Themes: Rise and Fall Stories, Assassination Plots
Main Cast: Jason Robards, Jr., George Segal, Ralph Meeker, Jean Hale, Clint Ritchie
Release Year: 1967
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
Schlockmeister Roger Corman produced this graphically violent chronicle of the Chicago gangster wars of the 1920s and the events that lead to the bloody title showdown between rival mobsters Al Capone (Jason Robards) and Bugs Moran (Ralph Meeker) that marked a brutal end to a terrifying era. Fred Steiner's film score is effectively mixed with popular songs from the 1920s, and the re-creation of gangster-era Chicago is a credit to the set designers. Historic and insightful narration is dramatically provided by Paul Frees, giving the film the flavor of a docudrama. Jean Hale plays Moran's gun moll, who is mercilessly kneed in the stomach while arguing over a fur coat. Though The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was heralded by critics at the time of its initial release, their opinion of the film has changed with each decade as they waver on the cinematic value of all of Corman's work. Audiences continue to relish the film, which is often shown on the anniversary of the bloody executions. Watch for Jack Nicholson as one of the unfortunate victims. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Review
A simple way to describe The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is that it is an old gangster film spiced up with some modern violence. Its docudrama approach, complete with grim Paul Frees narration, gives it the feel of a newsreel brought to life, and Roger Corman's slick direction gives it that shot-on-the-backlot look that conjures up memories of The Roaring Twenties and The Public Enemy. However, the film amps up the casual brutality common to these films (the penthouse brawl between George Segal and a nagging girlfriend goes much further than a vintage Warner Bros. gangster outing would) and the event alluded to in the title is handled in a memorably grisly and brutal fashion. Thankfully, this "best of both worlds" approach works well and makes The St. Valentine's Day Massacre a rousing crime film. The script delivers a dizzying array of double-crosses and action set pieces, and Corman's direction gives it the snappy pace it needs. Best of all, it's got a fantastic cast that dives into the material with gusto: George Segal is gleefully nasty as a tough-guy enforcer Peter Gusenberg and Jason Robards gives a bombastic, scenery-devouring turn as Al Capone. It all adds up to fast, brutal fun that is well worth a look for fans of old-school crime films. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
Philip M. Jefferies - Art Director, Jack Martin Smith - Art Director, Roger Corman - Director, William B. Murphy - Editor, Lionel Newman - Composer (Music Score), Fred Steiner - Composer (Music Score), Lionel Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Ben Nye, Sr. - Makeup, Milton Krasner - Cinematographer, Roger Corman - Producer, Walter Scott - Set Designer, Steven Potter - Set Designer, L.B. Abbott - Special Effects, Art Cruickshank - Special Effects, Emil Kosa, Jr. - Special Effects, David Dockendorf - Sound/Sound Designer, Howard Browne - Screenwriter
The film starred Jason Robards as Capone, George Segal as Peter Gusenberg and Ralph Meeker as Bugs Moran. (Orson Welles was originally supposed to play Capone - but Fox vetoed the deal, fearing that Welles was 'undirectable'.) It was also believed that Welles was the narrator of the film, but it was actually narrated by well-known Hollywood voice actor Paul Frees in Welles' style. A very young Bruce Dern plays one of the victims of the massacre, and Jack Nicholson has a bit part as a gangster.
The film is a somewhat rough mixture of correct historical fact and outright movie fiction, though it is presented in docu-drama style. It is largely accurate in the historical coverage of the event, but creates several character names that exist only in the film, rather than reality, such as "Boris Chapman" and "Adolph Muller", which the film identifies as the two phony "policemen" involved in the massacre. There is considerable speculation on who those two men actually were, but their true identities still remain unknown. It also includes some actual facts that are erroneously used (such as the real name of Jack McGurn being given as "Vincenzo Demaury", an alias he used only in later years when working as a golf pro - his birth name was Vincenzo Gebaldi). The film also portrays Capone taking personal revenge on turncoat Unione Siciliano member Joe Aiello by personally murdering him. Capone did order the murder of Aiello, though it was carried out by members of his gang at a much later date. Its portrayal in the movie as having occurred before the massacre is important to the context of the film, but not the actual fact. In fairness, however, a great deal of research has been done on the Massacre in the last forty years, revealing new facts, and exploding some old theories, none of which writer Browne could have known at the time. Besides the climactic garage scene, Corman also staged a re-creation of the Moran Gang's attack on Capone headquarters in Cicero, Illinois which left Capone badly shaken, though unhurt. He also staged a stereotypical gangland funeral complete with tuxedo clad gunsels and enormous banks of flowers. Hymie Weiss is shown flying into a rage at Dean O'Banion's sendoff when the largest floral arrangement of them all reads, "From Al". Weiss himself is later killed in an ambush by the Capone mob, leaving Bugs Moran as head of the North Siders. Both Moran and Capone are repeatedly shown swearing bitter oaths of vengeance and disdain towards each other as they urge their respective underlings to wipe out "that no good louse".
Each character is given a verbal vocieover biography as they are introduced, and in some video releases, the biographies of Rheinhard Schwimmer and Adam Heyer, two of the massacre victims, are removed from the soundtrack, possibly due to protest from surviving family members.
Background
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was not, as might be guessed, inspired by the 1959-63 ABC TV series, The Untouchables, but is one of many motion pictures adapted from a CBSPlayhouse 90 episode. Seven Against The Wall, broadcast on Playhouse 90 in December, 1958, was also written by Harold Browne and featured actors Milton Frome, Celia Lovsky and Frank Silvera in the same roles that they play in the film.
This film was one of the few that Roger Corman directed from a major Hollywood studio with a generous budget and an open-ended schedule. While most directors woud love such an assignment, Corman was disgusted with the incredible waste of time and money involved with "typical" movie production techniques. Corman, an independent director, was most comfortable in his own style: Shoestring budgets, and shooting schedules measured in days, rather than weeks. Nonetheless, it is generally considered one of his best films as a director.
Trivia
In 2009 Empire Magazine named it #7 in a poll of the 20 Greatest Gangster Movies You've Never Seen* (*Probably)
