Billy Bathgate

Starring:Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Loren Dean, Bruce Willis, Steven Hill, Steve Buscemi, Billy Jaye, John Costelloe, Timothy Jerome, Stanley Tucci, Mike Starr, Robert F. Colesberry, Stephen Joyce, Frances Conroy, Moira Kelly, Kevin Corrigan, Noel Derecki, Josh Phillip Weinstein, Danny Zorn, Rob Kramer
Director: Robert Benton
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The oily allure of underground power is compelling. During the heyday of New York's mob scene, it was more than a mysterious, dynamic draw, it was a ticket out of poverty and stepping stone to notoriety. Based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, Billy Bathgate is the story of a street-smart boy (Loren Dean) who, after a chance encounter with racketeering kingpin Dutch Schultz (Dustin Hoffman), sets out to apprentice himself to the Mafia and ride the roller-coaster life of a gangster.

Amazon.com

The oily allure of underground power is compelling. During the heyday of New York's mob scene, it was more than a mysterious, dynamic draw, it was a ticket out of poverty and stepping stone to notoriety. Based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, Billy Bathgate is the story of a street-smart boy (Loren Dean) who, after a chance encounter with racketeering kingpin Dutch Schultz (Dustin Hoffman), sets out to apprentice himself to the Mafia and ride the roller-coaster life of a gangster.

Description

Two-time Academy Award(R)-winner Dustin Hoffman (Best Actor -- KRAMER VS. KRAMER, 1979; RAIN MAN, 1988) stars in the action-packed gangster epic detailing the rise and fall of notorious mobster Dutch Schultz as seen through the eyes of his young protege, Billy Bathgate. Billy, an ambitious streetwise kid seduced by the power, money, and glamour of crime, soon begins to seriously question if his passport to the good life is going to come from the fiery Dutch and his gang! Critically acclaimed and co-starring Bruce Willis (ARMEGEDDON) and Nicole Kidman (MOULIN ROUGE), BILLY BATHGATE delivers motion picture excitement you won't want to miss!

Customer Reviews:

My rite-up's is law to a mafia movie freak.......2007-02-10

( DaviD 1930's MOBSTER)...... This movie is based on the year 1935, The Dutchman's last year of life. It doesn't paint the real picture of the Dutchman or his orginazation. ( Dutch Schultz was a ruthless hot head who didn't entertain a thing. Billy Bathgate was supposed to be Dutch's Protege but was merly an errand boy (No gun play at all). There was almost no gun fights in this movie or the showing of daily operations which was still going on in 1935. There was a apperance by Lucky Luciano which was good but nothing shown of the Commission which Dutch was a part of. The best Dutch Schultz I have seen on Film is (HOODLUM). If your like me and want the real 1930's & 40's minus the watered down or mis leading facts, D your homework before you buy or rent. Or read the review and look for David 1930's mobster).

Ncole Starkers!.......2006-09-20

The only great part of this film? The gorgeous, full-frontal nude body of Nicole Kidman in front of a three-way mirror. Oh yes, she's a natural redhead! Smash that pause button!

Jewish Mafia before today's Brighton Beach Russians.......2006-07-21

Before I give my review I just want to point out that the Plot Summaries on this website are inaccurate. It is not about Billy Bathgate hooking up with a fledgling Dutch Schultz, and it is not about Billy Bathgate becoming Dutch Schultz's right hand man. Schultz was already a superstar, a very wealthy man, when Billy met him, and Billy never became anything close to Dutch's right hand man.

With all the movies available that are weak for one reason or another, it was a pleasure to find this one. I suspected that it would be good when I saw that Dustin Hoffman was the star, and it was also a plus that Bruce Willis was a co-star. Willis is listed as having a cameo appearance, but it's much more than that.

The movie is about the Jewish Mafia in New York City in the 1930s. Hoffman is Dutch Schultz (A pseudonym for a Jewish mobster) and Willis is the gangster Moe Weinberg, who worked with Schultz.

In this story Schultz is the head of the Jewish Mafia but he is losing his grip as the FBI prosecutes him for tax evasion and mobsters Moe Weinberg and Lucky Luciano turn against him, believing that he's losing his touch and needs to be gotten rid of, that he has become more trouble than he's worth.

Billy Bathgate is a kid from the Bronx who is thrilled to be noticed by wealthy Mr Schultz during the Depression. Billy is hired by him.

