Customer Reviews

Al Capone: The Untouchable Legend [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This video had the great makings of an Al Capone documentary,but alas seems to have fallen short of the mark.Many things were omitted such as Al's top killers Anselmi and Scalise along with Jack Mcgurn.Excellent top Capone historians used on this program such as Mr. Binder,Mr.Matt Luzi and Mr.William Balsamo probably had no say whatsoever in the accuracy of the timelines cause some of them were way out there! They mention Al Capone being in Alcatraz when prohibition is repealed?Duh? Al entered Alcatraz in 1934 and prohibition was repealed in 1933.They also mention Torrio being hit and retiring after Hymie Weiss is killed.Wrong! Hymie was on the hit against Torrio in 1925.Hymie was killed in 1926.This video might fly by the average Joe Lunchpail and Sally Housecoat who have no inkling about Capone,but it just doesn't cut it knowledge wise.A good Capone documentary to see is called Al Capone Chicago's Scarface(Narrated by Geraldo).Another good one is by A&E called Al Capone "Scarface".Again,this is my personal opinion and your entitled to make your own mistakes.I speak from living and breathing Al Capone as my hobby for the past thirteen years.

I've reviewed that documentary about AL CAPONE and I found that this was a very interesting one giving a great overview of Al Capones story with interesting interviews as well! Great to see!

I gave this product an extra star for the occasional interview segments involving Capone historians Dennis Hoffman, John Binder, and William Balsamo, and for the especially interesting segments with Harry Hart, Al Capone's nephew and son of Al's lawman brother Vincenzo, a.k.a. James "Two-Gun" Hart, and with George E.Q. Johnson's son. For the most part, however, the show is boring and silly, consisting largely of dull re-enactments, almost-as-dull crowd scenes on the Untouchables Tours bus, repetitive clips from a couple of Capone movies, plus occasional plugs for the now long-defunct Merry Gangsters Literary Society (headed by Mr. Binder when this program was filmed back in the late 1990s). The history is shallow and the narrator's errors include having Johnny Torrio shot after the Hawthorne Hotel attack. Better research, more historical photos and films, and trimming some of the excess nonsense might have produced a real Capone documentary.

This documentary was informative to me, I had been paying more attention to Dillinger and now I want to learn a little more about Capone. The film on this DVD was produced in 1998, I don't know if the bus tours are still operating but I will look for them next time I visit Chicago. The film shows some of the actual places, back at the time and as they are nowadays; to me that makes this and any other biography more interesting. I don't know if my DVD is a bootleg, since I only payed $1.00 at a Wally World store, they have not restocked more. You can see a lot of $1.00 DVDs around at many places, pharmacies and dollar stores, this one was a pretty good find. Maybe it is a bootleg, since it was about Capone, hehe that was not funny...

I expected more from the DVD. It was ok, just not cinematic quality. I think the price was more that it should have been.

This video is more like a home movie than a serious documentary. There was not enough pictures and information of Al Capone or the era in which he lived. On the other hand there was much too many pictures and inserts of the film makers friends , family, and stuff unrecognizable to most viewers. A big disappointment. The other review must be from friends or family to incourage the films makers, but you do an injustice to them and the general public. Certainly these reviews are to incourage buyers, not make them leary of their purchases.

This is a tremendous biography; it tells the story of the legendary gangster better than any other Capone bio I've seen.