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| A glamorous embrace between two glamorous Hollywood stars makes up this poster for Barry Levinson's Bugsy |
Bugsy is the story of the larger-than-life character Benny Siegel, who left his family to prance around Hollywood and later build the Flamingo casino in the Mojave desert, thus founding Las Vegas, (although this is not historically accurate, as the building of the Flamingo was mostly Siegel's partner William Wilkerson's project.) SPOILER This all takes place before Siegel gets whacked.
Bugsy is written by James Toback (Exposed (1983)) and co-produced and directed by great Marylander filmmaker Barry Levinson (Diner (1982)), based on the real-life gangster.
In the leads, Warren Beatty (Bonnie and Clyde (1967)) and Annette Bening (American Beauty (1999)) are a wonderful couple, and in supporting roles, Harvey Keitel (Bad Lieutenant (1992)) and Ben Kingsley (Gandhi (1982)) are masterly.
Toback based his script on Dean Jennings' non-fiction book We Only Kill Each Other (1967) and does very well; his lines in Bugsy are a joy, and particularly the scene in which the titular Benny 'Ben' Siegel runs between a child birthday, his phone and a gangster meeting in Las Vegas is memorable.
Weighing down on Bugsy is its title, which was a nickname that Benny Siegel himself hated, and therefore it makes little sense to call the entire movie of his life just that. Also the story of his impressive life could have been served with some higher focus on one or a few select areas than the film provides.
Still, Bugsy is a good and very enjoyable romantic gangster drama with some great movie stars.
Related posts:
Barry Levinson: Top 10: Best heist movies
2001 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Bandits (2001) - Barry Levinson's great, funny heist movie
1991 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 49.1 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain but likely a flop (projected return of 2 times its cost)
[Bugsy premiered 10 December (New York) and runs 137 minutes. More than a decade in pre-production, the film was a dream of co-producer/co-star Beatty, who also cast his future wife Bening as his co-star. Shooting took place from January - March 1991 in Nevada and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #13 to a 140k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it grossed 49.1 mil. $. International numbers are regrettably no public, but the film did sell 33,034 tickets in Denmark, a modest number coming to approximately 260k $. If we take that as an indication that foreign interest was modest for the film, a 60 mil. $ final gross is likely. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning 2: For Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Costume Design. It lost Best Actor (Beatty) to Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs, Supporting Actor (Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley) to Jack Palance in City Slickers, Cinematography (Allan Daviau) to Robert Richardson for JFK, Director to Jonathan Demme for The Silence of the Lambs, Score (Ennio Morricone) to Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast), Picture to The Silence of the Lambs and Original Screenplay to Callie Khouri for Thelma & Louise. It also won 1/8 Golden Globe nominations and 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Levinson returned with Toys (1992). Both Beatty and Bening returned in Love Affair (1994). Bugsy is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Bugsy?
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