Lansky (2021)

One of the best modern day mob films of today. Harvey Keitel was phenomenal as usual.

Fmovies: Greetings again from the darkness. If asked, the vast majority of movie lovers would name THE GODFATHER (1972), THE GODFATHER II (1974), and GOODFELLAS (1990) as the quintessential mafia movies. Sure, there are dozens of others, but that mob triumvirate has ruled the roost for many years. It's doubtful writer-director Eytan Rockaway ever gave one moment of thought that his second feature, written from a story by his father, author Robert Rockaway, might join the ranks of those top three, but that doesn't prevent it from being a quite interesting tale based on true events.

Sam Worthington (AVATAR, 2009) stars as David Stone, a writer who had some success a few years back with his Kennedy biography. Since then, he's struggled in both his personal and professional life. In 1981 when an elderly Meyer Lansky (Harvey Keitel) contacts him to write the true Lansky story, David jumps at the opportunity, seeing it as a solution to his many problems. The two men meet at a Miami diner that Lansky frequents. These diner meetings form the structure of the story, and director Rockaway uses flashbacks to the 1940's to "show" us what Lansky is telling his biographer from the booth.

John Magaro plays the younger Lansky, a man who is remarkably good with numbers and calm, yet forceful, in his demeanor. Lansky has partnered with Ben "Bugsy" Siegel (David Cade), who provides some muscle and flamboyance that Lansky lacks. We see the development of their business, and how Lansky's shrewd business acumen leads to a connection with Lucky Luciano, as well as providing the government with intelligence during the war. Lansky's story to David glosses over the bootlegging and other revenue streams to concentrate on gaming, which of course, is now legal in many states.

The supporting cast includes Minka Kelly as David's fling at the motel, AnnaSophia Robb as Lansky's wife Anne, Shane McRae as Lucky Luciano, and David James Elliott as the FBI Agent obsessed with solving the long-dead Lansky case and locating the $350 million supposedly hidden away. As you might expect, the story bounces from Miami to New York City to Cuba (a stunning Colonial Hotel in Havana) to Vegas to Geneva and even Israel, where Lansky attempted, unsuccessfully, to live out his life.

Lansky's biggest impact was facilitating the connection between the Italian, Irish, and Jewish mafia at a time when so such bond existed. We twice hear him answer, "I have no knowledge on the subject", when questioned about organized crime. On his death in 1983, Lansky had no convictions - all charges had been dropped. A doctor's diagnosis of terminal lung cancer led him to reach out to an author so that his story could be told. We don't learn much about "Murder, Inc." but we do understand Lansky's commitment to "control the game". Rockaway has delivered an intriguing profile of an enigma from inside the mafia ... and screen vet Keitel makes it all believable.

In Select Theaters & On Demand June 25, 2021.

May well end up the best movie produced in 2021.

Lansky is a complex presentation. Outwardly based on a biography written by David Stone, the effort discusses the documented facts of mobster Meyer Lansky in a far more nuanced way than previous efforts. The most significant contrivance, isn't the character of Lansky, but rather the character of the writer, as David Stone is entirely fictional. In fact, the actual writer who conducted the last interviews with Lansky was Robert Rockaway, a leading academic and Jewish historian, and his book on organized crime leaders is widely available.

Still, the movie has the courage to tell the story of a mobster in a fair manner. And if the purpose of a biopic is to delve into the character of the subject and reveal his motivations, values, and intentions, then this movie does the best job of at all three.

In the end, the movie is a poignant assessment of life in the underworld, where millions can be made and lost in quick order, and lives cast away like cord wood in winter.

Revolving throughout the plot is the backstory of an FBI investigation that sought to determine whether Lansky really did have a vast fortune stashed away. What we are left with is perhaps the most jarring scene of the movie where this question is laid to rest not with words, but instead with a profound visual, where a father's love for his son becomes instantly understandable, and perhaps the clinching answer to that legal question.

Harvey Keitel is masterful in this project, as the aged Lansky, complimented by an equally strong turn by John Magaro, who played out the scenes of the younger Lansky building his criminal enterprises. These two carry the movie.

The officially unanswered question about Lansky's asserted hidden fortune, is perhaps best answered by two events: the still ongoing legal struggle by the Lansky family to get Cuba to award a settlement for their seizure, without any compensation, of the hotel-casinos that Lansky owned in Havana, and by the belief that if a father loves his son more than his money, then he would use that money to end his son's suffering.

Most people believe Lansky lost most of his fortune when Fidel Castro toppled Fulgencio Batista, and then spent the rest of it to care for his ailing son. The official word is that upon his death, his total cash reserves totaled just $57,000 in 1983 money. This movie's conclusion does little to refute those facts, though it does not officially seek to answer the question.

Lansky fmovies. Boring, boring, BORING! Not to mention, just plain horrible.

Boring, bad directing bad editing. The script is laboriously boring. What a waste of such great actors. They could have made this movie great but it was so hard to watch it without falling asleep.

I am not saying you need a $100 million budget to tell the story of Meyer Lansky, or you must have Tarantino, Spielberg, or Coppola but it would help a lot.

Trying to make a biopic on one of the most consequential figures of the 20th century underworld is a massive undertaking.

First things first - Harvey Keitel is really great. Not just great. He is perfect for the part. It is one of his five best roles.

He is from new york, jewish, tough, pretty much the same age as Lansky was at the time the movie is supposed to take place and is old enough with the nyc street background and wise enough to understand the Lansky character.

The actor playing the younger Lansky is not bad but is not the man for the job - few could be.

The Bugsy siegel character works fine for the early crime scenes but in the vegas scenes he does his best vince vaughn in Swingers Impression and he is about 10 years too young for siegels vegas years though it could have been pulled off with some better acting and directing. A scene of Siegel falling asleep at the bar is not something he would have done. Siegel also wouldnt have showboated in the manner the director depicts. The director ends up making a cartoonish impression of siegel.

The filmmaker also loses a lot of credibility with the Millers Crossing stolen execution scene which is not just a scene lacking any believability but shows a real sloppiness of filmmaking.

This movie was shot in 20 days and it shows. It was rushed together.

A love triangle and hotel story involving the author is a completely unnecessary distraction which turns the film from a biopic of a monumental figure to a late night soap drama on the oxygen channel.

The movie somewhat recovers from its pitfalls through the power of Lanskys story. Much of the general storyline is true though the amount of liberties taken such as the millers crossing execution scene are too big of a distraction.

The maranzano showdown also takes liberties with what is known. The director also fails to detail the importance of the moment or that Maranzanon was the biggest boss of the time.

Many of the scenes in the film are just made up though others are credible.

One great part of the movie is the jewish attacks on the nazis which is little known today but was factual.

The movie also does a good job in explaining lanskys assistance to the us government in rooting out nazi spies which is very important to the story.

This movie is a more realistic depiction of lansky then some other movies and shows have done.

While Keitel does a great job in his portrayal, it feels too much at times like the younger version is too much Hymen roth. Roths version of the Lansky character had too many elements which were not accurate. For example he had a tough Rugged baritone voice which instilled fear and demanded respect not the squeakiness that the younger lansky version shown here and in the roth version and other versions.

There are two great supporting acting performances in this film - david james elliot who is the government agent hounding lansky and anna sophia robb who plays lanskys wife.

Robb is a real revelation here and is an actress to look out for if you are unfamiliar.

My Other main criticism is most of the violent scenes are just not believable and were more interested in gore.

The depiction of murder inc as an afterthought is a fatal flaw as it is integral to the lansky story. This should have been cen