Bugsy

Millennials and Generation Z are all but unaware of a talent like Warren Beatty. In all fairness, why should they be? In his sixty plus year career as an actor, director, and writer, Beatty has only actually performed in twenty-three films. Quality as opposed to quantity it seems was Beatty’s preference, as the actor has been known to have turned down numerous roles for decades. To those who may not yet know of his brilliance, Bugsy is good film to start with. Based on the real life gangster Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Seigel, Beatty shocked audiences everywhere with this late career outing.

Bugsy Siegel was an east coast gangster who many now revere as the man who started Las Vegas.

Bugsy Siegel was an east coast gangster who many now revere as the man who started Las Vegas. Bugsy shows the mobster at the height of his power, at the point of his life in which he made the move to Los Angeles and eventually formed an alliance with notorious crime lord Mickey Cohen. Along the way he begins a love affair with Hollywood actress Virginia Hill, a woman of whom he would obsess over to the point of almost ruining all of his business dealings. Bugsy features veteran actors such as Harvey Keitel and Ben Kingsley, with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening in the driver’s seat as the films two leads; as the casting would suggest, this is definitely an actor’s movie.

This 1991 feature was shot during the days of building pretty much all of the films sets and with the use of very little special effects apart from the gunshots. This made Barry Levinson get creative as the director in fact, showing some of the ‘hits’ to be off screen so as to force the viewer into using their imagination. Of the deaths shown on screen however, said scenes are executed well enough using the practical effects that were available back then. It’s the acting that wins the day in Bugsy more than anything else. Beatty is as sharp as he’s ever been, almost playing a true to life version of ‘the Joker’. He’s calm one minute, and flying off the handle the next (said to be the true nature of the real Bugsy Siegel). Annette Benning is a firecracker, functioning as Bugsy’s only real weakness. Her allure is as enchanting for the audience as it is for her co-star, Beatty of course of whom she would actually go on to marry in real life.

With 2021 now out of the way, it’s official: Bugsy is a classic. Every minute that passes from this point onward will only serve to make the movie more valuable and worthy of attention. It has everything a film made back then could have to grant it enough appeal, even having just a touch of that special something that makes it timeless. Warren Beatty being his age now may not ever do another movie, so to those that have missed out, now is the time to catch up. Bugsy isn’t just a good place to start, it’s the RIGHT place to start.