Al Capone

Al Capone - this criminal, and one of the most infamous men of the twentieth century - has been played by a number of great actors, including Paul Muni, Edward G Robinson, Jason Robards and Robert De Niro. Rod Steiger did him in 1959, in a powerful adaptation by Richard Wilson. The 50s have given us several cinematic biographies from the underworld of the 20s: including Machine Gun Kelly and The Bonny Parker Story. The same Miss Parker appeared in the 60s film Bonnie and Clyde, and was joined by Ma Baker and her sons in Bloody Mama and, once again, Capone in The St Valentine's Day Massacre. The 70s brought us the Godfather films, the 80s more Capone in The Untouchables and the 90s more The Godfather and GoodFellas. Gangsters work on film, even Griffith understood that. This 1959 model is in pale black and white cinema verite style and we get to follow Capone from his first 75 a week job to his last days at Alcatraz. The rhythm is phrenetic and Steiger hypnotic. As a gangster we saw him in On the Waterfront, and a little later, as a slightly bigger gangster, in The Harder They Fall. But with his depiction of the greatest of gangsters, he has gone full circle and reached the top. His interpretation is carried to an extreme and borders on caricature, but Steiger literally fills the screen as the evil one once filled his empire.

Premiärstatus
–: Medverkande
Rod Steiger, Fay Spain, Martin Balsam: Producent
John H. Burrows: Manus
Marvin Wald & Henry Greenberg: Foto
Lucien Ballard: Musik
David Raksin: Talat språk
English