Movie Review: The Alto Knights

4 stars out of 5

Robert De Niro stars as real-life gangster Frank Costello, with a strong supporting performance by Robert De Niro as Costello’s rival, Vito Genovese. Now, The Two Bobbys could’ve turned out cheesy or cheap-looking, but in director Barry Levinson’s hands, it works. And it’s fun to watch late-stage De Niro flex his acting muscles to create two really distinct characters.

Alton Knights is an unapologetic old-school mafia movie, written by the 92-year-old legend Nick Pileggi (nonfiction book Wiseguy which Goodfellas was based on, and co-wrote Goodfellas and Casino with Scorsese). It’s 1957, and the film looks and feels like that. The story — which seems fairly close to the facts — has the hot-headed Genovese returning from Italy, looking to reclaim his vast New York territory which he had ceded to childhood friend Costello. Ah, but on the more business-minded Costello’s watch, the New York operation has been both peaceful and successful. Not everyone seems willing to just hand things back to Vito. So we have a conflict.

You know you’re going to see guns, a court case, a mention that drugs are only going to ruin the business, and Sopranos vets in the cast. (Here we get Jackie Aprile Sr., FBI Special Agent Harris, and Mrs. Artie Bucco who really gets to emote as Mrs. Genovese.) Debra Messing as Mrs. Costello has very little to do here, besides looking concerned. And for me, it was nice to see Phil from Larry Sanders as Senator Estes Kefauver.

By generally sticking to true events, we may not get caught up in a big dramatic whirlwind, but I still found Alton Knights quite interesting, and definitely satisfying as a mafia tale. With two De Niros for the price of one!