Best movie of this year hands down!

Just perfect...

The first must-see film of the year.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

My summary quote spoken by Al Capone (Jason Robards) is quite insightful into the mind of a gangster, who lives by a different moral code than the rest of society. While speaking that line, Capone is in the midst of planning to take out his North Side rival Bugs Moran (Ralph Meeker), almost as if it's his civic duty to unite all illegal activities in the city under one crime family.Well I'm not a student of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, but reading a handful of reviews on this board it seems this film was a fairly accurate representation of the events leading up to that fatally famous day. Criticism of Robards' choice to portray Capone doesn't bother me much, though I have to say he did take it over the top at times. His "We're gonna get him before he gets me" line in the face of his gang's seeming reluctance to go for all out war was about as definitive a statement a mobster can make outside of "Make him an offer he can't refuse".There's a cool cast of supporting players here, and probably the best scene for me was George Segal displaying his aversion to fur coats when his gal Myrtle (Jean Hale) revealed the price tag. That tussle just seemed to go on and on and I never did get the impression the coat was going back. I had to do a double take a couple of times when it looked like Jack Nicholson showed up as one of the tommy gunners; his uncredited appearance here was kind of cool.One item I'll have to go back and check was that flashback scene of Al Capone recounting the first attempted hit on his life, occurring across the street from a movie theater. The marquee displayed the title 'The Mad Rider' but there's nothing like that in the IMDb database. There are a handful of films going by "The Masked Rider" prior to 1922 and another one in 1941 which wouldn't have worked, so I'm curious as to why the film makers used that title. A half century later now so I don't think we'll ever know.

"The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" is a movie that is a very fascinating watch. Made at a time when the Thirties were in vogue, it has its share of flaws.One of them is the casting of Jason Robards as Al Capone. Simon Oakland would have been a better choice for the role. And at the end of the movie, his outfit is more 1969 than 1929, a flaw shared with "Ship of Fools," made two years earlier. That said, however, Mr. Robards deserves an "A++++" for effort, because he clearly brought a real menace to the role, as well as enthusiasm. In the end, he may have been miscast, but he gets it totally right!And yes, there were some factual errors.But when the movie gets things right, it rocks! The pacing is outstanding, thanks to Roger Corman's direction. Speaking of Mr. Corman, his work on this project alone makes this an outstanding work. He had a $2.5 million budget, and finished $400,000 UNDER budget. His tight film making is really admired here!The bottom line here is that this movie IS a gem, and very, very entertaining!

It's not one of the prettiest events in American history by any means. But somehow I always have fun watching this movie, even though Robards' over-the-top portrayal of Capone (and he seems to relish every moment on camera) and the presence of some actors I usually associate with sitcoms (Harold J. Stone, Milton Frome, Mickey Deems, Mary Grace Canfield) make it difficult to take completely seriously. Only a few actors--Ralph Meeker, Clint Ritchie, Joe Campanella--do seem to take themselves seriously, and none of the gangsters portrayed in the movie would frighten me if they were really these actors. However, it is a riveting portrayal of the gangland rivalries in Prohibiton-era Chicago and the lengths to which these gangs would go to get control of another gang's territory. As for Paul Frees' narration, I welcome it, since I've only become familiar with the various members of the Capone and Moran gangs through his mini-biographies as he introduces them (I do think the "at 7:22 on the last morning of his life" bit is a little overdone). One final thought: I agree that George Segal is also over-the-top, playing what appears to be a pretty boy trying to be tough (watch him with the bartender early in the picture). Anyway, I try to catch this movie anytime it's on; even though I know how it's going to end I still get a kick out of watching the not-very-scary performances.

