The 1920's were a turbulent time for cities like New York, but over in Chicago, Illinois, gang violence was starting to become an everyday thing. By 1927, several groups had been nearly wiped out, and at the top of the heap was Al Capone on one side, and Bugs Moran on the other. Having eliminated most of their competition (discounting the New York interests in Chicago), Capone and Moran were starting to battle for territory and business within the same city blocks. This was a recipe for disaster, and in a city where many of the politicians, judges, and police officers were in the pockets of these crime bosses, blood was filling the streets. With one last strike on February 14th, 1929, it is believed that Al Capone orchestrated a set-up to kill Moran and all of his men in the same instant.

The movie itself gives a lot of back-story that led up to the events at the beginning of 1929. It took the time to show the integral relationships between some of the main players, and set the stage for what would take place on that Valentine's Day. It wasn't planned to coincide with the holiday itself, but happened to fall on the perfect day to spin it into a memorable title for the massacre that was soon to occur. What the film also did, was show how Capone made his way to power through scheming and murder that culminated in the killing of two other crime bosses in the area. To its credit the film doesn't try to sell these men as good-guys, nor does it try to shed a positive light on their actions, rather deciding to instead present things as was theorized, and to let the audience decide for themselves just how evil all of these men really were.

For a film released in 1967, this is an extremely violent movie, with a lot of killing and blood-shed. There are instances where characters are only introduced with the intent of killing them off, and at times they do not hold back from showing how graphic some of this violence was. There was a point to the heart of this story though, and that was to show that the events that took place on that Valentine's Day may have been a success in Capone's eyes, but eventually spelled his doom. It was a turning point in how people viewed the gangland violence, and at this juncture the people of Chicago (and Washington) decided they had seen enough. Soon Mr. Elliott Ness would enter the picture, and Capone would be stripped of all the power he gained on that single night.

One of the most difficult things about this story, was that there was a narrator explaining who all of the people were in each scene. Though it was informative to people that don't know much about this dark history of Chicago, it was entirely too distracting from the flow of the story, and to me really dumbed down what was taking place on screen. It resulted in the movie seeming more like a documentary than a motion picture, and hurt the feel of the movie for me. There were many famous actors including Jason Robards (Al Capone), George Segal (Peter Gusenberg), and Ralph Meeker (Bugs Moran). If it was a famous/infamous character, there was someone notable from the time playing that part. The acting was really impressive, and brought a lot to story, but again, I think that the constant narration took away a lot from the story. If you are interested in seeing what took place in the bloody period of Chicago's history, this is an interesting take on some of the believed stories surrounding Al Capone and Bugs Moran.











Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS