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IMDbPro

Gangster Squad

  • 20132013
  • RR
  • 1h 53m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
215K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,933
379
Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone in Gangster Squad (2013)
A chronicle of the LAPD's fight to keep East Coast Mafia types out of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s.
Play trailer2:26
3 Videos
99+ Photos
ActionCrimeDrama
It's 1949 Los Angeles, the city is run by gangsters and a malicious mobster, Mickey Cohen. Determined to end the corruption, John O'Mara assembles a team of cops, ready to take down the ruth... Read allIt's 1949 Los Angeles, the city is run by gangsters and a malicious mobster, Mickey Cohen. Determined to end the corruption, John O'Mara assembles a team of cops, ready to take down the ruthless leader and restore peace to the city.It's 1949 Los Angeles, the city is run by gangsters and a malicious mobster, Mickey Cohen. Determined to end the corruption, John O'Mara assembles a team of cops, ready to take down the ruthless leader and restore peace to the city.
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
215K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,933
379
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Ruben Fleischer
    • Writers
      • Will Beall
      • Paul Lieberman(book "Gangster Squad")
    • Stars
      • Sean Penn
      • Ryan Gosling
      • Emma Stone
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Ruben Fleischer
    • Writers
      • Will Beall
      • Paul Lieberman(book "Gangster Squad")
    • Stars
      • Sean Penn
      • Ryan Gosling
      • Emma Stone
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 344User reviews
    • 356Critic reviews
    • 40Metascore
    • Awards
      • 5 nominations

    Videos3

    U.S. Version #1
    Trailer 2:26
    U.S. Version #1
    Gangster Squad
    Trailer 2:25
    Gangster Squad
    What Roles Has Emma Stone Turned Down?
    Full Episode 3:13
    What Roles Has Emma Stone Turned Down?

    Photos257

    Emma Stone in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Sean Penn, Holt McCallany, Jon Polito, and Emma Stone in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Sean Penn and Josh Brolin in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Sean Penn and Ruben Fleischer in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Robert Patrick, Ryan Gosling, and Michael Peña in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Sean Penn and Jon Polito in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Sean Penn and Josh Brolin in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, and Josh Pence in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Josh Brolin, Robert Patrick, Ryan Gosling, Michael Peña, and Anthony Mackie in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Emma Stone in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling in Gangster Squad (2013)
    Sean Penn in Gangster Squad (2013)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Sean Penn
    Sean Penn
    • Mickey Cohen
    Ryan Gosling
    Ryan Gosling
    • Sgt. Jerry Wooters
    Emma Stone
    Emma Stone
    • Grace Faraday
    Giovanni Ribisi
    Giovanni Ribisi
    • Officer Conwell Keeler
    Holt McCallany
    Holt McCallany
    • Karl Lockwood
    Wade Williams
    Wade Williams
    • Rourke
    James Landry Hébert
    James Landry Hébert
    • Mitch Racine
    • (as James Hèbert)
    Ambyr Childers
    Ambyr Childers
    • Milk Skinned Blonde
    Josh Brolin
    Josh Brolin
    • Sgt. John O'Mara
    Mick Betancourt
    • Detective Sgt. Will Hendricks
    Mac Brandt
    Mac Brandt
    • Bruiser
    Brandon Molale
    Brandon Molale
    • Jimmy 'Bockscar' Knox
    Michael Papajohn
    Michael Papajohn
    • Mike 'The Flea'
    Jeff Wolfe
    Jeff Wolfe
    • Giovanni Vacarezza
    Anthony Molinari
    Anthony Molinari
    • Lorenzo Molinari
    Austin Highsmith Garces
    Austin Highsmith Garces
    • Patty
    • (as Austin Highsmith)
    Neil Koppel
    • Max Solomon
    Jack McGee
    Jack McGee
    • Lt. Quincannon
    • Director
      • Ruben Fleischer
    • Writers
      • Will Beall
      • Paul Lieberman(book "Gangster Squad")
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In the movie, the Gangster Squad is assembled to go after Mickey Cohen. However, in real life Chief W.H. Parker set up the squad to prevent other gangsters from taking over Cohen's rackets after Cohen went to prison on income tax evasion. Whenever the squad learned that out-of-town gangsters were coming to Los Angeles to try to set up new operations, the Gangster Squad would kidnap them, beat them up (some rumors say torture) and then send them back to wherever they came from with the warning that if they ever returned, they would be killed.
    • Goofs
      The film gives the impression that the Gangster Squad were responsible for Mickey Cohen's arrest. In reality, Cohen was arrested in 1950 for the more mundane crime of tax evasion. He was also not sent to Alcatraz until 1961, over a decade after the film's time frame.
    • Quotes

      Grace Faraday: He'll kill you if he finds out!

