The runaway success of The Untouchables on TV spurred a new wave of gangster movies in the late Fifties and early Sixties. They’d been out of vogue after worse gangsters were revealed to be running the Axis states in the Forties. That’s how Al Capone came to be released in 1959.

It’s your typical biopic as it’s rife with factual errors. It is, however, more accurate than The Untouchables, which gave Eliot Ness credit for solving crimes he may not have even heard of. The Untouchables was a great TV series but historical accuracy was not its strong suit.

The story follows Capone from his arrival in Chicago. He insinuates himself into the good graces of Boss Big Jim Colosimo before turning on him and helping to install Johnny Torrio as the boss before moving Torrio aside.

Capone went to war with the Irish mob led first by Dean O’Banion then Bugs Malone. O’Banion’s cover gig was as a florist. Any time there was a gangster funeral O’Banion scored until this happened:

Bugs Moran lived on, but his power collapsed after the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre:

Stills of the movie are in short supply online, so we went to the lobby early. I prefer to clump them together later in the post but what can ya do? Not a damn thing.

The title character is played by Rod Steiger who’s only half right for Capone. He captures the tough and angry side of the gangster but not his wit and charm. That’s right, I said wit and charm. In addition to his ruthlessness, Capone rose in the mob because he was friendly and funny. People liked Al Capone. Rod Steiger was not a likeable actor.

Here’s a legendary picture of Capone, his son, and Cubs Hall of Famer Gabby Hartnett at Wrigley Field:

Hartnett was called on the carpet by then baseball Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis for being photographed with Capone. Hartnett reportedly told Judge Landis that Al was not someone you said no to.

Back to Rod Steiger’s performance. He couldn’t play comedy. In fact, he seemed not to have a sense of humor at all. He’s not as bad here as when he played WC Fields but his character lacks the spark of the real man. Stephen Graham in Boardwalk Empire was a much better Capone.

The movie spends too much time on Capone’s personal life. It’s deadly dull although Fay Spain tried to make Capone’s wife interesting. That part of the movie is from hunger. Pass the popcorn.

Not deadly dull are the performances by two of my favorite character actors, Martin Balsam and James Gregory.

Balsam plays a corrupt newspaper man who supposedly was one of Capone’s top advisers. He’s on the left in the featured image. The next year he’d take a fall as the shamus murdered by Norman Bates in Psycho.

Gregory plays an honest cop who devotes his career to catching Capone. What’s not to love about a movie in which Inspector Luger from Barney Miller is featured? I love me some James Gregory and do a passable impression of him.

Gregory looks swell in his period uniform:

The script by Malvin Wald and Henry Greenberg is pedestrian. Director Richard Wilson was a competent director who didn’t add much to the movie.

Grading Time: I was going to be harsher on the movie, but David Raskin’s score and Lucien Ballard’s cinematography are outstanding. They raise Al Capone a half step on my grading scale.

I give Al Capone (1959) 2 1/2 stars and an Adrastos Grade of C+ thanks to Raskin, Ballard, Balsam, and Gregory.

Let’s take a gander at the posters. Here are the American and Finnish posters side by side.

I’m not finished with the posters, here’s a blurry quad:

We’ve already seen some of the lobby cards, but I’m feeling peckish so let’s all go to the lobby:

Mmm, Milk Duds with a Dr. Pepper chaser. I’m old school when it comes to movie snacks.

We have two more color lobby cards for this black and white film.

Let’s hop aboard the trailer:

I was hoping to find a TCM intro, but I was SOL. Where have you gone Eddie Muller?

The last word goes to Prince Buster: