Bugsy

After staying at the Las Vegas Flamingo, and spending a substantial amount of time browsing through the artifacts of old Vegas at the Las Vegas History Museum at the Tropicana Hotel, this is one movie I wanted to watch when I got back. Not that I'm a fan of Warren Beatty (I only watched his Dick Tracy movie), but I'm interested in the Hollywood retelling of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel's story.

For the uninitiated, Siegel was a gangster, who loves his family, but is as horny as he can get. He falls in love with the Hollywood glamour and life, and comes to know his new mistress, a starlet called Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), who's known in some circles as the village bicycle - everyone's had a ride.

Seigel shares a love-hate relationship with Hill, and it is always bumpy. And little does he know that this love will ultimately cause his downfall and demise. Love aside, there's also plenty of scenes that shows Siegel's violent nature (hey, he's a gangster), and scenes too that highlights his disregard for money - he spends lavishly. There's a subplot about Mussolini too, which highlights Seigel's eccentricity.

But he does have a vision, and that was having the foresight of predicting how Las Vegas would become as important as can be, with the erection of the Hoover Dam to provide it with electricity. He's the one with the vision of creating something in the middle of the desert, which we know today as the Strip, with casinos, hotels, and entertainment from class acts. His vision started off as The Flamingo hotel, which over blew its budget by almost 5 million dollars (at that time). Of course, when you're dealing with mob money, you'd better be careful, as they become impatient with his grander vision of controlling a casino, city, state, and ultimately having the power to influence presidential elections.

Directed by Barry Levinson, Bugsy is the tale of that one man's vision. It's well acted, with a superb supporting cast. Keeping true to the finale, watch out for that flying eye too. And yes, Beatty and Bening met on set, and married thereafter.

Sadly, this Code 1 DVD contains no special extras.

An autobiographical feature focused on the LA period of life of notorious gangster Ben "Bugsy" Siegel (Warren Beatty), together with his ill-fated investment into the creation of what would become the Las Vegas gambling empire. Closely following this period of his life creates a screen version of the Ben Siegel character, which now probably dominates general perception. Warren Beatty gives Bugsy a measurable charm and a degree of intellectual flair, which may not necessarily comply with the portrayal of his person of the times.

Known as being well acquainted with Hollywood circles, he was also described as being ruthless and apt for aggressive compulsive behaviours. Certain such aspects do feature in the opening sequences, but increasingly into the picture Bugsy is shown as calm, collected and focused on his public image. Fatefully he is also drawn as a sort of mafia dreamer, whose vision far exceeded that of other mafioso of the time, thus being key behind the over-budgeted exuberance of building "The Flamingo", thus becoming the basis for creating the economic power that is Las Vegas. At the time however his input was ridiculed, ultimately leading to his death due to overspending of mafia money (albeit truth be told the role of William Wilkerson is absolutely ignored giving Bugsy the sole credit for building Las Vegas).

Warren Beatty also offers his strong presence to further romanticise Bugsy Siegel, mostly through to his dedicated love affair with minor actress Virginia Hill (Annette Bening). With some historic liberties in place Bugsy is shown as a somewhat obsessed and head-over-heels blind lover, who falls over for the wrong girl, thus bringing about his downfall. This almost idyllic portrayal of one of America's most ruthless criminals would have to be its biggest flaw, thus creating a image well in tune with the American dream, but much detached from the bloody and dirty details behind mafia. Overall a pretty darn good film, but somewhat discredited by overly idolising and overstating Ben Siegel as a hopeless dreamer and sole mastermind behind Las Vegas.

