Tema: Film
Tip: Plakat

48 x 68 cm
2 x presavijen
movie poster
ILUSTROVAO : BOLE 1968

The St. Valentine`s Day Massacre is a 1967 gangster film based on the 1929 Chicago mass murder of seven members of the Northside Gang (led by George `Bugs` Moran) on orders from Al Capone. It was directed by Roger Corman and written by Howard Browne. Corman called it `the most accurate, authentic gangster film ever`.[4]

The film stars Jason Robards as Al Capone, George Segal as Peter Gusenberg, David Canary as Frank Gusenberg and Ralph Meeker as George `Bugs` Moran.

Orson Welles was originally supposed to play Capone, but Twentieth Century Fox vetoed the deal, fearing that Welles was `undirectable.`[5] The film`s narration has a style similar to that of Welles but was narrated by renowned Hollywood voice actor Paul Frees.

A young Bruce Dern plays one of the victims of the massacre, and Jack Nicholson has a bit part as a gangster. Also featured are Jan Merlin as one of Moran`s lieutenants and veteran Corman actor Dick Miller as one of the phony policemen involved in the massacre.

An organized crime war breaks out between two rival gangs in Chicago during the Roaring Twenties. The leader of the Southside Mob is the notorious Al Capone, who resents his nemesis George `Bugs` Moran`s activity in the city. Moran, too, wants control of the town`s bootlegging and gambling operations. His lieutenants Peter and Frank Gusenberg use threats and intimidation to make tavern owners do business with them in exchange for `protection.` Peter Gusenberg also argues and fights with his moll, particularly over her extravagant spending of his money.

Moran gives the order to have a crony of Capone`s eliminated as the Chicago body count escalates. Inclusive are flashbacks to a lunchtime attack on Capone at the Hawthorne restaurant outside of Chicago by Hymie Weiss and Moran in September 1926 and the murders of Dean O`Banion in November 1924 and Weiss in October 1926 by Capone`s gang.

In a bid to get rid of Moran once and for all, Capone goes to his winter home in Miami, Florida to establish an alibi while his henchmen, some dressed as police officers, ambush and execute seven members of Moran`s gang, including Peter Gusenberg, in a northside garage on February 14, 1929. Also at the garage - and caught in the attack - were Johnny May (Bruce Dern), a mechanic, and Reinhardt Schwimmer, an optician who enjoyed being around gangsters. Of the victims, only Frank Gusenberg, Peter`s brother survives and is taken to a hospital. Despite knowing that he will soon die, Frank refuses to tell the police anything. Moran, the apparent focus of the attack, was not in the garage, left for a diner, and escaped certain death.

Each character is given a verbal voiceover biography as they are introduced, and in some video releases, the biographies of Rheinhard Schwimmer and Adam Heyer, two of the massacre victims, are removed from the soundtrack, possibly due to protest from surviving family members.

In the aftermath, Al Capone is shown dispatching two of those responsible for carrying out the attack as he learns of their plans to kill him. Moran dies in prison, dropping a verbal clue to the crime: `Only Capone kills like that.` No one is ever charged for the murders of St. Valentine`s Day of 1929, as they either disappear going into hiding or are violently killed.