| Gangster Squad | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ruben Fleischer |
| Written by | Will Beall |
| Based on | Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles (2012 book) by Paul Lieberman |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Dion Beebe |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Steve Jablonsky |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 113 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60–75 million[3][4] |
| Box office | $105.2 million[4] |
Gangster Squad is a 2013 Americancrimeaction-thriller film directed byRuben Fleischer and written byWill Beall, loosely based on anon-fiction book by Paul Lieberman. The film starsJosh Brolin,Ryan Gosling,Nick Nolte,Emma Stone,Anthony Mackie,Giovanni Ribisi,Robert Patrick,Michael Peña, andSean Penn. Set in 1949, a group of real-life LAPD officers and detectives called theGangster Squad are assigned to bring down crime kingpinMickey Cohen.
After the script spent several years on theBlack List, production began in September 2011 around Los Angeles, lasting through December. The film was originally set to be theatrically released on September 7, 2012, but themovie theater shooting inAurora ledWarner Bros to delay the film's theatrical release until January 11, 2013, allowing the production team to perform re-shoots to overwrite the old sequence from which the gangsters open fire at the at theGrauman's Chinese Theatre.
Gangster Squad received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $105 million worldwide.
In 1949Los Angeles, crime bossMickey Cohen has become the most powerful figure in the underworld inCalifornia and intends to expandhis criminal enterprise to encompass the entireWest Coast. TheLAPD has not been able to stop his ruthless rise, as he has eliminated witnesses, hired dirty cops to protect his activities, and avoided prosecution through spreading corruption in the justice system.
Determined to put an end to Cohen and his dirty business empire, LAPD ChiefBill Parker creates a covert undercover unit, tasked with dismantling Cohen's dirty enterprise. The unit, composed of officers who do not carry badges and are authorized to act outside of the law, is led by the skilledWorld War IIOSS veteran Sergeant John O'Mara.
With the help of his wife Connie, O'Mara recruits fellow war veteran Detective Jerry Wooters and four incorruptible misfit officers. These are knife-wielding Lieutenant Coleman Harris,wire tapping expert and family man Conwell Keeler, outlaw sharpshooter Max Kennard, and Kennard's rookie protégé Navidad Ramírez.
Despite initial setbacks, such as a casino raid thwarted by corruptBurbank cops, the Squad strikes several successful blows at the heart of Cohen's operations, including shutting down his lucrative wire gambling business. They break into Cohen's mansion and Keeler plants abug in the back of a television. As a result, Cohen believes someone has betrayed him and lashes out at those inside his dirty business empire, including his etiquette tutor Grace Faraday.
Wooters and Faraday have entered into a secret romantic relationship, and he tries to help her escape from Cohen, enlisting the help of mutual friend and gangster Jack Whalen. Realizing the attackers have never stolen his money, Cohen deduces they are cops and realizes that they have bugged his house.
Cohen gives false information to lure the Squad into an unsuccessful ambush inChinatown while Keeler is executed by a hitman. When Faraday witnesses Cohen murder Whalen, she offers to testify against him. O'Mara forces the crooked Judge Carter to sign an arrest warrant before leading the Squad to thePark Plaza Hotel to arrest Mickey Cohen.
Cohen and his men engage in a lengthy shootout with the Squad, during which Wooters and Kennard are wounded. Cohen and his bodyguard Karl Lennox escape, but O'Mara rams their vehicle into a fountain. Navidad helps a dying Kennard shoot Lennox, saving O'Mara. Cohen and O'Mara fight each other in a brutal bareknuckle brawl while onlookers and reporters gather. O'Mara finally beats Cohen and has him arrested, ending his dirty business empire reigning overLA.
The film explains that the Gangster Squad has never been mentioned for its role in keeping the underworld from gaining a foothold in LA, and that its surviving members remain extremely secret 'till this day.Mickey Cohen is sentenced to life imprisonment atAlcatraz, where he is greeted with a lead-pipe beating by inmates who were friends of Whalen. Harris and Ramírez partner together to walk the beat, Wooters and Faraday continue their relationship, and O'Mara quits his job with the LAPD to live a peaceful and quiet life with his wife and newborn son.
Principal photography began on September 6, 2011, in Los Angeles. Sets were located all overLos Angeles County, from north of the San Fernando Valley to south of the county border. Sets were also recreated inSony Pictures Studios inCulver City.[11] Filming wrapped on December 15, 2011.[12]
The firsttrailer forGangster Squad was released onMay 9, 2012.[13] In the wake of thetheater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20, it was pulled from running before films and airing ontelevision, and removed fromApple's trailer site andYouTube due to a scene where characters firesubmachine guns at movie-goers through the screen ofGrauman's Chinese Theatre.[14][15]
It was later reported that the theater scene from the film would be either removed or placed in a different setting, since it is a crucial part of the film, and the film would undergo additionalre-shoots of several scenes to accommodate these changes, which resulted in the film's release being moved to a later date.[16] About a week after the Aurora shootings, Warner Bros. officially confirmed that the film would be released on January 11, 2013.[17] Two weeks later, on August 22, the cast reunited in Los Angeles to completely re-shoot the film's main action sequence. The new sequence was set in a version of Chinatown, where the gangsters strike back at the Squad. Josh Brolin said he was not sad the original scene was cut and admitted that the new version was just as violent.[18][19][20] Since the original cinematographer was no longer available, the new sequence was shot byCaleb Deschanel.[21]
Gangster Squad grossed $46 million in the United States and Canada, and $59.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $105.2 million, against a production budget of $60 million.[4]
The film grossed $17.1 million in its opening weekend, finishing third at the box office behindZero Dark Thirty andA Haunted House.[22] It then made $8.6 million in its second weekend (including $10.1 million over the four-dayMLK weekend) and $4.3 million in its third weekend.[23]
Gangster Squad was released onDVD andBlu-ray on April 23, 2013 byWarner Home Video. The Blu-ray includes director's commentary fromRuben Fleischer and several segments about the real life men and stories of the Gangster Squad andMickey Cohen.[24] As of June 2013, it had made $9.6 million from DVD sales and $6.7 million from Blu-ray, for a total of $16.3 million in sales.[25]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 30% based on 204 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though it's stylish and features a talented cast,Gangster Squad suffers from lackluster writing, underdeveloped characters, and an excessive amount of violence."[26] OnMetacritic, it has a weighted average score of 40 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[27] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave it an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[22]
Reviewers atSpill.com gave it a "Rental," praising its stylish design but criticizing the dialogue, Emma Stone's underdeveloped "damsel-in-distress" character, and Sean Penn's laughable makeup.[28]IGN editor Chris Tilly wrote, "Gangster Squad looks great but frustrates because with the talent involved, it had the potential to be so much more", and rated it 6.3/10.[29]Richard Roeper gave it a B+, saying "Gangster Squad is a highly stylized, pulp-fiction period piece based on true events" and noted its strong performances.
Filling in forRoger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times, Jeff Shannon gave the film 2 stars out of 4, saying that Fleischer, better known for his comedic work, was "out of his element, and barely suppressing his urge to spoof the genre". He further criticized the stock characters and the film's generally uneven tone, but praised action highlights such as the car chase, and flashes of brilliance in Sean Penn's performance.[30]
Although the film is inspired by the real-life LAPDGangster Squad, much of it is fabricated.[31][32]
D. Beebe was unavailable because he was prepping his next film.