Top 10 Untouchable Real-life Movie Gangsters
Where would the cinema world be without gangsters? The gun-blazing standoffs, ballsy bank stickups, mobster massacres … they’ve all contributed to some of the biggest moments in movie history. But there’s a special subset of the genre that blurs fantasy and reality, those films that portray the real, bigger-than-life gangsters.
Top 10 Untouchable Real-Life Movie Gangsters
Where would the cinema world be without gangsters? The gun-blazing standoffs, ballsy bank stickups, mobster massacres … they’ve all contributed to some of the biggest moments in movie history. But there’s a special subset of the genre that blurs fantasy and reality, those films that portray the real, bigger-than-life gangsters.
Did Capone really intimidate like Robert De Niro in Brian De Palma’s THE UNTOUCHABLES? Did Bonnie and Clyde have as great a time as Beatty and Dunaway did (for a while, at least) in Arthur Penn’s classic? Hell, it’s better to not ask, and just enjoy the folklore. Here are ten favorite film gangsters who gained their infamy in the real world before the celluloid one.
Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.10. Rod Steiger as Al Capone – AL CAPONE (1959)
Robert De Niro may have created the most memorable big-screen impression of Capone in THE UNTOUCHABLES, but Rod Steiger took on the infamous gangster first. In this straight-ahead bio, Steiger plays the Chicago crime lord as a hefty personality, from his time as Prohibition-era King to his takedown by the FBI. With audience tastes more sophisticated than five decades ago, Steiger’s performance looms almost too large to be taken seriously. But it commands the movie, and sets a precedent for the actor’s diverse resume as a big-screen bad guy: he would later co-star as real-life mobster Sam Giancana in the TV miniseries SINATRA, play Mussolini in THE LAST FOUR DAYS and even take on the role of Napoleon in WATERLOO.
Author: Norm Schrager
Love gangster films? Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.9. Charles Bronson as Machine Gun Kelly – MACHINE-GUN KELLY (1958)
Bronson. The name alone triggers images of a tough guy, brow furrowed, pointing a gun at some unsuspecting bastard who has it coming. But long before the actor played a New York street vigilante in DEATH WISH, he got his first starring role as bank robber George “Machine Gun” Kelly, in this 1958 Roger Corman-directed black-and-white bio. The clean-shaven, square-jawed Bronson looks like an earlier generation’s Josh Brolin, and he gets some early firing-range practice by shooting up banks instead of sleazebags. We learn that Kelly had his fears and would slug a dame, but this is generally campy, cool fun, with Corman’s creative, budget-conscious filmmaking.
Author: Norm Schrager
Love gangster films? Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.8. Robert De Niro as Sam Rothstein (Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal) – CASINO (1995)
It’s widely understood that the bookmaker De Niro plays in Martin Scorsese’s conflicted view of Las Vegas history is based on real-life sports gambler Lefty Rosenthal. While CASINO relies on an incendiary Joe Pesci to fulfill the sociopathic mobster role, De Niro creates a quieter character whose downfall is his obsession with a woman, played with typical overwrought energy by Sharon Stone. De Niro knows how to bring dangerous flaws to a powerful character (um, RAGING BULL), and here we both despise him and feel for him. You know that car explosion that bookends the film? It was based on an assassination attempt on the real Frank Rosenthal in 1982. And the result you see in the movie was true. Talk about “untouchable.”
Author: Norm Schrager
Love gangster films? Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.7. Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow – BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
As the legendary Depression-era crime couple, Beatty and Dunaway are sexy and spontaneous, looking like Hollywood stars and acting like a revolution in the making. And that’s exactly what director Arthur Penn’s classic film signified, an upheaval of the long-standing studio system by films that reflected the anger and spirit of the late 1960s. Nominated for 10 Oscars, BONNIE AND CLYDE would open the door for EASY RIDER and other counter-culture classics—and introduce audiences to stylized, unflinching violence for the Vietnam War era.
