Customer Reviews

Capone

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

 

 

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.

I saw this great movie at the Earlen theater in Philadelphia in 1975 and never forgot it. The reason is I saw it 12 times over a five day period. The movie itself was great for the action and brutal unyeilding pace. Ben Gazarra is great in the part of Capone and a young and very hot Susan Blakely is on full display in one very memorable scene (its the reason I saw it twelve times - lets just say she(Blakely) invented the Sharone Stone Basic Insticnt maneuver - I could not believe my 16 year old eyes) and those who will see the movie will know it when they see it). The great John Cassavettes is also in the film as is a very good Sly Stallone. Great film, but hard to get or see because it is out of print. You may have to get an overseas PAL version and convert.

This is one of Sylvester Stallone's early movies and a very good film about Al Capone. The one I bought is written in portugese on the cover, but the spoken language is in english/spanish or portugese, your choice. So, it's not a problem.

By far the best Al Capone documovie. When you think of organized crime you think of him, Al Capone, the very first mobster of the 20th century to hit the national headlines on television. Not well accurate, but out of all the Al Capone movies made, this is the most accurate one. What I like most about this movie, what you don't see on most of the others, is how they displayed the symptoms he had from syphilis. Ben Gazzara did an awesome job portraying Capone, and you can see how when he gradually transforms Capone from a street hood to a charismatic underworld boss. It shows how he made his bones, his admiration of Johnny Torrio, leadership, street wars with rivals, St.Valentine's Day Massacre, political corruption, his conviction of tax evasion, and effects of syphilis. Also I have to mention Sylvester Stallone co-starring as Frank Nitti, Capone's enforcer, at the beginning of his career before Rocky. This movie is the 2nd reason I applied on Amazon cause you can't find this for some reason anywhere else. Great movie overall, if you're a fan of mobsters, I highly recommend that you buy this movie!

I finished Capone Region 2 & I must say I'm staggered that it was made by the USA. It has the simple, easy & so realistic manner about it that I usually find in European films. Those are the reasons Europe's QUO VADIS is so superior to ours. It's just truer to life.

Yet this has all those qualities plus the lighting & homage to b&w film at times (shadows & camera angles). The acting is outstanding. Ben Gazzara's Capone is leagues ahead of others & that is only cemented in place by the short bit they cover after his release from prison. The ending monologue could be used to define acting. Capone here is mad & adrift together.

The detail of Gazzara's performance at the end & the wonderful camera work are masterful. Even Stallone who appears in the scene shortly before the monologue does a great job in the summation of Capone's rise & fall.

Some may complain of defects in pacing (maybe a bit slow for some), or in the depth of detail it covers (it covers a long period) & some may complain of editing (I think it was deliberate). I have no complaints & am mystified that I missed this till now. Let alone that I had to get it from the UK. A very good movie, well told & well done by all participants. This is no blockbuster but I can find no reason not to give it 5 stars.
Gazzara gets 6. An extra star for the ending monologue.

Region 1 DVD out in late March 2011. It's 4 min's longer than mine. I seldom like multiple run times. Always somebody wants to improve a finished product. Usually they fail.

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.

CAPONE was released in the pre-VHS days when the only hope to see it was on cable. The recent DVD release does nothing to dull the film. The audio and video are flawless and seeing a young Sylvester Stallone working on his acting 'chops' is great. And speaking of great - the audio commentary for the film is excellent - it brings together the Ben Gazzara/ John Cassavettes connection. This is reminiscent of the Corman classic, THE ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE but with the addition of Susan Blakely, the movie goes to whole new level. Fresh from RICH MAN, POOR MAN, Susan's "Julie Prescott" was every guy's fantasy girl and her bed scene, that occurred a decade before Sharon Stone's BASIC INSTINCT flash, is the stuff of legends. And as the commentary points out, Susan had no trouble with the nudity. And this is one of the few CAPONE films that show him in his final days - dying of syphilis and fishing in a swimming pool, having conversations with himself. Although a little footage from VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE was used in this film - a Corman hallmark - it doesn't detract from the movie. For a great 'gangster' film, this is it!

This movie is not the most accurate. However it is a classic to me. I used to watch it on TV back in the 1980's. I like it better than some of the modern gangster films today.

Unfortunately I was not able to view the DVD CAPONE as there were no sub titles.

Waste of money for me.

Toni Hipkiss

Very poor quality dvd. Audio is lousy, video is not much better. They must have made this dvd from a poor quality vhs tape. Not worth the price.