King of the Roaring
20's
Director: Joseph Newman
Year: 1961
Rating: 4.5
Most of these true crime gangster
films tend to up the ante and exaggerate the crimes of the protagonist. I
don't know what happened here. But they downplay it all. Arnold Rothstein
was one of the great characters in crime during the second and third decade
of the last century. He ran the mob. He likely was behind the Chicago White
Sox throwing away the 1919 World Series. He was one of the first bootleggers
of illegal alcohol and drugs. He ran the gambling in New York City and fixed
plenty of horse races. Some of the men under him were Legs Diamond, Meyer
Lansky, Lucky Luciano and Dutch Schultz. He was the King of organized crime
till he was gun downed. A nice Jewish boy. He came from a very affluent Jewish
family whose father had a reputation for honesty. Something went wrong though
for Arnold. From the age of ten he began running crap games. Moved to running
a bookie joint and upwards.
From watching this film, you would miss
most of his rise in the criminal organization. You would think he was only
involved in gambling in a small way and ran a nightclub and casino. They
leave out the World Series, the booze, the drugs, his underlings, they leave
out the heart of the story and decide to focus much of it on his relationship
with his wife to be. I would love to know what went on with their thinking.
Was it because Rothstein is played by nice guy David Janssen and they didn't
want to make him look too bad. Because Janssen basically comes across as
a busy very smart businessman with not enough time for his wife. He keeps
getting pushed around by a cop, by a politician at Tammany Hall, by partners
forced on him. With Schultz and Legs Diamond taking orders from him. I don't
think so. Rothstein took nothing from anyone till a few slugs found him.
He wasn't one to use violence himself but that is why you have helpers.
This is a dud though a well-made nicely
shot dud with a good cast. Mickey Rooney plays his friend since they were
kids, Jack Carson the politician, Keenan Wynn the crooked lawyer, Dianne
Foster his wife, William Demarest his PR person and the lovely Diana Dors
in a much too small part as the wife's roommate before marriage. How can
you have Diana Dors and not give her a bigger role. They get so much wrong
here, but especially that. I have been a fan of Janssen since I was a kid.
On our last night before having to go overseas they showed the final episode
of The Fugitive. My family all watched it from some hotel room in NYC. But
he underplays his characters like a religion whether The Fugitive or Harry-O.
That is why he was perfect for TV. He never grated over the years. But you
can't underplay Arnold Rothstein. He deserved better.
