Lansky

Starring:Richard Dreyfuss, Eric Roberts, Max Perlich, Anthony LaPaglia, Beverly D'Angelo, Matthew Settle, Illeana Douglas, Francis Guinan, Stanley DeSantis, Jeff Perry, Ron Perkins, Maury Ginsberg, Bill Capizzi, Ron Gilbert, Sal Landi, Ryan Merriman, Nick Corello, Joshua Praw, Anthony Medwetz, Paul Sincoff
Director: John McNaughton
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Meyer Lansky, along with Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano, helped mold organized crime in America into "the Syndicate," a business run as efficiently and ruthlessly as any corporation. Richard Dreyfuss plays Lansky (as do Max Perlich and Ryan Merriman). Starting out with Lansky as an aging, ill, cranky man taking refuge in Israel, the film tells his life in a series of flashbacks, starting out as a young Jewish tough trying to hold his own against Irish gangs in New York. Lansky and his associates climb the ladder of crime over the years, turning Las Vegas from a quiet desert town into a swank gambling hot spot, eliminating any rogue elements or competition that could hurt the cause. Senator Estes Kefauver came along to put a dent in the Mob's activities by the l950s, but Lansky and company came through fairly unscathed. With direction by John McNaughton and a pungent David Mamet screenplay, this should be top-drawer stuff, but, oddly, it comes across as only average. The movie's chronological structure, jumping back and forth in time, becomes a little confusing, then irritating. Three actors playing the same man over the years make it a bit difficult to nail down his real essence, while several other characters are barely more than window dressing. Also, the Judaism of Lansky, Siegel, Rosen, and Rothstein is given short shrift in the story. With tighter editing and firmer direction, Lansky could have been very good, but as is, it's just what it is: a made-for-cable biopic. --Jerry Renshaw

Customer Reviews:

Lansky.......2006-09-20

Excellent movie. It explains how Las Vegas was founded and how the gangsters had a lot - if not all - to do with its development.

Mafia .......2005-02-21

I found the film interesting because it portrays a mafia boss of another origin than those I have seen in other movies. Lansky is a Jew of Russian origin. This is during the pogroms in Russia, and Meyer's parents decide to escape when the rabbi is being killed while the mob put houses on fire. The Lansky family emigrates to the USA.

It is here Lansky meet up with other children in one of the ghettos where immigrants live. It starts with gambling among children, and gradually it goes from there to big crime.

I found the film interesting, and mainly so because I find Lansky's story a bit different than most other Mafia films I have seen. Lansky was not of Italian descent (on the contrary to other people I have seen portrayed), and he seemed quieter than other Mafia characters in films.

Still, in this movie it is obvious that he is intelligent and one of the leaders of the cartel.

Trash.......2004-10-29

The price reflects the quality of this film. Too many things are wrong with this movie to name. First of all, the script is HORRID, and most of the acting is HORRID, its very boring. Secondly, the actor looks nothing like Lansky. The best part of the movie was the beginning when they showed Meyer and Bugsy as kids. It was all downhill from there. I recommend the BONANNO movie instead of this crap, THAT even had more details and interesting bit about Lansky than this flick.

What was this?.......2003-09-23

What was this movie? Meyer Lansky did a lot of good for this country. He was a wonderful, Jewish gangster. There should be more people like this mensch. This director and Richard Dreyfuss, dare to tell the story of a great man such as Meyer Lansky? Oh Please!!!!!!!

Dreyfuss and Perlich are Incredible as Meyer Lansky.......2001-08-20

The overall production quality of "Lansky" is barely adequate. This HBO TV special comes across as a film made under severe time and financial constraints. Nonetheless, the acting talent of Richard Dreyfuss is utterly fantastic. The now middle-aged star gives a performance that ranks among his very best. Dreyfuss clearly understands this low keyed Jewish gangster who lead much of American organized crime in the previous century. The character actor Max Perlich also does a splendid job of portraying Lansky during his earlier years. Perlich is a skillful thespian who deserves greater respect and attention. He ought to have received at least an Academy Award nomination for his splendid supporting work in "Rush."

Meyer Lansky was something of a highly intelligent mob boss who essentially perceived himself as a misunderstood polite business man; neither better nor worse than the titans of that era's capitalist business organizations. Lansky rationalizations conveniently ignored the fact that murder and other forms of violence are not everyday realities of conventional American capitalism. Lansky, though, was probably correct to conclude that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Senator Estes Kefauver hounded him mostly out of less than noble reasons.

Customer Reviews:

In space, no one can hear you yawn..........2005-01-02

I'm not a huge fan of writer/director Roland Emmerich, especially after recently sitting through his recent schmaltzfest The Day After Tomorrow (2004), but I did enjoy one of his earlier films in 1994's Stargate. His version of Godzilla (1998) wasn't so bad, and Independence Day (1996), despite starring Will `Mr. Overexposed' Smith, was enjoyable on the first pass, but subsequent viewings, once you get past the amazing special effects (or the `Wow' factor), highlight huge, gaping holes throughout the story. Whatever criticisms I may have about the Emmerich and his techniques (I think his main problem is trying to cover up unsubstantial plots with dazzling special effects), I will concede he has the ability to entertain, so long as you can buy what he's selling, in terms of not looking too deeply into his stories, but rather just enjoying the ride (I tried to do this for his The Day After Tomorrow, but I just couldn't get past the sloppiness within the plot). The Noah's Ark Principle (1984) is credited as Emmerich's first, real feature, a film he wrote and directed as his graduate film school project. It's a German production, featuring a German cast, none of whom I'm familiar with, so I won't delve into their particulars.

