The rise and fall of the American gangster Louis 'Lepke' Buchalter, based sort of on his true story. There is nothing original in it's approach. It could well be a Warner Brothers gangster movie from the 1930's, just with added gore. It is a long film with a wide cast of characters so sometimes it is not easy to know who is who or who is shooting who. Tony Curtis was fine as Lepke as was Vic Tayback as Lucky Luciano, Milton Berle as Mr. Meyer and Michael Callan as the friendly lawyer Robert Kane. Also enjoyed J. S. Johnson as the diffident almost comic assassin Mendy Weiss. Unfortunately there was nothing in the film as a whole to lift it above the competent.
The electric chair scene at the end is presumably there to make Lepke more sympathetic but it doesn't really achieve that but as a depiction of the electrocution process it is harrowing.
The electric chair scene at the end is presumably there to make Lepke more sympathetic but it doesn't really achieve that but as a depiction of the electrocution process it is harrowing.