Although reviewers were mixed in their feelings for this semi-famous gangster picture from 1967, I think most of them missed the point. Roger Corman's "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" was filmed on a budget of exactly $1,000,000. Even for 1967 standards, that's about as low as you can go. And look what he got for his cool million; Jason Robards, Ralph Meeker, George Segal, Joseph Campanella, Bruce Dern (a Corman stock player back then) and a host of other famous names including soon-to-be movie star Jack Nicholson. Some reviewers were obviously thrown for a loop because of Corman's use of a narrator to the events (Paul Frees) and the fact that he tackled a worthy subject compared to his earlier sci-fi and biker film efforts. Their preconceptions of Corman's talent got the better of them and this film proved that he was a first-class director worthy of respect from his peers.
The plot involves the famous massacre of Chicago gang-lord Bugs Moran's men during the height of prohibition. Al Capone (a raging Jason Robards) was the architect of these murders and was aided and abetted by "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn (Clint Ritchie) who was the true mastermind. Moran himself (Ralph Meeker) was able to avoid the "hit" and lived to tell about it. George Segal is the real star of the show as Peter Gusenberg, one of Moran's henchmen. His fight with his girlfriend (Jean Hale) over an expensive fur is one of the highlights of the film. Jack Nicholson (another Corman regular) makes a brief appearance as one of Capone's hit men and is allowed to utter one memorable line about the effects of "garlic-flavored" bullets. The film stays relatively close to true events and except for the fact that Jason Robards doesn't look anything like the real Al Capone and is too old for the part, the movie is mostly historically accurate. All in all, "The St. Valentine's Massacre" is an entertaining and informative movie, and all done on a shoestring budget. As they say, they don't make them like this anymore.
The plot involves the famous massacre of Chicago gang-lord Bugs Moran's men during the height of prohibition. Al Capone (a raging Jason Robards) was the architect of these murders and was aided and abetted by "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn (Clint Ritchie) who was the true mastermind. Moran himself (Ralph Meeker) was able to avoid the "hit" and lived to tell about it. George Segal is the real star of the show as Peter Gusenberg, one of Moran's henchmen. His fight with his girlfriend (Jean Hale) over an expensive fur is one of the highlights of the film. Jack Nicholson (another Corman regular) makes a brief appearance as one of Capone's hit men and is allowed to utter one memorable line about the effects of "garlic-flavored" bullets. The film stays relatively close to true events and except for the fact that Jason Robards doesn't look anything like the real Al Capone and is too old for the part, the movie is mostly historically accurate. All in all, "The St. Valentine's Massacre" is an entertaining and informative movie, and all done on a shoestring budget. As they say, they don't make them like this anymore.