1975 film
Capone is a 1975 biographical crime film directed by Steve Carver, written by Howard Browne, and starring Ben Gazzara, Harry Guardino, Susan Blakely, John Cassavetes, and Sylvester Stallone in an early film appearance. The film is a biography of the infamous Al Capone, although much of it is supposedly fiction.
The film was released on DVD in the United States for the first time on March 29, 2011 through Shout! Factory[4] and has been available in Europe for some time.[5]
Plot
The story is of the rise and fall of the Chicago gangster Al Capone and the control he exhibited over the city during the prohibition years.
Starting in 1918, Capone hangs out with other gangs until he is found by racketeers Johnny Torrio (Harry Guardino) and Frankie Yale (John Cassavetes). Then he pushes his way into the Chicago underworld, battling mobsters Hymie Weiss and George "Bugs" Moran, while romancing flapper Iris Crawford (Susan Blakely) and becoming kingpin of Chicago crime with the help his ambitious bodyguard Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti (played by Sylvester Stallone).
Later, in the wake of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Capone is sent to prison, not for murder or other violent crime but for tax evasion. He contracts syphilis in prison and dies in 1947.
Production
Screenwriter Howard Browne had written about Al Capone a number of times previously, including Seven Against the Wall for Playhouse 90 in 1958, and the film, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (film) (1967). The latter was directed by Roger Corman for 20th Century Fox. In the mid 70s Corman announced he would made a film about Capone for his company, New World Pictures.[6] However he ended up making the movie for Fox, who he had a deal with to produce films.[7] (Others include Fighting Mad (1976).)
Steve Carver says the film was shot so Corman could use footage from other films he had made. He said Howard Browne was a very factual writer but "not so good with dialogue" so other writers were brought in to work on the script.Carver says Gazzara was hard to work with on set.[8]
Sylvester Stallone later said "I particularly enjoyed working on Capone, because it was like the cheesy, mentally challenged inbred cousin of The Godfather".[9]
