Gringotec

(2013-05-19 07:30:49)

Almost nothing is accurate in this movie.

Psychopath? In his last years due to syphilis maybe, but even the movie'sfinal scene showing him in Florida surrounded by gangster friends(allegedlyincluding Frank Nitti, who had died some years earlier) rather than hisfamily was absurd. Why did the film ignore his wife, son, siblings, andbrother Ralph, who was the most important brother in the organization? Andwhat's with that broad Iris, with him through out the movie? Pure fiction.Even the killing of Jim Colosimo at his restaurant was baloney. FrankieYaledid it, though the lone witness recanted. One writer claims Capone hadn'tyet arrived in Chicago at that time. Johnny Torrio knew Capone from NewYork, saw potential, and brought him west, so even the movie's openingsceneof Capone's alley fight as a means of meeting Torrio was nonsense.Further,it was the George "Bugs" Malone gang that attacked Torrio in frontof his apartment building, not a Capone plan... and you can bet theTorrio'sdidn't have a sign in front of their house displaying their truename!I could go on and on here about substituting fancy for fact, eventsomitted,but space is limited. Capone's social skills were far above averageamonghispeers and the public. He always bargained first, not shot first, and hadgreat loyalty to his men and kept his end of agreements. Visit a bookstoreto get the true story instead of believing this absolutely ridiculousflick.BTW, Capone never exposed himself on the golf course or anywhere else, asfar as is known.

(2013-05-18 21:48:20)

Capone

This review is from: Capone [Import] (DVD) This movie is not the most accurate. However it is a classic to me. I used to watch it on TV back in the 1980's. I like it better than some of the modern gangster films today.

Ron Broadfoot

(2013-05-17 03:11:01)

Lots of action but not much else

If you were looking for an Al Capone biography that was more exciting thanthe 1959 film with Rod Steiger, you might like this one, but the onlyexciting thing for me were the gun battles. Ben Gazzara does well in thetitle role, but you can tell he has cotton in his jowls because some of hisdialogue is incomprehensible. The casting was ideal, havingItalian-American actors playing a gang of Italian-American mobsters(especially Sylvester Stallone as Frank Nitti). There is one point the filmgets wrong. At the end of the movie, Nitti travels to Florida in 1946 tovisit Capone, who is dying of syphilis. In real life, Nitti committedsuicide in 1943, before Capone died.Recommended only for a boring day.

Robert J. Maxwell

(2013-05-16 16:42:31)

Gross Out

I kind of liked it. It's played straight (I think) but it's reallypretty amusing. You've seen it all before -- the chattering Tommy guns,the blood all over, the cigars, the sex, the flowers at the funeral,"My own Bruddah," the oaths of loyalty, the betrayals, the shotguns,the scratchy opera records, the Model A Fords twirling around on wetstreets, the booze, the speakeasies, the flapper molls, the guystarting the car which is deconstructed by the hidden explosives,Deanie O'Banion, Bugs Moran, Hymie Weiss, Jake Gadjusek, the Gennabrothers, the knives, Chicago neighborhoods that look like theUniversal Tour, the fist fights -- and Al Capone.I thought Rod Steiger had closed the book on turning Capone into anoutrageous clown in "Al Capone," but Ben Gazzara outdoes him here. Thiswas released shortly after "The Godfather". You can tell becauseGazzara, not satisfied with a little cotton in his cheeks like Brando,seems to have stuffed a couple of Kaiser rolls or ABD pads in hischeeks. They stand out like a chipmunk's. And when he has a fat cigarin his mouth his voice sounds as if it's coming from a place fardistant, echoing off twisting walls, a kind of TUBA of a voice. Hisphysical instrument is overplayed as well. When he's happy his smile isthat of an alligator. Giving orders he lowers his head like a bull andglares up from beneath his brows. He croaks when he tries to soothesomeone and otherwise bellows.The vulgarity is engaging. "Them f******s have been shoving their ****sup my *** for too ******** long now, those *****ing *****s! ****** the***** *****s of the ***** ** *****, *** ******ing ****ers!"And then there is Susan Blakely. She was Al Pacino's second and closestgirl friend in "Serpico." She didn't have much of a part. She has asmall part here too but it's all on display. All of her parts are ondisplay. You get to know Susan Blakely pretty well, let's say,including her obstetrical aspect, which I think adds to the generalcomedic impact of this epic narrative. But the movie isn't sexy, any more than it's tragic or dramatic. Wedon't care whose head explodes. We don't care who gets shot, shived, orsyphilitic. What an unexcelled piece of trash. I really enjoyed it.

filmbuff1970

(2013-05-16 07:14:19)

Terrible

I have seen many actors hamming it up.But Ben Gazzara plays Al Capone inAlJolson mode.I swear he was going to sing Mammy before the end.This is areally tacky movie made because The Godfather was such a hit.Avoid likethePlague.1 out of 10

Miyagis_Sweaty_wifebeater

(2013-05-15 19:43:02)

Interesting look on the life of Al Capone.

