Rating: Summary: A FINE GANGSTER FILM, BUT ISN'T ONE OF THE FINEST. Review: "Bugsy" is a very well made movie, but has the bad luck of be part of a genre with huge competition: the gangster film genre. With such classics as "The Godfather" trilogy, "GoodFellas", "Chinatown", "Scarface", "Once Upon A Time In America", "Bonnie And Clyde", "The Untouchables", "Angels With Dirty Faces", etc, etc, etc, "Bugsy" looks like a minor classic.However, this is a movie that deserves at least a look. It has a deluxe cast (Warren Beatty, the pretty Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley, Harvey Keitel, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna, among others), a good director (Barry Levinson), a fascinating main character (gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel), good music (courtesy of composer Ennio Morricone), well, overall the film has good elements. "Bugsy" is a good movie, but with several superior movies in the genre, is not an essential movie.
Rating: Summary: A FINE GANGSTER FILM, BUT ISN'T ONE OF THE FINEST. Review: "Bugsy" is a very well made movie, but has the bad luck of being part of a genre with huge competition: the gangster film genre. With such classics as "The Godfather" trilogy, "GoodFellas", "Scarface", "Once Upon A Time In America", "Bonnie And Clyde", "The Untouchables", "Angels With Dirty Faces", etc, etc, etc, "Bugsy" looks like a minor classic.
However, this is a movie that deserves at least a look. It has a deluxe cast (Warren Beatty, the pretty Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley, Harvey Keitel, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna, among others), a good director (Barry Levinson), a fascinating main character (gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel), good music (courtesy of composer Ennio Morricone), well, overall the film has good elements.
"Bugsy" is a good movie, but with several superior movies in the genre, it's not an essential movie.
Rating: Summary: Watch when you're folding laundry Review: "Bugsy" has not travelled time well! It may have kept audiences riveted once but now it looks tired. It's a very long movie at 185 minutes without enough story content to warrant it. Most of the action centers around Benning and Beatty's characters (Ben Seigel and Virginia Hill) and the exploration of their relationship. Unfortunately, its portrayal consists of the same observations re-stated repeatedly and not a whole lot more. For 185 minutes. Ben Kingsley and Harvey Keitel are wonderful! The film's well worth buying if you're one of their many fans. Robert Beltran fans only get about 2 minutes of him at the one hour mark. He does what he can with only a few lines.
Rating: Summary: Near-Perfect Storytelling¿ Unworthy Story. Review: "Bugsy" is Wonderfully brought to life by Warren Beatty's Energetic and Likeable Performance and it is Timelessly brought to the Screen by Barry Levinson's Lustful Direction. Great Set and Costume design and Startling Performances from the Supporting cast are thrown into the mix; the one Ingredient Missing was an Arresting Screenplay. The Dialogue may be Great and a few scenes here and there are Fairly Memorable, but the Time-period of Ben "Bugsy" Seagals like chosen to be Portrayed in this film isn't the most Interesting point of his Legendary Life.
Rating: Summary: One Of My Favorite Movies Review: "Bugsy" will always draw unfair comparison to "GoodFellas", that other classic gangster film of the 1990s, but everyone must realize that they are as different as night and day. "Bugsy" is an old-fashioned gangster movie, set during the glorious old days of Hollywood. It has more in common with "The Public Enemy" than with "GoodFellas". Barry Levinson seems to be a chameleon as a director. There are his personal films - his Baltimore trilogy ("Diner", "Tin Men", and "Avalon"). Sometimes he seems like nothing but a hired hand - "Good Morning Vietnam", "Disclosure", and "Sphere". Other times he's made good films when he's been a hired hand, like "The Natural" and "Rain Man". He made those better films than they may have been if they had been directed by someone else. I'm not sure if Levinson or someone else deserves most of the credit for how great "Bugsy" is. I might want to say James Toback does, since he wrote the incredible script for "Bugsy" which is filled with one great scene after another and an endless string of great dialogue. The performances in "Bugsy" are all wonderful. Warren Beatty and Annette Bening in the leads, it's easily Beatty's best performance ever. Harvey Keitel has the kind of role he can play in his sleep. Ben Kingsley is great, as usual. He should have won Supporting Actor Oscars for "Bugsy" and "Schindler's List". And, in smaller roles, Elliot Gould and Wendy Phillips shine. The cinematography, costume design, and production design all contribute to a glowing production and Ennio Morricone contributes a great music score, as usual. "Bugsy" is the ultimate Hollywood gangster movie. Funny, violent, and romantic - something for everyone. I've watched it many, many times and prefer it far more than "The Silence of the Lambs" which beat it out for Best Picture.
