Lansky (1999 film)
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Lansky | |
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HBO Pictures | |
Original release | |
Release | February 27, 1999 |
Lansky is a 1999 American made-for-television crime drama film written by David Mamet and directed by John McNaughton. It stars Richard Dreyfuss as the famous gangster Meyer Lansky, Eric Roberts as Bugsy Siegel, and Ryan Merriman as the young Lansky.
Plot
The movie starts with flashbacks of Lansky's life, first showing an elderly Lansky looking for a rock to put on his grandfather's grave in
The setting then moves forward several years later to the
Later, Lansky and his friend
As blood is sliding around in the water, the film returns to the elderly Lansky, drinking wine with the Jewish man he saw earlier. The Jewish man goes to pray in the synagogue as the film transitions to a younger Lansky now running his own craps games. Lansky goes into an alley to count his money, where he meets teenage hoodlum Charles "Lucky" Luciano. When Luciano tells him that he needs to pay protection for running games in his neighborhood, Lansky refuses and receives a severe beating from Luciano's gang. Nevertheless, he refuses to pay up.
Luciano takes a liking to Lansky's guts and recruits him and Siegel into his gang. By the early 1920s, Luciano and his boys have become involved with the bootlegging of illegal alcohol. Siegel, Luciano, and Lansky are shown driving one of their trucks loaded with alcohol when they are suddenly ambushed by associates of wealthy Jewish gangster Arnold Rothstein. Luciano and Lansky cut a deal to hand over a truckload of their liquor to Rothstein to avoid being killed, but by the time they've made their escape, Rothstein's men realize the "shipment" is nothing more than a bunch of empty suitcases. Impressed, Rothstein invites the gang to his house for a sit-down. He offers Siegel and Lansky jobs in his organization, recognizing their talent.
After Rothstein is murdered in 1928, Lansky and Siegel work with Luciano, now a powerful gangster in his own right, to take over New York's criminal underworld by assassinating Mafia bosses
A month after warning Siegel that the Flamingo is not earning enough of a profit, Lansky can no longer prevent the Commission from taking out Siegel, and reluctantly approves a hit on his friend. Years later, Lansky, now facing federal charges of tax evasion, flees to Israel and tries to settle there by exploiting his Jewish heritage, only to be arrested after two years and extradited back to the United States. He manages to avoid prison and retires to Miami, his personal fortune all but gone now that his Cuban casinos have been dismantled by Fidel Castro's regime.
At the climax of the film, Lansky gives an interview to a French journalist. When the journalist asks him what he would do if he could live his life over, Lansky responds, "I wouldn't change a thing."
Cast
- Richard Dreyfuss as Meyer Lansky
- Yosef Carmon as Rabbi
- Mosko Alkalai as Jewelry Shopkeeper
- Fima Noveck as Hasid in Grodno
- Joshua Praw as Meyer Lansky at age 8
- Bernard Hiller as Max Lansky
- Jill Holden as Yetta Lansky
- Larry Moss as Benjamin Lansky
- Chris Marquette as Jake Lansky (age 9-11)
- Ryan Merriman as Meyer Lansky (age 12-14)
- Benjamin Kimball Smith as Benjamin K. Smith
- Anthony Medwetz as Bugsy Siegel (age 11)
- Max Perlich as Meyer Lansky (age 19-28)
- Matthew Settle as Bugsy Siegel (age 17-26)
- Stanley DeSantis as Arnold Rothstein
- Scott Rabinowitz as Zev Ben-Dov
- Bill Capizzi as Joe Masseria
- Ron Gilbert as Salvatore Maranzano
- Nick Corello as Albert Anastasia
- Tom La Grua as Frank Costello
- Sal Landi as Joe Adonis
- Anthony LaPaglia as Lucky Luciano
- Robert Miano as Vito Genovese
- Eric Roberts as Bugsy Siegel
- Peggy Jo Jacobs as Virginia Hill