I found Capone to be a very interesting film. The action scenes werewell staged and the acting was surprisingly good. Ben Gazzara wasexcellent as Capone. He managed to capture Al Capone's VD inducedpsychosis very well. It's a shame that this film was never put out onvideo in the US. Unlike most biopics, I found this one to be veryentertaining. Yo, check out Stallone as Frank "The Enforcer"NittiRecommended, if you can find it.B+

(2013-05-14 02:19:29)

Capone

This review is from: Capone [Import] (DVD) This is one of Sylvester Stallone's early movies and a very good film about Al Capone. The one I bought is written in portugese on the cover, but the spoken language is in english/spanish or portugese, your choice. So, it's not a problem.

MARIO GAUCI

(2013-05-13 09:07:27)

CAPONE (Steve Carver, 1975) **

Cheaply-made and over-simplified account of the life and times of themost notorious gangland figure of The Roaring Twenties; clearlyintended as exploitation - with liberal doses of nudity and foullanguage to embellish the typical blood-soaked exploits - the Fox filmwas produced by Roger Corman (who was associated with any number ofsimilar genre efforts, released in the wake of BONNIE AND CLYDE [1967]and which became an even greater commodity after THE GODFATHER [1972]).As Capone, Ben Gazzara chews more than the scenery - as he obviouslyhas placed something in his mouth to help 'authenticate' his delivery!Similarly, so as to give the impression of realism, the scriptcontinuously precedes scenes with the date and year when the eventdepicted is supposed to have happened; still, this doesn't prevent thefilm from appearing clichГѓВ©d most of the time! Curiously, the film endswith Capone on parole going mad in some luxurious mansion - a turn ofevents which, as far as I know, is completely fabricated.With the various real-life characters and myriad factions on display,one is prone to lose track of who's killing who and why - but, for allthat, the carnage is constant and moderately well-staged (though, atone point, Corman inserts footage from his own film THE ST. VALENTINE'SDAY MASSACRE [1967], also a Fox production!). The cast is made up ofveterans like Gazzara, Harry Guardino and a cameo by John Cassavetes,and newcomers such as Sylvester Stallone (a pretty good pre-stardomrole as Capone's right-hand man who eventually has his boss ousted!),regular baddie Martin Kove (as a thug from a rival clan) and lovelySusan Blakely as Capone's young but free-spirited moll.Needless to say, the film doesn't do justice to the character (seen incountless other gangster pics, the most significant impressions perhapsbeing those given, Method-style, by Rod Steiger in AL CAPONE [1959] andRobert De Niro in THE UNTOUCHABLES [1987]) - but neither is it thedisaster Leonard Maltin claims, having slapped a BOMB rating to it! Bythe way, while the print on Fox's R2 DVD is O.K., the audio is prettylousy (often displaying a distracting hiss).

(2013-05-05 04:21:09)

CAPONE

This review is from: Capone (DVD) Unfortunately I was not able to view the DVD CAPONE as there were no sub titles. Waste of money for me.Toni Hipkiss

(2013-05-04 14:58:04)

