Sorry if this thread has been done before. I am new but haven't seen it on the boards.

A lot of organized crime/mafia movies are inaccurate (poetic license is understandable), but which movie do you guys is the most inaccurate when it comes to portraying real life organized crime figures.

I'm guessing its Mobsters with Christian Slater.

Its like 5% accurate at best

Definitely mobsters. Lucky Luciano pumping Maranzano full of lead before throwing him out of a window. Enough said.

Totally agree.
And I also have to mention the television series "Boardwalk Empire".

The movie Bugsy - lots of inaccuracies. Flamingo was already half-finished before Bugsy took it over etc.

Yeah, Bugsy, Mobsters, i am not sure about Boardwalk Empire, whats not accurate about it Knuckles?

Gotti, Boss of Bosses, Billy Bathgate, Hoodlum, Untouchables, Lansky, all these have some inaccurate stuff in it. But in all, these above beat the shit out of Mobsters.

Well...the characters are portrayed in a VERY stereotypical way. In that regard, the show is not very different from all the bad mafia/gangster movies we´ve seen before.
Lucky Luciano, for example, is portrayed as an volitile, restless knucklehead. And Torrio is just a simple pimp and a smalltime bootlegger according to the writers and producers of the show.
What I think would be great is a show where the producers actually spend some time in serious researching regarding the characters before putting together a show like this. But not only researching the characters, but also good, solid researching in events that we consider as mafia/gangster historical milestones.

I am aware that Boardwalk Empire does not pretend to be an historical
documentary, it is a work of fiction very loosely based in
part on some historical figures. But as such, I´m sorry to say it, on the cost of authenticity.
Don´t get me wrong though, I enjoy the show.

How can you go wrong with Richard Grieco as Bugsy?

Well, Luciano is only about 25 at the time and there probably is not much if anything on the record about his personality. Also, it doesn't appear that Torrio was one to think outside the box. That's why Capone "prompted" him to retire.

As you said Boardwalk empire is not meant to be a total recreation of actual events. The producers went on the record and said this, the reason being they didn't want people to be able to go on the internet and find out what happens in the story by reading the bios of the characters.

Cheers, and a Good Cigar !

I understand what you're saying about Boardwalk Empire, but I think it does do a fairly good job of portraying actual figures, especially compared to Untouchables (Nitti) and Mobsters (95% of the movie). Torrio for example, I think is portrayed as having subtle cunning and he understands when to talk and when to listen. He reminds me very much of the way they talk about Carlo Gambino, who was very quiet and almost contemplative which other mobsters like Genovese mistook for weakness and cowardice. These guys arent Mensa members but they understand the situation, how to act, what to say, keeping friends close and enemies closer and other Art of Waresque stuff such as that. Torrio embodies that pretty well in BE I think and Rothstein is also portrayed very well (teaching young turks how to dress and how to talk and how to think). The only one that may be off is Luciano, but he was very young in that era and maybe he was closer to that potrayal than we realize. However, Luciano does seem adept at the importance of making alliances as well as knowing when to break alliances. It took him and Lansky 10 yrs from that show's time period to architech the modern mafia or combination. He probably learned a lot in that time and changed his attitude and how he carried himself. Just like Capone (who learned from Torrio, Guzik and Humphreys).

*** Also, it doesn't appear that Torrio was one to think outside the box. That's why Capone "prompted" him to retire. ***

Torrio retired because of the escalated violence and warfare with the North Siders. He was almost killed by Moran and he wanted to take his millions and live out the rest of his life with his wife without fear of being ambushed again and killed. Smart move on his part as he was one of the few gangsters to actually successfully retire (or live to a relatively long age)and enjoy the spoils of his vice empire (Lansky, Costello, Gambino).

Mobsters is horrible.

If this is the case, that does explain a thing or two. Thanx for posting Muss.

Does anyone watched:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMcxmHFtNsc

And one of the best series i watched so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1sVOxzQsUo

What u think about this one ? And does anyone watched the first one about Bonnano?

If I´m not mistaken, when researching for his book "Lucky Luciano; the Real and the Fake Gangster", Tim Newark came across prison records and psychological evaluation of Luciano describing him as a mild mannered, laid back, cool under pressure-type of a guy. Shy, with an above average intelligence.
And Joseph Bonanno describes him as calm, not particulary talkative but a brilliant organizer. In any tv show or movie dealing with Lucky Luciano, to me it would be far more interesting to depict him in this way (which would be the correct way), than to shape his character into a stereotypical Sicilian (whatever that may be).
But wtf, if people want to see a hottempered, sexcrazed Luciano, that´s how any producer will depict him as.

This is another example of a really bad tv movie. It´s so poorly based on Bonanno´s book that it makes me wonder how could JB give his approval to this?
Awful acting too!

Yeah...and Christian Slater as Lucky Luciano!

Have you seen Vinny the Chin in Bonannos movie? And what about Marcello, those were some ugly actors chosen for them.

By the way, Corleone series are a classic. Thats exactly how a show must be made.

I see what you mean, Muk
And I agree.

And i see what you mean with Boardwalk Empire, i am watching it at the moment. The way they portray Luciano is awfull, sure he was a killer, a heroin dealer, a petty thief. But the actor chosen for his role is a big negative point. The rest of the cast is oke, the best was Colosimo

Have to say Mobsters as well. I do realize that some movies must take a little artistic license to push the story along, etc. Otherwise, it would just be a documentary and not a movie.

Then we are agreed, Mobsters is a piece-of-shit-movie and Goodfellas and Donnie Brasco will give protection to the mob genre and there will be peace.

In the movie he was called Faranzano. I guess changing the name made them feel better about changing facts.

Mobsters was one of those "loosely based on facts" hollywood films that was meant for entertainment. It made no pretension for accuracy so I don't fault it that much. I thought the early scenes of Italian neighborhood were done pretty well. The depiction of Mad Dog Coll was ridiculous and seemed more like a parody.

On the other hand, people are much more likely walk away from a movie like Bugsy and view it as factual. The Flamingo casino was originally being built by a guy named William Wilkerson, a wealthy gambler with no connection to organized crime. Due to his gambling habit he ran out of money and Lansky offered to help. From watching the film you would never know he ever existed. Also, the fight scene with Adonis was fabricated and Virginia Hill committed suicide a couple of decades later, not right after Bugsy was killed.

I never saw Virginia Hill committing suicide in the movie though. But I agree on those other points.

However, factual or not, as a film Busgy is way better than Mobsters.

Yeah Bugsy was more entertaining, hell.. even This thing of ours was way better, Lanksy was a good movie to, so is Teamster Boss and Irishman.

I've actually had to deal with people adding to Carlo Gambino's Wikipedia article that he wanted to whack Gotti after the McBratney hit at least once.

the gotti movie by far

it has it's inaccuracies but not as bad as some. atleast gotti was somewhat entertaining.