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In the 20's, the ambitious smalltime thief Jack Diamond (Ray Danton) and his sick brother Eddie Diamond (Warren Oates) arrive in New York. Jack meets the dance teacher Alice Shiffer (Karen Steele) and uses dirty tricks to date her and steal a necklace in a jewelry store. After spending a period in prison, he asks Alice to work with her in the dance school during his probation. Then he decides to work as bodyguard of the powerful gangster lord Arnold Rothstein (Robert Lowery) that dubs him Legs, with the intention of stealing his illegal business of bootleg, drugs and gambling. When Arnold is murdered, Legs Diamond sells protection to the gangs. When he travels to Europe with Alice on vacation, he sees in the news the changes in New York underworld with the National Prohibition Act and returns, finding a different city that he does not understand.

"The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond" is a good gangster movie based on the biography of the criminal Jack "Legs" Diamond. The gangster is described as a man that did not love anybody and believed that he could never be killed, ending his life alone without friends and betrayed by a lover. This movie was released on VHS in Brazil by Continental distributor. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Rei dos Facínoras" ("The King of the Ruffians")

For the record, this film is historically inaccurate: not for the events, but for the true life character portrayals and interactions.

For instance, there is no evidence in the record of the time that Arnold (The Big Bankroll) Rothstein ever formally met with Jack "Legs" Diamond. Nor is there any record of Diamond having anything to do with Rothstein's girlfriend or his gangland assassination.

Despite these gaps in historical fact, this is one of the most highly entertaining ( of the 1960's crop) of films ever made of that era. In fact many film critics hold to the opinion that most, if not all, of the gangster films of the sixties, were poor attempts to copy the style and success of this one. The production is tightly written, well paced and beautifully filmed by a director (Bud Boetticher) who knew his way around black and white photography. And they couldn't have picked a better subject of the Prohibition Era than Jack "Legs" Diamond.

Jack Diamond was not called "Legs" because he worked for a short time as a dancer, but for the fact that he was initially a highly successful 'snatch and run' thief in the garment district. But he did eventually get caught and served a stint in prison. But forget the historical inaccuracies and enjoy this never boring gangster film.

Ray Danton, one of the most highly underrated actors of his time, gives a riveting fast paced portrayal of Diamond that will be hard to surpass. Not only is he believable in the outrageous stunts he pulls, but he just as easily exposes a manic and tragic side to his character as well: all without missing a beat.

This unusual film also allows you to see some of the screens most memorable character actors at their best. But most of all, you get to see two soon to be famous actors on their way up.

This was actress Dyan Cannon's first film, in a memorable role as the character,Dixie. And soon to be veteran character Warren Oates makes his third appearance in the movies as "Legs" Diamond's brother, Eddie. A careful study his early acting skills in this role, clearly defines why he went on to become one of the most endearing and recognizable character actors of all time.

Trust me on this one, fans. Whether you like Depression Era gangster films or not, you will be constantly entertained by this one. Don't miss it!

Ray Danton brings a suave cold charm to the title role of this film about the Roaring 20s gangster. The usually wooden Danton, nattily attired with a pair of shoulder holsters, cuts quite a figure as he shoots, seduces and betrays his way to achieve his ambitious goals.

Jack Diamond and his handicapped brother come to the big city in search of a new start as jewelery thieves. This venture get's him jailed but it fails to dampen his desire for fast cash and he begins to rob crooks in order to eliminate police involvement. He catches the eye of big time gambler Arnold Rothstein, fixer of the 1918 World Series. He goes to work as a bodyguard for Rothstein who is later murdered thus expediting Leg's rise.

Budd Boeticher directs economically, benefiting both pace and story line as well as Diamond's sharkish style self assuredly delivered by Danton. He also does a nice job of keeping Diamond's involvement in the rub out of Rothstein ambiguous (an unsolved murder to this day) as he attempts to follow the factual outline of his career. In addition Lucien Ballard's photography gives the studio interiors and exteriors an extra touch of grit and noir in one of the better gangster pictures made during a period when the genre was in a bit of a funk.

