Mobsters (film)

Last updated
Mobsters
Mobsters poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Karbelnikoff
Screenplay by
Story byMichael Mahern
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Lajos Koltai
Edited byJoe Augustine
Music by Michael Small
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • July 26, 1991 (1991-07-26)
Running time
104 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Budget$23 million
Box office$20.2 million [1]

Mobsters is a 1991 American crime drama film directed by Michael Karbelnikoff. It details the creation of The Commission. Set in New York City, taking place from 1917 to 1931, it is a semi-fictitious account of the rise of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. The film stars Christian Slater as Luciano, Patrick Dempsey as Lansky, Costas Mandylor as Costello and Richard Grieco as Siegel, with Michael Gambon, Anthony Quinn, Lara Flynn Boyle, and F. Murray Abraham in supporting roles.

Contents

Synopsis

The film recounts the rise of four Infamous gangsters: Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Frank Costello. The four begin as members of youth gangs on the streets of New York, fighting and hustling as they learn the rules of the street and form strong friendships that benefit them as they grow into their teenage years. The beginning of Prohibition provides them with an entry into organized crime, and under the mentorship of seasoned gangsters such as Arnold Rothstein, they build up a lucrative bootlegging empire.

Despite their success, the four come into conflict with the established leaders of the Mafia, who dislike the idea of working with other criminal organizations to maximize profits and compete with each other for power and influence. Believing that the Mafia must restructure itself in order to thrive, Luciano and Lansky recruit Siegel and Costello to eliminate their bosses and assume control, setting up the Commission and dividing the New York underworld between five families. [2]

Cast

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 9% based on 33 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads: 'Despite an abundance of style and some big names, Mobsters can't escape its empty plotting, numbing violence, and Gangster Movie 101 concepts.' [3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. [4]

Variety wrote that "Mobsters resembles a cart-before-the-horse case of putting marketing ahead of film-making, as the seemingly can't-miss premise of teen-heartthrob gangsters gets lost in self-important direction, a shoddy script and muddled storytelling." [5] According to Roger Ebert, the movie's violence and bloodshed are so far over the top that 'they undermine the rest of the film, and approach parody'; he gave it two and a half out of four stars.[ citation needed ]

Both Anthony Quinn and Christian Slater were nominated for Razzie Awards as Worst Supporting Actor for their performances, but lost to Dan Aykroyd for Nothing But Trouble .

Slater said he was hoping that the film would be like the much more successful Bugsy , but this did not happen: 'Our movie ended up in bits and pieces all over the world," he said. "They had different versions flying to Japan, Europe and every other place. There were extended versions, shortened versions; all kinds of weird versions. In my opinion, audiences never got to see a full film. Somewhere in all that mess, there was a legitimate story. It was there in the script.' [6]

Box office

The film debuted at No. 2 behind Terminator 2: Judgment Day , but failed to make a profit. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Bugsy</i> 1991 biographical film by Barry Levinson

Bugsy is a 1991 American biographical crime drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by James Toback. The film stars Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Bebe Neuwirth, and Joe Mantegna. It is based on the life of American mobster Bugsy Siegel and his relationship with wife and starlet Virginia Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucky Luciano</span> Italian American mobster (1897–1962)

Charles "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian-born gangster who operated mainly in the United States. Luciano started his criminal career in the Five Points Gang and was instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for the establishment of the Commission in 1931, after he abolished the boss of bosses title held by Salvatore Maranzano following the Castellammarese War. He was also the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bugsy Siegel</span> American mobster (1906–1947)

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel sometimes known as Ben Siegel, was an American mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Siegel was influential within the Jewish Mob, along with his childhood friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky, and he also held significant influence within the Italian-American Mafia and the largely Italian-Jewish National Crime Syndicate. Described as handsome and charismatic, he became one of the first front-page celebrity gangsters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meyer Lansky</span> Russian-American gangster (1902–1983)

Meyer Lansky, known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvatore Maranzano</span> Italian-American mob boss

Salvatore Maranzano, nicknamed Little Caesar, was an Italian-American mobster from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss who led what later would become the Bonanno crime family in New York City. He instigated the Castellammarese War in 1930 to seize control of the American Mafia, winning the war after the murder of rival faction head Joe Masseria in April 1931. He then briefly became the Mafia's capo di tutti capi and formed the Five Families in New York City, but was murdered on September 10, 1931, on the orders of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who established The Commission, in which families shared power to prevent future turf wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Costello</span> Italian-American mobster

Frank Costello was an Italian-American crime boss of the Luciano crime family. In 1957, Costello survived an assassination attempt ordered by Vito Genovese and carried out by Vincent Gigante. However, the altercation persuaded Costello to relinquish power to Genovese and retire. Costello died on February 18, 1973.

The National Crime Syndicate was a multi-ethnic, closely connected, American confederation of several criminal organizations. It mostly consisted of and was led by the closely interconnected Italian American Mafia and Jewish Mob. It also involved other criminal organizations such as the Irish Mob and to a lesser extent African American groups. Hundreds of murders were committed by Murder, Inc. on behalf of the National Crime Syndicate during the 1930s and 1940s.

