Review of Al Capone

I must begin by saying that few people today will ever know what the real Al Capone was like, though there are many excellent biographies of him available. What Rod Steiger does , along with the screen writers Wald and Greenberg, is to create a believable character, who we accept as the genuine Capone. From the moment he first saunters into a Chicago speakeasy on the eve of Prohibition to accept a job as bouncer, to the SPOILERS AHEAD: hard and dangerous life of a a convict at Alcatraz prison, he is utterly convincing. Steiger captures a vivid, larger than life portrayal of a criminal who is by turns funny, charming, brutal, truly frightening, and very aware of himself as a showman for the public. The scenes in which Capone makes self glorifying speeches about being a mere businessman and a public benefactor are quite faithful to the real Al Capone's frequent public comments on the subject. The rest of the cast is made up of good actors who give excellent performances. The gravelly voiced Murvyn Vye is hilarious as glum, humorless Bugs Moran, with a clever performance within a performance by Robert Gist, whose ruthless gangster Dion O'Banion plays the role of lovable Irishman to fool people into thinking he's not really dangerous. Nehemiah Persoff is a standout in the role of Capone's mentor Johnny Torrio, and James Gregory is good as the hardboiled police detective Schaefer who narrates the film. Martin Balsam is excellent as the corrupt reporter who acts as a go-between for Capone and legitimate society . His expression of wounded innocence when berated by the detective for being just a crook himself is marvelous. The strongest praise, aside from that due to Steiger, goes to Fay Spain for her incredibly powerful portrayal of a gangland widow romanced by Capone. She is nothing short of electrifying in the scene in which she, half laughing, half screaming, denounces Capone for his smiling attempt to compensate her for the death of her husband by offering to pay for the funeral. This scene alone is worth watching the entire movie for. The Twenties settings and characters are well done, and a surprising amount of real history is reenacted. Some is necessarily speculation about exactly how a murder was planned or who carried it out, but the story always has the feeling of being pretty much as it would have been. The only weakness I see in an otherwise solid production is the preachy narration by the detective character, but it does provide a sense of logical story development and a historical perspective. For anyone interested in seeing another of Steiger's amazing gallery of characters, and all fans of gangster movies, this is well worth seeing.