Budd Boetticher's "The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond" may be studio bound and a little artificial at times but it moves at a cracking pace and is never less than hugely entertaining as well as being somewhat neglected. That good and underrated actor Ray Danton is Jack 'Legs' Diamond and he dominates a fine cast that includes Simon Oakland, Elaine Stewart and in small parts Warren Oates and a young Dyan Cannon,(called Diane here). Diamond's career in crime has been largely overlooked by the movies and I can't gauge just how accurately this film portrays him. If it is factually correct then Mr Diamond was one mean so-and-so!

I'd never heard a thing about this one before I put it in my video player. I knew Warren Oates (one of my favourite character actors - 'The Shooting', 'The Wild Bunch', 'Two-Lane Blacktop', 'Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia',etc.) was in the supporting cast and that was enough for me to give it a go. I know absolutely nothing about the real life exploits of 1930s gangster Jack 'Legs' Diamond, so this movie is more than likely utter fiction, but hey, I didn't watch it for a history lesson, I watched it to be entertained, and it certainly did that! It's a terrific picture, very cool and constantly engaging. Oates plays Legs' sickly "lunger" brother Eddie and he's very good, as are the three sexy women in Legs' life (Karen Steele, Elaine Stewart and a young Dyan Cannon). There are also several familiar faces in the supporting cast that you'll recognize from half forgotten old movies , but Ray Danton completely steals the film as Diamond. I'm very surprised after watching this that Danton didn't go on to be a major star as he is very charismatic and a credible actor. If you like crime movies try and find 'The Rise And Fall Of Legs Diamond'. It may be obscure but it's a really good b-picture and not to be overlooked.

The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond is Budd Boetticher's cold look at a cool customer. The low temperature extends to Lucien Ballard's crisply composed black-and-white cinematography and to Ray Danton's chilly assumption of the title role. With his `matinee-idol' looks and devil-may-care attitude, he prefigures another kind of `cool' that would arrive on screen a year or so later, that of James Bond.

Like Bond, Diamond thinks faster than anybody around him; his quick wits and ready charm get him out of scrapes as a jewel thief who came down the Hudson from Albany to try his luck in Manhattan. But that luck fails him and he ends up doing a short stretch; when he gets out, he resolves to steal from only those who `can't call the police' - other criminals. And he starts his way up in the Arnold Rothstein operation.

His fatal flaw is that he cares for nobody but himself, using people ruthlessly. The women in his life (Karen Steele, Elaine Stewart and the young Dyan Cannon) suffer particularly from their sub-zero lover, but even his sickly brother (Warren Oates) ends up cast out into the blizzard. Diamond's estrangement increases apace with his sense of his own invincibility; having survived, against all odds, a spray of bullets, he convinces himself that he can't be killed. He's wrong.

Though he's right for Boetticher's conception of the part, Danton had less of a career than he might have. He appeared in a few late films in the moribund noir cycle (as the psychotic killer in The Night Runner and as the Aspirin Kid in The Beat Generation) but, after this film, worked mostly in European cinema (by which such names as Fellini, Bergman or Godard should not be inferred).

Boetticher has a few noir credentials as well (Behind Locked Doors, The Killer is Loose) but seems uneasy in how, on the cusp of Camelot, to spin this jazz-age tale. He opts for detachment, structuring the movie as a choppy series of vignettes - almost tableaux - that don't flow (several of the incidents clamor for more explanation, but he leaves us to fill in the missing pieces). And finally, neither director nor actor gives a sound accounting of the changes in Diamond: How the winsome scoundrel of the opening turns into the cold-blooded shark of the finish.

I am no expert on the life of 'Legs' Diamond, but I assume that the studio took great liberties with presenting his life story. This is because I've seen several other gangster films made between 1958-1962 and all of them seemed to play fast and loose with the facts. I think a lot of this was because of the TV show "The Untouchables". Its success spurred on these gangster biopics and like most of the biopics, the TV show played VERY fast and loose with facts....all because they were meant as entertainment first...and last.

