| Bugsy | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Barry Levinson |
| Written by | James Toback |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Allen Daviau |
| Edited by | Stu Linder |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 137 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $49.1 million[2] |
Bugsy is a 1991 Americanbiographicalcrime drama film directed byBarry Levinson and written byJames Toback. StarringWarren Beatty,Annette Bening,Harvey Keitel,Ben Kingsley,Elliott Gould,Bebe Neuwirth, andJoe Mantegna, the film is based on mobsterBugsy Siegel and his affair with starletVirginia Hill.
Bugsy was given a limited release byTriStar Pictures on December 13, 1991, followed by a theatrical wide release on December 20, 1991. It received generally positive reviews from critics. It received ten nominations at the64th Academy Awards (including forBest Picture andBest Director) and won two:Best Art Direction andBest Costume Design. It won theGolden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama.
In 1941, gangsterBenjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, who had partnered in crime since childhood withMeyer Lansky andCharlie Luciano, goes toLos Angeles and instantly falls in love withVirginia Hill, a tough-talkingHollywood starlet. The two meet for the first time when Bugsy visits actorGeorge Raft on the set ofManpower. He buys a house inBeverly Hills, planning to stay there while his wife and two daughters remain inScarsdale, New York.
Bugsy is tasked by Luciano and Lansky with protecting their lucrative bookmaking rackets run in partnership with weakLos Angeles crime family bossJack Dragna. Ascending local Jewish gangsterMickey Cohen robs Dragna's operation one day. He is confronted by Bugsy, who decides he should be in business with the guy who committed the robbery, not the guy who got robbed. Cohen is put in charge of the betting casinos; Dragna is forced to confess to a raging Bugsy that he stole $14,000 and is told he now answers to Cohen.
After arguments about Virginia's trysts with drummerGene Krupa and various bullfighters and Bugsy's reluctance to get a divorce, Virginia makes a romantic move on Bugsy. On a trip toNevada to make a maintenance call to a rough gambling joint, Bugsy is struck with the inspiration for a luxury hotel and casino in the desert of Nevada, which happens to be in the only state where gambling is legal. He obtains $1 million in funding from Lansky and otherNew York City mobsters, on the motion of going big, doing it legit in Nevada. Virginia wants no part of it until Bugsy offers her a share, puts her in charge of accounting, and begins constructing theFlamingo Las Vegas Hotel Casino inLas Vegas; however, the budget soon soars out of control to over $6 million through overspending and Hill's mismanagement. In desperation, Bugsy sells his own share to cover some of the losses.
Bugsy receives a visit from gangsterHarry Greenberg, who has betrayed his old associates to save himself and run out of money from a combination of his gambling habits and being extorted by prosecutors who want his testimony. Harry begs Bugsy for help; after taking him to a secluded spot so they can talk privately, Bugsy shoots his friend dead. He is arrested for the murder, but the only witness is a cab driver who dropped Harry off in front of Bugsy's house, and who soon disappears after being paid off.
Lansky waits for Bugsy outside the jail and gives a satchel of money to his friend, though he warns Bugsy that he will no longer be able to protect him. The Flamingo's opening night is a total failure in a rainstorm, and $2 million of the budget is unaccounted for. Bugsy discovers that Virginia stole the money, which he then lets her keep. He then urges Lansky to never sell his share of the casino because he will live to thank him someday. Returning to Los Angeles, Bugsy is shot and killed in his home. Virginia learns the news in Las Vegas and knows her own days could be numbered.
The end title cards state that one week after Bugsy's death, Virginia returned all of the missing money to Lansky and later committed suicide inAustria, and by 1991, the $6 million invested in Bugsy's Las Vegas dream had generated revenues of $100 billion.
Other cast members in smaller roles includeRobert Glaudini as Dominic Manzella, Jack Dragna'shatchet man;Eric Christmas as Ronald the butler,Robert Beltran as Alejandro, Don Carrara asVito Genovese, Bryan Smith as Chick Hill, Virginia's brother;Traci Lind as Natalie St. Clair, andDebrah Farentino as Bugsy's one-night stand.
