Monday, November 20, 2017

Al Capone (1959)

Director: Richard Wilson

Writers: Malvin Wald, Henry F. Greenberg

Composer: David Raksin

Starring: Rod Steiger, Fay Spain, James Gregory, Martin Balsam, Nehemiah Persoff, Murvyn Vye, Robert Gist, Lewis Charles, Joe De Santis, Sandy Kenyon

More info: IMDb

Tagline: His True Shocking Story...Filmed with Bullet Force!

Plot: This factual biography of gang lord Al Capone follows his rise and fall in Chicago gangdom during the Prohibition era.



My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably.

If you're looking for lots of action and excitement in your Capone movies then keep looking.  There is some of both but it's doled out in tiny bits at a time.  The reason you watch this is for Steiger's powerful performance.  This role gives him a lot of room to yell and rage and he does it well.  He's an intense actor playing an equally intense real life gangster.  The picture is leisurely paced and I'm OK with that.  It's not so slow that it drags or I lost interest.  I think this is the second time I've seen it and I'd forgotten everything about it except for what Steiger brought.  I'm sure that'll happen the next time I plop this in.  If I do, it's because I'll want to be yelled at for 110 minutes, and it'll probably be on a Sunday...about tea time.








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