The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)

Very well executed

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Roger Corman was best known for his cheaply made American-International Edgar Allen Poe features with Vincent price and his teen oriented motorcycle/beach party films. For "The St. Valentine's day Massacre", he was given a million dollar budget and three recognizable stars (Jason Robards, George Segal and Ralph Meeker) to play the leads. The film was released by a major studio, 20th Century Fox.The picture tells the story of the famous 1929 Chicago massacre of seven gangsters and the events leading up to it. Told in a documentary style not unlike TV's "The Untouchables" and narrated by Paul Frees, the story centers around the conflict between Al Capone (Robards) and "Bugs" Moran (Meeker). Neither trusts the other and in flashbacks we are shown the violence that has occurred between the two groups.Capone assigns the task of taking out Moran to Jack McGurn (Clint Ritchie). Moran uses his chief gunsel Peter Gusenberg (Segal)to look after his interests. Nick Sorello (Frank Silvera) is recruited by McGurn to gain the trust of Moran and his men. Finally on February 14, 1929 the scene is set. Run for cover!Corman used many recognizable faces in the supporting roles. Frank Campanella, Harold J. Stone, David Canary, Richard Bakalyan, Paul Richards, Leo Gordon, John Agar (as Dion O'Bannion), Milton Frome and Alex Rocco among others appear in various roles. Corman regulars Jonathon Haze, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Bruce Dern and yes Jack Nicholson have smaller parts.Not the best gangster film ever made but an entertaining one nonetheless.

Although I disliked this movie on my sole viewing of it via a local Cable TV screening in the late 1990s, I was prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt following its surprising inclusion in the British Film Institute's "Top 360 Films" booklet – which ostensibly recommended 'a film a day' to be revisited (as in revived theatrically) on a yearly basis – and our own Joe Karlosi's ***1/2 rating and accompanying positive review. Admittedly, I enjoyed it a good deal more this time around but I still felt that, after a fairly strong first half, it progressively ran out of steam. Possibly inspired by the phenomenal success of Arthur Penn's BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), it was maverick film-maker Roger Corman's first major studio undertaking and, overall, he acquits himself competently enough even if, ultimately, the end result is inferior both to its prototype and Corman's previous (and considerably cheaper) horror outings. The curious casting choices are certainly interesting if not entirely successful: Jason Robards Jnr. (his over-the-top portrayal of Al Capone has to be seen to be disbelieved), Ralph Meeker (appropriately tough as his Irish nemesis Bugs Moran), George Segal (as one of Moran's chief hoodlums – at one point, ludicrously involved in a bedroom brawl with his blonde moll), Bruce Dern (as a meek mechanic – and father of 7 kids – innocently mowed down in the notorious titular carnage), Frank Silvera (quite good as an Italian small-time hood who ends up playing a pivotal role in the proceedings), Harold J. Stone (as an ill-tempered business associate of Capone's) and Roger Corman mascot Dick Miller (who, disguising himself as a police officer, is one of the unlikely executors of the massacre). The studio backing accords the whole a pleasantly glossy look and the atmospheric score is another plus, but the constant narration gets to be distracting and, in the long run, one does not remember the film with much affection.

