Billy Bathgate – Gangster School by Robert Benton (1991)
A new installment in this series dedicated to films about criminal enterprises.
In 1935, a young Irish boy living in the Bronx meets the Jewish gangster Dutch Schultz and begins his criminal career.
“It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” (Dutch Schultz)
Dutch Schultz
His real name was Arthur Simon Flegenheimer, but he earned the famous nickname thanks to his particularly violent methods and his “Germanic” physique, after a difficult childhood spent in Bronx criminal gangs where he first experienced his father’s abandonment and then the years in reform school.
He then moved on, alongside notable figures like Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, and Bugsy Siegel, to work for Jewish gangster Rothstein, before going solo in the alcohol smuggling business.
He entered into direct competition with his former associate, Legs Diamond, and the ensuing conflict resulted in many deaths on both sides.
After Prohibition ended, Schultz shifted his focus to controlling various rackets: horse race betting, illegal lotteries, and prostitution.
He also imposed a protection tax on local merchants, scarring those who refused with acid.
Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey tried twice to indict him for tax evasion, but Schultz was acquitted in both trials. After these episodes, Schultz proposed to the Commission (the organization governing illegal activities) to have the prosecutor killed, but the other bosses refused.
Convinced there was a plot against him to deliver him to justice, Schultz decided to act alone.
This marked the beginning of his end: at 10:30 PM on October 23, 1935, inside a nightclub, he was ambushed under orders from the bosses.
A gang of nine hitmen ended his life, along with his accountant and two bodyguards.
Schultz was hit by three bullets and died twenty hours later in a hospital bed.
Robert Benton starts with E.L. Doctorow’s novel and creates a film that draws its strength mainly from the performances of the actors, all perfectly at ease in their respective roles.
From the now-undisputed Dustin Hoffman to the young Loren Dean (then just over 20), passing through other greats like Steve Buscemi and Bruce Willis. A significant role also goes to a young Nicole Kidman, who holds her own against the rest of the cast.
The characters, the settings, and the plot development are certainly familiar and typical of the genre, but the film is worth watching for its atmosphere and the well-crafted depiction of the Great Depression era in America.
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