Billy Bathgate (film)

Billy Bathgate is a 1991 American biographical gangster film directed by Robert Benton, starring Loren Dean as the title character and Dustin Hoffman as real-life gangster Dutch Schultz. The film co-stars Nicole Kidman, Steven Hill, Steve Buscemi, and Bruce Willis. Although Billy is a fictional character, at least four of the other characters in the film were real people from New York of the 1930s. The screenplay was adapted by British writer Tom Stoppard from E.L. Doctorow's 1989 novel of the same name. Doctorow distanced himself from the film for the extensive deviations from the book. It received negative reviews and was a box office bomb, grossing a mere $15.5 million against its $48 million budget.

Billy Bathgate
Original Theatrical Poster
Directed byRobert Benton
Produced byRobert F. Colesbury
Arlene Donovan
Screenplay byTom Stoppard
Based onBilly Bathgate
by E.L. Doctorow
Starring
Music byMark Isham
CinematographyNéstor Almendros
Edited byAlan Heim
David Ray
Robert M. Reitano
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures
Release date
  • November 1, 1991 (1991-11-01)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$48 million[1]
Box office$15.5 million[1]

Plot

Billy Behan is a poor teenage boy from the Bronx. One day he catches the attention of gangster Dutch Schultz. Changing his last name to Bathgate, after a local street, he goes to work for Schultz's organization, serving mostly as a gopher for Schultz. Billy is present when Schultz murders his former partner Bo Weinberg, who Schultz believes betrayed him. Schultz then begins a relationship with Weinberg's beautiful, married, girlfriend, Drew Preston.

Facing legal charges in a court in upstate New York, Schultz brings Billy and Drew along. He successfully charms the locals, presenting himself as charming and good natured. While his boss Dutch stands trial, Billy's job is to watch over Drew. His loyalties to Schultz are tested as he begins falling in love with the flirtatious Drew. Realizing that Drew is about to be killed, Billy calls her husband, who hurries to town and takes her home before Schultz's men can make their move.

Having beaten the rap in court, Dutch is indicted again on federal tax evasion charges. He wants to have federal prosecutor Thomas Dewey murdered, but his request is rejected by the Mafia Commission. Schultz sends Billy to another gangster with some bribe money, but the effort is rejected. When Billy returns with the bad news, he and Schultz have a falling out and Billy is fired by Schultz's associate Otto, who lets him keep the bribe money as a severance package. As Billy leaves, he is abducted and beaten by gangsters working for Lucky Luciano. The men storm Dutch's hideout and kill everyone inside. Billy is taken before Luciano, who warns him that he knows where Billy's family lives, before letting him go.

Cast

Production

The film was shot in Hamlet, North Carolina and Saratoga Springs, New York.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 38% based on 24 reviews.[2] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.[3]

Variety (magazine) wrote: "This refined, intelligent drama about thugs appeals considerably to the head but has little impact in the gut, which is not exactly how it should be with gangster films."[4]

Box office

The movie debuted at No. 4[5] and underperformed against its $48 million budget.

Accolades

Nicole Kidman was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.[6]

References
  1. "Billy Bathgate". Box Office Mojo.
  2. Billy Bathgate Rotten Tomatoes
  3. "ELEKTRA (2005) B". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
  4. Variety Staff (1 January 1991). "Billy Bathgate". Variety (magazine). the $40 million-plus production bears no signs of the rumored troubles of its making.
  5. "Weekend Box Office : 'People' Tops a Lackluster Bunch". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  6. "Nicole Kidman". Golden Globes.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.