An impressive film—Richard Wilson is no auteur but the direction is beyond competent, Lucien Ballard (Peckinpah’s best work) is the DP, Rod Steiger gives a tour-de-force lead and the writing and ensemble are great, too
Half of the main cast is from On the Waterfront—Steiger of course—but the always solid Martin Balsam and Nehemiah Persoff (really good as well)
Half of the main cast is from On the Waterfront—Steiger of course—but the always solid Martin Balsam and Nehemiah Persoff (really good as well)
Steiger—big and bold performance. Method. Big swings in emotion- scenes of fighting and shouting. It’s a resume-enhancer
The film starts with a smart tracking shot going down the stairs and through a bar following a blonde’s behind— we are introduced to Steiger’s titular character in the same long take
I hate to say it but I think it influenced Coppola’s The Godfather a little. It’s not on that level but Wilson shoots the killings in a very ingenious way – operatic—creative
A magnificent scene with Fay Spain an Steiger as she tells him off for killing her husband
Fay Spain has a couple of really big scenes with Steiger, too– she’s remarkable here
In another scene Wilson bounces Balsam off of a mirror—the scene where Steiger is getting fit for clothes
The writer is from Naked City– very clever
At first I thought Wilson should have switched the roles of the captain (upright guy) and newspaperman (shady character) so that Balsam plays the captain. He a stronger actor than James Gregory (plays the McCarthy-like senator in Manchurian Candidate) but I’m ok with the way Wilson cast it—Balsam’s scenes with Steiger are excellent
the scenes with Martin Balsam and Steiger are fantastic
During the big St. Valentine’s Day massacre we have the gun man framed by the hands up on the victim—really well done
When Steiger confronts Balsam we get Wilson and Ballard moving a spotlight back and forth utilizing natural light. These are two big-time actors going for it—Balsam dripping in sweat. Elevated scene and the next one is a killing on a subway—also superb
[…] Al Capone – Wilson […]