Ray Danton plays the leading role. While Danton was a very good looking and smooth character, photos of the real 'Legs' show that he was far from the sexy hunk who could charm women. So, Danton was poor when it came to looking like Diamond...but was great for attracting females to the theaters to see him!

The story is a somewhat predictable tale of a monster who was bigger than life and had bigger than life ambitions....and the expected fall. After all, this IS in the title of the movie! So is it any good? Yes. The story is violent, exciting and never lets up....so it should keep your interest. Excellent direction sure didn't hurt this film, either!

Jack "Legs" Diamond was the alias of John T. Noland (1897-1931) who had one spectacular career in the underworld of the Roaring Twenties. Though we are far from seeing the real story of Legs Diamond, Ray Danton gives us a riveting portrayal of a totally amoral man who uses and discards people in his rise to the top. Diamond's career and this film about him is very much a harbinger of stuff like Goodfellas in the last decade.

Right around this time Hollywood took a nostalgic interest in the gangster era. A whole lot of films like Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly an early Charles Bronson starrer, Dutch Schultz Portrait of a Mobster, and Murder, Inc. among others came out at this time. There was even a good series from Warner Brothers television that came out called The Roaring Twenties that starred Dorothy Provine. And of course heading the list was The Untouchables. The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond is part of this trend.

This came from Warner Brothers and they certainly had the best gangster films back in the day. Had this been done back in the thirties, James Cagney or Edward G. Robinson would have been the star. However the best guy for the part back then would have been Tyrone Power. That is the Tyrone Power of Nightmare Alley. Ray Danton's portrayal of Diamond borrows a lot from Power's Stan Carlisle.

This part and Danton's role in the George Raft Story should have made Danton a star, but it didn't, who knows why. Danton gave up acting and settled for life behind the camera, directing lots of television shows.

Other good portrayals in this are Robert Lowery as Arnold Rothstein, Warren Oates as Diamond's brother, Karen Steele as his much used and abused wife, and Frank DeKova in one riveting scene as Lucky Luciano. DeKova is only identified as the "chairman" in the film as Mr. Luciano was very much alive when this came out.

However the best supporting part is Jesse White's as a gangland rival. White who normally plays comic tough guys very well really does a fine job as a rival who Diamond makes crawl for mercy.

Good portrayal of the tumultuous Roaring Twenties though not the real story of Legs Diamond.

I have never seen a bad action/western movie that was directed by Budd Boetticher and this crime/biography on the real 1920-30's mobster Legs Diamond is no exception. I am a bit surprised that the handsome and suave Ray Danton who plays the real life 1920-30's criminal Jack 'Legs' Diamond falls into a role that he was born (and die) to play.

I assume the film took some liberties with the storyline to keep the film flowing smoothly (which it does) such as "Legs" nickname being derived from his supposedly excelling on the dance floor. Legs did actually have a brother in real life named Eddie who is played to perfection by the classic character actor Warren Oates.

Also true to form where the many unsuccessful assassination attempts on Jack "Legs" Diamond's life, and his womanizing ways which is another reason that the handsome and suave actor Ray Danton was perfect for the role. The film adds even more credibility by adding an abundance of classically trained actors to the ensemble which includes Simon Oakland, Jesse White, Frank DeKova, as well as the beautiful actresses Karen Steele, Dyan Cannon and Elaine Stewart. It wasn't a fluke that the Director Budd Boetticher chose Ray Danton to play the lead role of Legs Diamond. Danton was born to play the role.

I believe the film is a grossly underrated crime/biography film and the black and white filmography only adds to the films historical value. I give the film a much deserved 7 out of 10 IMDb rating.

Danton passed away at the early age of sixty (60) from a kidney failure which otherwise would have allowed him to advance his film career as a veteran film actor.

