Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones and James Garner were 70, 65, 53 and 72 years old when they broke into space one last time in “Space Cowboys” (2000) – because only they dominated the “ancient” technology that was able to maintain a Russian satellite from the crash. So maybe you could also work on “The Alto Knights“Just imagine, just that the central participants even have a few more decades upside down:“ Rain Man ”director Barry Levinson (82) has not held a studio film of this size for 20 years-in addition there are Robert de Niro (81), screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi (91), cameramann Dantotti (81) and producer irwin Winkler (93) as his closest colleagues.
In view of the few good mafia films in recent years – apart from Martin Scorseses “The Irishman”, but for which Netflix took over over $ 200 million – but it could be exactly this Old Boys Club needed to give the genre new shine. And that is quite as surprising (despite the Gimmicks that de Niro plays a double role for no apparent reason) either: after all, some of the central creative minds have come together here behind classics such as “Goodfellas”, “Casino”, “Heat” and “La Confidential” to convert a fabric for the cinema that has been in this time since the 1970s Hollywood studio was rejected – until now, shortly before it would have been finally too late.
Robert de Niro as Mafiaboss Frank Costello …
Frank Costello (Robert de Niro) and Vito Genovese (also Robert de Niro) have been the best friends since childhood. Together they worked as sons of Italian immigrant families from poor conditions to the top of the New York mafia. When Vito had to flee to Italy in 1937 because of a murder system, he left Frank to the United States – and now, after his return, he demands his piece back from the cake. But while Vito is a paranoid hitzkopf who has also started in Italy with the drug trafficking despised by its American colleagues, Frank is a diplomat that is repeatedly shown in public together with celebrities and politicians.
With his talents, Frank has led the New York mafia families into a quiet phase – without internal wars, earning money is much easier. But Vito threatens to destroy peace – and in fact Frank is shot down by Vito's Handlanger Vincent Gigante (Cosmo Jarvis) in 1957, although it is strictly forbidden in mafia tours to target a boss without having the consent of the other bosses. Although the ball hits his head, Frank survives like a miracle – and develops a plan to somehow regulate the whole thing without breaking a massive mafia war from the fence …
Two Robert de Niros at the price of one
Before someone goes back to the barricades: the murder attack is not a spoiler, but the start of the film. The prehistory is then mostly told with the help of DIAS, which Frank Costello shows with his recently acquired projector. In the meantime, de Niro contributes an off comment like in a talking head documentation or a reality TV format-again and again he speaks head-on directly into the camera in his two roles. It remains unclear whether this was planned from the start or simply had budget reasons. But the concept is still dramaturgical, even if it takes something at the beginning to see through who is exactly who is and who is on whose side.
An initial confusion in view of the massive staff, especially in the Mafiagenre, is the rule than the exception. In any case, you don't confuse the two Robert de Niros, after all, Frank Costello in “The Alto Knights” looks very similar to the real actor, while the mask pictures at Vito Genovese have already applied a lot thicker make-up and latex layers. Quite a few viewers will probably believe that De Niro plays two parts because the two mafiosi have been twins. But that's not true, in reality they didn't even look particularly similar. So there is no reason for this in the first-and second-moment astonishing casting decision.
… and Robert de Niro as Mafiaboss Vito Genovese.
Maybe he was just in the mood for it-or the money was missing to be able to pay for a second superstar, and you can not simply put some of the two-time Oscar winner de Niro (for “the sponsor 2” and “like a wild bull”) in such a (acting) duel. But as it is: Even if it is strange at the beginning that Robert de Niro plays a double role for no reason, we quickly got used to it (faster than in de-aging in “The Irishman”)-and then enjoyed one of the very big ones in top form!
“Goodfellas” author Nicholas Pileggi has once again written excellent dialogues for him, this time it is less about loud rumbling than the quiet tact: Frank Costello is finally an experienced diplomat that never loses his head-and who knows very well that his returning friend is a ticking time bomb that is hardly done with the greatest care and will be defused. So there are no big set pieces, but above all negotiations in back rooms or conversations with his loyal wife Bobbie Costello (Debra brass). But especially in the second half, when “The Alto Knights” focuses entirely on the events from 1957, a so -called that is controlled under Barry Levinson's controlled direction.
Conclusion: Yes, you can see here and there that the rumored $ 45 million “The Alto Knights” did not have as much budget available as the really big classics of the genre. But through and through classic mafia films of this quality have become such a rarity that we are often overlooked over this eventable deficiency in the B-Note.
PS: If you wonder why the film originally titled “The Alto Knights”-it is a reference to the Alto Knights Social Club, a former club in New York, which served as a meeting point for members of the Italo-American community and was closely connected to the activities of the mafia in the middle of the 20th century.