Ahh the 1970s.. The home of the weird and unprofessional bad movies!
At first, I said to myself; this is a movie where its problem is being poor. After a while, I said to myself; this is a movie where its problem is its lead actor. Then, I noted that the director wasn't handling the matters well, or wasn't handling the matters. Maybe at one later point, I accused the script too. But, eventually, I found out that it wasn't about many problems; it was about this movie being wholly a big problem!
After the success of (The Godfather - 1972), then (The Godfather: Part II - 1974), there was suddenly an intensive concern about the history of mafia with the life of the American mobsters in the 20th century's first half, their families, mistresses, enemies and their ruling Tommy guns, where a wave of followers was made. Just recall cinematic movies like: (The Don Is Dead - 1973), (Dillinger - 1973), or TV ones like: (Honor Thy Father - 1973), (The Virginia Hill Story - 1974). Now, here's (Capone - 1975); the movie that will give you a good reason to hate (The Godfather) and its success!
It looks like the 70s's exploitation movies, but it isn't. It's worse. The production is totally nonexistent. For instance, the sets were like something I saw tenth of times at that era's TV shows; the ones that take place in the 70s's days (I suspect that I saw the bar, of the start of the movie, in one of Starsky & Hutch's episodes before!). The shots of the assassins in their cars, from the scene in which (Capone) was getting shot in the daylight, were clearly being borrowed from another movie due to shameful difference between the visual taste of them and the ones of this movie! Thanks to the IMDb, I knew that these shots were edited from another movie (The St. Valentine's Day Massacre - 1967) which's by the way directed by (Capone)'s producer Roger Corman (or should I say Capone's stingy producer!). Moreover, I'm sure that some suits, coats, cars, and perhaps machineguns were reused from (The Godfather)'s stuff.
There is no direction at all. And, I mean AT ALL. Unless you think that ending every scene by immersing it into red color is directing. But even if, this (Steve Carver) didn't do anything more. At one moment, there is an officer in his office threatening (Capone): "You are going to jail!", and (Capone) tells him that he won't since he bribed them all. Look at the way this scene was made as simply no effort of any kind was done; it was the perfect way how not to do it. And I HATED Mr. (Carver)'s endless close-ups like he didn't learn anything about filming but that!
The script is mechanic, like a version of (The Godfather) but after cutting everything except the assassinations scenes. So don't ask too much, or ever. Nevertheless, the question that I can't hold till now is why (Capone)'s right-hand man, played by (Stallone), sold him out at last?? I bet the movie makers themselves don't know or remember anything about it in the first place! "He didn't know that the man to be worry about is the one who's beside you, not in front of you" isn't enough motive or convincing reason. And what was the need for this imaginary girlfriend?! I suppose she was there to provide the movie with that shocking nudity, so the low work might get high profits! Generally, that script wasn't anyhow respectable biopic; it was rather a tasteless docu-drama about (Capone), written by someone who maybe read 2 pages summary about the man, then turned them, as they were, into a movie!
Still the main painful thing is (Ben Gazzara)'s performance. It should be taught in acting schools, and ironically I'm not kidding! This is beyond awful. Even if an actor wanted to be deliberately bad, he wouldn't be as half bad as this. (Gazzara) seemed like a nervous 9-year-old child trying to improvise (Capone) so seriously, being truly laughable for most of the time, and horrible to embarrassing extent for the rest. Just watch him saying: "Poison? What kind of way to kill a man is that?!"; purely unforgettable whether you want to laugh your heart out, or watch a man contorting his face to the max! But I can't blame the guy alone, of course he was clueless; since he was in the hands of writing and directing that didn't give a hoot!
Oh God, I can't forget the finale; it's the top of this movie's creepy shoddy time. So with this feeble TV-ish condition, I don't know how they got the nerve to show this cinematically?? Maybe because of the female nudity of it! Yes, nudity was a weapon that Hollywood used in its war against TV back then (till both descended to porn nowadays!). What kind of movie where the best of it is the performance of the young (Stallone) anyway?! But Hey. It succeeded in one thing though, which was being a good spoof of (Al Capone). But, unfortunately, not for all of its time!
Finally a question: If (Capone) was still alive, healthy and influential when that was released, do you think that he might have whacked this movie's makers?!
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