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23 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
A fascinating portrait of a superficial man, 4 April 1999

Author: Brian W. Fairbanks (brianwfairbanks@yahoo.com) from Cleveland, Ohio

In his career as a mobster, Benjamin Siegel acquired the nickname Bugsy, a name he detested. Barry Levinson's 1991 film, "Bugsy," never explains how Siegel came to be known as Bugsy, but it does portray his annoyance at being addressed as such. Several folks get their faces smashed after using the offending title, but though Bugsy, er Ben Siegel, is not above violence, he is more concerned with self-improvement. He repeats non-sensical phrases meant to improve his diction, and applies cold creme to his face and cucumber slices to his eyelids to promote a more youthful appearance. And, who knows, like his buddy George Raft, Bugsy, er Ben, thinks that maybe he has what it takes to be a movie star.

Whether it's meant to report the truth or simply to inflate the legend, "Bugsy," named best picture of 1991 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, is a fascinating portrait of a superficial man, one for whom money was "dirty paper" that could be acquired as easily as it could be spent, and mug shots were shameful only if they didn't show off a tan. As played by Warren Beatty, Siegel's preoccupation with glamour and general politeness come across more effectively than his occasional brutality, but Beatty finds a proper fit all the same. Also effective is Ben Kingsley as Meyer Lansky, Annette Bening as Virginia Hill, the woman for whom Siegel falls hard, Elliott Gould as a dim-witted and ill-fated friend, and, above all else, Harvey Keitel as Mickey Cohen. Less impressive is Joe Mantegna, miscast as George Raft. Mantegna is too soft in both voice and appearance to accurately convey the street origins of the silver screen's coin flipping tough guy, but this otherwise fine actor's poorly etched portrayal is too minor a flaw to damage the movie.

Like Hitler, Siegel's insecurities led him to build monuments to his own ego, as if intent on finding some kind of immortality. For Siegel, the monument was the Flamingo Hotel in the barren Nevada desert. Siegel's vision ultimately led to his death at the hands of his financiers who were enraged at the escalating costs of his oasis in the desert, but it also, if the film is to be believed, led to the birth of the gambling and entertainment capital that Las Vegas would become. There are those who challenge this view, but, fantasy or fact, "Bugsy" is top-notch entertainment.

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14 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
'Bugsy': Destined to be a gangster classic., 13 January 2001

Author: mkrusc from Los Angeles, CA

Barry Levinson's film 'Bugsy' should be considered one of the greatest gangster movies ever made. Combining a moving plot, first-class acting, superb directing, and an award-worthy score, 'Bugsy' rises above both period-piece movies and pointless gangster flicks.

The plot of the film follows the events in mobster Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel's life that culminated in both the founding of Las Vegas and his own death. As the plot includes Siegel's relationship with Virginia Hill, it also shows his deteriorating relationship with his family (wife Esta and children) and associates (including Meyer Lansky and Charlie Luciano), and it also looks at Siegel's fascination with becoming a celebrity. Most prominently, though, is his dream of creating something: that something which was the hotel and casino Flamingo. And it is this plot, which artfully switches back and forth between Siegel's personal and business lives, that sets the film upon a pedestal (so to speak). It is this blending of personal and professional which sets Bugsy apart from other gangsters by making him human. Yes, he may be a heartless killer, a faithless philanderer, remorseless criminal, hopeless dreamer, but those very characteristics are the same which make him more than the run-of-the-mill gangster. The myth dissolves as the man emerges; and the audience sympathizes with Siegel, even if they do not approve of him.

To say that the acting is excellent hardly does the actors justice. Beatty is a complex and intense Siegel, driven by his passions, weighted by his faults, and, ultimately, just another flawed individual and not (as Siegel once thought) indestructible. Played by Bening, Virginia Hill is Siegel's strong counterpoint whose own ambitious and self-interested exterior is underscored by a caring and sincere interior. Mickey Cohen is very understated of character, sometimes communicating more than just his words, a feat performed flawlessly by Keitel. Kingsley, as Meyer Lansky, is touchingly caring of his friend Siegel, torn between their friendship and his own professionalism. And the rest of the supporting cast--including Mantegna, Gould, Sarafian, and Graham--is talented, and each has an irreplaceable role in the film.

Barry Levinson's directing makes the film all the more special. The shots and angles are all completely appropriate. The style even seems to lend itself to the feel of the era (with the help of great lighting and costuming). At times, the action moves staccato and sharp: all business. And then the flow slows down to a more leisurely pace (like the era). At times, the directing is even elegant, as in the scene at Siegel's house with Virginia, where the camera pans to show the two's silhouettes on a projection screen; or during their love scene, where the time progresses as the camera follows the trail of clothing to the bed, when it has become morning; or two of the final scenes outside the Flamingo (one of Siegel waiting for patrons who do not arrive, the other of he and Virginia united for a final time) as the rain pours down from a night sky. Levinson covers a tremendous amount of ground (due to the numerous sub-plots) while keeping the momentum. And the score of the film, (deserving more awards than it received) of 1940's songs (including 'Why Don't You Do Right (Get Me Some Money Too!)' and 'Candy')and Ennio Morricone's original compositions, not only sets the tone, but the time period. 'For Her, For Him' and 'Act of Faith' in particular are simply captivating, but the entire score is truly a masterpiece.

For such reasons, 'Bugsy' is a pleasure to watch over again, and is destined to become a classic.

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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
"Twenty dwarfs took turns doing handstands on the carpet. " - Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel, 4 October 2005

Author: Michael Margetis (pmargetis@cox.net) from United States

I have to say when I rented this golden-oldie which so happened to be nominated for Best Picture at the 1991 Osars, I have to say, I wasn't really expecting much. I heard mixed things about it, and the idea of Warren Beatty playing a vicious mobster kind of seemed unbelievable to me (he did a great job in 'Bonnie and Clyde' but that was a little different.) In all honesty, I really found 'Bugsy' to not only be a very entertaining and enjoyable film, but also very well-made and Oscar-worthy one. Warren Beatty gives an unprecedented performance as the tough mafioso, Bugsy Siegel, who first had the idea of putting casinos in Las Vegas. Annette Bening in an equally brilliant performance plays Bugsy's calculating goomar. The supporting cast is very solid with strong performances from Elliot Gould, Joe Mantegna as actor George Raft, and especially Ben Kingsley as the swift and smart mobster with a heart of gold and Harvey Keital as the mean and ruthless killer who becomes partners with Siegel to start up a hotel/casino. Barry Levinson does a great job directing this period piece which is true to the period (the 1940s), and the screenplay isn't half bad either. Beatty, Keital and Kingsley picked up Oscar nods, along with Levinson for Best Director and the wonderful Annette Bening was somehow unfairly snubbed. If you want to see a cool mob picture that takes place in the 40s, why don't you give 'Bugsy' a shot? It's worth it. Grade: B+

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13 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
This Could Be the Start of Something Big., 11 January 2003
Author: tfrizzell from United States

Highly emotional and vastly outstanding film from director Barry Levinson (Oscar-nominated) follows the true start of Las Vegas as a gambling mecca due to the role of the titled character (Warren Beatty in an Oscar-nominated performance and arguably his finest cinematic turn). The gangster is bad news in the mid-1930s in New York. He takes a business trip to Los Angeles and quickly falls in love with the weather, the surroundings and of course a beautiful woman who is little more than a high-class prostitute (Annette Bening). His wife and kids will just have to take a backseat now to his new-found life. One day Beatty takes a long road trip to a small desert town in Nevada called Las Vegas with Bening and West Coast mafia syndicate Harvey Keitel (Oscar-nominated) to check on a nickel-and-dime casino and something happens. Beatty gets a vision of something, something extraordinary. This is the beginning of an idea to build the kind of gambling facility we think about today. Beatty's dedication and want leads to the creation of The Flamingo, but it comes at an astronomically high personal, economic and spiritual cost. Beatty may lose it all, but then again he may do something truly unforgettable. "Bugsy" is one of those productions that dominates due to its unforgettable elements. This is an amazing love story that is heart-warming, heart-breaking and heart-wrenching all at the same time. Based on actual events, the film-makers took a few liberties in the production but the majority of the running time is pretty accurate as to what actually took place in real life. Supporting actors Ben Kingsley (Oscar-nominated), Joe Mantegna and Elliott Gould all do good work in small, well-calculated roles. "Bugsy" is one of the best films of the 1990s. It stood tall in 1991 as it had more Oscar nominations than any other movie that year. Beatty and Bening's chemistry is exceptional and their love for each other in real life just seems to glisten brightly on the silver screen. An excellent production that should be discussed and praised much more than it is. 5 stars out of 5.