Chicago, Prohibition, Gangsters, Machine Guns and Hollywood have long been inseparable companions ever since the real Prohibition Era was loosed upon us. Starting with James Cagney in THE PUBLIC ENEMY(1931), LITTLE CEASAR(1931) and SCARFACE(1932) are each powerful films that fit these qualifications like a proverbial glove. Each meets the individual criterion and tell their stories in somewhat different ways of story telling.They each use the point of view of the title characters.And so that's the way it was, back in the day! And of course there have been revivals of this particular topic and Genre every so often. Hence we have been treated to The Prohibition/Depression Era Gangster films like ROGER TOUHY,GANSTER(1944)*, AL CAPONE and THE PURPLE GANG(both 1959), THE GODFATHER(s), I,II & III(1972,'73, '90) and soon and so forth, down thru the ages.And of course on TV we had THE LAWLESS YEARS(1959-61) and of course, last but hardly the least,THE UNTOUCHABLES(1959-63)to give further lore to the celluloid underworld. It is probably likely that we'll always have some of these Gangster Soap Operas every so often.As for this ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE, we must say we saw it at the old Double Drive-In on the Southwest Highway in Chicago when it was in newly released/first run status. We saw it again, recently on cable TV, on Turner Classic Films or Fox Movie Channel. It might sound peculiar, but did you ever hear of a movie getting better? Let me explain.The original viewing was done by a 20 year old, still wet behind the ears kid, who just viewed any movie as another entertainment to be viewed, (devoured-up, if you will) and forgotten. There was really no sense of a "Medium" or being "An Art Form". With age of course, is supposed to come wisdom, or at least a little experience under one's belt.After a period of nearly 40 years has passed, this writer has found himself to be not a'movie fan',but rather a 'film buff'. The big difference is in the viewing over the years and,more importantly,all of the reading of film books and periodicals containing the history and background information.As for the title in question, THE ST. VALENTINE's DAY MASSACRE, well I can't say that it was every bit as good when viewed now as it was then. No, because it is even better! The movie was Produced and Directed by Mr. Roger Corman. Now the brain (mine, for what it's worth) takes one name of The Director/Producer and adds it to the venue of a Drive-In Movie Theatre and it computes to a cheapie, a grade "B" film at best. And to be honest, until just recently, I had thought that this movie was a product of the ever popular, Amerkican-Interntional Pictures. After all, that's where Roger Corman used to hang his hat.This 20th Century-Fox production is really a well done movie, deserving of a new respect and frequent showings.** The costuming, the autos and the sets are all very good and approximate the real locales in Chicago and nearby suburban Cicero, Illinois. The mock up of the famous and infamous Garage on North Wells Street has a very authentic look to it. Even the type of apartment building used by the conspirators is a Chicago-type building, of which there are still thousands of the yet in use there today.Mr. Corman pursues a form of the Docudrama to a large degree, in unveiling the story. The voice over narration gives us, the viewers the benefit of all that has been learned since then. Also, we have the information of the official Police Investigation now available for the Public Record.In this we have many conclusions that have been made, but not proved, sort of educated guesses.The story starts out giving the viewer a great deal of background info about the state of Chicago's Underworld at that time in the late 1920's We are privy to the old Northside, Southside, Westside rivalries that the various Gangs were involved in. The previously mentioned Narrator, Voice Actor Par Excellance, Paul Frees, is very busy from beginning to end in supplying us with factual material about the criminal careers of the peoples involved.As a historical fact we observe the Gangland Killings of Northside Big Shot Hoods Dion O'Bannion(Chicasgo Native John Agar)and Hymie Weiss (Reed Hadley) and the continued battling over territories. Mr.Corman also includes a seemingly fantastic, but factual raid by the Northside Mob on Capone Gang Headquarters. A really large number of autos, replete with multiple Thompson Sub-Machine Guns attacked the favourite watering hole of the Scarface Mob. They failed to kill Capone or anyone of the gang, in spite of perhaps thousands of rounds of that super fast .45 caliber disbursement at the intended target.Like any Hollywood treatment of a story taken from real life occurrences, there is a lot of filling in gaps and causes of these incidents. The unknown aspects of the people involved and their behaviour is also subject to guess work, albeit an enlightened, educated guess at that. Whatever was known about the characters in question was used as guidelines for molding on-screen persona.One last time, please take a new look at it. On Cable/Satellite, in VHS or DVD, Purchase or Rental, make an evening with THE ST. VALENTINE's DAY MASSACRE.* The real Roger Touhy, a Prohibition Era Gangster Headquartered in Northwest Suburban Des Plaines, Illinois sued 20th Century-Fox over this largely fabricated story. Hint To Hollywood: A realistic Roger Touhy story really would make a great film! Check on it!** Maybe my own fair city, Chicago, is missing the boat on this one! After all, why can't we have a Yearly Massacre Fest? It could be a rival to events all around the country such as: The Kentucky Derby, Mardi Gras, Sadie Hawkins Day or even The Bull Frog Leaping Contest of Calaveras County.

What the OK Corral story is to the western genre, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre is to the gangster film, a story told and retold where the characters have assumed some mythic proportions. Funny thing is I think both Al Capone and Bugs Moran would have scoffed at the idea they would become modern mythic characters.Though it boasts color and better production values, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre is really just a warmed over version of what the public had seen only a few years ago on The Untouchables. For that matter The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was also released too soon after the film Al Capone that starred Rod Steiger in the title role.Jason Robards, Jr. as Al Capone and Ralph Meeker as Bugs Moran fit the roles well. Robards seems to be having a great old time in the part. He overacts like crazy, but then again so did Robert DeNiro in the big screen version of The Untouchables and so did Steiger in his film. The role just seems to call for that.Speaking of overacting, George Segal is also having a great old diet of scenery as one of Moran's trigger men. This was his first film after getting his Oscar nomination for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and it certainly is a lot different than the young college professor in that film.In fact with Robards leading the pack everyone seems to be throwing away all restraint. The film stops just this side of being played for laughs.The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is a good factual retelling of the tale that kind of brought the gangster era in Chicago to a close.