The year is 1997 (remember, this film was released in 1984, so it's intended to be set in the not so distant future), and there's a happenins' going on at the Florida Arklab international space station (yeah, I know...seems like kind of a dumb name for an international space station). The purpose of the station seems to be mainly to monitor the weather on Earth, and provide global forecast reports, with the possibility of in the future the station actually influencing the weather by some means as yet unexplained. There are also some experiments that consist of studying the effects of living in space (well, not actually living in space, but living long term on a space station) on various rodents, reptiles, and amphibians. You see, the inclusion of this plot aspect, featuring an extremely paltry amount of creatures and the so called study, justifies why the station should be populated, as if it was just intended to collect information and provide reports on Earth weather patterns, an unmanned satellite would be more than sufficient. Anyway, after an explosive situation develops in the Middle East, the astronauts begin receiving strange orders to bombard parts of the Persian Gulf with radiation for reasons not made clear to them. The men begin to question their orders, soon refusing to cooperate, and even resorting to sabotage to prevent further instances of ground control from using the station for purposes other than its' seemingly original intent. This prompts ground control to send another team, the conspiracy deepens, and eventually leads to murder. What is the purpose behind all the subterfuge? Well, if you got the patience, you can spend an hour and a half like I did to find out, cause I ain't gonna tell you...

First off, let me just say this is a really boring movie. There just seemed so very little going on, and even when something did happen, it really wasn't much and seemed hardly worth waiting for...the film begins with an astronaut arriving back on Earth, being questioned about recent events, and his role in said events. The rest of the movie is basically a flashback, relating the astronaut's story, interspersed with scenes from the present. The acting is not too bad, although there is a tendency for some, especially the younger astronaut, to go overboard (you'd think space agencies and their extensive testing programs would weed out certain, easily excitable individuals). The direction of the film is actually pretty good and displayed a real professional quality in a utilitarian sense, although I thought Emmerich spent way too much time on filler materials (the extensive showing of computer screens, blinking lights, etc.) which really caused the story to crawl at a snail's pace. The main problem for me was the complete lack of tension, which I think was based on me not really caring about the characters as they just didn't seem real. Very little was put forth to make them live and breath, which wasn't a result of poor acting, but a poor script. The special effects were surprisingly sophisticated (the exteriors of the space station looked really good), as were the sets, causing a few minor elements that didn't fit in to really stand out, i.e. the use of your standard, aluminum ladders used to travel from one floor of the station to another. With all the gizmos and gadgets populating the sets, it seemed odd that they couldn't have popped for something that seemed a little more `permanent' looking rather than something borrowed from the lighting guys, bungee corded to the wall. Indicative of most all of Emmerich's films, he dazzles the audience with glossy and attractive visuals, in hopes that it will cover up any inherent problems within the plot and/or the script, and also to hide the very often two-dimensional nature of the characters. It was obvious here that he had a lot of potential, and I think he's a good director, but he should keep directing, but leave the writing to someone else. If you're a fan of Emmerich, there may be some appeal here, but in the end, this is basically a good-looking sci-fi lacking in substance.

The widescreen (2.35:1) picture on this Anchor Bay DVD release looks exceptionally clear and sharp, with very decent audio. The original dialogue is in German, but there are English subtitles, along with an English dubbed audio track. All in all, I give two stars for the film, and one extra for the excellent release.

Cookieman108

Noah's Ark Principle.......2002-11-01

The year is 1997, and World Peace seems to have come, with most classic weapons of mass destruction having been abandoned. However, orbiting the Earth there is the European/American space station FLORIDA ARKLAB, capable of controlling the weather at any location on the planet underneath. A civil project by nature, it might be abused as an offensive weapon, since it could deliver devastation to any potential adversary simply by creating natural disasters such as storms and floods. No wonder the space station soon becomes the central point in rising political tensions between East and West, next stop World War 3 (as indicated by the German tagline (transl.) "The end of our future has already begun"). We're following the main protagonist Billy Hayes, an astronaut aboard the station, as he wades through a plot of secrecy and sabotage trying to tell friend from foe in the process.

Average customer rating:

Lorca, muerte de un poeta
Starring: Nickolas Grace , Lola Gaos , Laura Cepeda , José Ángel Egido , and María Luisa Ponte
Director: Juan Antonio Bardem
Manufacturer: Suevia Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

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You may never listen to your dog the same way after...
Happy new ears
Happy new ears!

My Cinema for the Ears
Starring: Dhomont , and Lansky
Manufacturer: Bridge
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000062WWJ
Release Date: 2002-04-01

Customer Reviews:

You may never listen to your dog the same way after..........2002-05-07

If you dont see the connection between Vivaldi and electroacoustic music, let this film show you how music -and beauty- can be found in pretty much anything, depending on how you look at it.

Trust Uli Aumüller to take you along his humorous, scholarly yet accessible intro to the "musique concrète" of Francis Dhomont and Paul Lansky. You'll be happy you got to know these two composers who look at, listen to, and love the stuff our lives are made up of. Through this film they'll make you love it too.

Happy new ears.......2002-05-03

My Cinema for the ears - The musique concrète of Francis Dhomont and Paul Lansky is a 59 minute film by Uli Aumüller. An impressionistic, wryly humorous look at nature and the creative process, the film features two composers Francis Dhomont and Paul Lansky - and follows their search for an art, that emanates from their surroundings.

Happy new ears!.......2002-05-03

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Lansky.......2006-09-20

Excellent movie. It explains how Las Vegas was founded and how the gangsters had a lot - if not all - to do with its development.

Mafia .......2005-02-21

Trash.......2004-10-29

What was this?.......2003-09-23

Dreyfuss and Perlich are Incredible as Meyer Lansky.......2001-08-20

Customer Reviews:

In space, no one can hear you yawn..........2005-01-02

Noah's Ark Principle.......2002-11-01

Average customer rating:

The American Gangster
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