Chicago, Prohibition, Gangsters, Machine Guns and Hollywood have long been inseparable companions ever since the real Prohibition Era was loosed upon us. Starting with James Cagney in THE PUBLIC ENEMY(1931), LITTLE CEASAR(1931) and SCARFACE(1932) are each powerful films that fit these qualifications like a proverbial glove. Each meets the individual criterion and tell their stories in somewhat different ways of story telling.They each use the point of view of the title characters.And so that's the way it was, back in the day! And of course there have been revivals of this particular topic and Genre every so often. Hence we have been treated to The Prohibition/Depression Era Gangster films like ROGER TOUHY,GANSTER(1944)*, AL CAPONE and THE PURPLE GANG(both 1959), THE GODFATHER(s), I,II & III(1972,'73, '90) and soon and so forth, down thru the ages.And of course on TV we had THE LAWLESS YEARS(1959-61) and of course, last but hardly the least,THE UNTOUCHABLES(1959-63)to give further lore to the celluloid underworld. It is probably likely that we'll always have some of these Gangster Soap Operas every so often.As for this ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE, we must say we saw it at the old Double Drive-In on the Southwest Highway in Chicago when it was in newly released/first run status. We saw it again, recently on cable TV, on Turner Classic Films or Fox Movie Channel. It might sound peculiar, but did you ever hear of a movie getting better? Let me explain.The original viewing was done by a 20 year old, still wet behind the ears kid, who just viewed any movie as another entertainment to be viewed, (devoured-up, if you will) and forgotten. There was really no sense of a "Medium" or being "An Art Form". With age of course, is supposed to come wisdom, or at least a little experience under one's belt.After a period of nearly 40 years has passed, this writer has found himself to be not a'movie fan',but rather a 'film buff'. The big difference is in the viewing over the years and,more importantly,all of the reading of film books and periodicals containing the history and background information.As for the title in question, THE ST. VALENTINE's DAY MASSACRE, well I can't say that it was every bit as good when viewed now as it was then. No, because it is even better! The movie was Produced and Directed by Mr. Roger Corman. Now the brain (mine, for what it's worth) takes one name of The Director/Producer and adds it to the venue of a Drive-In Movie Theatre and it computes to a cheapie, a grade "B" film at best. And to be honest, until just recently, I had thought that this movie was a product of the ever popular, Amerkican-Interntional Pictures. After all, that's where Roger Corman used to hang his hat.This 20th Century-Fox production is really a well done movie, deserving of a new respect and frequent showings.** The costuming, the autos and the sets are all very good and approximate the real locales in Chicago and nearby suburban Cicero, Illinois. The mock up of the famous and infamous Garage on North Wells Street has a very authentic look to it. Even the type of apartment building used by the conspirators is a Chicago-type building, of which there are still thousands of the yet in use there today.Mr. Corman pursues a form of the Docudrama to a large degree, in unveiling the story. The voice over narration gives us, the viewers the benefit of all that has been learned since then. Also, we have the information of the official Police Investigation now available for the Public Record.In this we have many conclusions that have been made, but not proved, sort of educated guesses.The story starts out giving the viewer a great deal of background info about the state of Chicago's Underworld at that time in the late 1920's We are privy to the old Northside, Southside, Westside rivalries that the various Gangs were involved in. The previously mentioned Narrator, Voice Actor Par Excellance, Paul Frees, is very busy from beginning to end in supplying us with factual material about the criminal careers of the peoples involved.As a historical fact we observe the Gangland Killings of Northside Big Shot Hoods Dion O'Bannion(Chicasgo Native John Agar)and Hymie Weiss (Reed Hadley) and the continued battling over territories. Mr.Corman also includes a seemingly fantastic, but factual raid by the Northside Mob on Capone Gang Headquarters. A really large number of autos, replete with multiple Thompson Sub-Machine Guns attacked the favourite watering hole of the Scarface Mob. They failed to kill Capone or anyone of the gang, in spite of perhaps thousands of rounds of that super fast .45 caliber disbursement at the intended target.Like any Hollywood treatment of a story taken from real life occurrences, there is a lot of filling in gaps and causes of these incidents. The unknown aspects of the people involved and their behaviour is also subject to guess work, albeit an enlightened, educated guess at that. Whatever was known about the characters in question was used as guidelines for molding on-screen persona.One last time, please take a new look at it. On Cable/Satellite, in VHS or DVD, Purchase or Rental, make an evening with THE ST. VALENTINE's DAY MASSACRE.* The real Roger Touhy, a Prohibition Era Gangster Headquartered in Northwest Suburban Des Plaines, Illinois sued 20th Century-Fox over this largely fabricated story. Hint To Hollywood: A realistic Roger Touhy story really would make a great film! Check on it!** Maybe my own fair city, Chicago, is missing the boat on this one! After all, why can't we have a Yearly Massacre Fest? It could be a rival to events all around the country such as: The Kentucky Derby, Mardi Gras, Sadie Hawkins Day or even The Bull Frog Leaping Contest of Calaveras County.