Beatty's desire to make and star in a film about Bugsy Siegel can be traced all the way back to the late 1970s and early 1980s. After completingReds, Beatty had several projects that he wanted to do but his two dream projects were to produce, star, and possibly direct the life story ofHoward Hughes and the life story of Bugsy. Beatty stated that of all the characters he played in films, such asClyde Barrow inBonnie and Clyde andJohn Reed inReds, he felt that he was the right actor to play both Bugsy and Hughes.
Beatty was fascinated by Siegel, who he thought was a strange emblem of America (an American gangster who was the son of Jewish immigrants who became fascinated withHollywood and who also envisioned adesert city in which legal gambling is allowed). Several filmmakers attempted to make a film based on Bugsy's life, most famously French directorJean-Luc Godard, who wrote a script entitledThe Story and envisionedRobert De Niro as Siegel andDiane Keaton as Virginia Hill.In the late 1970s, Beatty met screenwriterJames Toback, with whom he became fast friends when Beatty was preparingHeaven Can Wait. Years later, when Beatty was in pre-production onIshtar, he asked Toback to write a script on Bugsy.
During the course of six years and in between two films that he was involved in, Toback wrote a 400-page document of Bugsy's life. However, under some strange circumstances,[clarification needed] Toback lost the entire document. Under pressure fromWarner Bros., who Beatty learned also had a Bugsy Siegel script ready to be produced, Beatty pursued Toback to write a script based on his lost document. Toback handed his new script to Beatty. Beatty approved it and went to several studios in hopes of obtaining financing and distribution for the film. Beatty presented Toback's script to Warner Bros. and claimed that it was much better than the one that Warner Bros. was interested in producing. Warner Bros. passed on the project, and Beatty eventually got the backing ofTriStar Pictures.
Initially, Toback was under the impression thathe would be the director. For a while, Beatty could not find a director (he did not know or chose not to know of Toback's desire to direct the film). Beatty feared that he would be stuck in the position of having to direct the film himself. He said, "I'm in just about every scene of the picture, and I didn't want to have to do all that other work." However, Beatty announced to Toback thatBarry Levinson was on board to directBugsy. At first, Toback was disappointed, but he quickly learned that Levinson was the right person for the job. Despite the length of the script (which would have run three and a half to four hours), Beatty, Levinson, and Toback condensed it to a two-and-a-half to three-hour script. The trio worked very closely together during the production of the film.
During casting, Beatty wantedAnnette Bening to play the role of Virginia Hill. BeforeBugsy, Bening was a candidate to play Tess Trueheart in Beatty'sDick Tracy. After seeing her audition, Beatty phoned Levinson and told him, "She's terrific. I love her. I'm going to marry her". Levinson thought Beatty was just excited at her audition and did not think that Beatty actually meant what he had said. Both Beatty and Bening stated that their relationship started after completing the film. Later that summer, Bening became pregnant with her and Beatty's first child, which resulted in a tabloid/media frenzy at the time. The child was born January 8, 1992, and the couple married on March 12.
Originally, Beatty played Bugsy with a heavy New York City accent (which can be heard in the trailer). However, both Levinson and Toback thought that the accent was not right, so Beatty dropped the accent (which he thought was "charming") and used his normal voice.
Principal photography began in January 1991, and filming wrapped in May 1991. Locations included Los Angeles,Pasadena, California,Coachella Valley, California, and theMojave Desert.[3][4][failed verification][5]
Bugsy premiered at theMuseum of Modern Art in New York City on December 10, 1991.[3] It had a limited release on December 13, 1991, and was released nationwide on December 20, 1991. Director Barry Levinson would later complain about how Tri-Star Studios promoted and distributed the film, deeming that they did not invest on it as much as their other release of that month,Hook.[6] A director's cut was released on DVD, containing an additional 13 minutes not seen in the theatrical version.
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OnRotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 84% based on 64 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Stylishly scattered,Bugsy offers cinematic homage to the infamous underworld legend, chiefly through a magnetic performance from Warren Beatty in the title role."[7]Metacritic gave the film a score of 80 based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[8] Film criticRoger Ebert gave the film four of four stars, saying "Bugsy moves with a lightness that belies its strength. It is a movie that vibrates with optimism and passion, with the exuberance of the con-man on his game."[9]
The film is recognized byAmerican Film Institute in these lists:
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