Lansky

It's a very so-so movie, but Harvey Keitel makes it completely worth watching. His demeanor toward the young writer reminded me of some of my own mentors. Not that they were gangsters. Just something in his voice and delivery. Don't you love it when people are really, really good at their jobs?

Greetings again from the darkness. If asked, the vast majority of movie lovers would name THE GODFATHER (1972), THE GODFATHER II (1974), and GOODFELLAS (1990) as the quintessential mafia movies. Sure, there are dozens of others, but that mob triumvirate has ruled the roost for many years. It's doubtful writer-director Eytan Rockaway ever gave one moment of thought that his second feature, written from a story by his father, author Robert Rockaway, might join the ranks of those top three, but that doesn't prevent it from being a quite interesting tale based on true events.

Sam Worthington (AVATAR, 2009) stars as David Stone, a writer who had some success a few years back with his Kennedy biography. Since then, he's struggled in both his personal and professional life. In 1981 when an elderly Meyer Lansky (Harvey Keitel) contacts him to write the true Lansky story, David jumps at the opportunity, seeing it as a solution to his many problems. The two men meet at a Miami diner that Lansky frequents. These diner meetings form the structure of the story, and director Rockaway uses flashbacks to the 1940's to "show" us what Lansky is telling his biographer from the booth.

John Magaro plays the younger Lansky, a man who is remarkably good with numbers and calm, yet forceful, in his demeanor. Lansky has partnered with Ben "Bugsy" Siegel (David Cade), who provides some muscle and flamboyance that Lansky lacks. We see the development of their business, and how Lansky's shrewd business acumen leads to a connection with Lucky Luciano, as well as providing the government with intelligence during the war. Lansky's story to David glosses over the bootlegging and other revenue streams to concentrate on gaming, which of course, is now legal in many states.

The supporting cast includes Minka Kelly as David's fling at the motel, AnnaSophia Robb as Lansky's wife Anne, Shane McRae as Lucky Luciano, and David James Elliott as the FBI Agent obsessed with solving the long-dead Lansky case and locating the $350 million supposedly hidden away. As you might expect, the story bounces from Miami to New York City to Cuba (a stunning Colonial Hotel in Havana) to Vegas to Geneva and even Israel, where Lansky attempted, unsuccessfully, to live out his life.

Lansky's biggest impact was facilitating the connection between the Italian, Irish, and Jewish mafia at a time when so such bond existed. We twice hear him answer, "I have no knowledge on the subject", when questioned about organized crime. On his death in 1983, Lansky had no convictions - all charges had been dropped. A doctor's diagnosis of terminal lung cancer led him to reach out to an author so that his story could be told. We don't learn much about "Murder, Inc." but we do understand Lansky's commitment to "control the game". Rockaway has delivered an intriguing profile of an enigma from inside the mafia ... and screen vet Keitel makes it all believable.

In Select Theaters & On Demand June 25, 2021.

Here is a pretty run-of-the-mill, lacklustre mob flick. It's a biopic, but it fails to show us anything we haven't already seen in other movies, even if we know nothing about Meyer Lansky.

Harvey Keitel does exactly what you'd expect from a great actor in the twilight of his life - he's in his eighties now - playing an iconic crime figure right before he checked out. Perhaps they were inspired by "The Irishman", also about crime figures contemplating mortality. But in that movie Keitel was surrounded by other acting heavyweights. Here it's Sam Worthington and a bunch of no-names who aren't about to become known any time soon.

Basing your movie on a real-world figure should enable you to find some spark of originality. No two lives are the same. The best I can say about "Lansky" is that it's not as bad as "Capone".

The Lansky story was actually an interesting one, and I didn't really mind the reporter interview style of storytelling, but was told by writers Robert Rockaway and Eytan Rockaway in a very underwhelming and cliched way. Don't go into this expecting a Scorsese production, as this is far from it.

Eytan's directing was decent, but the pacing was slow, and there were way too many elements in the Lansky story to squeeze into two hours. An example: Lansky's Jewish background and his conflict with the American Nazi's just didn't need to be so highlighted. It lacked real depth, and felt more like a bad documentary, than a good movie.

Harvey Keitel is looking all of his 82 years and more but one thing is for sure , his acting hasn't diminished one little bit , which is a good thing for this film because if it wasn't for him , this would have been dull as dish water .

When the aging Meyer Lansky is investigated by the Feds, who suspect he has stashed away millions of dollars over half a century, the retired gangster reveals the untold truth about his life as the boss of the National Crime Syndicate.

I love a gangster film but they have to have something a little different about them for me to really enjoy them . This does and doesn't.

The scenes with Keitel and to a certain extent Sam Worthington are really watchable ( even though there are too many words of wisdom ) but the problem is , because Lansky is telling his life story to David Stone , the film is interspersed with flashback scenes of when he was a young man and to be brutally honest they aren't any good . The Director makes the mistake of doing the gangster scenes like painting by numbers . Every cliche in book is used and it's just dull .

Thankfully Harvey Keitel turns a sows ear into a silk purse and makes the film enjoyable although I couldn't stop looking at the prosthetic nose they gave him which was very distracting.

To confuse people for some weird reason the the movie company changed the name from lansky to A Righteous man - a much duller title . Why do they do things like that ?