Mobsters (1991)

Director:

Michael Karbelnikoff

Writers (WGA):

Michael Mahern (story)
Michael Mahern (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 July 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

They rose from nothing to rule everything.

Plot:

The story of a group of friends in turn of the century New York, from their early days as street hoods to their rise in the world of organized crime...

Plot Keywords:

Death | Revenge | Mafia | Italian American | Betrayal

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Christian Slater	...	Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano
Costas Mandylor	...	Frank Costello
Richard Grieco	...	Bugsy Siegel
Jeremy Schoenberg	...	Crapshooter
Miles Perlich	...	Crapshooter
Alan Charof	...	Rabbi
Patrick Dempsey	...	Meyer Lansky
Anto Nolan	...	Irish Cop
Rodney Eastman	...	Joey
Andy Romano	...	Antonio Luciano
Bianca Rossini	...	Rosalie Luciano
Stevie Restivo	...	Little Brother
Caroline Gillette	...	Little Sister
Robert Z'Dar	...	Rocco
Michael Gambon	...	Don Salvatore Faranzano

Also Known As:

Gangsters (USA) (working title)
The Evil Empire
Das teuflische Imperium (Germany) [de]
Die wahren Bosse (Germany) [de]
El imperio del crimen (Argentina) [es]
El imperio del mal (Spain) [es]
I aftokratoria tou eglimatos (Greece) [el]
Império do Crime (Brazil) [pt]
L'impero del crimine (Italy) [it]
Mafijasi (Serbia) (TV title) [sr]
Mobsters - mot maktens höjder (Sweden) [sv]
O Império do Mal (Portugal) [pt]
Pahuuden valtakunta (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

104 min | Brazil:121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:R (original rating) | Iceland:16 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M (cable rating) | Finland:K-18 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

160 San Rafael Avenue, Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Michael Gambon's first American film.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In real life, after the assassination of Joe 'The Boss' Masseria, one of the gunmen, (reputedly Ben Siegel), placed an Ace of Spades playing cards between the dead man's fingers. However, the film makes no mention of this fact.

Quotes:

Arnold Rothstein: I have ships and distilleries in Scotland. I need distribution in New York.
Lucky: Masseria? Faranzano?
Arnold Rothstein: Either of them would kill me.
Lucky: And I wouldn't because...?
Arnold Rothstein: You have Jewish partners.
Lucky: Maybe I kill them too.
Arnold Rothstein: You can't afford to; you're in the squeeze. Either Masseria or Faranzano realize you exist, they squash you like an ant...
Lucky: [the penny drops for him] ... Unless I get a powerful friend, right?
Arnold Rothstein: [indicates himself] Exactly.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Men Named Milo, Women Named Greta (2000)

The story of 'Lucky' Luciano!

I have always been very interested in the mob from early 1900 to the 50's. This film didn't disappoint me, probably because I wasn't expecting much. I knew this film was just made in order to get 4 young rising actors on screen together. Those actors being Christian Slater whom would later go to star in Brocken Arrow with John Trovolta. Patrick Dempsey who plays Meyer Lansky, Richard Grieco who plays Bugsy Siegel (The man who made Las Vegas) and Costas Mandylor as Frank Costello.

The film feels very rushed and it seems the producers were more interested in the action rather than story which is interesting on its own. THe characters arnt developed very well but as someone who has read up on all of them I felt as if I already knew them. Christian Slater does the best but looks nothing like the real Luciano. The film was too short running in at around 105 minutes. I think the director's and writers should have sat down and watched GOODFELLAS which was made the year before.