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Lansky

1999

Crime / Drama

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 40% · 5 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 24% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 5.5/10 10 2152 2.2K

gangster biography

Plot summary

Organized crime boss Meyer Lansky remembers his life as he is moving about the world looking for some country that will take him in since the USA have put out an extradition order for him.

Director

John McNaughton Photo
John McNaughton

Top cast

Eric Roberts Photo
Eric Roberts as Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel
Octavia Spencer Photo
Octavia Spencer as Evelyn the Maid
Michelle Bonilla Photo
Michelle Bonilla as Panama Stewardess
Dean Norris Photo
Dean Norris as Naval Captain
480p.DVD
1 GB
716*480
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 16

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Brad K. 5 / 10

Interesting, but overall average gangster film.

I'd seen a preview for Lansky on HBO a couple of weeks ago and it looked like a fascinating movie. Too bad the film couldn't meet the expectations. Richard Dreyfuss (Mr. Holland's Opus, Night Falls on Manhattan) stars as Meyer Lansky a gangster from the early 1900's. The film deals with his character throughout the film going back and forth from different ages. Dreyfuss is not the only actor to play Lansky in the film. Dreyfuss plays him from his 30's on, Max Perlich (Beautiful Girls, Georgia) plays him in his 20's, and a child actor plays him at a younger age. The film deals with his dealings in the mob and his family life. Eric Roberts (Runaway Train, Most Wanted) plays Bugsy Siegel and Anthony LaPaglia (The Client, Commandments) plays Lucky Luciano. Both of these actors do well, especially LaPaglia, but aren't given enough screen time. Richard Dreyfuss is very good in the lead, but is out-acted by Max Perlich playing Lansky in his earlier years. I know the film probably wanted a big name (Dreyfuss) but I would have preferred to see Perlich play him the whole time instead of Dreyfuss. The film takes some good choices on how to tell the story, but the story itself is kind of boring. It's interesting at times, but nothing special.
Reviewed by Iva96 4 / 10

So, what does actually tell this movie?!

To put it in a few words: not enough real facts, not deep psychological analysis of the characters. The only good thing about the movie is the acting. But it does not make it for the movie length...After seeing the trailer, I waited the movie with very high expectations. I mean, hello, this was a movie about Meyer Lansky, the brain behind the Syndicate, one of the most influent mob leaders ever. An ocean of opportunities... And, what did I get for the two hours spent in front of the TV? just a big mark of question: "what did it want from me?!" There was not the rush and the fascinating action from "goodfellas" or "casino", nor the sympathetic romantic retrospective from "bugsy", and it was far from stories like "once upon a time in America". The biography is romanced and extremely brief. If you do not know the real life of Lansky, for sure you will not understand too many things from this movie. If you know it, you will be disappointed. And if the intention was to analyze the feelings and emotions of the character, well then, it didn't do it deep enough.
Reviewed by leda-9 6 / 10

what happen to Anna?

I saw the movie yesterday on HBO. Liked Robert Dreyfuss' performance very much. He is great! But didn't understand what happened to Lansky's first wife, Anna. She simply disappeared with no explanation and was suddenly "replaced" by Teddy. Did Anna die? Did the Lansky divorced? It seems that the producers made the movie only for the mob's admirers and/or experts, supposing that everybody would understand the story. There was a lack of some connections to make the movie understandable. Even so, I enjoyed it very much, especially because of Dreyfuss, who happens to be one of my favorite North American actors. Anthony La Paglia played well too and even Eric Roberts had a good performance.
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