A fascinating, smart biography about Bugsy Siegel, the New York mobster who invented Las Vegas, 1991's BUGSY is a great film in the Goodfellas, Casino genre.
Warren Beatty is excellent in arguably his most unhinged, violent role as Ben (never call him Bugsy) Siegel, who takes a four day trip to LA to meet the mob competition on the west coast and never comes home.
Seduced by Hollywood, power and just how much that money can buy on the west coast, Siegel becomes a west coast power and legendary woman's man in short order.
Falling in love with b-movie star Virginia Hill, he begins a long relationship based on lots of passion but zero trust. Annette Bening and Beatty fell in love filming BUGSY and it's visible on screen. Beatty and Bening are both excellent and are supported by a great cast, including Ben Kingsley as Bugsy's most loyal business partner, Meyer Lansky, Harvey Keitel as West coast mobster Mickey Cohen (love how his and Bugsy's relationship is one of the major arcs and backbones of the story) and Joe Mantegna as movie star friend George, a thinly veiled reference to the real Bugsy's long time friendship with movie star George Raft.
As Bugsy discovers a flat patch of land in the Nevada desert on which he stakes everything to build the very first building in Las Vegas, the original Flamingo hotel, the film really takes off.
The last hour watches the Flamingo begin to rise from the ground as almost everything else in Bugsy's life is consumed by his vision in the desert.
The period details are fantastic, the cast is great across the board, Director Barry Levinson (Rainman, Diner) delivers one of his best films and Beatty gives one of his best performances in BUGSY. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards and winner for Best Art Direction and Costume Design.
Bugsy rolls the dice and you're the winner, with a brilliant A+ and a spot just outside my all-time Top 100.
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