Although it plays quite liberally with the documented facts and makes a sizable number of historical blunders, this film nonetheless manages to be a worthy and engrossing presentation of the cagey and ambitious, but hot-headed and sadistic Al Capone's rise to power during the Prohibition era. Ben Gazzara delivers a marvelously fierce and volcanic portrayal of the notorious Capone: Cheeks stuffed with cotton, spitting out his profane dialogue with venomous aplomb, and glowering at his minions and enemies alike with unbridled seething rage, Gazzara's Capone makes for an appropriately loathsome and frightening psychopathic hoodlum. The strong supporting cast likewise do well in their parts: Harry Guardino as Capone's shrewd mentor Johnny Torrio, Susan Blakely as brash and free-spirited flapper Iris Crawford, Sylvestor Stallone as the traitorous Frank Nitti, Carmen Argenziano as loyal bodyguard Jack McGurn, John Davis Chandler as hateful rival Hymie Weiss, Royal Dano as crooked politician Anton J. Cermak, Dick Miller as wormy corrupt cop Joe Pryor, and Martin Kove as brutish strong-arm flunky Pete. John Cassavetes makes the most out of his regrettably small role as smooth capo Frankie Yale. Director Steve Carver, working from a tough no-nonsense script by Howard Browne, relates the absorbing story at a constant brisk pace, stages the thrilling shoot-outs with considerable muscular aplomb, and maintains a suitably gritty and hard-hitting tone throughout. Moreover, Carver deserves extra points for his decidedly harsh and unsentimental warts'n'all evocation of the 1920's period setting and his unsparingly graphic and equally unromanticized depiction of the more seamy and vulgar aspects of the mob. Vilis Lapenicks' cinematography makes nifty occasional use of slow motion and freeze frames. David Grisman's tuneful and jaunty score also does the trick. A solid and satisfying movie.
Review of Capone