The Havana Conference of 1946 was a historic meeting of United States Mafia and Cosa Nostra leaders in Havana, Cuba. Supposedly arranged by Charles "Lucky" Luciano, the conference was held to discuss important mob policies, rules, and business interests. The Havana Conference was attended by delegations representing crime families throughout the United States. The conference was held during the week of December 22, 1946, at the Hotel Nacional. The Havana Conference is considered to have been the most important mob summit since the Atlantic City Conference of 1929. Decisions made in Havana resonated throughout US crime families during the ensuing decades.

The Bugs (Bugsy) and Meyer Mob was a Jewish-American street gang in Manhattan, New York City's Lower East Side. It was formed and headed by mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky during their teenage years shortly after the start of Prohibition. The Bugs and Meyer mob acted as a predecessor to Murder, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish-American organized crime</span> Jewish Mob or the Jewish Mafia

Jewish-American organized crime initially emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In media and popular culture, it has variously been referred to as the Jewish Mob, the Jewish Mafia, the Kosher Mob, the Kosher Mafia, the Yiddish Connection, and Kosher Nostra or Undzer Shtik. The last two of these terms are direct references to the Italian cosa nostra; the former is a play on the word for kosher, referring to Jewish dietary laws, while the latter is a calque of the Italian phrase 'cosa nostra' into Yiddish, which was at the time the predominant language of the Jewish diaspora in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic City Conference</span> 1929 summit of organized crime leaders

The Atlantic City Conference held between 13–16 May 1929 was a historic summit of leaders of organized crime in the United States. It is considered by most crime historians to be the earliest organized crime summit held in the US. The conference had a major impact on the future direction of the criminal underworld and it held more importance and significance than the Havana Conference of 1946 and the Apalachin meeting of 1957. It also represented the first concrete move toward a National Crime Syndicate.

The Broadway Mob was a New York bootlegging gang during Prohibition. Although headed by Joe Adonis, the gangs day-to-day operations were handled by Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Frank Costello as well as financially backed by Arnold Rothstein. During Manhattan's bootleg wars, Rothstein would bring in the Bugs and Meyer Mob, led by Meyer Lansky and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, to protect alcohol shipments.

<i>Lansky</i> (1999 film) 1999 American TV series or program

Lansky is a 1999 American made-for-television crime drama film written by David Mamet and directed by John McNaughton. It stars Richard Dreyfuss as the famous gangster Meyer Lansky, Eric Roberts as Bugsy Siegel, and Ryan Merriman as the young Lansky.

<i>Mob City</i> American TV series or program

Mob City is an American neo-noir crime drama television series created by Frank Darabont for TNT. It is based on real-life accounts of the L.A.P.D. and gangsters in 1940s Los Angeles as chronicled in John Buntin's book L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City. The series premiered on December 4, 2013.

<i>The Gangster Chronicles</i> 1981 film

The Gangster Chronicles is a 1981 American crime drama television miniseries starring Michael Nouri, Joe Penny, Jon Polito, Louis Giambalvo, Kathleen Lloyd, Madeleine Stowe, Chad Redding, Markie Post, Allan Arbus, James Andronica, Robert Davi, Joseph Mascolo, and narrated by E.G. Marshall.

Las Vegas Mob Experience was located at the Tropicana on the Las Vegas Strip. The Las Vegas Mob Experience was a 27,000-square-foot (2,500 m2) interactive tour that chronicled the rise and fall of the Mafia in the Las Vegas Valley, mixing entertainment with history, storytelling, artifacts and technology. Visitors take a journey through the world of organized crime, interacting with live character actors and 3D holograms of famous mob movie icons and celebrity gangsters such as James Caan, Frank Vincent, Tony Sirico and Mickey Rourke.

<i>The Making of the Mob: New York</i> American TV series or program

The Making of the Mob: New York is an American television miniseries, and the first season of The Making of the Mob. It follows notorious New York gangster Lucky Luciano and his rise in the New York City crime mob, alongside Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Bugsy Siegel, and Vito Genovese. It is produced by Stephen David and aired from June 15 to August 3, 2015, on AMC in eight parts.

<i>Lansky</i> (2021 film) 2021 crime film by Eytan Rockaway

Lansky is a 2021 American biographical crime drama about the famous gangster Meyer Lansky, written and directed by Eytan Rockaway. It stars Harvey Keitel, Sam Worthington, AnnaSophia Robb, Minka Kelly, David James Elliott, John Magaro.

References

  1. "Mobsters (1991)". Box Office Mojo. 1991-09-03. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  2. "Mobsters - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 1991-07-26. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  3. "Mobsters (1991)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  4. "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Mobsters" in the search box). CinemaScore . Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  5. "Review: 'Mobsters'". Variety . December 31, 1990. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012.
  6. "Hot Christian Slater enjoys 'Kuffs' role: 'I could just relax and play the character". The Baltimore Sun . January 13, 1992.
  7. DAVID J. FOX (July 30, 1991). "Weekend Box Office: 'Mobsters' Is the Only Solid Opener". Los Angeles Times .