Lansky
Director: John McNaughton
Year: 1999
Rating: 6.5
Meyer Lansky died from a heart
attack in 1983 at the age of 80 in Miami, Florida, where old people go to
die. Few of his compatriots were around to send him off. Because they had
all been dead for a long time. Lansky was a gangster who began his trade
in the 1920s. He knew them all. His childhood friends were Lucky Luciano
and Benjamin Siegel, later to be known as Bugsy. They all have their own
movies but this one belongs to Lansky. Born into the Pogroms of Eastern Europe,
his family escaped and made their way to NYC where he grew up on the tough
streets of the lower east side. He became best friends with Bugsy for all
of their lives - or until he had to step aside and let them kill him. Luciano
was the tough guy in the neighborhood, already involved in the protection
rackets. He tried to muscle in on Lansky's crap games and was told where
to go. They became friends for life and it was Lansky who got Luciano out
of jail and on his way to Sicily. Luciano died in 1962 from a heart attack
as well. All three went to work for Arnold Rothstein but when Rothstein was
gunned down, they went out on their own. They had a dream. To unite all organized
crime. And to a large degree they succeeded. All the bosses of all the crime
families got together a few times and set rules. Lansky was behind it.
This is a TV movie written by David Mamet
and directed by John McNaughton (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Wild
Things). It has a series of actors who play the characters at various ages
but the main draw is Richard Dreyfuss as Lansky from middle-age on.
It goes back and forth as Lansky as an old man with no country looks back
at his life. It is the 1970s and Lansky is trying to find refuge in Israel
from investigations into his criminal activities. The Dept of Justice finally
force him to come home where he is found not guilty. Lansky was never convicted
of any crime. He was the perfect inside man in the mob. It is also rumored
that he had pictures of J. Edgar Hoover and his male lover. Hoover left him
alone while he was alive. Everyone listened to Lansky and no one saw him
as a threat. No one tried to bump him off. He learned in the Pogroms how
to lay low. His casinos were known to be on the up and up. The house always
wins, he would say. There is no need to rig the games.
He brought casinos to Havana and made dealings
with Bautista. They made a lot of money. Then Castro showed up and Lansky
got out of Havana a day before Castro rode in. He backed Siegel's brainstorm
to make Las Vegas into a gambling haven. But when Siegel could not deliver
and money went missing, he finally had to look the other way when the syndicate
decided Siegel had to go. In a very bloody way. Told well in Bugsy with Warren
Beatty. Here he is played by Eric Roberts. Luciano who flew over to
Cuba from Italy had to give a thumbs down on his old friend. He is played
by Anthony La Paglia at this point. The film methodically narrates his life
in small sequences - I wish some were longer - especially Lansky as a young
man on his way up. I find all these gangster true crime films fascinating.
This goes for no big splashes. Lansky was not a splashy man. And he lived
to 80 and died in Miami.
