THE ALTO KNIGHTS
TWO STARS De Niro is both Vito and Frank, two gangsters with a grudge.
PERIOD DRAMA US English #THEALTOKNIGHTS Starring Robert De Niro, Debra Messing
Based on a true story, this is the oft-told tale of best friends who become best enemies. They’re also gangsters, European immigrants who find a new life in the US and squeeze a multi-billion dollar empire out of the American Dream. By the time we meet the Alto Knights - Frank Costello (Robert De Niro) and Vito Genovese (Robert De Niro in a hat) - they’ve become powerful old men nurturing a grudge.
Back in the day, the fledgling mob was running booze and run by Vito, a hot-head who courted trouble. With the law on his tail he skipped country and handed the reigns to his friend Frank; his calm manner grew the business and installed it in every corner of the country. Then Vito returns and angles to get his old job back but there’s a rule: a boss doesn’t write a contract on the boss. Not that Vito much cares for rules.
This is Frank’s story told in flashback. This is interesting since he’s been shot and killed in the first five minutes, so is he a ghost? No, Vito’s hitman (an under utilised Cosmo Jarvis) is just a bad shot. It’s a great set up from director Barry Levinson who gives us a great first act as Frank sets the scene and explains how a couple of kids with no language and no education could inject themselves into the fabric of America and make a fortune while flying under the political and legal radar. An ill-gotten fortune mind you, and the radar had been turned off, threads of a fascinating tale.
Such is the premise of THE ALTO KNIGHTS which completely fails its potential. For it soon becomes clear that Levinson’s film is about as interesting, and informative, as the Wikipedia entry about Genovese, Costello and the mob that surrounded them. There’s the occasional flash of visual excitement but mostly it’s a scattergun approach to the project which leaves the cultural clash that should be the film's beating heart gasping for air.
There’s also a school that says De Niro is the go-to guy when casting gangsters (ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA or THE GODFATHER would support the argument). Yet his rambling insistence on repeating lines, rewording, rephrasing and repeating drains all of the excitement from nearly every scene he’s in. And with little delineation between his two characters (other than the hat), it drains twice as fast when they're both on screen. Taking a leaf from his handbook, the rest of the mob quickly do the same. It’s exhausting. Debra Messing as Frank’s loyal wife brings some energy but she can’t carry the film on her own.
Fans of mob movies and/or De Niro (there are plenty) may be satisfied by this tired journey into the gangster's paradise, but they won’t get anything new. If you buy into the gimmick of having him in two lead roles - and it’s never anything more than a gimmick - you'll go so far, after which there’s not much left in this humourless, passionless and ultimately pointless film.
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