When Vic Morrow in the title role proclaims to the assembled members of his freshly formed organization, "I'm a Bronx boy!" you can feel he wasn't just acting. A Jewish boy from the Bronx (N.Y.) himself, Vic Morrow was made for the role of the Jewish mobster Dutch Schultz, known as the Beer Baron of the Bronx. And when Schultz reminisces to Leslie Parrish about getting respect on the mean streets of the East Bronx by being tougher than anyone else, you get the impression Morrow is summoning up his own experiences. He is simply superb in the role, portraying Schultz as brutally ambitious, cruel and crude ("I'm sorry he got plugged," Schultz says to the daughter of a man he himself killed.) yet oddly sympathetic, the product of a criminal environment who had little choice but to turn out as he did.
This black and white picture lacks high production values, marquee names or a brilliant script. It scrambles some of the known facts in Schultz's life and shortchanges some important characters. What it does have is sharp, memorable characterizations--of Schultz himself, of Mafia boss "Lucky" Luciano (who in fact took out the "contract" on Schultz), with actor Ray Danton reprising his portrayal of "Legs" Diamond, and "Mad Dog" Coll.
This black and white picture lacks high production values, marquee names or a brilliant script. It scrambles some of the known facts in Schultz's life and shortchanges some important characters. What it does have is sharp, memorable characterizations--of Schultz himself, of Mafia boss "Lucky" Luciano (who in fact took out the "contract" on Schultz), with actor Ray Danton reprising his portrayal of "Legs" Diamond, and "Mad Dog" Coll.