Solid mid 70's summary of Chicago's most infamous gangster

"Capone" is well constructed biopic of Alphonse Capone, who is perhaps the most infamous gangster in American history. There have been other underworld bosses who were more poweful than Capone, but the urban legend of the tommy gun slinging homicidal tough guy was perhaps derived from Capone and his minions.This movie was just about what I expected. It still retains some of the classic qualities of the gangster movies that became popular in the 20's and 30's, with a bit of stereotyped "gangsterese" lingo, but also shows the complexities that made the rise of a mob boss more than just a shoot em up battle of machine guns on the streets,with dilemmas of loyalty and the strategy behind "hit and counter hit."I am not all that familiar with the ins and outs of Capone's rise and dominance of prohibition era Chicago, but I felt that Ben Gazzara did a solid job portraying the title character. There have been other modern depictions of Capone by Deniro in "The Untouchables" and Stephen Graham in "Boardwalk Empire." Despite Deniro's status as the premier "godfather" of mob actors, I thought that the recent portrayal of Capone in "Boardwalk Empire" by Graham was slightly more nuanced. Both showed the famous temper that made Capone feared the world round.In the first two seasons of "Boardwalk" Graham shows the early years of Capone under Johnny Torrio, and his attempts to control his temper while obeying the orders of his superiors, as well as his ambitious yet uncouth business sense. This version made in 1975 by director Steven Carver attempts to show entire length of Capone's rise and demise, which it does rather well, yet a bit short at just over and hour and a half. The only main flaw was the ending, which shows the prosecution of Capone in a few short scenes and leaves out alot of area for development.Gazzara's Capone seemed right up there with depictions that came later, but I found his preformance might fall under more of a gangster generalization than a character totally specified to match with Capone's personality. That is to say that Gazzara's character goes a long way in showing the climate of the times and could be interchanged with alot of different men of that era, many who came to be called the "Young Turks," such as Vito Genovese or Albert Anastasia, both who were known for braun over brains and rose from the streets to the top of criminal organizations by way of the gun. The supporting cast for this film is also pretty strong, with Sylvester Stallone as bodyguard Frank Nitti and Harry Guardino as Johnny Torrio, with a beautiful Susan Blakely as flapper girlfriend Iris Crawford.

(2013-05-01 15:25:00)

the best Capone movie made to date.

I saw this great movie at the Earlen theater in Philadelphia in 1975 and never forgot it. The reason is I saw it 12 times over a five day period. The movie itself was great for the action and brutal unyeilding pace. Ben Gazarra is great in the part of Capone and a young and very hot Susan Blakely is on full display in one very memorable scene (its the reason I saw it twelve times - lets just say she(Blakely) invented the Sharone Stone Basic Insticnt maneuver - I could not believe my 16 year old eyes) and those who will see the movie will know it when they see it). The great John Cassavettes is also in the film as is a very good Sly Stallone. Great film, but hard to get or see because it is out of print. You may have to get an overseas PAL version and convert.

(2013-05-01 11:08:41)

Best Al Capone Movie!

By far the best Al Capone documovie. When you think of organized crime you think of him, Al Capone, the very first mobster of the 20th century to hit the national headlines on television. Not well accurate, but out of all the Al Capone movies made, this is the most accurate one. What I like most about this movie, what you don't see on most of the others, is how they displayed the symptoms he had from syphilis. Ben Gazzara did an awesome job portraying Capone, and you can see how when he gradually transforms Capone from a street hood to a charismatic underworld boss. It shows how he made his bones, his admiration of Johnny Torrio, leadership, street wars with rivals, St.Valentine's Day Massacre, political corruption, his conviction of tax evasion, and effects of syphilis. Also I have to mention Sylvester Stallone co-starring as Frank Nitti, Capone's enforcer, at the beginning of his career before Rocky. This movie is the 2nd reason I applied on Amazon cause you can't find this for some reason anywhere else. Great movie overall, if you're a fan of mobsters, I highly recommend that you buy this movie!

Chicago Gangster

(2013-04-29 20:36:52)

Nothing comes close (may contain spoilers)

The movie is a largely fictional account of the life of Al Capone. When itwas released, the critics bashed it, saying it was far too violent. It's amobster film for crying out loud! It's gonna be violent! But enoughcomplaining.There will always be some people who we'll never know exactly what theylooklike. Al Capone was one of those people. Ben Gazzara takes one look at thechallenge and chucks it out the window. He is Capone, no question. Nobodyelse comes close. Not even Robert De Niro. This guy walks the walk andtalksthe talk, even if he has stuffed his cheeks with cottonwool.Susan Blakely is effective as the fiery Iris Crawford. She changes from atoilet-mouthed, cigarette-smoking, booze-swilling bitch to an 'innocent'dumb blonde gangster's moll halfway through, even if she does have troublekeeping her clothes on after her 'transformation'.Sylvester Stallone's Frank Nitti is just the kind of SOB you'd like tokickin the balls. Seriously. He's a traitor. His last words are "The guy youreally gotta watch out for ain't across the street at all. He's the bumstanding on the same ladder you are, right behind you." This has been hisethos all the way through the film.Harry Guardino's Johnny Torrio is perfect in every way but one. He's tootall. But asides from that, he's the best screen Torrio I've seen.(Actually, he's the only one I've seen)Overall, this film is exellent, but suffers from the stigma of havingRogerCorman on the production crew. It's an amazing film, and anyone who isinterested in the 1920smobster era should watch it.9/10

ahmed elshikh

(2013-04-29 12:25:08)

Good Spoof of Al Capone !

