Bugsy

This is a bio-pic of legendary gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (Warren Beatty), a mobster who had a vision for a gambling mecca in the Nevada desert. Directed by Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain man, Good morning Vietnam, Wag the dog), the film plots Bugsy’s rise to infamy as a crook and ruthless power broker in LA throughout the 1940s. It also documents Bugsy’s tumultuous relationship with Hollywood starlet, Virginia Hill (Annette Bening) who seduces Bugsy with Tinseltown glamour, despite the fact that he is married with children. Bugsy is depicted as a vain, sartorial womaniser whose violent ways make him feared and loathed amidst the mobsters with whom he fraternises. His ultimate extravagant dream, to see a bacchanalian oasis in the desert, is built with the funds of his ruthless mob boss Meyer Lanksky (Ben Kingsley). Harvey Keitel stars as gangster Mickey Cohen, with whom Bugsy falls into a longstanding business arrangement. The aesthetic of 1940s Hollywood - the cars, clothes, architecture and lifestyle - is lovingly re-created here in detail. Original music composed by Ennio Morricone. Winner of two Oscars for art direction and costume, the film was nominated for eight others.