Like so many mid-century biographical films, Al Capone marches through the man's life, giving equal weight to each way-point. It also fails miserably by providing no psychological or historical context for how he became one of crime's most notorious characters. In fact, the film succeeds in white-washing this killer. He woos the widow of one of his victims. He repeatedly makes the point that he's never been convicted of any crime. People die, but there is no depiction of Capone's ruthless, brutal side. Rod Steiger in the title role does an admirable job with the shallow script, but this is not enough to make the film worth watching. Oddly, there's no mention of Elliot Ness and when it comes to summing up Capone's end, we're told he died of "an incurable disease." What, audiences in 1959 couldn't handle the word "syphilis"?

Chicago in the 1920's: rife with political and police corruption and increasingly run by mobsters. The most famous of them undoubtedly was Al Capone. In this bio-pic, Capone is played very effectively by Rod Steiger. Steiger captured both the role and the man. Capone was a guy of humble origins, but was a bit of a contradiction: he had no education but a love for culture; he was a ruthless gangster but for the most part stayed legally "clean." Steiger captured both the ruthlessness and the culture with his portrayal. Based on actual photographs of Capone that I've seen, Steiger even looked the part. He was very impressive.The movie basically traces Capone's career in crime from the time he arrives in Chicago in 1919 as a bodyguard to a local crime figure and takes it up to his conviction for income tax evasion of all things (it was the only crime they could ever actually pin on him) in 1931, with a very brief look at Capone in Alcatraz, and a voice-over explaining his last years before his death in 1947. Watching his rise was always interesting. A lot of this is fictional. James Gregory's character (the honest Chicago cop who commits himself and his entire career to bringing Capone down, and from whose perspective the story is told) didn't exist, and there's no portrayal of Capone's actual marriage; instead the movie focuses on a relationship he supposedly develops with a woman (Fay Spain) whose husband he had killed in the early part of his criminal career. The character of the newspaperman Keely (Martin Balsam) was based on a real figure, although the name was changed.By the standards of the modern era of film-making, this is laughably clean. There are a lot of shootouts, but no blood ever appears on those who are shot and killed, and in general these gangsters are awfully polite! There's an extended look on the planning of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre (as Capone used his men to take out many of his rivals in Chicago while he stayed at his home in Florida) although the Massacre itself doesn't take very long and - again - isn't especially graphic.This represents an interesting and believable (if not quite historically accurate) look at not only Capone but at the state of Chicago in the era and of the role that Prohibition played in promoting the rise of organized crime, and Steiger's performance alone makes this worth watching. (8/10)

I must begin by saying that few people today will ever know what the real Al Capone was like, though there are many excellent biographies of him available. What Rod Steiger does , along with the screen writers Wald and Greenberg, is to create a believable character, who we accept as the genuine Capone. From the moment he first saunters into a Chicago speakeasy on the eve of Prohibition to accept a job as bouncer, to the SPOILERS AHEAD: hard and dangerous life of a a convict at Alcatraz prison, he is utterly convincing. Steiger captures a vivid, larger than life portrayal of a criminal who is by turns funny, charming, brutal, truly frightening, and very aware of himself as a showman for the public. The scenes in which Capone makes self glorifying speeches about being a mere businessman and a public benefactor are quite faithful to the real Al Capone's frequent public comments on the subject. The rest of the cast is made up of good actors who give excellent performances. The gravelly voiced Murvyn Vye is hilarious as glum, humorless Bugs Moran, with a clever performance within a performance by Robert Gist, whose ruthless gangster Dion O'Banion plays the role of lovable Irishman to fool people into thinking he's not really dangerous. Nehemiah Persoff is a standout in the role of Capone's mentor Johnny Torrio, and James Gregory is good as the hardboiled police detective Schaefer who narrates the film. Martin Balsam is excellent as the corrupt reporter who acts as a go-between for Capone and legitimate society . His expression of wounded innocence when berated by the detective for being just a crook himself is marvelous. The strongest praise, aside from that due to Steiger, goes to Fay Spain for her incredibly powerful portrayal of a gangland widow romanced by Capone. She is nothing short of electrifying in the scene in which she, half laughing, half screaming, denounces Capone for his smiling attempt to compensate her for the death of her husband by offering to pay for the funeral. This scene alone is worth watching the entire movie for. The Twenties settings and characters are well done, and a surprising amount of real history is reenacted. Some is necessarily speculation about exactly how a murder was planned or who carried it out, but the story always has the feeling of being pretty much as it would have been. The only weakness I see in an otherwise solid production is the preachy narration by the detective character, but it does provide a sense of logical story development and a historical perspective. For anyone interested in seeing another of Steiger's amazing gallery of characters, and all fans of gangster movies, this is well worth seeing.

I loved this black and white movie. It stared Rod Steiger who comes across like Mr. Tony Soprano actually. It was told in the tradition of a biography. Capone was so violent yet a great businessman. This movie is borderline FILM NOIR. Mr. Capone, in the movie, starts out as a simple bouncer and them works his way up to the bossman of the Chicago Syndicate. He eventually was convicted on INCOME TAX evasion and sentenced to 11 years at THE ROCK. The movie even takes us into THE ROCK where it shows Capone and how he loses his power. What makes this movie really great is simply ROD's portrayal of Scarface. He plays it very very well. If I had to choose ANY GANGSTER movie from that subject matter, this is it.