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37 comments in total

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18 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Surprisingly entertaining mob flick, but is short on substance, 6 November 2002

Author: boondocksaint20 from Charleston, SC

This is one of those guilty pleasure movies for me...it combines elements of the great mob movies with fast paced and hard hitting action. For the most part, the director pulls this one off pretty well, at least for what kind of movie he was trying to direct.

I've been reading a lot of comments stating that this movie can't hold a candle anywhere near Goodfellas or Godfather or even Donnie Brasco (all of which are excellent movies). Well, all I have to say is, NO, REALLY?!? I mean come on, with a cast like Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsey and Richard Grieco, what were you expecting? Another Vito Corleone or Lefty Luggiero? This one is aimed at a younger audience (perhaps teens to mid twenties) and I have to admit, they pull it off rather nicely. What I mean is that the movie, though serious throughout, does not try to be an epic, only a high octane crowd pleaser. The action scenes are bloody and well done, and the sets are lovely. Even the acting is surprisingly good, especially Patrick Dempsey and dare I say, Richard '21 Jump Street' Grieco. What kills me about this flick is that, though it is an exciting movie and a more than anything else, an effective time killer, the direction cuts from scene to scene getting straight to the point and little else. This seriously detracts from characterization and overall storytelling (I totally agree with other viewers who said that this movie should be at least an hour longer). I mean, at the beginning, we are vaguely introduced to our protagonists, and then five minutes later, they are in their twenties, and have already established themselves as small time crooks. How? Movies like Goodfellas and Once Upon a Time in America are great movies partly b\c they had wonderful scenes of the main characters as children, so we can see their motives when they eventually become mobsters. This one, like I said, jumps from one scene to another, not wasting a second on dramatic pauses or even characterization. It seriously reminds you of a cookie-cutter Jerry Bruckheimer production, minus the explosions. It does have nice touches here and there of authentic 1920-1930's life and old movies depicting that era which gives the film class (the tunes, the model-T's, the dancers, the neighborhoods and finally, the spinning newspaper headlines) instead of just being another Young Guns meets the Goodfellas. However, as I said, the film's objective, to make a fast paced mafia movie with popular actors suceeds, but it also leads to its biggest downfall of limited characterization. It is hard to feel for (or despise) characters without knowing their background all too well...all we get is, hey Lucky had a hard life, Benny likes to kill people, Don Massaria is fat, the other Don is a bad fella...anyway you catch my drift.

All in all, not a bad film, though it should have been longer. Watch this one only when it's on cable or when you have time to kill, for it is rather visually pleasing and entertaining. Overall, it is a movie that doesn't pretend to be something it's not, it's a decent film with a lot of action and good performances. I give it 7/10 stars.

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14 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Mini Mobsters, 13 January 2000

Author: John Taylor (gbg36@dial.pipex.com) from Bedfordshire, England

As much as I love Gangster movies there is something that is not quite right about this film.Im not sure the problem is that the actors are just a little bit too young to pull it off if the film should have been an hour longer as there seems to be too much squeezed into 100 minutes. Having said all that i did enjoy this film. Christian Slater has a charm all of his own and is good as Lucky Luciano. Nice and Violent as well! 6 out of 10

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16 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
I think this movie should have a higher rating., 10 June 2002
Author: martymaster (martymaster@hotmail.com) from Fredrikstad, Norway

This is a good mafia movie,with good story telling,good acting and good atmosphere.I really enjoy mafia movies,and therefore I think this movie is underrated.The story is not unlike other mafia movies,about robbing each other and killing everyone in the way,but off course with class. Highly underrated,good movie.

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13 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
nice decor, pity about the blood on the rug, 10 July 2001
Author: Philby-3 from Sydney, Australia

This movie is based on the rise of four leading organised crime figures, from the end of WW 1 to the early thirties. The central character, Charles (Lucky) Luciano (Christian Slater)is credited, if that's the right word, for introducing modern corporate governance to a group of organisations previously based on ethnic affiliation and loyalty to a chief. So, in the movie he and his associates Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello and Bugsy Siegel works to bring down two aging Dons whose time has come. The Dons, played by Anthony Quinn and Michael Gambon, are certainly ruthless, but their imaginations are limited. The young turks on the other hand see new markets and new alliances. In the new mafia, Irishmen, Russian Jews and others work alongside Italians.

The period is evoked beautifully in shades of brown and cream. Unfortunately many scenes have a certain sameness to them - a couple of hoods meet in some office or hotel for a delicate business chat, each armed to the teeth. When an impass is reached the guns blaze away. This gets boring after a while and you start to wonder why they don't use the phone sometimes. It isn't because the FBI are after them (the IRS was a bit more successful) and they have the New York cops in their pocket. There are some very bloody scenes depicted with gratuitious graphicness.

Luciano and to a lesser extent Lansky are quite sympathetically depicted, with many of the killings being of "let's kill them before they kill us variety." Poor old Tony Quinn is put down not even able to remember the guy whose death is being avenged. One thing that does come out is that organised crime was in the US long before the prohibition era, but the money made then financed the mob into many other areas, pre-eminently gambling in Cuba and Las Vegas. Meyer Lansky was the biggest investor in the early Vegas casino the "Flamingo", opened I think, by Bugsy Siegal.

