Christian Slater leads this fictional account of how Charlie Lucky Luciano and his band of four began as childhood thugs and eventually rise up of to teen mobsters who take on the established old school mobsters of the 1920s. Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano (aka Christian Slater), Meyer Lansky (aka Patrick Dempsey), Benny 'Bugsy' Seigel (aka Richard Grieco) and Frank Costello (aka Costas Mandylor) find each other on the streets of New York. Christian Slater anchors this well textured film that focuses on how organized crime took over the distribution of alcohol when Prohibition became law in 1920.
The film doesn't attempt to justify or glorify the lawlessness that was prevalent. It showed what people did to survive and that organized crime was one of those vehicles. There was no moral message no need for one. If you wanted to survive the street life of New York you needed to be in a gang. A gang provided you the protection against thugs who were looking for fast money. Christian Slater's Luciano saved Dempsey's Lansky from the beating of a thug in the opening scenes. Luciano also hung out with Benny Seigel and Frank Costello. Lansky wasn't a tough guy but he never ran away from a fight. His strength was found in who he associated with: Luciano and his two pals. The four formed an alliance that led them to connecting with old school Mafia people whom they despised.
One of my favorite scenes is the four guys hustling down the street after Luciano saves Lansky from his beating. The look on Lansky's face is priceless. I'LL never get tired of watching this classic drama on the beginnings of organized crime.
The film doesn't attempt to justify or glorify the lawlessness that was prevalent. It showed what people did to survive and that organized crime was one of those vehicles. There was no moral message no need for one. If you wanted to survive the street life of New York you needed to be in a gang. A gang provided you the protection against thugs who were looking for fast money. Christian Slater's Luciano saved Dempsey's Lansky from the beating of a thug in the opening scenes. Luciano also hung out with Benny Seigel and Frank Costello. Lansky wasn't a tough guy but he never ran away from a fight. His strength was found in who he associated with: Luciano and his two pals. The four formed an alliance that led them to connecting with old school Mafia people whom they despised.
One of my favorite scenes is the four guys hustling down the street after Luciano saves Lansky from his beating. The look on Lansky's face is priceless. I'LL never get tired of watching this classic drama on the beginnings of organized crime.