The Revenge of Al Capone

Other than Al Capone eventually wound up in that new Federal prison on Alcatraz Island for income tax evasion and Anton J. Cermak the mayor of Chicago was shot in Miami in the vicinity of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, there's not a lot that's in any way true about The Revenge Of Al Capone. Hope no one is using this to shortcut a history term paper.

They even have J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI bossing Eliot Ness of the Treasury Department and the lead character Keith Carradine who I'm not sure if he was working for the Treasury, the Secret Service or the FBI. This film is that confusing.

The funny thing is that a few days before seeing this film I was discussing whacked out conspiracy theories with a friend and one of them I mentioned was this notion that Lee Harvey Oswald was really out to get John Connally who when he was Secretary Of The Navy signed off on Oswald's dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps. So naturally he picked a day to it when the Governor of Texas was in the company of the President of the United States and JFK was simply collateral damage.

This film actually does propose that thesis involving Mayor Cermak of Chicago who was one of several people wounded by Giuseppe Zangara when he took a few shots at FDR in Miami. Actually a film blending those stories was made from a two part episode of The Untouchables and that was more realistic than this film.

We also have the killing of Dutch Schultz worked into that and the Dutchman did not die in the way shone and Al Capone had nothing whatsoever to do with that bit of gangland lore.

Ray Sharkey joined a pantheon of players who essayed the character of Al Capone, people like Ben Gazzara, Neville Brand, Rod Steiger, Robert DeNiro, etc. Sharkey did fine with the role, too bad it wasn't in a better film.

This is one of those movies that not everyone knows about. I got this movie on the swap meet a couple weeks ago and wasn't very thrilled to see it, judging it by the cover, despite being a mob movie fan myself. You know how they say, "never judge a book by its cover"? Well now I say, "never judge a MOVIE by its cover"... or title and cast. To be honest I thought this was going to be another B, low budget cheesy gangster movie... the title said it all... "CAPONE". Period... My God was I wrong. To all of you mob flick junkies, this is one movie you CANNOT miss... Before I get a lot into the movie, I will say (and a lot of you might not like it) 'CAPONE' is better than some mainstream gangster movies, like 'THe UNtouchables' for example: to me the untouchables was a HUGE failure (and excuse Mr. De Palma)for a couple of reasons...it didnt stick to reality (Nitti being thrown off a roof and landing on a car?), It glorifies law enforcement, which is a MAJOR DOWNSIDE in mob movies, given the fact that most MOB film fans always root for the bad guys, and it had Kevin Costner in it. I think that the only reason why Untouchables was a hit, was due to its cast.. DeNiro, Costner, Connery, Garcia... et., al. "CAPONE" on the other hand, does a better job portraying the mob and law enforcement, with an unknown, but very talented cast. There's good acting, good cinematography.. but the sound wasnt too good, at least on the VHS version that I own. It would've been better if Capone had been a little "fatter", thats something that I always argue... he should've been an Italian olive.

Bottom line... SEE IT. A very well made movie, with excellent acting, good action scenes and set on beautiful 1930's and late 40's.

The picture concerns about the Treasure officer named Elliot Ness (Scott Paulin) and specially Michael Rourke (magnetically played by Keith Carradine) as good guys , battling bad guys , the Chicago's crime lord , the notorious gangster Al Capone (Ray Sharkey : 1952-1993) and henchman Frank Nitti (Alan Rosenberg) . The Agent Rourke with a steely conviction fights to send the crime chief to Atlanta and Alcatraz prison where his influence is useless , however Elliot Ness holds the glory . It's actually based on true events . Thus , Al Capone (born January 17, 1899 Brooklyn and deceased 1947) , Alfonso Caponi , Scarface , for a scar on his countenance and son from Italians immigrants . He's a youth comrade of Lucky Luciano and Johnny Torrio , both of whom are also from Napolitan origin . Torrio accompanied to Capone are going to Chicago but he is called by his uncle Jim Colosimo . He's murdered and Torrio rules over as Chicago's crime boss , but during his violent confrontation to Dion O'Bannion he decided Capone managed the business .

The picture deals with the violent rise , living in Miami , and fall of the roaring 1920s and 30s' Chicago crime chief , being splendidly played by Sharkey who makes a good character study of one of the most colorful mobsters of the history . Sharkey captures the special excitement or mood of paranoia on Capone role . In the film appears a mobster convention in which are the famous gangsters : Dutch Schulz , Lucky Luciano , Bugsy Siegel , Torrio and Capone . This TV picture is plenty of mayhem , strong stuff , drama and amount of gangland violence . Although sometimes takes a back seat to the real life and catches the imagination in the storyline . This fast-paced film is well directed by Michael Pressman .

I watched the whole thing, and it wasn't awful by any means. You just have to understand that this movie is "based on real characters, but the events bear no relationship to what actually happened...and forget about the anachronisms." I'm not even going to try to list the goofs and errors in the movie. Just kick back and have a good time.

The production values are not too bad, though I doubt that the USA in the 1930s was as clean as it looks here. FDR, Cermak, and some others are a real hoot. I also suspect that Ness was a lot closer to the way he's played here than in other movies and TV shows.

The biggest objection I had was to Ray Sharkey playing Capone. Sorry, but it was a mistake. Sharkey does have a menacing quality about him, but you'd never have known that he was playing Capone unless the dialogue told you. (OK...maybe the scar.) They didn't put any effort at all into making him resemble the paunchy and balding gangster.

Finally, this movie is shot like a TV movie, but it IS worthy of the R rating. It's not really gratuitous, but it stands out.