OK I was bored, I watch this movie and the writing is not great. But the cast is fabulous: Ben Gazarra, John Cassavettes, Harry Guardino, Susan Blakely (who got quite naked, thank you very much) AND... a 29 year old Sylvester Stallone. Lots of shooting, double crossing, you can do worse.

There's some decent names – Ben Gazzara, Harry Guardino, blink-and-you'll miss-him John Cassavetes – in this cheap biopic produced by Roger Corman but you can only assume they were on their uppers when it was made because it's not particularly interesting. Ben Gazzara's depiction of Capone borders on parody at times, and the film's opinion of him is unclear to say the least. It gives little insight into Capone's early years and while it sometimes has characters describing him as an animal it also depicts him as a caring, almost sympathetic, lover of a hard-living (but lusciously soft-bodied) flapper played by Susan Blakely. The plot takes us through Capone's life from the late teens to the mid-forties when, riddled with syphilis, his mind shot, he fishes at a swimming pool and raves about the Bolsheviks to people who aren't there. It probably touches all the bases – without really telling us much – but the truth of the story it relates is perhaps open to question. I was surprised to see a pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone pop up as Capone's right-hand man who sells his boss out so that he can wear the crown. There's not much here about Stallone that suggests he's going to become a major action star – in fact he's probably miscast – but then everything about this film seems to be a little half-hearted.

There are enough pictures of Alphonse Capone available so that we know exactly what he looked like. Even though Ben Gazzara is a good actor, I couldn't watch this without thinking, "Not Capone, must be a different character of the same name." ;-)Although a brutal man, Capone had enormous sense. He preferred making money to shooting down rivals, and always tried to negotiate first. He valued loyalty above all else, and he "broke the mold" by insisting that the clannish, ethnic gang style of old was gone and that a man's ethnic background ought to have no bearing in the outfit.According to a recent biographer, Capone feared being shot and dying alone in the street more than anything else. Unlike in this film, he died as he had hoped: in bed surrounded by his family.I've always been saddened by the thought that if Capone had wanted to go legit from the start, he could have done it. With his organizational skills he could have been anything he wished.

I have seen many actors hamming it up.But Ben Gazzara plays Al Capone in Al Jolson mode.I swear he was going to sing Mammy before the end.This is a really tacky movie made because The Godfather was such a hit.Avoid like the Plague.1 out of 10