Author: Norm Schrager
Love gangster films? Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.6. Michael Stuhlbarg as Arnold Rothstein – BOARDWALK EMPIRE (2010)
Famous Jewish mobster Rothstein, best known for allegedly fixing the 1919 World Series, has been portrayed on-screen a half-dozen times, but never with the intimidation Stuhlbarg presents in the acclaimed HBO series. Rothstein’s essence is summarized brilliantly in a Season One monologue, in which he threatens gangster Frankie Yale with a sordid tale of how he tricked a gambler into choking to death on a cue ball, as he says, “for my own amusement.” Stuhlbarg’s delivery is matter-of-fact yet ominous, setting up a Rothstein that’s as shrewd and vicious as any of the series’ real-life heavies.
Author: Norm Schrager
Love gangster films? Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.5. Johnny Depp as Joe Pistone – DONNIE BRASCO (1997)
Depp has been known to effectively morph into fantastical characters – from Edward Scissorhands to Willy Wonka – but his “deep cover” portrayal of FBI undercover agent Pistone is one of his most exciting achievements. As seen In Mike Newell’s 1997 film, Pistone spends years inside the NYC mob, ultimately losing the handle on his own identity. Depp makes the transformation subtle and tragic, giving up an aging mob soldier (Al Pacino, in the most unlikely gangster role of his life), and realizing he’s been a bad guy himself for so long, it’s probably his only reality.
Author: Norm Schrager
Love gangster films? Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.4. Ray Liotta as Henry Hill – GOODFELLAS (1990)
He lived the mob life for decades, turned on his own people, and became an indispensable part of American mafia lore. He was Henry Hill, a tough mover and shaker, a “goodfella” who could never “get made” due to his mixed bloodline. In what is arguably Martin Scorsese’s most beloved film, Liotta is a force of nature as Hill, turning from a reasonable street-smart charmer to a drug-addled bundle of paranoia. Later in life, Hill (who died in June) was a silly, semi-regular guest on The Howard Stern Show, having probably become the schnook he feared he might at the end of Scorsese’s kinetic masterpiece.
Author: Norm Schrager
Love gangster films? Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.3. Warren Oates as John Dillinger – DILLINGER
Warren Oates could have spent his career enjoying badass movie cred just for playing in Sam Peckinpah’s THE WILD BUNCH. But the snarling actor upped his tough-guy ante by starring in writer-director John Milius’ take on famed 1930s bank crook Dillinger. Milius gives DILLINGER an aggressive 1970s indie style – we first meet Dillinger from a bank teller’s point-of-view, gun pointed at us – borrowing from a range of films, from THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY up to BONNIE AND CLYDE. This is a real showcase for Oates’ acting prowess and his affection for Milius’ crackling dialogue. Check out Richard Dreyfuss in his first feature as real-life robber Lester ‘Baby Face Nelson.’
Author: Norm Schrager
Love gangster films? Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.2. Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas – AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007)
Brilliant drug kingpin Lucas gets the epic treatment from director Ridley Scott in this crime saga that’s as good as any of Scott’s modern classics. AMERICAN GANGSTER tracks Lucas’ ascension to power as a 1970s heroin hustler who bypassed the middle-distribution process by going right to the source in Asia. Russell Crowe is a detective working to take down Lucas, setting up a parallel between one white man who’s part of the system and one black man above the fray, both driven and persistent. As the blindly ambitious Lucas, Washington brings the confident gait and comfortable swagger he’s flaunted in previous hero roles to this flawed anti-hero.
Author: Norm Schrager
Love gangster films? Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.1. Robert De Niro as Al Capone – THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987)
In his unforgettable portrayal of Chicago mob boss Capone, De Niro walks loudly and carries a big stick. Or in this case, a baseball bat. There’s not much subtlety in De Niro’s performance but what do you expect? Brian De Palma’s G-men thriller, written with masculine crunch by David Mamet, is full of the director’s well-known bombast and overdone style—c’mon, he even recreates film scholar favorite THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN without a wink or a nudge in sight. Kevin Costner takes the leading role here as Eliot Ness and Sean Connery won the Oscar, but De Niro’s intensity hovers over the film; his visage even sits atop the film’s marketing, Capone as some demi-God overlooking his kingdom.
Author: Norm Schrager
Love gangster films? Don't miss THE UNTOUCHABLES, airing this month on Sundance Channel.