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12 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
A very atypical gangster film., 7 September 2000

Author: Jim Toms (jgtoms@midwest.net) from W. Frankfort, IL

I personally thought "Bugsy" was the best film of 1991 and should have beaten "The Silence of the Lambs" for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The movie looks great, has great acting all around and Barry Levinson is in top form. Best of all, "Bugsy" avoids most, if not all, cliches that are usually found in gangster movies. If you want a good solid film about a real life crime figure, this is the one. If you want hackneyed, worn out cliches that go nowhere and leave a feeling of unsatisfaction, I would recommend "Mobsters" or "Billy Bathgate".

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Beauty with a Capital B, 9 June 2000
Author: waldorfsalad from California

A big elegant movie, beautiful in every sense of the word, a fascinating story of the man who created Las Vegas and Warren Beatty is perfect in this movie. If you're not a huge fan of his, as I am not, you'll still appreciate the great talents of this star who is not necessarily known for his acting prowess. He is a joy to watch with the gorgeous Annette Bening Beatty. They have a great chemistry and all the actors involved were fantastic, there were many oscar nominations for all aspects of this film, acting, costumes, best film, best director, but when I saw that that Elliott Gould was not nominated for his wonderfully moving performance as Harry Greenberg, I was very surprised. Maybe it was just too small of a role. But it's a movie to be savoured and worth seeing on DVD, if anything just to appreciate the stunning photography.

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15 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
Interesting Portrait But Too Profane, 20 April 2006

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

Tis is the story of famous gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and beginnings of Las Vegas, Nevada. That part begins about halfway through the 135-minute film when Siegel (Warren Beatty) gets his "vision" about Las Vegas.

Too much of this movie is just profane arguing between the nasty "Virginia Hill" (Annette Bening) and Siegel. If this was accurate, why he put up with that woman's constant berating is mind-boggling.

I liked the rest of the cast except for Joe Mantegna, who made a very poor George Raft. Harvey Keitel as L.A. mobster Mickey Cohen is good as is Ben Kingsley, as Meyer Lansky, head of the East Coast mob.

There are tons of f-words in here, which I question. I doubt if that word was used that frequently back in those days. Usually I don't care but it's way overdone here.

It's a nice-looking film but unfortunately the DVD transfer is weak. The colors in here are great and certainly deserve to look better on disc. Another major flaw is they make the two lead characters look like sympathetic figures in the end, which is just plain wrong. The only thing Siegel had going for him was foresight concerning Las Vegas.

In the end, he and Hill reaped what they sowed anyway, if the story is true. Despite the objections I have with it, it's still an interesting biography, I'll say that. I never got bored with this movie.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
It's a good movie but a bit too clean and friendly as well., 27 May 2008

Author: Boba_Fett1138 from Groningen, The Netherlands

Well this movie just ain't no "Goodfellas", even though it was definitely inspired by it. It's a pretty good movie on its own right but it just remains a bit too much on the safe and clean side to really regard this as a true great and effective gangster-movie.

For a gangster movie it's just a too friendly one. This is like the light version of "Goodfellas". Supposedly Bugsy Siegel was a big gangster boss with connections but when watching this movie it makes you wonder why and how all. Guess they were just too afraid we would begin to dislike the character once we saw him do a lot of brutal things and killing- and giving orders to kill lots of people, even though this all of course was more closer to the truth as the character that is being portrayed in this movie. This not just goes for the main character but also does around him. It especially also goes for Virginia Hill. Guess director Barry Levinson just wasn't the right guy for a movie such as this. So as a biopic of the real life gangster Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel this just isn't a really good or insightful movie.

The movie still became an acclaimed success though, mainly because gangster movies were popular at that time, which also explains why the movie received no less than 10 Oscar nominations and taking home 2 of them. It was made at the same time as movies such as "The Godfather: Part III" and "Goodfellas" got released.

As a movie itself there isn't really much wrong with it. It's a good movie that follows a person that is following his dreams. Bugsy definitely seemed like a complicated and unpredictable character. He had some strange big ideas and really didn't knew how to handle money. It's a good movie and story on its own but as I said before, as a biopic or gangster movie it can't be really seen as a great one. The movie basically suffers from the same problems as "The Aviator"; it's too much in love with its main character and forgets to show the ugly but realistic things about his life.

Also seemed to me that Warren Beatty also didn't really knew how to handle the character. At times he's portraying him as a tough gangster, while at other moments it picks an even sort of like comical approach. Otherwise he plays well in the movie, just because he's such a darn fine actor, who has always starred in far to few pictures. His last movie already dates back again to 2001.