      Sgt. Jerry Wooters: Who?

      Grace Faraday: Mickey!

      Sgt. Jerry Wooters: Mickey Mouse?

    • Connections
      Edited into Gangster Squad: Deleted Scenes (2013)
    • Soundtracks
      The Hills of California
      Written by Robert Hayward and Robert Staver

      Performed by Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers featuring Paul Weston and His Orchestra

      Courtesy of Capitol Records

      Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

    User reviews344

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    You've already seen this movie, but better.
    Originally intended for release in September of 2012, Gangster Squad has belatedly hit theatres this week. The film follows the story of LA crime boss Mickey Cohen and a group of off-the-book beat cops to bring him down. "Based" on a true story (What movie isn't these days?) the film and its fantastic cast promise much but come across as bland and boring.

    Set in Los Angeles in the 50's, Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) is a crime lord who has taken over and there seems to be nobody who can stop him. The few good cops are outnumbered by the cops Cohen has bought and it seems all hope is lost. But Police Chief Nick Nolte decides something needs to be done and assigns good, hard cop Josh Brolin to put together a team to go after Cohen. What follows is the assembling of a team of not-so- perfect cops and the war they wage on Cohen's empire.

    Sound familiar? That's because we've all already seen this movie, only done much better. You can tick the cliché's off as you watch. Good cop being grilled by his dirty cop superior? Check. Older tougher cop and his young protégé? Check. Evil henchman of the chief bad guy? Check. The list could go on but would approach spoiler territory. The climax of the film is somewhat predictable about half way through. You can foresee almost all of the events that will play out in the last 20 minutes and while it's enjoyable enough, it's nothing you haven't seen before.

    The cast is a who's who list of names. Which makes the film all the more disappointing. With names like Brolin, Gosling, Penn and Stone they should blow you away. But the characters are nothing more than caricatures and nobody gets the chance to portray any real depth, with the possible exception of Giovanni Ribsi. Sean Penn looks bizarre in a mountain of makeup, although it matches his completely over the top performance. Ryan Gosling turns in a nicely subtle performance, but most of the rest of the cast are stuck in cardboard cut out roles with individual stories set on railway tracks. We all know where they're going to go, we just have to wait for them to get there.

    Also worth mentioning in the reason for the delay in the film's release. Originally the film was to be released in September 2012, but then the Aurora shooting took place. At that time one of the key set pieces of the film was a scene in which the characters shoot at people from behind a movie screen in a theatre. Realising how disastrously that would be received in the wake of Aurora, the studio immediately suspended promotion for the film and set about reworking that scene. The cast re- assembled in August to reshoot the sequence, now taking place in Chinatown.

    Something I liked: Robert Patrick's performance as the grizzled older gunslinger. As a Terminator 2 fan it was great to see him still taking out people almost at will.

    Something I didn't like: The predictable climax. At the 60 minute mark I mentally made a list of things I thought would happen in the last 20 or so minutes of the film. Of my list of about 6 things, 5 of them happened exactly as I predicted.

    Something that bugged me: The scenes with Josh Brolin and Nick Nolte seemed to be shot out of focus. It was particularly noticeable in the shots of Nolte. For a film with a budget of $75M, this just shouldn't happen.

    Summary: Ultimately Gangster Squad is an enjoyable enough 100 minutes but isn't anything significant. There's no great performances, no spectacular set pieces nor any big moments that you'll go home talking about. For the ladies there's an ample amount of eye candy in the form of a suited and fedora-d Ryan Gosling, and for the gentlemen there's Emma Stone and a no-nonsense Robert Patrick. But the story fails to ever really leap off the page and become something. We're told Mickey Cohen is bad, but he's never anything more than "that bad guy". We don't hate him, we don't sympathise with him or desperately want him to be taken down. He's just "the bad guy". The same can be said for all of the characters, and the story as a whole. Which makes it on the whole, ultimately forgettable.
    helpful•191
    54
    • jarryds
    • Jan 12, 2013

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 11, 2013 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Warner Bros. (United States)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Băng Đảng Găng Tơ
    • Filming locations
      • 17434 Bellflower Blvd, Bellflower, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Warner Bros.
      • Village Roadshow Pictures
      • Lin Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $60,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $46,000,903
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $17,070,347
      • Jan 13, 2013
    • Gross worldwide
      • $105,200,903
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 53 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • SDDS
      • Datasat
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

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