Bugsy | | Cast : | Warren Beatty, Annette Bening | | Director : | Barry Levinson | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | December 20, 1991 | | DVD Released Date : | March 23, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 05, 2005 | | Summary | Snake Eyes | Content
 | Bugsy Siegel: mobster lunatic visionary, poet, prophet, a mercurial monster and marketing supergenius, a living contradiction, a man known to fly into a wild rage if a stranger called him "Bugsy" to his face, who simultaneously encouraged his Nom De Guerre among his friends, his enemies, and his publicists.
Bugsy Siegel, who revelled in his gangster image, even had screen-tests shot of himself with a Tommy-gun looking hard and "blazing" away at the screen---this hardboiled felon worked slavishly at English diction to erase traces of his Brooklyn brogue.
A suave wildman and visionary who made water---and money---flow in the middle of the desert, and even volunteered his services to put a bullet through Mussolini's heart. '
Now: to crawl over the crater-pocked landscape of cinematic exposition here would be a bore and a waste, compared to the embarrassment of riches that is Barry Levinson's masterpiece "Bugsy", a flick that will go down with "Scarface", "The Godfather", "Goodfellas", and "Heat" as one of the greatest gangster classics of all time. This is a gorgeous, sumptuous, lush, seductive movie. Watch it.
You're in competent hands here, Gangster. Check that Tommy-gun and let's add up the bar tab on this piece of work---you remember things from "Bugsy", forever, seared into memory because that's just how good this movie is:
*Bugsy (Warren Beatty, at an effortless best) catching the scent of a woman and waking up with her hours later, setting the stage;
*Bugsy kicking the tar out of a mobster who lewdly insults new gangster moll Virginia Hill (played winsomely by an insanely delectable Annette Bening), kicking the thug into yesteryear---and still checking his hair in the glass;
*Bugsy, eyes covered in cucumber-slices, lounging in terry-cloth with crony mobster Mickey Cohen (the incomparable Harvey Keitel, underplaying it masterfully) by the pool;
*Cohen and Bugsy, framed against the bleak Nevada desert, suits crisp, sky searing cobalt blue, plotting a gambling Sin-iverse, Virginia Hill stealing off to LA in a steely dorsal-finned Cadillac;
*Bugsy and a pauncy, childish, confused Harry Greenberg (Elliott Gould, packing lots of flesh) going for a 'ride';
*Bugsy, eyes cloaked in stylish tech-noir shades, fulminating against Meyer Lansky's (Ben Kingsley, in fine form) accountants, who serve as the vanguard of the Mob protest against the Flamingo's ever-skyrocketing cost overruns, the sand, the silt, the callousness;
*Bugsy forcing a mobster to crawl on the floor of his office, barking like a dog---and Virginia Hill, realizing the blood of a cruel monster that flows through her mercurial lover's veins, passionately kissing his hand---
*Virginia Hill and Bugsy parting, at the biplane. This is a scene seared in my memory: a classic, like the "We'll always have Paris" Bogey line. Fog. Mist. Merciless Weather. The Mob, moving in for the Kill.
Bugsy Siegel was a shark in human skin, the American Dream made flesh. He deserved a great cinematic biography: Levinson delivers in spades. Watch this one, it's for the Ages: if you don't love it, you don't have a pulse.
JSG
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| Rating | | | Date | November 06, 2004 | | Summary | Average At Best | Content
| Saw Bugsy yesterday and after 14 years of being released, it doesnt hold up. Beatty isnt bad as Bugsy Siegel, in fact he actually does a very good job IMO. Benning on the other hand, i could not tolerate her character at all, and kept wondering why someone as clever as BUgsy would let a Harlet let Benning be his downfall.
Ben Kingsley and Harvey Keitel are excellent as always with every film. The set design is beautfiul, but i wont give Barry Levinson points for that. He has been working on the set for over 20 years if you go back to "Diner" and such movies.
The violence in this film is badly filmed as well. A fight between Bugsy and Johny A is horribly filmed and for the most part the sounds of the punches/knees dont match up and it doesnt even look like Bugsy is hitting him.
Plot wise, I kept waiting for more. No mob violence, no huge plot arcs, no character development. You could see the ending coming a mile away even if you didnt know the history of Bugsy. IMO Bugsy came across as a medicore talented man. I think his "vision" is played up too much. Hes easily wrecked by some two bit tramp and he has no feet grounded in reality. My only dissappointment is that when he gets his in the end, Benning isnt right there to get it with him.
And upon hearing Bugsy is dead, Bennings character actually goes into tears. All this after she has stolen 2 Million in Bugsy's and mob money. Yeah I feel sorry for her.
Goodfella's this aint. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 03, 2004 | | Summary | A Slice of Los Angeles History Brought to Life | Content
| Ben Siegel was an fascinating man.... yes, he was a gangster of the highest order, but well-liked, too-handsome, and charming... powerful and at times quite ruthless. Beatty does a fine job in his character, but at times his performance seems forced and he is clearly about 10 years older than Bugsy would have been. The story too, is a bit overly fictionalized from the facts and in the process, there are some holes in the plot. The "F word" is used by nearly everyone in this film, even when inappropriate.... and in the 1940s, the use of that word was rare, even by gansters, much less by women. On the plus side, this is still an engaging and well-crafted film and gives a taste of what the real Mr. Siegel might have been like. The set design and production of this film is first rate... some of the most authentic re-creations of early Hollywood I have seen on film... and the costumes are marvelous. This film's strong points are solid characters by the supporting cast, set decoration, superior matte paintings and an impressive music score. Worth seeing, but not on the level of LA Confidential, Chinatown or even Mulholland Falls in my opinion. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 09, 2003 | | Summary | A FINE GANGSTER FILM, BUT ISN'T ONE OF THE FINEST. | Content
| "Bugsy" is a very well made movie, but has the bad luck of being part of a genre with huge competition: the gangster film genre. With such classics as "The Godfather" trilogy, "GoodFellas", "Scarface", "Once Upon A Time In America", "Bonnie And Clyde", "The Untouchables", "Angels With Dirty Faces", etc, etc, etc, "Bugsy" looks like a minor classic.
However, this is a movie that deserves at least a look. It has a deluxe cast (Warren Beatty, the pretty Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley, Harvey Keitel, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna, among others), a good director (Barry Levinson), a fascinating main character (gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel), good music (courtesy of composer Ennio Morricone), well, overall the film has good elements.
"Bugsy" is a good movie, but with several superior movies in the genre, it's not an essential movie. |
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