This is a moderately interesting account, though with some substantial departures from the historical record. Apart from all the gore my objection to it is that it glamourises some very nasty people who did a great deal of damage to American public life. The FBI, and all its attacks on civil liberties, justified its existence by reference to organised crime, yet did little to stop it. After the time covered by the film Luciano was imprisoned not through the efforts of the FBI but through those of NY prosecutor Thomas Dewey. Luciano was eventually deported to Italy, after assisting the OSS, forerunner of the CIA, in their wartime dealings with the Sicilian mafia. Al Capone, a bit player here, was famously imprisoned for tax evasion. Meyer Lansky was charged with tax evasion in the early 1970s, but beat the rap. He died peacfully at 81 in retirement in Florida. His family not only maintain his grave, but also a web site about him.

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10 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
The Young Guns of Mobster Flicks, 5 August 2000

Author: LATENITE from Chicago, IL

I couldn't believe that this movie was going to be even somewhat good after looking at the cover of the box. Boy, was I wrong, Mobsters sure did not disappoint me and I think I've seen just about every mafia/mob movie ever made in the last 50 years. I'm not saying this goes up there with Goodfellas and The Godfather's, but it definitely deserves some credit. The acting for the most part is very well-done. There is some good action with a fair amount of bloodshed, great set designs, and a good cast. I'm not sure exactly how historically accurate this movie is, but nevertheless, it pulls through to bring an overall good mob flick.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
very impressive, 19 March 2002
Author: carangi from rotterdam

I must say, I don't really agree with what most other people have to say about this movie. I must admit it has its ups and downs, especially when it comes to the casting. Casting Christian Slater as Lucky Luciano was just ridiculous. He is just so the wrong type. He is a good actor, but this part does not suit him at all! It is a different story for several other people. I must say I was very impressed with the performances of Richard Grieco and Lara Flynn Boyle. Richard clearly shows he can do a lot more than just being the pretty boy. He was probably the best choice for the part. Violent and sensual. He even manages to do a quite funny scene, when his character gets angry, because someone tells him he does not kill with style. I did not know what to expect from him, as I had only seen him in "21 Jump Street", but give him a chance, because he will not disappoint you. Lara Flynn Boyle's performance is wonderful. Too bad her part was so small, as I would have loved to see more of her in this movie. She shows here clearly she can do so much more than cheap comedies. Usually I would give this film 8 out of 10, but because of Richard and Lara, I will make it 9.

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11 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
The story of 'Lucky' Luciano!, 25 May 2005

Author: Devin (d_e_v_i_n-1)

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.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Pointless, 20 January 2008

Author: culmo80 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I'm sorry, I really tried to like this movie but it just was rather pointless.

Yes, it's the dramatization of the real-life rise to power of some of the most successful criminals in US history, however, the writers seemed to want to cram as much of their lives into as little time as possible. For instance, in one scene we see Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky in a car that is then shot at by a hit-man. 5-10 minutes later in the film, they are all sitting in a room, talking about this incident with the hit-man...obviously some great deal of time has passed but this was a little confusing at first.

Perhaps if they had stretched the movie out another hour or so, they could have built up the characters some more, including the villains. When Christian Slater has his friends throw the don out the window, he says it is revenge for ruining his father. The ruining of his father took oh about 45 seconds of screen-time at the very beginning of the film.

I suppose the point is that there was no point to this film. It tried to show the intrigue of the organized crime gangs of the 20's and 30's and it tried to portray the rise of Bugsy Siegel, Lansky, Costello, and Luciano as well as be an action/drama/love story. It came up flat in all areas.

Christian Slater...his fake accent was pretty annoying as well. Luciano was born in Sicili and would not have spoken with such an accent anyway.

The Godfather, this was not. Goodfellas, this was not. I like movies about the Mafia like anyone else but this was just weak.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Not recommended, 24 December 2003

Author: natdaddyonasis from United States

This movie never seems to develop enough of its characters or of its plot to even be considered as a quality film. The actors never seem authentic as "mobsters", especially Patrick Dempsey as Meyer Lansky, and to a lesser extent, Christian Slater as Lucky Luciano, a character portrayed much better by Andy Garcia in "Hoodlum." The script is incredibly weak and even classic actors such as Anthony Quinn, Michael Gambon, and F. Murray Abraham are unable to save this horrific movie. However, the film's best performances come from Michael Gambon, Christopher Penn, Costas Mandylor, and surprisingly Richard Grieco as Bugsy Siegel. For better gangster flicks, and better movies period I recommend "Scarface", "Hoodlum", "Carlito's Way", "The Godfather" series, and "Goodfellas", just to name a few.

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2 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
La Cosa Nostra in Training, 25 September 2007

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Mobsters casts four young players of the day as four of the legendary gangland figures of the 20th Century in their salad days. Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsey, Richard Grieco, and Costas Mandylor play Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Frank Costello respectively. The film is a fictionalized account of how the four of them wound up on top of the gangland heap.

Michael Gambon and Anthony Quinn play the two old style Mobsters who are rivals for the title of boss of all bosses in the New York City area. Playing Charles Ferranzano and Joe Masseria the two of them control most of the illegal liquor trade which gave organized crime in this country it's real foothold. But our young men prove to be tough, smart and resilient as they play off the two old bosses against the middle.

Mobsters as a film captures the ambiance of New York during prohibition very well. I'm not sure I would have cast Christian Slater as Lucky Luciano, still Slater does very well with the part. Richard Grieco as Bugsy Siegel is very good, you can see the genesis of Warren Beatty's character when he played Siegel in his film, Bugsy.

Note should also be mentioned of F. Murray Abraham as Twenties gambler Arnold Rothstein who was the initial sponsor of the young mobsters in training. And Nick Sadler is one frightening Mad Dog Coll. You'll see quite graphically where his nickname came from.

Mobsters is good viewing, not exactly historically accurate, but actually sticks closer to the truth than most films of this type.

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