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.
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.