Bugsy
Bugsy
R | 10 December 1991 (USA)
Bugsy Trailers

New York gangster Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womanizer with a foul temper, Siegel doesn't hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gambling joint at a spot in the desert known as Las Vegas gives him his big idea.

Reviews
WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.
Blake Rivera If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Ross622 I have to say that Barry Levinson's Bugsy made my list of my favorite mob movies because all of the acting and the violence are the total ingredients for a prefect mob movie. Warren Beatty is perfectly cast as real life mobster named Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel known for opening a hotel/casino in Las Vegas called the flamingo. The movie has great supporting work from Harvey Keitel and the great Ben Kingsley, and an excellent score from the legendary Ennio Morricone. Director Barry Levinson knows how to execute a great mob movie but can make mistakes sometimes with how he tells his actors how to act. In the movie every cast member is terrific as the character he/she plays but i have to say that the performance by Annette Bening was a little over the top when she thought that Warren Beatty's character was going out with a woman he just hired for a job at the hotel. Otherwise the movie is 100% historically accurate and the movie was a great effort to put on the big screen. But i have to say that it is still a great mob picture.
Desertman84 Bugsy is a crime-drama film that tells the story of mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel that is based from research material by Dean Jennings' 1967 book We Only Kill Each Other.It stars Warren Beatty in the title role as Bugsy Malone together with Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel and Ben Kingsley.Barry Levinson directs.The movie is a character study of mobster Bugsy Siegel.He arrives in California in the 1940's and gets assigned to oversee the L.A. rackets. He is quickly seduced by both the glamor of Hollywood and actress Virginia Hill,whom he romances despite being unable to leave his wife and children. He soon has a vision to transform a barren stretch of Nevada desert into an oasis of gambling and entertainment which later becomes Las Vegas,a town with big, classy casinos that had name acts in their show rooms. Nobody shared his vision. But he knew that if he built it, they would come. And he did build one casino, the Flamingo, its named inspired by Virginia Hill's legs.Funded by his gangster bosses, including Meyer Lansky, the flamboyant Siegel sees his budget soar past its original $6 million as it eventually became a $200 billion dollar industry.He spent so much of the mob's money on it, in fact, that he was killed before he could see the modern city spring from his dream.One great thing about Bugsy is the fact that the story is told not as history, but as a romance. The screenplay shows Siegel as a smooth, charming, even lovable guy, even though he was also a cold-hearted killer. The two sides of his character hardly seem to acknowledge one another as on the one hand, he is a family man with a wife and children, who goes to work every day; and on the other hand, he is an adulterer whose business involves killing people, and who defies the Mafia itself by spending more of his money than he has quite gotten around to accounting for.In addition to that,Beatty's performance in it is probably one of the best in his career.At the conclusion,one would probably feel saddened by the fact that Bugsy did not live to see his dream fulfilled.
bmcd10 Bugsy is a typical gangster/mob movie; it has got the wise guys, the families, the family problems, and a tragic flaw in the protagonist. It is also 2 1/2 hours long, which you should expect with any biopic anyway, but I think it can get a little tedious in some areas. First off, Warren Beatty is brilliant, and there is no question in my mind that it was anything less than perfection. His supporting cast's performances were excellent as well including those of Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, and Annette Bening. The film probably deserved all the Oscar nominations it received, but, with the exceptions of Beatty's performance and a couple technical awards, nothing deserved the Oscar. However, I do not want to give a bad impression of this film because it does deserve some approbation.The story of Bugsy Siegel is indeed a true story. Siegel was a New York Jewish gangster, who moved out to L.A., and one thing led to another and resulted in Bugsy building the Flamingo hotel and casino in the middle of the desert. This is the man who put Las Vegas on the map. Bugsy (by the way, don't call him Bugsy to face) is very insane. Also, Kingsley's character gets to introduce Bugsy's tragic flaw: he doesn't "respect" money. This combination makes one very unique mobster that I can not compare to any other. Just wait for the scene relating to dogs and pigs; I don't want to reveal anymore because this is where Beatty shines. Virginia Hill (Bening) is a cookie cutter actress going steady with one of Siegel's or somebody else's soldiers. Bugsy starts to look fondly on her, and thus starts the romance. There should be no surprise whatsoever since they're married in real life, but Beatty and Bening do have great chemistry on screen. Their relationship brings out a lot of fun in the film. Again, Bugsy is a tragedy. I don't think that's spoiling it since you can learn that somewhere on the Internet, but I do want to let you know what you're getting into. It is a very interesting story with a few laughs and some irony here and there. Barry Levinson made a well-constructed film that flows very nicely and only lacks where I assume the screenplay does. I would not say it is at the caliber of Goodfellas or The Godfather Trilogy, but, all in all, it is a pretty decent movie.I highly recommend that you definitely see it.
namashi_1 Barry Levinson's 'Bugsy' is an ambitious, gripping & violent tale on late mobster Bugsy Siegel. Levinson's terrific direction, is complimented by Warren Beatty's fantastic Performance as the late mobster, along-with a Water-Tight screenplay & Striking Cinematography.Warren Beatty stars as 'Bugsy', the late mobster, who quite frankly gave birth to Casino's. This Crime-Drama also explores his love-life, along-with Hollywood Starlet Virginia Hill.James Toback researched Screenplay is Water-Tight and packs in several memorable sequences. Even the dialogue, at times, are wonderful. Levinson's direction like always, is Awe-Inspiring Terrific. Allen Daviau's Cinematography is Striking. Art Direction & Costume Design, are pitch-perfect and worthy Oscar-Winners.Performance-Wise: As mentioned before, Warren Beatty's Performance as Bugsy, is fantastic. The Legendary star becomes Bugsy and talks like him from the very first scene. Annette Bening as Virginia Hill, is convincing, as always. Sir Ben Kingsley plays his part with restrain, while Harvey Keitel is bombastic. Joe Mantegna is effective. Bill Graham does well.On the whole, A Must See Crime-Drama!