As the title states, the film follows the rise and fall of the 1920's narcissistic gangster, Legs Diamond.

Warner Bros. certainly knew how to make gangster movies—Little Caesar (1930), Public Enemy (1931), High Sierra (1941)-- but this entry is a long way from these classics. It's a decent enough crime drama, but lacks the grit and menace of the classics. As a result, the story unfolds in entertaining but unmemorable fashion. Danton tries hard, snarling when he needs to, yet he may be a little too sleekly handsome to be convincing. After all, Cagney, Bogart, etc. were hardly matinée idols, and in a way that didn't clash with their expressions of toughness. Neither, however, is the movie helped by casting the faintly comical character Jesse White (Butch) as Legs' chief rival.

Too bad the movie doesn't make better use of Warren Oates who's kind of shoved aside as Legs' sickly brother. He would have made an excellent toughie as his career later showed. Also, it's worth noting the film was directed by western ace Buddy Boetticher, who certainly knew how to drive action and suspense in his Ranown cycle of westerns. Here, however, he doesn't appear particularly engaged.

For some reason the late 50's and early 60's were fascinated with real life gangster stories— Al Capone (1956), The Untouchables (1959-1963), Murder Inc. (1960), et. al. This 100- minutes is one of that cycle. But oh well, no matter what the movie's shortcomings, at least the girls provide plenty of eye candy.

Shall we say...? 1. L'avventura 2. À bout de souffle 3. Spartacus 4. Psycho 5. Rocco e i suoi fratelli 6. The naked island (Hadaka no shima) 7. Bad men sleep well (Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru) 8. La dolce vita 9. The Virgin's spring (Jungfrukällan 10. Les yeux sans visage 11. Plein soleil 12. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning 13. Tirez sur le pianiste 14. Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse 15. Moderato cantabile 16. The Criminal 17. Le dialogue des Carmélites 18. Fateful gun (Minagoroshi no uta' yori kenjûyo saraba!) 19. Le trou 20. The Apartment 21. The Magnificent Seven 22. Peeping Tom 23. Late autumn (Akibiyori) 24. Elmer Gantry 25. Wild River 26. The Young One 27. Village of the Damned 28. La ciociara 29. Classe tous risques 30. Sergeant Rutledge 31. Kapò 32. Samurai Pride (Kuroi gashû: Aru sarariman no shôgen) 33. Seven Ways from Sundown 34. La vérité 35. The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond

Butt Boetticher more commonly known as western's director dared to do this Noir picture over the legendary hoodlum Jack Legs Diamond, actually the nickname Legs was given due he was a good dancer, somewhat it seems much alike of UNTOUCHABLES's default configuration, partially the producers bring many guest stars from this prestigious series as Frank DeKova, Simon Oakland, Warren Oates, Joseph Ruskin, Dyan Cannon, also such show offered an episode portraying Jack Legs Diamond as well.

The picture in some measure is accurate, apart the tour voyage to Europe whereby totally rigged, all others facts is quite truthful, Ray Danton in top form accounted for the racketeer in plenty way, the leading ladies Kareen Steele as Legs's wife and the femme fatale Elaine Stewart as B-girl they didn't disapoint, Warren Oates played the jinx-sick brother in a small role, the highlights went to the fancy mobster Arnold Rothstein (Robert Lowery) a pivotal character due thru him Jack Legs Diamond entering in the underworld, unfortunately God knows what the writer Joseph Landon changed the exact spot where the die-hard Legs went to die.

I'm must confess that expected much more than this pale version, because we dealing with a classy director as Boetticher, worst some actors as Jesse White was miscasting for a mobster role, also I've a slight feeling that Ray Danton is too much cartoonish persona to play Legs Diamond, somehow he didn't deliver it properly, he sounds a bit polished so to speak.

Thanks for reading.

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First watch: 2024 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

"The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond" is a 1960 attempt to recreate a 1930s Warner Bros. Gangster picture, and it works pretty well.