Very early in the film it appears that Moe Weinberg is about to be executed by Schultz for betrayal, and that Moe's girlfriend Mrs Drew Preston (Nicole Kidman) is of interest to Schultz. Dutch makes her a proposition, testing her love for Moe. Moe cares for Mrs Preston more than she does for him, but the one she really takes a liking to is Billy Bathgate. She seems to like Billy even more than she likes her own husband. Yes, she's married, though she is playing around with all these mobsters. Her husband is probably gay, tolerating her absence, yet remaining fond of her and protective of her. He is a rich man.

The movie has us worrying first over Moe Weinberg, whether he will be executed by Schultz. Then it has us involved in Dutch Schultz's court case for tax evasion, perhaps rooting for Dutch, perhaps not. Then it has us concerned about whether Dutch is going to murder Mrs Preston. Finally it has us worried whether Billy will get out alive or will be killed by either Dutch Schultz or Lucky Luciano. Some of the characters make it to the end of the movie alive and some don't.

I considered giving it five stars but it doesn't have any strong emotional punch to it, and four stars sounds about right. It is definitely a worthwhile movie. Don't miss it.

A Big, Expansive, Violent Gangster Story.......2005-06-27

Based on IMDb, I'm evidently one of the few people, critics or public, who likes this movie. It's got some flaws, but on balance I think it tells an intriguing story, has a great look and features some first class performances. It also, admitedly, comes to a slow walk in the last third of the movie and only barely recovers.

Billy Bathgate (Loren Dean) is a young kid, not quite a punk, who is ambitious and wants to make money. The easiest way is to become a gangster, and he figures out a way to be noticed by Dutch Schultz (Dustin Hoffman). The movie is told from Billy's perspective, but it's dominated by Schultz's cunning, violence and loss of power. Dutch Schultz controls the numbers racket, liquor and gambling. He has judges in his pocket with bribes. He has never had anything pinned on him, but now he's facing a tax evasion rap. He moves upstate to find a friendly jury. Although he beats the rap, the prosecutors won't stop coming at him. And more and more of his fellow sharks are circling closer as they realize that one way or another Schultz is becoming history. When he loses the confidence of Lucky Lucciano, his career comes to a violent halt. Billy survives, barely.

Hoffman, in my view, gives a fine performance of a cunning, uneducated, suspicious and violent gangster. Schultz's way of dealing with a problem is to eliminate it as directly as possible. He's unpredictable; he may pat your face one minute and put a bullet through your open mouth the next. Steven Hill as Otto Berman, Schultz' long time operations manager and money man, gives an outstanding performance. Berman is getting a little old and tired, but he remains loyal to Schultz. Make no mistake; he's just as much a crook as Schultz. He develops a liking for Billy that saves Billy's life. Others who come up with compelling turns are Stanley Tucci as Luciano, as fascinating and calculating as a snake; Steve Buscemi as one of Schultz' hoods who does what he's told, Nicole Kidman as a society dame who seems to love the rough stuff and the danger and who gets in beyond her depth; Timothy Jerome as Dixie Davis, Schultz' slimy, dishonest and betraying lawyer, Bruce Willis as Bo Weinberg, Schultz's second-in-command, who makes the mistake of looking out for his own interests. Loren Dean does an okay job, in my view, as Billy. He's not a compelling actor, but neither is the character. Billy is an observer for the most part.

It's the last part of the movie that's problematic. A good deal of time is spent rather humorlessly in a small town in upstate New York as Schultz and Berman go about trying to buy their way into the town's -- and the potential jury members' -- good graces. There's a bit of bracing violence, but too much exposition. And then the extended sequence in Saratoga with Kidman and Dean, and the growing danger to Kidman, kicks in...and it just seems long.

On balance, though, I can watch this movie with pleasure...probably because of the style, the story line and Steven Hill's performance. There are no extras. The DVD picture looks just fine to me.

NICOLE KIDMAN SAVES THE DAY.......2005-04-02

You call this a gangster movie? Hardly. This flick is more like a melodramatic lovestory. Dustin Hoffman played his part well, but the story itself was bare. Speaking of bare, that's where Nicole Kidman comes in. We get to see a younger Nicole in TWO full-frontal nude scenes (and one of these scenes shows her other side, too). Oh yeah, she can act, too. Anyway, I gave this film 3 stars only because of Nicole's "charms." Trust me, you'll be givin' that PAUSE button a workout on your DVD remote.

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