The best gangster movie you never heard of

Billy Bathgate

Those of us who did decades in law enforcement have very mixed feelings about gangster films. The Godfather movies, Goodfellas, Scarface, etc, are undoubtedly entertaining. But at the same time, they glorify and glamorize some of the world’s worst; essentially, criminals with organizational ability, who spread their malign influence far and wide.

But that said: damn, those movies are watchable. And some of them actually show us something about the larger society in which they take place.

Today’s recommendation is a bit of a hidden gem: Billy Bathgate (1991), a (mostly) true story starring Dustin Hoffman as New York gangster, Dutch Schultz.

 

First off, the movie has atmosphere — it looks great. The casting, sets, and costuming all capture the late 20’s/early 30’s era in and around New York City — and this is very much a New York movie.

Secondly, hewing close to the E.L. Doctorow book, the film is a true story, well-dramatized. Schultz (real name: Arthur Flegenheimer) was perhaps the last major Jewish gangster to lead his own gang, and the film captures an interesting moment in gangsterism: the end of the freelancers. We’re not giving anything away by saying that the people who ended the reign of beer baron Schultz — who initially made his fortune running bootleg beer during Prohibition — became the founders of a national-level conspiracy that ran organized crime in America for decades after. In some ways, they still do.

(Dutch Schultz’s NYPD mugshot)

Another interesting aspect of the movie is the issue of moving a trial to a different venue — an issue that seems to be continually cropping up in some of the headline cases we’ve seen in recent years. The upcoming trial of Bryan Kohberger, arrested in the murder of the four college students in Idaho, is in fact currently pending a ruling on this very issue. Let’s just say, Schultz used this legal tactic to great advantage.

Hoffman is, as you would expect, excellent as Schultz, capturing his sneering, mercurial malevolence. The rest of the cast does its job as well, particularly Bruce Willis, who has a nice supporting role as a member of Schultz’s crew (although Willis is considerably more stylish than his real-life counterpart, Bo Weinberg).

Nicole Kidman is thrown in to add some glamor — her part has no real-life counterpart, and may not have been necessary, but every good gangster flick needs a femme fatale, I guess. And she looks beautiful here — luminous.

 

(NYPD mugshot of Bo Weinberg — not sure he could’ve pulled Demi Moore)

A final interesting note regarding Schultz: at his life’s end, he lingered in a delirious state for several days, spewing a stream-of-consciousness monologue that was dutifully transcribed by an NYPD stenographer. It reads like Beat poetry — it’s just bizarre — and strangely entertaining. It’s well-known among investigators.

Billy Bathgate may not be in a league with the movies cited above — but it is solid, and it is, actually, quite close to how things really went down. And it captures a moment when organized crime was about to become truly organized — and thereby, even more difficult to stop; which had major implications for American life, particularly in the cities (at least until RICO came along).

You can catch Billy Bathgate on Prime for $3.59. It’s definitely worth that price to take this trip back in time to a particular moment in America’s criminal life.

In the meantime: enjoy the long weekend!