Chicago February 14th 1929. Al Capone finally establishes himself as the city's boss of organised crime. In a north-side garage his hoods, dressed as policemen, surprise and mow down with machine-guns the key members of Bugs Moran's rival gang. The film traces the history of the incident, and the lives affected and in some cases ended by it.
Action!-The March of the (3) Rogers: B Is For CormanIt doesn't take long to realize that you're about to see Corman's most polished work to date. While some of his previous pictures have kept their quality and, as I've previously stated, have nothing to envy from the great Hollywood movies of the period, this is perhaps the one that most resembles a Warner or Universal feature with a high budget.To be honest, I wasn't entirely engrossed in the plot, but I was constantly intrigued. I know it appears to be a contradiction, but let's just say that the film is entertaining overall. I also loved how Corman utilized voice over to describe various elements of these people's life and criminal activities in a non-annoying way. This is due to the tone of voice and delivery, which makes it sound less like an exposition and more like a newspaper or news broadcast report.The performances are far from excellent, with some overacting at times. Also, the guy they picked to play Al Capone did not look like the iconic gangster, which knocked me out of the picture and took away from the authenticity and realism that the film was aiming for.All in all, If you want to understand more about the bloody episode in history, I can't think of a better video that does it in an interesting and thorough manner.TODAY SCHEDULEThe St. Valentine's Day MassacreA Time For KillingSpinning BorisThe Treatment
Slig0013.5
Roger Corman got his biggest budget to date to direct this gangster flick based on the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre carried out by Al Capone. The film depicts the key events leading up to the titular massacre in almost documentary style. A voiceover fills us in on key details on the numerous characters, which goes along with the drama. The film is very well realised, with the twenties style sets, costumes, cars etc coming over well to set the overall tone. Certainly the film feels much more expensive than the usual Roger Corman production! The narrative has an obvious inevitability to it as its clear what everything is leading up to. This creates a certain level of tension in and of itself, and while most of the drama in the actual scenes is entertaining, it does feel overcomplicated at times, which somewhat undermines the overall narrarive drive. The film features a brilliantly overblown scenary chewing performance from Jason Robards as Al Capone, while there's also small roles for Bruce Dern, Dick Miller and Jack Nicholson. Then there's the tommy guns, which provide the film with plenty of explosive violence that helps to give it something of an edge. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre works nicely as an entertaining gangster flick and a history lesson rolled into one.
Bruno Andrade3.5
Gênio.Só uma coisa a dizer neste momento: se houve uma sobrevida da criatividade, da inventividade, da imaginação, da beleza, do rigor, da exuberância, da economia e das façanhas destemidas custeadas com vinténs do cinema hollywoodiano dos estúdios na era do cinema americano pós-estúdios, foi graças ao Corman. Seriam muitos nomes para citar, e citá-los aqui não faria justiça a tudo o que Corman fez como homem de cinema, cujo principal foi e continuará sendo os filmes que dirigiu.Lembrar, deste filme, da cena quase anedótica em que um capanga esfrega alho na munição que será utilizada no massacre do dia de São Valentim sob o olhar incrédulo do Dick Miller, que pergunta a Jack Nicholson, um outro capanga, qual o sentido disso. Nicholson responde impassivelmente "se não morrerem com as balas, morrerão de envenenamento sanguíneo".Todas essas passagens anedóticas ou apenas aparentemente anedóticas dos filmes do Corman que pareciam e até mesmo podiam conter todo o universo, toda a atmosfera, tudo o que estava em jogo nos filmes. Os filmes, incluindo alguns dos melhores, incluindo os mais solenes, independente de serem adaptações de Poe ou Matheson, construídos sobre esses momentos em que a descontração dá no espaço de um átimo lugar à inquietação, à qual se sucede o horror, o qual desemboca em inevitáveis jeux de massacre.Lembrar, também, do que foi o cinema americano de depois da travessia do Corman por Hollywood, o bom e o péssimo (um imbecil alçado à posição de porta-voz da imbecilidade dos anos 2010 pelos imbecis da Cinema Scope; mais comentários sobre isso amanhã pela manhã).
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Common questions
What is The St. Valentine's Day Massacre about?+
The film details the events leading up to the 1929 gangland murders in Chicago orchestrated by a rising crime boss against his rival faction.
Who directed The St. Valentine's Day Massacre?+
It was directed by Roger Corman in 1967 as a detailed historical feature produced for 20th Century Fox.
Is The St. Valentine's Day Massacre based on a true story?+
Yes, the film closely chronicles the historical events and key figures surrounding the infamous gangland execution during the Prohibition era. Tickets on Mood.
