Product Details

• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0017MVDCO
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #37,304 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Movie, August 19, 2008

By	Dave P. (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

This movie is a very accurate account of Al Capone's rise to power and eventual demise. It depicts life in Chicago during prohibition and the violent times in which Capone lived in very accurately. It has a lot of violence, as you might expect from this type of story. Some strong language and nudity. It is definitely an R Rated movie.

The movie has a long list of established actors and a very young Sylvester Stallone in one of his first roles. He portrays Capone's right hand man, Frank Nitti.

I was fortunate enough to get a DVD copy made in Portugal since the studio has not yet made this film available in DVD format in the U.S. The Portuguese version is flawless and is Region 0 which plays on all DVD players. I recommend it. It is in English. Only the cover is in Portuguese.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Corman's Cash-in on the Godfather Craze, December 27, 2008

By	Dr. O'Boogie - See all my reviews

Roger Corman may have pretty much stuck with low-budget B flicks, but he sure knew what buttons to push which is why he is the undesputed king of the Bs. Cashing in on the then current Godfather craze, old Roger decided to go for a real-life gangster figure and who else better than Al Capone.

Ben Gazzara put's in a completely over-the-top performance of the title character complete with padding stuffed in his cheeks (I wonder where he got that idea from?) Then we get a pre-Rocky Sly Stallone in a small but key role as Frank Nitti. Sexy Susan Blakely does a turn as Al's love interest featuring a full frontal nude scene, lucky us!

Is the film bad? Not really, it's actually pretty good. Period detail is quite impressive with the sets, costumes and vintage cars most likely borrowed from other studios used in other period films like The Great Gatspy. The dialog and acting is so-so, but it still manages to hold your interest. Violence comes in buckets here obviously trying to out do The Godfather in that dept, however the recreation of the St. Valentine's Day massacre seems pretty accurate.

There have been numerous attempts to do biopics on old lovable Al with little success. Rod Stieger made a go at it with mediocre results and Robert DeNiro's depiction of Al in DePalma's The Untouchables is borderline fiction to say the least. This film at least tries to be accurate but unfortunately it doesn't quite succeed given the limited production involved.

I saw this film in the theater on it's release in 1975. I thought it was ok then, and I think it's ok now. A nice little flick to check out, if you can find it.