Bugsy

Warren Beatty’s fascination with, and desire to make and star in, a film about Bugsy Siegel goes back to the late 1970s. The world was already in a love affair with mobster movies again thanks to Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo’s one-two punch of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II; Beatty himself had even played the infamous bank robber Clyde Barrow the previous decade. But Bugsy Siegel was a different kind of gangster, part of an organized crime syndicate who infamously played a key role in the building up of Las Vegas with his Flamingo Hotel and Casino project. He also infamously was killed when budgets for building The Flamingo skyrocketed and he was accused of skimming money off the top. This was a fascinating historical figure and one ripe for the big-screen treatment. This was one of Beatty’s dream projects and by the early 1990s he was finally able to make it happen. 

Bugsy Siegel was an American gangster, born of Jewish immigrants, who became fascinated with Hollywood, the movies, and eventually in building a desert city where gambling was legal. There is so much in just that aspect alone that it is a little disappointing so much creative license was taken with the real history. The big events are factual but everything else is either invented for the film or shuffled around to the point it no longer resembles the true history. With such a fertile story to work with it could have been more faithful to the truth and still presented a powerful and intriguing story. As is, it is still a well-crafted movie with just enough of a foothold in reality to inspire people to learn more about this transcendental time in American history. 

The best kinds of biopics are those that focus on a specific time rather than trying to tackle a lifetime of events. We don’t need to see Bugsy growing up on the streets or how he got involved in organized crime. That part of the story is inconsequential to this movie and is wisely not even touched upon. We are introduced to him just prior to him being sent to Los Angeles on assignment, an assignment that kicks off the last phase of his life and the focus of this film.

The setting is 1941, and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (Warren Beatty), long-time partner in crime with Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley) and Charlie “Lucky” Luciano (Bill Graham), is sent on a short trip to Los Angeles to meet up with movie star George Raft (Joe Mantegna). Though this trip is supposed to be short, Siegel proceeds to fall in love with tough-talking starlet Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), buys a house in Beverly Hills, and intends to stay while his wife and two daughters stay behind in New York. Siegel’s assigned task while in Los Angeles is to protect the lucrative bookmaking rackets Luciano and Lansky run in partnership with LA crime family boss Jack Dragna (Richard C. Sarafian). 

Mickey Cohen (Harvey Keitel), an ascending Jewish gangster, robs Dragna’s operation one day. When Bugsy confronts him, he decides that he would rather be in business with Cohen than Dragna, so he puts Cohen in charge of the betting casinos and confronts Dragna, forcing him to admit to having stolen $14,000 from the mob. Bugsy informs Dragna that he now answers to Cohen. 

On a business trip to Nevada to visit a rough, but mildly profitable gambling joint, Bugsy is inspired to shut down that business, without consulting his bosses, and build a luxury hotel and casino in the deserts of Nevada, the only state where gambling happens to be legal. To do so would require a bit of capital, though, and he convinces Lansky and other New York mobsters to pony up $1 million to build it. But tensions rise as Bugsy’s vision keeps altering the plans, skyrocketing the costs. On top of that, members of the mob have grown convinced that Virginia, whom Bugsy has gifted the checkbook for the whole endeavor, is skimming money off the top.

The fate of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel is well known. This is not a case like that of Jimmy Hoffa where he simply disappeared. Siegel was shot and killed by an unknown sniper, shot four times through a window in his house. In the film, he is alone at the time, but in reality, there were others there to witness the execution. Virginia, upon hearing the news of his death, knew her days were numbered and fled. She would later commit suicide. 

Warren Beatty was nominated for the Oscar for this performance. Watching it, I was puzzled why this performance was singled out for that honor. There is little here to distinguish this from any number of other Beatty performances. It’s a good role for him, but nothing stands out as particularly Oscar-worthy. There is no one scene that can be focused on as a highlight of his acting skills. He was better in Bonnie and Clyde and Heaven Can Wait, even though those were also just slight variations on his same screen persona. 

Annette Bening did not receive a nomination, yet there is far more subtlety to her character here. We’re never quite sure where her true loyalties are. This is the case right up to the very end when she finally breaks down, realizing that Bugsy may be executed in part because of her own actions. Her breakdown and attempt to give him back the money and accompany him to Los Angeles to face the music is the one time we finally see through her hard facade and understand that she isn’t just using him. Up until that moment, we are never quite sure. It’s a brilliantly nuanced performance that was sadly overlooked at the time. 

This was the film that brought Bening and Beatty together. She had initially auditioned for a supporting role in the previous year’s Dick Tracy, and Beatty fell in love with her then. They would eventually wed and have been together ever since. This relationship was the subject of much speculation in tabloid/media circles who had been portraying Beatty as a long-term bachelor whose libido was just as famous as his acting. Against the betting odds, they have managed to make a successful go at it, staying together for more than thirty years as of this writing.

Bugsy is one of those films that is famous because of the story that it tells. And it tells it well, but it is not on the same level as some of the all-time great gangster films. This is no The Godfather or GoodFellas. This is more about the history of Las Vegas and how the mob got involved in the casino business in Nevada. We are not meant to like Bugsy Siegel; he has a wicked temper and kills or is directly involved in killing several people over the course of the film. He’s also a serial adulterer who spends much of the movie trying to avoid having to divorce his wife so that he can be with Virginia. When he gets his ticket punched, it plays like a great tragedy, but this is the death of a murderer. The real tragedy is that those who killed him made a profit in the hundreds of billions off of his vision. 

This is a slightly above-average biopic that makes some interesting choices to keep us emotionally invested while showcasing a truly unlikable protagonist who happens to be charismatic. Going into it, I was fully aware of where it was headed, but I can only imagine the reaction to it from someone unfamiliar with the history. We get the feeling that he is doomed when he is being summoned back to Los Angeles in the final reel, so even those uneducated in events will have that feeling of dread leading up to his death. It’s well played, as is the entire film. It’s also an important bit of American history and a good bit of entertainment as well. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Mark Johnson, Barry Levinson, and Warren Beatty

Best Director: Barry Levinson

Best Actor: Warren Beatty

Best Supporting Actor: Harvey Keitel

Best Supporting Actor: Ben Kingsley

Best Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen: James Toback

Best Art Direction: Dennis Gassner and Nancy Haigh (won)

Best Cinematography: Allen Daviau

Best Costume Design: Albert Wolsky (won)

Best Original Score: Ennio Morricone

____________________________________________________

Release Date: December 13, 1991

Running Time: 137 minutes

 

Rated R

Starring: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, and Joe Mantegna

Directed by: Barry Levinson