This film is so incredibly bad it defies description. Tony Curtis was too old for this role. Lepke died at age 47, and in 1923 when Curtis comes in he is 26. Curtis is 50 and looks it. Lepke was very quiet, low key and never raised his voice. Curtis is yelling and cursing and gesticulating through the whole thing. There were no daylight tommy gun assassinations in Brooklyn, but the movie is filled with them. Gurrah Shapiro died in prison not on a merry go round. Dutch Shultz was shot in the bathroom of the chop house by Workman, not a tommy gun inside the restaurant. He survived for 2 days after being shot babbling about a lot of nonsense. Lepke's wife was Betty, a Russian immigrant. There was no Joe Capone, his name was Louis. Reles was a very short man. Of course the film is not a documentary, but the true story is interesting enough, this version is weak. If you want to see a better film about Lepke, it's called Murder Inc. And Luciano's name is pronounce Lucy-ano. Winchell pronounces it correctly at the very beginning, but after that they keep saying Luchiano all film. The depictions of Anastasia and Luciano are terrible. The acting from everyone across the board is amateurish. It's worse than a high school play. Milton Berle was OK.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Bloodsport 2
(1996)
Could have been a good film
18 May 2022
There were only a few issues that kept this from being a better film. We don't care about the hero. There's no exposition (not including the old man telling the story to the kids). And there's no reason why we should like him. 5 minutes of background on his character and some events that make us cheer for him would be helpful. Pat Morita and Donald Gibb in very minor throw away roles that just tries to give the film some kind of pedigree. The acting was atrocious. The music if there was any was forgettable. The love scene didn't work. The villain was not as developed as he should have been. It's OK to have a woman in the kumite, but she would have to be the greatest technical fighter in the world to compensate for the huge disadvantage of the overpowering strength of the men. And she wasn't that skilled. Still an enjoyable film for Bloodsport fans. But it could have been better.
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