In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.
Acting
Steiger's physical transformation and volcanic temper.
Direction
Wilson blends docudrama grit with noir shadows.
Editing
Real 1920s footage merged with staged violence.
Director
Richard Wilson
Rod Steiger
Al Capone
Fay Spain
Maureen Flannery
James Gregory
Schaefler (narrator)
Martin Balsam
Mac Keeley, reporter
Nehemiah Persoff
Johnny Torrio
Murvyn Vye
George 'Bugs' Moran
Robert Gist
Dion O'Banion
Lewis Charles
Earl Weiss
Joe De Santis
Big Jim Colosimo
Sandy Kenyon
Bones Corelli
Raymond Bailey
Lawyer Brancato
Al Ruscio
Tony Genaro
Louis Quinn
Joe Lorenzo
Ron Soble
John Scalisi
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Steiger spent hours in makeup daily to replicate Capone's facial scars from an old bar fight.
Released during the 1959 TV mob craze, this competed with The Untouchables while claiming 'shocking truth'—a marketing lie the film itself ironically exposes.
US
