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The movie tells the story of mobster Bugsy Siegel, the playboy gangster who betrayed the Mob for love, and his relationship with Virginia Hill, a tough-talking insatiable Hollywood starlet.
While avoiding the usual gangster film clichés, director Barry Levinson also insists that Warren Beatty does more than coast through this movie on matinée idol looks and easy charm.
Beatty and Annette Bening charge their roles with energy, and the supporting cast includes such talents as Harvey Keitel, Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, and Elliott Gould in sturdy performances.
Oh, it's not that they cover up Siegel's brutal side, it's just that they undercut it by making the man just a victim of his own appetites, which is sort of like saying Charles Manson was just a little too enthusiastic about a certain Beatles tune.
Most actors give more contained performances as they get older or else they risk self-parody. Beatty, who has always seemed larger than life, gets even larger with age -- and on him it looks good.
A great deal of the fun of watching this very assured film is seeing with what energetic panache the actor takes on the mantle of the mobster J. Edgar Hoover once called "the most dangerous man in America."
Beatty's daring schizophrenic performance -- on the one hand charming and gregarious, on the other a brutal killing machine -- makes this one of the best performances (but not films) of his career.
From James Toback's crackling script to Warren Beatty's electric performance as gangster Ben Siegel, Bugsy is so engrossing that you feel uncharitable mentioning that while splendid in individual scenes, Barry Levinson's movie lacks propulsion.