This is also known as the movie in which Warren Beatty and Annette Bening met and they got married 1 year later.

Besides Bening and Beatty the movie also stars acclaimed stars such as Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley and Elliott Gould, in variating sizes of roles. It's of course never a punishment to watch any of these actors in any movies.

It's a good movie, as long as you're not expecting a "Goodfellas" type of gangster-flick, even though it features basically the same style and narrative way of storytelling.

7/10

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
8 on a scale of 10, 10 April 2005

Author: len tinman from Overland Park, Ks.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I enjoyed watching this movie. Of course, I like all the actors - not the least of which are Beatty and Benning.

Possible Spoilers: I have a few criticisms. 1) It was too long. It could definitely have been shorter and better. 2) I couldn't identify with why Benning's character went ballistic as often as she did. There was so little provocation when she did and yet, other times, there was so much more reason she should have, but she didn't. That was a glaring inconsistency. 3) I thought the lack of better "hands on" oversight by the mob was not believable. There is simply no way on earth a $1M investment would have ended up costing $6M without every penny being justified. The fact that she made off with $2M is beyond belief. Also, why on earth would they have let her live (if not before), then AFTER they took care of Beatty's character. They would have tortured her to get the money back. 4) How did Beatty get out of the murder wrap?? As I recall, one minute he is in jail with no bail and the next minute he is out prancing around. I may have missed something, but if I did it is the movie's fault because it was too nebulous.

Despite those objections, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I think the main positive of the movie was that this was a true story about a flamboyant, charismatic, dreamer. And, not just any dreamer, but the person whose SINGLE, unilateral, dream eventually became one of the greatest American success stories of all time. He paid the ultimate price for his dream, but his dream ultimately came true - in fact to a much greater degree than he even imagined.

Typical gangster movie in some ways - not up to the level of the Godfather or Goodfellas or others, but stylish and enjoyable to watch.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
An insult to everyone even remotely interested in the truth, 2 December 2006

Author: DonDiego1973 from Germany

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

It goes without saying that a modicum of allowances has to be made when a true story is being adapted for the big screen. But if you shoot a fairy tale that has next to nothing to do with what actually happened - why call it Bugsy and make the audience believe this was a halfway true story? The Godfather trilogy processes many real characters and events, Once Upon A Time In America does it, too, but they don't claim to be telling true stories.

* SPOILER*

In the movie, Benny has this grand vision of a gambler's Eldorado; in real life Lansky had to argue him into going to Nevada. Benny deemed the notion of a counterpart to Monte Carlo idiotic, and he'd have preferred to continue his life as a playboy in L.A. Not until much later Benny warmed to the idea. But of course he's the hero of the movie, so naturally the idea had to be his.

In the movie, Benny wants to use Count diFrasso to get close to Mussolini in order to assassinate him because he was Hitler's partner, and Hitler killed jews in gas chambers, after all. Obviously we're supposed to like Benny, so the screenwriters invented this nonsense. In real life, at that time nobody knew about the gas chambers, least of all Benny who was completely uninterested in politics. In fact he did use the countess' connection and he did visit Mussolini, but not to kill him, but to sell explosives to him. He even met Goebbels and Goering during his sojourn in Italy.

The whole Greenberg subplot was nonsense. Greenberg didn't turn stool pigeon, he didn't seek refuge with Benny, Benny didn't kill him (that was up to Albert Tannenbaum)... at least they got the name right.

I guess it was supposed to be very romantic to have Virginia return to Benny, offering him the money she had stolen. The movie even goes so far to tell us via text panels that she ruefully returned the money to Lansky after Benny's assassination. Let me just say, revisionism just doesn't get more impudent than this.

This list is by no means exhaustive - there's the issue with Benny's family not living in L.A, the way Benny deals with Dragna and Adonis, the portrayal of Costello (a disagreeable corporate type), Lansky (a lovable teddy bear), Benny himself (an aging windbag who wouldn't have reached age 12 if he had regularly gone "bugsy" in situations like those in the movie, and what's more, who neither has the good looks nor the charisma of Benny Siegel) and many others. Apart from a few hard facts nothing's right in this flick.

* SPOILERS END HERE*

All in all, this is the one mafia movie that manages to be even more ridiculously bad than Harlem, NY. But honor where honor is due: This is a feat in itself.

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