Highly emotional and vastly outstanding film from director Barry Levinson (Oscar-nominated) follows the true start of Las Vegas as a gambling mecca due to the role of the titled character (Warren Beatty in an Oscar-nominated performance and arguably his finest cinematic turn). The gangster is bad news in the mid-1930s in New York. He takes a business trip to Los Angeles and quickly falls in love with the weather, the surroundings and of course a beautiful woman who is little more than a high-class prostitute (Annette Bening). His wife and kids will just have to take a backseat now to his new-found life. One day Beatty takes a long road trip to a small desert town in Nevada called Las Vegas with Bening and West Coast mafia syndicate Harvey Keitel (Oscar-nominated) to check on a nickel-and-dime casino and something happens. Beatty gets a vision of something, something extraordinary. This is the beginning of an idea to build the kind of gambling facility we think about today. Beatty's dedication and want leads to the creation of The Flamingo, but it comes at an astronomically high personal, economic and spiritual cost. Beatty may lose it all, but then again he may do something truly unforgettable. "Bugsy" is one of those productions that dominates due to its unforgettable elements. This is an amazing love story that is heart-warming, heart-breaking and heart-wrenching all at the same time. Based on actual events, the film-makers took a few liberties in the production but the majority of the running time is pretty accurate as to what actually took place in real life. Supporting actors Ben Kingsley (Oscar-nominated), Joe Mantegna and Elliott Gould all do good work in small, well-calculated roles. "Bugsy" is one of the best films of the 1990s. It stood tall in 1991 as it had more Oscar nominations than any other movie that year. Beatty and Bening's chemistry is exceptional and their love for each other in real life just seems to glisten brightly on the silver screen. An excellent production that should be discussed and praised much more than it is. 5 stars out of 5.

Having won 2 Oscars and 7 nominations, it is clear that "Bugsy" is no ordinary film. And yet, although it can be safely categorized as an impressive piece of work, it still has some distinct flaws which keep it back from getting into the "masterpiece" class.

First of all, one of the indisputable merits of the film is Barry Levinson's direction. Every scene is meticulously prepared, with no detail being ignored; one example of his fine work is the scene where Bugsy and Virginia make love for their first time, and we watch their shades behind the projector's curtain. Barry Levinson has come up with several other great directions throughout his career ("Rain Man" is a good example), but in "Bugsy" he definitely deserved the golden statute for his excellent work.

The performances are also generally good, although here my first objections start to appear: I completely agreed with the idea of casting Keitel as Bugsy's accomplice, and Kingsley as mafia boss; they both fit perfectly in their roles, and their performances were worthy of their respective legends. However, I cannot say the same about the idea of casting Beatty as the paranoid and erratic Bugsy, or Benning as his girlfriend Virginia; although they both tried hard, for some reason their performances didn't quite work out as they should. It seems as if they were the wrong people in the wrong roles. I do not say that Beatty and Benning acted terribly. I simply suggest that their roles should perhaps be awarded to two other actors that would fit more easily in them.

And finally let us come to the plot issue, which is where the most flaws of "Bugsy" appear. The story is basically quite interesting: This is the tale of Ben "Bugsy" Siegel, a strange and erratic mobster, who likes to cheat his committed wife at the first opportunity. His life changes completely when he is sent to L.A. for a job, as he becomes immediately attracted to the city's life, surroundings, and a woman, Virginia, to whom he becomes fixed. While being there, he envisions a great plan, to build a site to what will one day will become Las Vegas. Unfortunately, his vain and grandiose ways, his paranoia, and his erratic style, make things very difficult for himself and for the people around him.

Interesting the plot may be, but it suffers from major gaps; moreover, considering that the plot is based on a true story, the existence of implausibilities becomes more annoying. Even if one argues that they serve an artistic purpose, I would still like the film to be more rational and realistic.

Worse, the story sometimes gets into some great lengths, becoming somewhat tiring. Of course, one could argue that there are gangster movies such as "Once Upon A Time In America", that also get into great length, and still manage to remain masterpieces. Unfortunately, "Bugsy" fails to accomplish this.

And yet, despite its flaws, "Bugsy" is still a good 7/10, film. Pity it didn't manage to get an even higher grade, though...

A big elegant movie, beautiful in every sense of the word, a fascinating story of the man who created Las Vegas and Warren Beatty is perfect in this movie. If you're not a huge fan of his, as I am not, you'll still appreciate the great talents of this star who is not necessarily known for his acting prowess. He is a joy to watch with the gorgeous Annette Bening Beatty. They have a great chemistry and all the actors involved were fantastic, there were many oscar nominations for all aspects of this film, acting, costumes, best film, best director, but when I saw that that Elliott Gould was not nominated for his wonderfully moving performance as Harry Greenberg, I was very surprised. Maybe it was just too small of a role. But it's a movie to be savoured and worth seeing on DVD, if anything just to appreciate the stunning photography.