My summary quote spoken by Al Capone (Jason Robards) is quite insightful into the mind of a gangster, who lives by a different moral code than the rest of society. While speaking that line, Capone is in the midst of planning to take out his North Side rival Bugs Moran (Ralph Meeker), almost as if it's his civic duty to unite all illegal activities in the city under one crime family.Well I'm not a student of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, but reading a handful of reviews on this board it seems this film was a fairly accurate representation of the events leading up to that fatally famous day. Criticism of Robards' choice to portray Capone doesn't bother me much, though I have to say he did take it over the top at times. His "We're gonna get him before he gets me" line in the face of his gang's seeming reluctance to go for all out war was about as definitive a statement a mobster can make outside of "Make him an offer he can't refuse".There's a cool cast of supporting players here, and probably the best scene for me was George Segal displaying his aversion to fur coats when his gal Myrtle (Jean Hale) revealed the price tag. That tussle just seemed to go on and on and I never did get the impression the coat was going back. I had to do a double take a couple of times when it looked like Jack Nicholson showed up as one of the tommy gunners; his uncredited appearance here was kind of cool.One item I'll have to go back and check was that flashback scene of Al Capone recounting the first attempted hit on his life, occurring across the street from a movie theater. The marquee displayed the title 'The Mad Rider' but there's nothing like that in the IMDb database. There are a handful of films going by "The Masked Rider" prior to 1922 and another one in 1941 which wouldn't have worked, so I'm curious as to why the film makers used that title. A half century later now so I don't think we'll ever know.

I saw this movie when it was first released in the Sixties and I have seen it many times over the years. I still enjoy it with every viewing and I think it ranks in my top five all-time gangster movies. The St. Valentine Massacre screenplay was written by Howard Browne who was actually a young reporter in Chicago at the time the story unfolded. I found the Moran gang of Irish and German hoods more interesting than the Italian and Jewish mobsters of the Capone outfit. I have also found that the New York Irish gangsters like Owen Madden, Mad Dog Coll and Legs Diamond more fascinating than their Italian and Jewish counterparts like Benny Siegel, Frank Costello and company. The Irish were more like cowboys, rogues and desperadoes while the Italians and Jews were boring businessmen in suits.

Roger Corman was best known for his cheaply made American-International Edgar Allen Poe features with Vincent price and his teen oriented motorcycle/beach party films. For "The St. Valentine's day Massacre", he was given a million dollar budget and three recognizable stars (Jason Robards, George Segal and Ralph Meeker) to play the leads. The film was released by a major studio, 20th Century Fox.The picture tells the story of the famous 1929 Chicago massacre of seven gangsters and the events leading up to it. Told in a documentary style not unlike TV's "The Untouchables" and narrated by Paul Frees, the story centers around the conflict between Al Capone (Robards) and "Bugs" Moran (Meeker). Neither trusts the other and in flashbacks we are shown the violence that has occurred between the two groups.Capone assigns the task of taking out Moran to Jack McGurn (Clint Ritchie). Moran uses his chief gunsel Peter Gusenberg (Segal)to look after his interests. Nick Sorello (Frank Silvera) is recruited by McGurn to gain the trust of Moran and his men. Finally on February 14, 1929 the scene is set. Run for cover!Corman used many recognizable faces in the supporting roles. Frank Campanella, Harold J. Stone, David Canary, Richard Bakalyan, Paul Richards, Leo Gordon, John Agar (as Dion O'Bannion), Milton Frome and Alex Rocco among others appear in various roles. Corman regulars Jonathon Haze, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Bruce Dern and yes Jack Nicholson have smaller parts.Not the best gangster film ever made but an entertaining one nonetheless.

For me, the great Roger Corman will always be best remembered for his film versions of classic Edgar Allen Poe stories; but he also made a lot of films outside of the horror genre and clearly stories of true American crime interested him as aside from this film he also directed Bloody Mama based on Ma Barker. The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre has a fairly strong cult following and I went into this film with some fairly high hopes because of that; although unfortunately I have to say that I'm not as big a fan as many as while this is undoubtedly an interesting and well made crime film; it also has several flaws. The plot focuses on the Prohibition era and in particular the rivalry between two prominent gangs, one of which lead by the infamous Al Capone. As the title suggests; the main focus of the film is on the famous 'Saint Valentines Day Massacre' which saw a group of men gunned down in cold blood. The film focuses on the main players in both the gangs and focuses on the events up to and including the incident.As anyone who knows anything about Roger Corman would expect; the film does not benefit from a big budget and in some ways feels like a cheaper version of several big budget crime flicks. However, in spite of this, Corman still manages to give his film a good style and the film really does feel like its taking place in the late 1920's. The plot does not play out like a regular crime film and instead we get a fragmented report on the key events and it almost feels like it could be a documentary with reconstructions. Corman was obviously keen to focus on the history too as there's a voice-over that fills the audience in on key happenings. In my opinion, the film would have been better as a straight drama as the way it has been done means that it's interesting in parts and then not interesting in others and there's not a great deal of fluency which is a shame. The film has a sense of inevitability to it all the way through as it's always clear how it will end and while it contains no surprises; The St Valentines Day Massacre is at least a successful retelling of the famous event of it's title.