The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Revision as of 08:12, 12 May 2024
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The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is a 1967 American gangster film based on the 1929 mass murder of seven members of the Northside Gang (led by George "Bugs" Moran) on orders from Al Capone. The picture was directed by Roger Corman, written by Howard Browne, and starring Jason Robards as Capone, Ralph Meeker as Moran, George Segal as Peter Gusenberg, and David Canary as Frank Gusenberg.
Corman, better known as a director and producer of low-budget B movies, was given his largest budget to date (estimated at $2.5 million) and the backing of 20th Century Fox to realize what he described as "the most accurate, authentic gangster film ever". With a voiceover narration by Paul Frees, the film depicts in detail the events leading up to the massacre in a docudrama-style, with many authentic historical details.
A young Bruce Dern plays one of the victims of the massacre, and Jack Nicholson has a bit part as a gangster. Also featured are Jan Merlin as one of Moran's lieutenants and veteran Corman actor Dick Miller as one of the phony policemen involved in the massacre. Leo Gordon makes an early screen appearance as Heitler.
Plot
An organized crime war breaks out between two rival gangs in Chicago during the Roaring Twenties. The leader of the Southside Gang is the notorious Al Capone, who resents the growing activities of his nemesis George "Bugs" Moran, the leader of the North Side Gang. Moran also wants control of the city's bootlegging and gambling operations, and his lieutenants Peter and Frank Gusenberg use threats and intimidation to make speakeasy owners do business with them in exchange for "protection". Peter Gusenberg also argues and fights with his moll, particularly over her extravagant spending of his money.
As the body count escalates, Moran reminds his men how Capone eliminated the previous North Side leaders while Capone remembers how Northside leader Hymie Weiss tried to kill him, with flashback sequences including the September 1926 lunchtime attack on Capone at the Hawthorne Hotel restaurant in Cicero by Weiss and Moran and the murders of Dean O'Banion in November 1924 and Weiss in October 1926 by Capone's gang. Moran gives the order to have Patsy Lolordo, a crony and personal friend of Capone's who is also the representative of the Sicilian Mafia in Chicago, eliminated in order to replace him with an envoy more sympathetic to Moran. Moran's assassination plan sees him conspire with low-level mafiosi Joe Aiello to kill Lolordo and replace him with Aiello. Lolordo's bodyguards are corrupted, and the unarmed Lolordo is murdered in his apartment. In retaliation, Capone has Aiello tracked down and personally executes him as Aiello is fleeing the state on board a train.Template:Efn
With an elaborate plan in motion to eliminate Moran and his gang, Capone retreats to his winter home in Miami to establish an alibi. Meanwhile, his henchmen, two of whom are dressed as police officers, feign a police raid on a northside garage and execute five members of Moran's gang including Peter Gusenberg. Also at the garage and caught in the attack are mechanic Johnny May and optometrist Reinhardt Schwimmer (who enjoyed being around gangsters). Of the victims, only Peter's brother Frank survives and is taken to a hospital. Despite knowing that he will soon die, Frank refuses to tell the police anything. Moran, the apparent focus of the attack, is not in the garage as he had seen the "police car" approaching the garage and went instead to a diner, thereby escaping certain death. In a press conference at a hospital where he is supposedly being treated for influenza, Moran drops a verbal clue to the crime: "Only Capone kills like that," while Capone, holding a similar press conference in Miami, disparages Moran's sanity and intelligence.
In the aftermath, Capone is shown dispatching two of those responsible for carrying out the attack (John Scalise and Albert Anselmi) as he learns of their plans to betray and kill him. Moran is eventually forced out of Chicago and later dies of lung cancer while in Leavenworth Prison, while Capone, following his release after serving a prison term in Alcatraz, dies of syphilis. No one is ever actually charged for the murders, but those responsible either disappear by going into hiding or are violently killed.
Cast
Orson Welles was Corman's original choice to play Capone, but Twentieth Century Fox vetoed the deal, fearing that Welles was "undirectable". The film's narration has a style similar to that of Welles but was delivered by actor Paul Frees.
