Capone is a 1975 American action crime film directed by Steve Carver and produced by Roger Corman, based on the life of notorious 20th-century gangster Al Capone. It stars Ben Gazzara in the title role, along with Harry Guardino, Susan Blakely, John Cassavetes, and Sylvester Stallone in an early film appearance.
Corman had previously directed The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967), which also had a screenplay written by Howard Browne and starred Jason Robards as Capone. Though the film was promoted as a faithful reenactment of Capone's life, it takes many artistic liberties. Among other embellishments, the film makes no mention of Capone's wife and daughter, while giving him a (fictional) love interest in Susan Blakely's Iris Crawford. The film also depicts Frank Nitti (played by Stallone) eulogizing Capone in his funeral, when in fact Capone outlived Nitti by several years.
The film was released by 20th Century Fox on April 6, 1975. It received negative reviews from critics, though it was a commercial success.
Contents
Plot
The story is of the rise and fall of Chicago mob boss Al Capone and the control he exhibited over the city during Prohibition, all the way through to his conviction, imprisonment, and final years.
On the evening of May 6, 1918, in Brooklyn, two police officers intercept several men stealing fur clothing as they escape through an alleyway. Capone, then a young hoodlum, had tipped them off to the heist so that he could ambush the cops on arrival. The resulting fight ends with Capone being thrown through a glass window, leaving him with a scarred left cheek. Capone is soon released from custody without being charged due to the intercession of a senior police lieutenant. As he walks out of the station, the hoodlum is taken to see racketeers Johnny Torrio and Frankie Yale. It is revealed that the fur thieves worked for Johnny and Yale, and because Capone has impressed them with his cunning and brutality, they invite him to join the Five Points Gang.
A year later, on September 23, 1919, Johnny talks with his boss "Big" Jim Colosimo about Prohibition – a new law banning the sale of alcohol. Johnny is eager to invest millions into bootlegging, but Colosimo, seeing such a trade as beneath him, refuses. Johnny calls Frankie and tells him to send Capone to Chicago to employ him as an enforcer for Colosimo. Johnny introduces Capone to co-workers, including dancer and barmaid Iris Crawford. Johnny, despite his affection for Colosimo, realizes that murdering him is the only way to put his bootlegging scheme into action. The next morning, as Colosimo enters a restaurant to use the phone, Capone sneaks in and quietly shoots the boss dead in the back of the neck.
On June 7, 1920, in Joliet, Illinois, during a pickup of beer for bootlegger Edward "Spike" O'Donnell, mobsters led by brothers Frank and Peter Gusenberg – enforcers working for Dion O'Banion – intercept the deal, gun down the participants, and steal it for themselves. Capone correctly suspects that Banion's henchman Hymie Weiss is responsible, and Johnny responds by dividing Chicago into separate territories: O'Banion and his men will control the North Side, Spike O'Donnell will have his own territory in the South Side, the Genna brothers will deal in Little Italy; and Johnny's gang, the "Chicago Outfit", will occupy the Loop and part of the South Side.
On September 5, 1923, as Capone and Johnny prepare to shift their base of operations to Cicero, Spike O'Donnell is gunned down by O'Banion's men in a turf war. At O'Donnell's funeral, O'Banion threatens to murder the Genna brothers next. That night, Pete and Frank personally gun down several blood relatives of the Gennas. Outraged, Antonio and Angelo Genna retaliate by placing a hit on O'Banion. Corrupt Chicago deputy sheriff Joe Pryor breaks up one of Capone's parties after Capone refuses to pay him a bribe of $5,000; Capone has no choice but to pay him then. Capone then takes Iris golfing while his hitmen murder O'Banion in a flower store. Capone and Johnny later show up at his funeral, angering Weiss who suspects them of killing his friend.
Production
Development and writing
Screenwriter Howard Browne had written about Al Capone a number of times previously, including "Seven Against the Wall" for Playhouse 90 in 1958, and the film, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967). The latter was directed by Roger Corman for 20th Century Fox.
In May 1974 Browne announced he was writing a biopic about Capone for Roger Corman called The Big Fella. It would cover Capone's life from being a young man until his death. In June Corman declared he would make the Capone film for his company, New World Pictures. However, in September it was announced he would produce the movie for 20th Century Fox.
In October 1974 it was reported Gazzara was considering an offer to play the lead.
Filming
Steve Carver says the film was shot in part so Corman could use footage from other films he had made. He claimed Howard Browne was a very factual writer but "not so good with dialogue" so other writers were brought in to work on the script. Carver says Gazzara was hard to work with on set.
In an interview in 2020 Carver related how Gazzara, possibly under the influence of alcohol, set off a series of explosions and bullet hits too early: "Ben was the key in starting this off by pulling the trigger of a submachine gun. And he jumped the cue. He pulled the trigger too early. That set off a tremendous occurrence where stuntmen and cars went crazy. A lot of people could have gotten hurt." Carver says Gazzara apologized the next day.
Sylvester Stallone was cast on the basis of his appearance in Lords of Flatbush. He later said "I particularly enjoyed working on Capone, because it was like the cheesy, mentally challenged inbred cousin of The Godfather". Stallone later made Death Race 2000 for Corman.
Release
Home media
The film was released on DVD in the United States for the first time on March 29, 2011, through Shout! Factory and has been available in Europe for some time.
Reception
Box office
The film was a success at the box office making $2 million. Corman made three more films for Fox, Moving Violation, Fighting Mad and Thunder and Lightning.
Critical response
Roger Corman said Carver "did a good job. Gazzara was very good as Capone."
Sight and Sound said "Roger Corman unprofitably goes back over ground he has more succinctly and wittily explored before, simply to fill in some gaps in the Capone biography (how he began as a street hoodlum; how he ended as a syphilitic madman). Even more unprofitably, the direction is left in the unsubtle care of Steve Carver."
In the Chicago Sun-Times, film critic Roger Ebert gave the film only one star (out of four), summing up:During the chase scenes, the cars keep chasing each other around the same corners, because there are only about four corners in the whole City, and native Chicagoans will be amazed to see the lushly wooded California hills rising at the end of Wabash Ave. Ben Gazzara, as Capone, talks in a shrill shout that makes us want to turn the treble down, and he’s surrounded by a supporting cast that looks almost as embarrassed as he does. The acting isn’t really the point, though, because the movie has been so chopped into neatly dated segments that no development of character and personality is really possible. The characters get their labels and wear them and die with them, and that’s it.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 32% of 44 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "A disjointed and murky biopic, Capone offers little more than a series of blood soaked shoot-outs."