Al Capone (1959)(dvd)

Synopsis: Rod Steiger was a natural to play Al Capone: he had played a gangster masquerading as a lawyer in On the Waterfront and a gangster masquerading as a Hollywood mogul in The Big Knife. And Capone was a businessman, finally imprisoned for tax evasion rather than slaughter on the streets of Chicago.

Steiger, of course, brings all his Method mannerisms to play — he's petulant, coarse, with a touch of Iago and Richard III, and it's fascinating to compare his portrayal with later ones by Jason Robards (The St Valentine's Day Massacre) and Robert De Niro (Brian De Palma's The Untouchables).

Directed by Richard Wilson, a former associate of Orson Welles, the picture revived interest in Capone, led to the TV series of The Untouchables and stands comparison with the best gangster pictures of the 1930s.

Cast: Rod Steiger
Runtime: 104 min