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Rating: 2 stars

All movies seen on 02/18/2008

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The American Gangster (1992)

Directed by Ben Burtt

Documentary

Overview

They fixed the World Series. They built Las Vegas. They terrorized America with their vicious murders and fearless robberies. They are men named Bugsy Siegel, Al Capone, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Lucky Luciano. And, for the first time, THE AMERICAN GANGSTER tells the true story behind their ruthless rise to wealth and power. Filled with vintage film and actual photographs, THE AMERICAN GANGSTER is a gripping look at the birth of organized crime. From prohibition to prostitution, from gangland massacres to gambling empires, their most infamous deeds are chronicled in shocking detail. Even more explosive than the movies they inspired, such as Scarface and The Godfather, are the true histories of the brilliant, brutal gangsters who turned the American Dream into an ongoing nightmare.

Length 48 minutes

Actors

Dennis Farina

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

This originally appeared as a DVD review for PopSyndicate.com in 2008.

A stunted look at the rise and fall of Murder, Inc.

The American Gangster is not the story of Frank Lucas and it’s not Ving Rhames’ story of current drug dealers and gang members. No, this is the first American Gangster, a documentary ripped out of 1992 to tread on that recently popular moniker.

The doco tracks the story of the rise of, natch, the American gangster. Rather than focus on La Cosa Nostra, the film spends a majority of its time on the National Crime Syndicate and its child, Murder, Inc.; no, not Irv Gotti’s record label. The story starts briefly with the arrival of millions of immigrants to the United States by way of Ellis Island and the harsh working conditions that spurned children to grow up and be more than their parents were, by any means necessary. Some turned to unions, while others, like Lucky Luciano, turned to organized crime. While the doco occasionally sidesteps to look at the random one-off gangsters like John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, the rest eyes Luciano’s rise to power by creating a multi-national federation of criminals. Luciano, along with people like Bugsy Siegel, Arnold Rothstein and Frank Costello, learn to exploit every want and need that Americans have through the tough times of The Prohibition, The Great Depression and World War II, all the while vowing non-violence and dressing snappy. As the organization gets bigger and gangsters like Al Capone spread their wings, the government takes notice and begins a crackdown; eventually the National Crime Syndicate collapses in on itself through arrests and murders.

Per usual for these types of projects, The American Gangster makes use of old news footage and photographs, but it also chooses to use terribly cheesy sound effects, including the Wilhelm Scream. Oddly, instead of using photographs, the director also often chose to use still images of crude drawings to represent Luciano, Costello, and others which is incongruous with the rest of the piece and made me crack a smile more than once. With a brief runtime and inexplicably stopping sharply in the 1950s, this is a decent, if not infinitely compelling documentary. It’s detailed enough to get your hands bloody in the crime world, but the title betrays its limited material.

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