This weekend sees the release of another addition in the movies’ complex relationship with criminals, in particular gangsters. Or the “made men”. But not “made-up men” as in those early-talkie Warners classics, or the celebrated Corleone trilogy. This guy was the “real deal”, although he would’ve grimaced at seeing his name on a theatre marquee. He preferred working and plotting (a wiz at making the numbers click) in the shadows. Ah, but films have found him fascinating because of his unique heritage, as he was one of the few underworld figures who was Jewish, rather than the prevalent Catholic-raised Italian-Americans. Now, there was a fictionalized version of himself in that second of the earlier mentioned series, being Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth in the superior sequel, THE GODFATHER PART II. But several acclaimed actors have portrayed him on the big and small screen including Patrick Dempsey and Oscar-winners Richard Dreyfus and Sir Ben Kingsley. Now another heavy-hitter (a vet of many mob movies) offers his take as Meyer LANSKY.
But before we meet the “big man”, we get to know struggling writer/ex-reporter David Stone (Sam Worthington). He’s fibbed to his estranged wife about his trip to Miami in 1981. There’s no big “book-signing” event, but rather the chance to get back on the “best seller list’, because he’s been “hand-picked” by the subject to write a biography of legendary crime figure Meyer Lansky (Harvey Keitel). The two meet in a local “family-style” restaurant (similar to an IHOP or Denny’s) where the “big boss’ lays down a few rules, including no tape recorders and no selling it to publishers until his approval or demise. David then jots down pages of notes on the elder’s long history, going from mastering back alley craps games 70 years ago to climbing the ranks of the mob with pal Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (David Cade) as they prove invaluable to “big man” Charlie “Lucky” Luciano (Shane McRae). In the late 30s, Meyer (John Magaro) would start a family with the volatile Anne (AnnaSophia Robb), earn a chair at the “organization’s table”, and actually aid the feds in flushing out Nazi spies. Later, Lansky was a big financial contributor to the formation of Israel. In between the interviews, David returns to his modest motel, where he’s often distracted by the sultry woman at the pool, Maureen (Minky Kelly), and by the car that slowly cruises the parking lot near his room. The driver is FBI agent Frank Rivers (David James Elliott) who soon pressures David to get info about a missing mob fortune (about 300 million). But can the down-on-his-luck scribe tread the dangerous tightrope between the “feds” and the still-connected aging gangster?
As the “silver lion” of the “organization” (maybe “last man standing” rather than “last man living”) Keitel really “delivers the goods” in the title role. Somehow he can turn on a dime, from a “reminiscing about those good ole’ days’ charmer” to an intimidating “iron hand”. Though he knows that the final sunset is quickly approaching, Keitel gives Lansky quiet dignity as he trie to “go out” on his own terms and finally chooses to boast, a bit, of his long legacy. But there’s still a great deal of tragedy, as he recalls his afflicted son and his rebuff from his “promised land”. And though he’s been in some of the biggest recent hit films (and those upcoming AVATAR sequels) Worthington is often overwhelmed in the many duets with Mr. K. It may be due to the familiarity of his character, a creative grasping at straws as he finds himself between “a rock and a hard place”. Plus his pleading phone calls with the family quickly become tiresome, as does the stilted romance with Kelly’s flirtatious “femme fatale” Maureen. That role feels “tacked on” in order to “spice up” the dreary modern-day sequences that are minus Meyer. Another addition to David’s dilemma is Elliot as the dogged, obsessed “G-man” who has the determination to carry on J. Edgar’s legacy but little of his arrogant aggression. His Agent Rivers is more of an annoyance than a true threat. As for the flashbacks, Magaro doesn’t try for a Keitel impression as the younger Lansky, but still projects a quiet menace (as opposed to the sadistic Ben) as he tries to divert the mob from being “backbreakers to “bean-counters”, replacing muscled goons with nit-picking auditors. But his version is less compelling despite the scenes of his home life. Ultimately those devolve into shouting matches with Robb’s Anne who overdoes the histrionics as she screams about “divine punishment”. I’m sure a better-written role would have showcased her considerable talents.
Everything moves at a languid pace under the pedestrian direction from Etyan Rockaway, who co-wrote the script with relative Robert. The interview segments have a quiet tension, due mainly to Keitel, but the flashbacks often feel like hazy basic cable TV crime “doc-show” recreations, complete with whirling newspaper headlines, odd hairstyles, ill-fitting fashions, and outright anachronisms, as when we see the 1920s sedans at resorts in the late 1940s. The FBI office scenes play like outtakes from a 70s TV cop show, while the repeating CGI-enhanced headshots fail to give the mob history a gritty contemporary edge. Most frustrating is that the man in the center remains an enigma, though more complex now (the Nazi-smashing and Israel support are less reported aspects of his story), many questions are left dangling as we get many long lingering pan-shots of him shuffling along the Alabama *doubling for Florida) shoreline. Despite the always compelling Keitel, LANSKY is a real letdown, often putting us to sleep, along with the fishes.
2 Out of 4
LANSKY opens in select theatres and is available as a Video-on-Demand via most streaming apps and platforms beginning Friday, June 25, 2021
