Film Snail

Billy Bathgate
Billy Bathgate

5.8

Billy Bathgate

R·1991·106m

Summary

In the year 1935, a teen named Billy Bathgate finds first love while becoming the protégé of fledgling gangster Dutch Schultz.

Crew

Director

Robert Benton

Novel

E. L. Doctorow

Screenplay

Tom Stoppard

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Geronimo1967

February 9, 2023

6

Dustin Hoffman is "Dutch" an aspiring gangster in 1930s New York's City. Together with the business savvy "Otto" (Steven Hill) and a little help from the suave "Bo" (Bruce Willis) he sets out to carve out an empire for himself. Along the way, "Otto" alights on the keen youngster "Billy" (Loren Dean) who soon becomes a part of their operation discovering that there is a life of wealth and opportunity to be had, but that life has it's dark, violent and dangerous side too. What now ensues is authentic looking, flash cars and spiv suits - but the actual execution of the story is really very dull. Willis appears only briefly (though I really did like his footwear) and Nicole Kidman offers the romantic interest for both Hoffman and Dean for a while. The narrative is disjointed. The film flows like glue with too many short, episodic, scenarios that lack any sense of peril or menace, before an ending that though historical fact is really underwhelming. Nobody's finest hour, this film.

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$48,000,000.00

Revenue:

$15,565,363.00

Keywords

danger of life
mafia boss