Ahh the 1970s…The home of the weird and unprofessional bad movies! At first I said to myself; this is a movie where its problem is beingpoor. After a while, I said to myself; this is a movie where itsproblem is its lead actor. Then, I noted that the director wasn'thandling the matters well, or wasn't handling the matters. Maybe at onelater point I accused the script too, but eventually I found out thatit wasn't about many problems. It was about this movie being wholly abig problem! After the success of (The Godfather – 1972), then (The Godfather: PartII – 1974) there was suddenly an intensive concern about the history ofmafia with the life of the American mobsters in the 20th century'sfirst half, their families, mistresses, enemies and their rulingTommyguns, where a wave of followers was made yet with nothing likeGodfather. Just recall (The Don Is Dead – 1973), (Dillinger – 1973), orTV ones like (Honor Thy Father – 1973), (The Virginia Hill Story –1974). Now, here's (Capone – 1975); the movie that will give you a goodreason to hate The Godfather and its success!It looks like the 70s's exploitation movies, but it isn't. It's worse.The production is totally nonexistent. For instance the sets were likesomething I saw tenth of times at that era's TV shows; the ones thattake place in the 70s's days (I suspect that I saw the bar, of thestart of the movie, in one of Starsky & Hutch's episodes before!). Theshots of the assassins in their cars, from the scene in which Caponewas getting shot in the daylight, were clearly being borrowed fromanother movie due to shameful difference between the visual taste ofthem and the ones of this movie! Thanks to the IMDb, I knew that theseshots were edited from another movie (The St. Valentine's Day Massacre– 1967) which's by the way directed by Capone's producer Roger Corman(or should I say Capone's stingy producer ?!). Moreover, I'm sure thatsome suits, coats, cars, and perhaps machineguns were reused from TheGodfather's stuff.There is no direction at all. And, I mean AT ALL. Unless you think thatending every scene by immersing it into red color is directing. Buteven if, this (Steve Carver) didn't do anything more. At one momentthere is an officer in his office threatening Capone "you are going tojail", and Capone tells him that he won't since he bribed them all,look at the way this scene was made as simply no effort of any kind wasdone; it was the perfect way how not to do it. And I HATED Mr. Carver'sendless close-ups like he didn't learn anything about shooting butthat!The script is mechanic, like a version of The Godfather but aftercutting everything except the assassinations scenes. So don't ask toomuch, or ever. Nevertheless the question that I can't hold till now iswhy Capone's right-hand man, played by Stallone, sold him out at last?? I bet the movie makers themselves don't know or remember anythingabout it in the first place! "He didn't know that the man to be worryabout is the one who's beside you, not in front of you" isn't enoughmotive or convincing reason. And what was the need for this imaginarygirlfriend ???! I suppose she was there just to assure that Caponewasn't gay, then be killed later! Generally it is at best a tastelessdocu-drama about Capone, written by someone maybe read 2 pages summaryabout the man, then turned them, as they were, into a film!Still the main painful thing is Ben Gazzara's performance. It should betaught in acting schools (and ironically I'm not kidding!). This isbeyond awful. Even if an actor wanted to be deliberately bad, hewouldn't be as half bad as this. (Gazzara) seemed like a nervous9-year-old child trying to improvise Capone so seriously, being trulylaughable for most of the time and horrible to embarrassing extent forthe rest. Just watch him saying "Poison? What kind of way to kill a manis that ?!".. Purely unforgettable whether you want to laugh your heartout, or watch a man contorting his face to the max! But I can't blamethe guy alone, surely he was entirely clueless; since he was in thehands of writing and directing that didn't give a damn, or didn't giveanything but a damn!Oh God, I can't forget the finale; it's the top of this movie's creepycrappy time. So with this shitty TV-ish condition, I don't know howthey got the nerve to show this cinematically ?? (Maybe because of thefemale nudity of it !). What kind of movie where the best of it is theperformance of the young (Stallone) anyway ?! But Hey. Whatever. Watchit as a spoof of Al Capone; it works finely this way.. Butunfortunately not for all its time!Finally a question : if Capone was still alive, healthy and influentialwhen that was released.. Do you think that he might have whacked thismovie's crow?.. I would if I was him!

(2013-04-28 18:35:35)

great movie

This review is from: Capone (DVD) Loved this movie. Ben Gazzara makes an excellent Al Capone and for the most part the movie is historically accurate, unlike the "untouchables" which was almost all fiction.

(2013-04-28 09:54:30)

It's About Time!

This review is from: Capone (DVD) CAPONE was released in the pre-VHS days when the only hope to see it was on cable. The recent DVD release does nothing to dull the film. The audio and video are flawless and seeing a young Sylvester Stallone working on his acting 'chops' is great. And speaking of great - the audio commentary for the film is excellent - it brings together the Ben Gazzara/ John Cassavettes connection. This is reminiscent of the Corman classic, THE ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE but with the addition of Susan Blakely, the movie goes to whole new level. Fresh from RICH MAN, POOR MAN, Susan's "Julie Prescott" was every guy's fantasy girl and her bed scene, that occurred a decade before Sharon Stone's BASIC INSTINCT flash, is the stuff of legends. And as the commentary points out, Susan had no trouble with the nudity. And this is one of the few CAPONE films that show him in his final days - dying of syphilis and fishing in a swimming pool, having conversations with himself. Although a little footage from VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE was used in this film - a Corman hallmark - it doesn't detract from the movie. For a great 'gangster' film, this is it!

(2013-04-28 03:22:59)

Corman's Cash-in on the Godfather Craze

Roger Corman may have pretty much stuck with low-budget B flicks, but he sure knew what buttons to push which is why he is the undesputed king of the Bs. Cashing in on the then current Godfather craze, old Roger decided to go for a real-life gangster figure and who else better than Al Capone.Ben Gazzara put's in a completely over-the-top performance of the title character complete with padding stuffed in his cheeks (I wonder where he got that idea from?) Then we get a pre-Rocky Sly Stallone in a small but key role as Frank Nitti. Sexy Susan Blakely does a turn as Al's love interest featuring a full frontal nude scene, lucky us!Is the film bad? Not really, it's actually pretty good. Period detail is quite impressive with the sets, costumes and vintage cars most likely borrowed from other studios used in other period films like The Great Gatspy. The dialog and acting is so-so, but it still manages to hold your interest. Violence comes in buckets here obviously trying to out do The Godfather in that dept, however the recreation of the St. Valentine's Day massacre seems pretty accurate.There have been numerous attempts to do biopics on old lovable Al with little success. Rod Stieger made a go at it with mediocre results and Robert DeNiro's depiction of Al in DePalma's The Untouchables is borderline fiction to say the least. This film at least tries to be accurate but unfortunately it doesn't quite succeed given the limited production involved.I saw this film in the theater on it's release in 1975. I thought it was ok then, and I think it's ok now. A nice little flick to check out, if you can find it.

(2013-04-27 07:15:07)

Excellent Movie

This review is from: Capone [Import] (DVD) This movie is a very accurate account of Al Capone's rise to power and eventual demise. It depicts life in Chicago during prohibition and the violent times in which Capone lived in very accurately. It has a lot of violence, as you might expect from this type of story. Some strong language and nudity. It is definitely an R Rated movie.The movie has a long list of established actors and a very young Sylvester Stallone in one of his first roles. He portrays Capone's right hand man, Frank Nitti.I was fortunate enough to get a DVD copy made in Portugal since the studio has not yet made this film available in DVD format in the U.S. The Portuguese version is flawless and is Region 0 which plays on all DVD players. I recommend it. It is in English. Only the cover is in Portuguese.

(2013-04-26 16:03:44)

Good DVD

This review is from: Capone [Import] (DVD) Ben Gazzara is one of my best actors. The supporting actors were also very good in this DVD. Too bad that more DVDs like this have to be purchased abroad.

heckmand

(2013-04-26 09:16:06)

Now available to view on HULU.COM

Several reviewers have mentioned that this movie is hard to find. It iscurrently available on HULU.COM. Unfortunately you have to watch a fewcommercials, but the good news is that the copy is excellent. Thecharacters are well developed and the pace is quick. While I would notsay that the plot is overly realistic, it is worth watching. If you arelooking for an engrossing, albeit brutal, diversion then this is thefare for you. Definitely NOT FOR CHILDREN. One of Sylvester Stallonefirst movie appearance and well acted by him. The other charactersoffer excellent performances as well. You will recognize many characteractors in this ensemble cast. Hope you all enjoy this nearly classicmob movie.