Load of rubbish!!

The first must-see film of the year.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I happened across this movie somehow and wondered why I had never heard of it. After watching I understand more than I want to.In the age of Martin Scorsese you have Warren Beatty hamming it up like it's still the 1930s and subject matter about as gritty as baby powder. They changed Bugsy from a monster (real life) to a weirdo with a temper (hollywood). It lacks most things you'd associate with a gangster film and instead focuses on Siegel's romantic life and his dreams of building a gangster's paradise in the Nevada desert. Ben Kingsley gives what has to be the worst performance in his career as Meyer Lansky. Most of the actors here seem puzzled about their character's motivations, so their performances come off as one-note (Annette Benning either being annoyed, happy or screaming in every scene) but Kingsley just puts on a goofy accent and phones it in.Overall it's very boring. By the end I was cheering when Bugsy was killed, not because he was a bad guy, but because something was finally happening on screen

Bugsy is directed by Barry Levinson and written by James Toback. It stars Warren Beatty, Annette Benning, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould and Joe Mantegna. Music is by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Allen Daviau. Film is a biography adaptation of Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, a notorious American mobster who rose to prominence in the 30s and 40s.Barry Levinson's epic film didn't turn out to be the mobster film many had hoped for. There was great anticipation that this would be Levinson's Goodfellas. What ultimately came to pass was a film of epic scope and detail, alive not with violence and mobster edginess, but of romanticism, of visionary peccadilloes and of folly. This is both a blessing and a curse, for Levinson seems to be caught in two minds between being respectful to his main characterisation, or unleashing the beast as we know it.Story concerns itself with Siegel being sent to tidy up West Coast operations, from where he would fall in love with starlet Virginia Hill and become one of the most prominent names in Hollywood of the 40s. Whilst the pic has moments where Siegel seethes and teeters on the edge of murderous rage, much of the history here is scratchy to say the least, where again Levinson and Toback ignore just what a nasty piece of work Siegel was in real life, and instead put dreamy ideals and hot to trot passions in instead.It's all perfectly mounted, this is very good film making, it just always seems to be on the periphery of making a telling contribution to the Siegel legacy on film. Beatty is dandy and ever watchable, but this is not a Bugsy Siegel we can identify with, rendering an air of falseness to the story telling. The support cast are strong, though Mantegna as George Raft is miscast, but the likes of Kingsley and Gould make telling contributions with only morsels to feed off of from the screenwriter.In its longest form it runs at two and half hours, and it's testament to the film makers craft that it always maintains interest. Yet the various splinters trying to dovetail into one never quite make it and that's a shame. 6.5/10

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.

An autobiographical feature focused on the LA period of life of notorious gangster Ben "Bugsy" Siegel (Warren Beatty), together with his ill-fated investment into the creation of what would become the Las Vegas gambling empire. Closely following this period of his life creates a screen version of the Ben Siegel character, which now probably dominates general perception. Warren Beatty gives Bugsy a measurable charm and a degree of intellectual flair, which may not necessarily comply with the portrayal of his person of the times.Known as being well acquainted with Hollywood circles, he was also described as being ruthless and apt for aggressive compulsive behaviours. Certain such aspects do feature in the opening sequences, but increasingly into the picture Bugsy is shown as calm, collected and focused on his public image. Fatefully he is also drawn as a sort of mafia dreamer, whose vision far exceeded that of other mafioso of the time, thus being key behind the over-budgeted exuberance of building "The Flamingo", thus becoming the basis for creating the economic power that is Las Vegas. At the time however his input was ridiculed, ultimately leading to his death due to overspending of mafia money (albeit truth be told the role of William Wilkerson is absolutely ignored giving Bugsy the sole credit for building Las Vegas).Warren Beatty also offers his strong presence to further romanticise Bugsy Siegel, mostly through to his dedicated love affair with minor actress Virginia Hill (Annette Bening). With some historic liberties in place Bugsy is shown as a somewhat obsessed and head-over-heels blind lover, who falls over for the wrong girl, thus bringing about his downfall. This almost idyllic portrayal of one of America's most ruthless criminals would have to be its biggest flaw, thus creating a image well in tune with the American dream, but much detached from the bloody and dirty details behind mafia. Overall a pretty darn good film, but somewhat discredited by overly idolising and overstating Ben Siegel as a hopeless dreamer and sole mastermind behind Las Vegas.