Capone (film)

Movie
German title	Capone
Original title	Capone
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1975
length	101 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Steve Carver
script	Howard Browne
production	Roger Corman , ; John C. Broderick
music	David Grisman
camera	Vilis Lapenieks
cut	Richard C. Meyer
occupation
	Ben Gazzara : Al Capone ; Harry Guardino : Johnny Torrio ; Susan Blakely : Iris Crawford; Sylvester Stallone : Frank Nitti ; John Cassavetes : Frankie Yale ; Frank Campanella : Big Jim Colosimo ; John Orchard : Dean O'Banion ; Carmen Argenziano : Jack McGurn ; George Chandler : Robert E. Crowe; John Davis Chandler : Hymie Weiss ; John Howard : Warden J. Johnston;

Capone is an American gangster film from 1975 . Produced by Roger Corman and directed by Steve Carver , the film depicts the rise and fall of Chicago bully Al Capone . Although advertised as a realistic film biography , the plot is essentially reduced to the action elements and does not always do justice to the claim to historical authenticity .

action

Capone's rise is portrayed from 1918 when he became Frankie Yale's henchman in New York . From around 1920 he moved to Chicago to murder the boss there, Big Jim Colosimo, on behalf of his right-hand man, Johnny Torrio . In the further course, Capone's rise to as boss of the Chicago outfit is shown. The gang wars, especially with the North Side Gang around O'Banion , Hymie Weiss and Bugs Moran, take up a significant part of the film . The descent with the conviction for tax evasion, the time in Alcatraz prison and the last few years in Florida, however, are told within a few minutes.

Remarks

The film, produced by B-Movie King Roger Corman , cost only US $ 1 million, which for a set film in Hollywood - also in 1975 - falls into the category of low-budget films .

In addition to other cost-saving measures, the film was produced in mono . In addition, several scenes from the produced also by Roger Corman in 1967 film were Chicago Massacre ( The St. Valentine's Day Massacre ) reused.

To look more like the historical model, Ben Gazzara stuffed his cheeks with cotton pads for the title role and gained 20 pounds from eating spaghetti.

The world premiere took place on April 16, 1975 in the USA. It was released in German cinemas on August 22, 1975.

Reviews

“ Capone reduces the gangster film to a single core component, the shooting. (...) The weapons and the fighters change, but otherwise it always runs according to the same pattern. (...) (The film) deals with its subject energetically, directly and completely unsentimentally, which is one of the small but remarkable virtues of this undemanding film. (…) Capone is not great, but he proceeds with cold effectiveness. This is his stylistic device, whether you like it or not. "

- Vincent Canby : The New York Times

“ Capone was heralded as the film that tells the truth, gives the names, and contains the real facts - and in fact it arguably hit the right date for the Valentine's Day massacre. Nonetheless, it is a particularly gloomy example of a film advertised as a fictionalized documentary. (...) But the lack of factual accuracy would not matter if the film were at least entertaining - which is actually all we hope for in a gangster film. (...) Unfortunately Capone is not much fun. "

- Robert Ebert : Chicago Sun-Times

"Not much is recommended here, except for a surprisingly good performance by Sylvester Stallone as gangster friend Frank Nitti ."

- Don Kaye : All Movie Guide

“A mosaic of broadly played out brutalities and social immorality in an elaborate staging that focuses on the authenticity and de-romanticization of the key figure. As a representation of profitable methods of violence neither new nor of remarkable interest. "

- Lexicon of international film

Faithfulness to facts

Obviously, the makers of the film were less concerned with factual accuracy than with the sex-and-crime elements depicted. In particular, in the area of the motivations of the characters and the causality of the events, some artistic freedoms were withdrawn:

For example, the cooperation between Capone's right-hand man Frank Nitti and Mayor Anton Cermak after the Valentine's Day massacre , during which Nitti came up with the idea of taking Capone out of circulation for tax evasion, is pure fiction .

The advertising messages that emphasize the special authenticity of the film should not be taken too seriously. However, some errors or deviations should be shown as examples:

It was not Capone who shot Big Jim Colosimo in the foyer of the café, as shown in the film, but Frankie Yale , presumably due to Capone's planning.

It was not Frank Nitti and Jack McGurn who shot Dean O'Banion in the famous handshake murder , but it was again Frankie Yale and Anselmi and Scalise .

Frank Nitti could not have visited demented Al Capone on Palm Island, Florida, in 1946 because Nitti had died three years earlier.

The facts mentioned have all been adequately documented and the filmmakers have certainly been aware of them, as detailed questions were often researched very carefully; therefore it can be assumed that the deviations were inserted deliberately and for dramaturgical reasons.