Like those gangster pictures of yesteryear, it's unambitious in scope and theme and exists primarily as a bit of lurid entertainment. Though set in the 1920s, it doesn't do a good job at all of recreating the time period. Aside from some old-looking cars and the occasional 20s inspired women's dress or hat, it looks like it was made in 1960 -- dig those 60s hairstyles. But nevertheless, Howard Shoup managed an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design for his efforts.

Ray Danton is unbelievably handsome as the title character. He might not have great acting chops, but I'm surprised he didn't become more famous for his looks alone. The female eye candy isn't half bad either, especially va-va-voom Karen Steele as one of the many people Legs uses and abuses.

If you like mobster movies, this one's worth checking out.

Grade: B+

It's the roaring 20's New York City. Ambitious thief Jack Diamond (Ray Danton) arrives in town with his cautious brother Eddie Diamond. He takes dance instructor Alice Shiffer to the movies and uses her as cover to steal a diamond neckless. He gets a job working for gangster Arnold Rothstein who gives him the nickname Legs.

This depends on how one views Ray Danton's work in this movie. I don't know much about his long career. It's possible that I've seen him in other movies. He has a good gangster look which could be even leading man looks. I just don't see him with the right personality to be more than a hood. He can be a charismatic hood but he can't be anything different. I think that's what's missing here. He needs that rooting interest. With all the bad that he does, he needs some kind of good guy interior to allow the audience to cheer for him.

A 1960 slice of criminal life about the famed gangster, played by Ray Danton, during the prohibition era & beyond. Starting out as a petty hold up man w/his sickly brother, Warren Oates, he soon thinks he's come into his own after scoring a date w/a hot dancer, Karen Steele, & pulling off a convoluted plot to rob a jewelry store by using a lull during a show & bathroom break which backfires when he's caught & put in jail. Vowing to never get caught again, he decides to start robbing thieves instead (his logic being they deal w/ill-gotten gains, they'll never call the authorities) which works for a while when he meets Arnold Rothstein, played by Robert Lowery, where he ingratiates himself into the outfit & makes a decent name for himself to boot but after Lowery buys it, the remaining crime heads want him gone but Danton, using a moll of one of the gangsters, gets inside dope to get a drop on his enemies which puts him back on top but also making himself a menace to one & all (poor Oates even gets fatally dinged because of his association w/Danton). Coming back from a long sojourn in Europe, he finds the Crimeland he left behind is now populated by new, fiercer faces who will not kowtow to his demands which sets up the last sequence where he finally gets his. Pretty good change of pace for director Budd Boetticher (who made a name for himself making Westerns w/Randolph Scott in the 50's) who helms the action (abetted by d.p. Lucien Ballard who'd gain later fame in the decade working w/Sam Peckinpah) in clean, brutal compositions w/only the, for me, unknown Danton, a mass of vileness & cruelty, which doesn't exactly ingratiate himself to the audience as he's evil through & through to any & all.

I would have seen this film without watching the opening credits, I would have bet my last cent and shirt on Don Siegel as the director. That doesn't mean that Budd the great had not the talent for such an effective crime drama, but because Boetticher's speciality is the western or bull fughting material, no crime. On the contrary, Don Siegel, that's his stuff, and the directing here has the virtuosity of Siegel's touch, atmosphere. Boetticher made another crime flick, starring Jo Cotten: THE KILLER IS LOOSE, and a couple of others, during his early career. This one, which I present now, fits perfectly in the gangster biography genre that spread in the early sixties, there were so many of them. AL CAPONE, BABY FACE NELSON, PORTRAIT OF A MOBSTER, CRIME INC, PURPLE GANG, MAD DOG CALL.... And the rise and fall scheme is so American in many movies too. Ray danton is absolutely perfect in this one, the character is made for him, a ruthless, ambitious and nasty character, though ambivalent with plenty of charisma. Watch out for a young Warren Oates. So shame that Ray Danton never played in THE UNTOUCHABLES series, he would have made a tremendous gangster too.