Flashback

Based on true events, but how accurate this movie depicts the facts is of question. This is a very interesting story. It does get a little slow in parts, and keeps you waiting for fever pitch that never arrives.

John Turturro plays mobster Sam Giancana, who while in Las Vegas falls in love with Phyllis McGuire, one of the singing McGuire Sisters. McGuire is aptly played by Mary-Louise Parker. Giancana stops at nothing in his whirlwind courtship of the sweet singer. The two become a big item and are summoned to appear before a Grand Jury in Chicago. Mobster Sam decides not to testify and goes to jail, ending up transfered to a Mexican prison.

Strong language runs rampant; this is a gangster flick after all. Your interest is maintained, but leaves you wanting to research the actual facts and events. Recommend for a lazy afternoon.

Not totally a love story, not quite a mob story, but a great mix of both. This movie opened my eyes to Turturo and his ability to capture a character's essence. He made me believe that this is how Sam Giancana really was. His mannerisms and interactions with the rest of the cast made this movie for me, especially because some of the acting was not up to par with his. For those looking for a bloody, murderous mob movie or an overly mushy love story, this isn't it. What you'll get, though is a great story about two different worlds bound together by the heart, while they try to continue their own ways. Great acting, great writing, great sets and great shooting.

Sam Giancaca is the head of the mob that runs Las Vegas. When he meets and falls for the lead singer of a group `the McGuire sisters' he begins to drift from his day to day duties and finds his leadership compromised as the Grand Jury looms nearer.

This TVM is based on a true story - I don't know any of the characters involved so I can only take their word for that. The story focuses on the relationship between Sam and Phyllis rather than the activity of the mob itself - it has some crossover but not much. This makes it feel a little tame compared to mob films like Goodfellas etc. We never really come to understand Sam's lifestyle in terms of the violence it contains, I was certainly never fully convinced that he had blood on his hands. That said, it's still entertaining. The director gives many of Sam and Phyllis's scenes a good sense of wry humour that helps make it feel a little more acceptable. The downside is that it does leave you feeling that the mob side of his life (the main part) has been dumped in favour of the relatively minor love affair.

Turturro can't be bad even if he wanted to and he does create an interesting character. His relationship with Phyllis is not as full as it should be, so it's hard to accept his weakness for her, but he's good for the most. Parker is quite good as Phyllis, she deals well with the part for the witty romance, but when it comes to confronting what her man does she doesn't convince. Of the rest of the cast the standout is the always brilliant Elias Koteas - one of my favourite actors. My God but if the man can be good in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles then he can be good in anything! Here he is OK but doesn't have a big part at all - of course I'm biased and can't help but single him out.

Overall this was enjoyable although I didn't feel I knew anymore about Giancaca than I did at the start of the film. As a lesson it fails, as 90 diverting minutes it has several good things to offer.

She was a dazzling singer, part of a trio that dazzled the world over; he was a brutal mobster who lived in a world of death and violence. Sounds like an excellent work of fiction or the content of a good song, but alas, it actually is the real life case of the romance between Phyllis McGuire and Chicago gangster Sam Giancana, a story that is decently told in 1995's HBO film "Sugartime". Starring John Turturro and Mary Louise-Parker in the starring roles, it's a film that reasonably captures the 1960's, be it through the fashion, music, or especially the cars. The movie introduces us to the McGuire sisters, a song and dance trio that's taking the world by storm. While performing one night in a club, Phyllis, the lead singer, catches the eye of mobster Sam Giancana, and thus begins one of the most unusual relationships in pop culture history, as the two do their best to keep the relationship secret, but of course, it's only a matter of time before their secret affair is discovered, which will send their two worlds on a collision course they may never recover from.

While "Sugartime" may not be as good as say, films like "The Godfather" or "Goodfellas", it's not necessarily a bad film either. As someone who's done a lot of reading about Sam Giancana and the mob in general, I can honestly say the director and producers did a good job of trying to stay true to the original source material as much as can be possible in a movie. John Turturro does an fine job of bringing the persona of Sam Giancana to life on screen, bringing a sense of charm and charisma to the man but at the same time conveying the fact that violence and thuggery lurk just below the surface as well. Mary Louise Parker is radiant and wonderful in her interpretation of Phyllis McGuire, bringing a sense of Midwest charm to the character, and beauty too. Another bonus is the fairly well written dialogue of the film, particularly when it concerns Turturro's lines as Sam Giancana, which in some places, manage to be both foul, salty but somehow absolutely hysterically at the same time (Turturro's lines in the scene where Phyllis tells Sam she has to go to London and can't stay after Sam went to the trouble of building Venice, Italy on a lake in the Chicago suburbs comes to mind!). All that being said, the movie isn't perfect either, dragging in some places and at times, it feels that the combining of Sam's and Phyllis's two worlds was not as cohesive as perhaps it could have been. Also, those looking for a action-packed, blood soaked mob film might be disappointed, as the film covers more of the romance aspect than the gangster (That being said, the movie does contain a few particularly memorable, violent scenes). However, for anyone who has an interest in the mob and in particular, Sam Giancana himself, "Sugartime" is not a bad way to kill some time and take in a good story. And it's available on youtube. Also starring Elias Koteas.

John Turturro and Mary-Louise Parker portray in fine fashion a mobster and his 60s pop-singer girlfriend. One can only speculate as to the factual accuracy of this insightful film about Sam Giancana and Phyllis McGuire. However, the film's repeated images of mobster brutality juxtaposed with a love story is chilling. This is a central theme in most mobster-genre movies, but it's not worn out here. "Sugartime" is one of the best of its genre.