Any movie with Mary Grace Canfield (made while she was still playing Ralph Monroe in "Green Acres") and David Canary (Candy on "Bonanza") must have been trying to entice television viewers to abandon their couches for the padded seats of their local theaters. Then again Roger Corman spent most of his budget on a cast of thousands so maybe they were the only Screen Actors Guild members available for this semi-epic.
Imagine "The Untouchables" television show (but in color) with Ralph Meeker reprising his Raymond Chandler stuff (but as gangster "Bugs Moran") and Jason Robards in the advance stages of rabies infection. Corman adopted a semi-documentary style for his only 20th Century-Fox production about Chicago's most famous massacre. This time he was a little more focused than when his semi-documentary motorcycle picture "The Wild Angels" mysteriously morphed into a great sex-and-sadism drive-in classic.
Corman's preproduction team did a lot of research and crafted a script that is about as factual as you are likely to find about this event. Using frequent voice-over (but not Robert Stack) Corman gives us a film with a surprising amount of both documentary truth and dramatic excitement. Because it was a pretty complicated event, the solemn voice-over was the only reasonable way to communicate the name, rank, serial number, nationality, and mob affiliation of all the participants. Much of the action is in the form of flashbacks, which help to liven things up.
The film can be faulted mainly for on-the-cheap production design (it has that Hollywood back-lot look and the snow is obviously fake) and for the physical miscasting of Robards as Al Capone. Normally you could overlook (even enjoy) his one-dimensional performance since he seems to be having a lot of over-the-top fun with it, but given the film's documentary goals it was very bad choice for the role. Meeker is brilliant and the technical production is all first class stuff. On the whole a very entertaining film.
Imagine "The Untouchables" television show (but in color) with Ralph Meeker reprising his Raymond Chandler stuff (but as gangster "Bugs Moran") and Jason Robards in the advance stages of rabies infection. Corman adopted a semi-documentary style for his only 20th Century-Fox production about Chicago's most famous massacre. This time he was a little more focused than when his semi-documentary motorcycle picture "The Wild Angels" mysteriously morphed into a great sex-and-sadism drive-in classic.
Corman's preproduction team did a lot of research and crafted a script that is about as factual as you are likely to find about this event. Using frequent voice-over (but not Robert Stack) Corman gives us a film with a surprising amount of both documentary truth and dramatic excitement. Because it was a pretty complicated event, the solemn voice-over was the only reasonable way to communicate the name, rank, serial number, nationality, and mob affiliation of all the participants. Much of the action is in the form of flashbacks, which help to liven things up.
The film can be faulted mainly for on-the-cheap production design (it has that Hollywood back-lot look and the snow is obviously fake) and for the physical miscasting of Robards as Al Capone. Normally you could overlook (even enjoy) his one-dimensional performance since he seems to be having a lot of over-the-top fun with it, but given the film's documentary goals it was very bad choice for the role. Meeker is brilliant and the technical production is all first class stuff. On the whole a very entertaining film.