall 1 - Al Capone
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $52.00
Your Save: $ ( % )
Availability:
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Starring: Rod Steiger, Martin Balsam, Fay Spain, James Gregory, Nehemiah Persoff
Directed By: Richard Wilson
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301967969
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6301967968
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 1993-05-05
Running Time: 104
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 1959-03-25
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Vintage Chicago
Comment: In this movie, Rod Steiger creates the definitive Al Capone. All other movie Capones pale in comparison. Steiger and Capone were made for each other. Both realize their essential natures in each other.
Steiger may not have captured the outward fact of Chicago's most notorious gangster. I have read complaints by Capone's relatives who said Capone was in reality soft-spoken and mild-mannered, not the coarse sawed-off-shotgun of a man that Steiger portrays. That may be true. My father knew Al Capone, and always amused my mother and me when he remembered him as being simply "amiable." But if Steiger doesn't capture the literal tone of the gangster, he captures his spirit - and more than that, he captures the spirit of the Roaring Twenties. He's loud, vulgar, violent, but always somehow poised on the edge of wanting to be something more, something better. So when he miserably fails and slips back into mere brutality, it is all the more tragic and compelling.
This is a riveting recreation that gets a lot of the broad historical succession of gangster takeovers correct - from Big Jim Colosimo to Johnny Torrio to Al Capone. What it fictionalizes, it fictionalizes to good effect. This movie will leave a lasting impression on you. It will make you once again see Capone as iconic Chicago, the way he used to be.
Forget about [...]. Chicago is a distinctively pudgy man walking cockily off down Michigan Avenue, his panama hat at a rakish angle.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Setting the Mold for the Untouchables.
Comment: Reviewer disclaimer: This review is done ONLY for "Al Capone" starred by Rod Steiger and NOT for the documentary about Al Capone.
This film, arguably, set the mold for the famous TV series The Untouchables, it was released only six months before the series was launched so the connection is obvious.
Rod Steiger stages Al Capone brilliantly; he gives the character an incredible ruthlessness, without overacting his part.
The film is presented almost as a documentary one. An impeccable black & white photography creates a very special climate. The epoch reconstruction is great and accurate, the cars, the clothing, the machine guns, every detail is taken into account.
The cast is very compact with Martin Balsam as Mac Keeley, a corrupt reporter; Nehemiah Persoff as Johnny Torrio, the gang leader immediately preceding Al Capone, and Robert Gist as the Irish ring leader Dion O'Banion in high performances.
The story line follows the rise of Capone from his start as an ordinary "gang soldier" thru Torrio's "partner" to Chicago's Big Boss and then to his sudden decline and imprisonment.
The movie shows all the backstage of political corruption and different gangs competing to take control of one of the biggest cities of USA. There are some very violent scenes (for the time the movie was released) as The Saint Valentine's Massacre and other showdowns among the gangsters.
Director Richard Wilson tells the story masterfully, giving a very crisp tempo to all the film, specially the action sequences.
The time elapsed since the release of the movie (1959) does not affect the product in any way.
It is a very commendable film for lovers of the genre and general public.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Vintage Chicago
Comment: In this movie, Rod Steiger creates the definitive Al Capone. All other movie Capones pale in comparison. Steiger and Capone were made for each other. Both realize their essential natures in each other.
Steiger may not have captured the outward fact of Chicago's most notorious gangster. I have read complaints by Capone's relatives who said Capone was in reality soft-spoken and mild-mannered, not the coarse sawed-off-shotgun of a man that Steiger portrays. That may be true. My father knew Al Capone, and always amused my mother and me when he remembered him as being simply "amiable." But if Steiger doesn't capture the literal tone of the gangster, he captures his spirit - and more than that, he captures the spirit of the Roaring Twenties. He's loud, vulgar, violent, but always somehow poised on the edge of wanting to be something more, something better. So when he miserably fails and slips back into mere brutality, it is all the more tragic and compelling.
This is a riveting recreation that gets a lot of the broad historical succession of gangster takeovers correct - from Big Jim Colosimo to Johnny Torrio to Al Capone. What it fictionalizes, it fictionalizes to good effect. This movie will leave a lasting impression on you. It will make you once again see Capone as iconic Chicago, the way he used to be.
Forget about [...]. Chicago is a distinctively pudgy man walking cockily off down Michigan Avenue, his panama hat at a rakish angle.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Setting the Mold for the Untouchables.
Comment: Reviewer disclaimer: This review is done ONLY for "Al Capone" starred by Rod Steiger and NOT for the documentary about Al Capone.
This film, arguably, set the mold for the famous TV series The Untouchables, it was released only six months before the series was launched so the connection is obvious.
Rod Steiger stages Al Capone brilliantly; he gives the character an incredible ruthlessness, without overacting his part.
The film is presented almost as a documentary one. An impeccable black & white photography creates a very special climate. The epoch reconstruction is great and accurate, the cars, the clothing, the machine guns, every detail is taken into account.
The cast is very compact with Martin Balsam as Mac Keeley, a corrupt reporter; Nehemiah Persoff as Johnny Torrio, the gang leader immediately preceding Al Capone, and Robert Gist as the Irish ring leader Dion O'Banion in high performances.
The story line follows the rise of Capone from his start as an ordinary "gang soldier" thru Torrio's "partner" to Chicago's Big Boss and then to his sudden decline and imprisonment.
The movie shows all the backstage of political corruption and different gangs competing to take control of one of the biggest cities of USA. There are some very violent scenes (for the time the movie was released) as The Saint Valentine's Massacre and other showdowns among the gangsters.
Director Richard Wilson tells the story masterfully, giving a very crisp tempo to all the film, specially the action sequences.
The time elapsed since the release of the movie (1959) does not affect the product in any way.
It is a very commendable film for lovers of the genre and general public.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
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