Rating: Summary: Fascinating Characters, Brilliant Performances! Review: A power-house performance by Warren Beatty is the pilar to this character-driven gangster epic. The story and characters are fascinating and great production values turn it into eye candy. Warren Beatty gives one of the best performances of his career as 'Bugsy' Siegel, he makes him a multi-layered complex character that changes from a nice guy to an absolutely ruthless person with such ease that we wonder if it's the same actor. Annette Bening is also great in support and the real-life chemistry between them (they married off-screen) also helps. An outstanding supporting cast includes Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Joe Mantegna and Elliot Gould. Attentive direction by Barry Levinson and a nice script keep you entertained as the movie flows. Great acting and entertaining. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film an 8!
Rating: Summary: very average Review: as much as I dig Warren Beatty's work i can't get down with this film.only Harvey Keitel makes this film worth seeing.the only good thing that came out of this film was the union of Beatty&Bening.very cliched Gangster flick.Ok writing&Directing but nothing special.
Rating: Summary: A Slice of Los Angeles History Brought to Life Review: Ben Siegel was an fascinating man.... yes, he was a gangster of the highest order, but well-liked, too-handsome, and charming... powerful and at times quite ruthless. Beatty does a fine job in his character, but at times his performance seems forced and he is clearly about 10 years older than Bugsy would have been. The story too, is a bit overly fictionalized from the facts and in the process, there are some holes in the plot. The "F word" is used by nearly everyone in this film, even when inappropriate.... and in the 1940s, the use of that word was rare, even by gansters, much less by women. On the plus side, this is still an engaging and well-crafted film and gives a taste of what the real Mr. Siegel might have been like. The set design and production of this film is first rate... some of the most authentic re-creations of early Hollywood I have seen on film... and the costumes are marvelous. This film's strong points are solid characters by the supporting cast, set decoration, superior matte paintings and an impressive music score. Worth seeing, but not on the level of LA Confidential, Chinatown or even Mulholland Falls in my opinion.
Rating: Summary: Good Story With Strong Cast Review: BUGSY is an entertaining film about the career of the infamous gangster Benjamin Siegel. Warren Beatty does a superb job in the lead and the strong supporting cast includes Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley, Harvey Keitel and Eliot Gould. The time period roughly correlates with THE GODFATHER. Fellow mobsters Mickey Cohen and Meyer Lansky have key roles in the movie as Siegel's business partners. Barry Levinson directed several other excellent films including RAIN MAN and GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM. BUGSY won Oscars in 1991 for Best Art Direction and Costume Design. Nominations were received by Levinson, Beatty, Keitel and Kingsley. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Cinematography and Original Score.
Rating: Summary: probably among the top 5 gangsters movies in the U.S. Review: Bugsy is right there with other top hits such as 'mobsters','once upon a time in america','L.A. confidential'just to name a few.We all know that warren Beaty is a superb actor but with this performance he has outdone himself.His charisma is much delight to viewers of such types of releases.And the fact that this flick can be linked to a true story makes it one unforgettable chef-d'oeuvre.CO-stars in the like of Harvey Keitel,Annette Bening and joe Mantegna add plenty of sparkle in a rich plot that depicts the very early days of Holliwood stardom and one identifiable love story. rated(R) due to violence and partial nudity..***1/2 stars Sergio J. Joachim reviewer for Amazon.com Dvd/video's name:"bugsy".
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