I finally saw the gangster film that I thought was just so so to me. Bugsy is a descent crime and gangster film that is based off of real life mob crime gangster, Bugsy Siegel. It tells the story of how he built the Flamingo Casino and how he got in over his head when he needed more than just the original $3 million to start with. This movie may have been better off as a documentary. I found myself bored throughout most of the film. The way a true story should be told should be in a way such as to keep the viewer engaged. And I didn’t feel engaged for the most part. The acting doesn’t land at times and the dialogue always seems scripted rather than just people having normal conversations. The story is also predictable from halfway to the end. The only thing that was super great was the cinematography, everything else was just so so, the directing even felt like it could’ve ended with a bad result but recovered to the okay approval category instead. Harvey Keitel is usually an actor to watch on screen. But that’s depending on what’ he’s in. He’s a great actor and he has amazing talent, and he does showcase it, but he tends to need to work with the right director to help him bring the best performance out of him. This wasn’t his best I’m afraid, and to be even more honest having him smoke a cigar as his character in the movie didn’t do anything to make up for any of the movie scripted dialogue. Even his character talked like he was in a movie not like he was having an everyday conversation. When you write dialogue it needs to be realistic. The ending to me was very predictable and felt very flat and there wasn’t any suspense whatsoever as I knew exactly what was going to happen. I’m very disappointed in Barry Levinson who is the director. He directed Disclosure which starred, Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. That one was such an amazing film and then to see him do a movie like Bugsy that pretty much is at the lowest of the barrel for gangster movies is just utterly shocking to me. I only recommend checking this out if you know what you’re getting into or if you like gangster movies without a lot of action or suspense, at least until the film is almost near the end, that is. I suggest others to stick with the ones we love like Scarface or The Godfather or even maybe try to find another unknown gangster movie that could be a rarity of a gem. But Bugsy is not it. Bailey Giannini (Film Buff)

Another masterpiece from the twin geniuses Warren Beatty and Barry Levinson; two of the best filmmakers of their generation.. This is a compelling crime drama and character study of Bugsy Segal; the gangster who founded and created Las Vegas. Beatty has always been great at choosing historical fiction which entertains and also has some sort of social import; some commentary or background information about the landmarks in our lives...(See Reds the Parallax View and Bonnie and Clyde; all masterworks)...And Levinson is great at bringing us amazing human interest stories that are as much about the time and place as the people involved; so it's a perfect marriage..And this case study of the founding of Las Vegas; a key part of American culture; and all the colorful players involved, is brutally fascinating...As is the tragic but also genius Great Gatsby type underworld figure at the center of it all. Annette Benning is also amazing as his girlfriend.

Strong performances throughout by a stellar cast and great writing. A great telling of the story of the famous gangster Benjamin Siegel. I’m not sure how accurate it is to the truth, but the story especially picks up when he has a vision for the Flamingo.

His name is Bugsy, so don't you forget it, Mug! Mobster Banjamin Siegal decides to make it big and invest in a casino hotel in the Nevada desert to rake in the money, only for his reckless ambitions to end up landing him on the bad side of many of his criminal cohorts. Warren Beatty plays the gangster with style, swagger and a serious ruthlessness that makes it hard to hate him, but difficult to root for him too!

A movie that focussed on a gangster that had all heart, dreams and passions of creating a place of his own perfect world.

I really enjoyed this film - the story and characters were interesting and there's good cinematography (it looked pretty stylish), plus a good cast (including a stellar performance from Warren Beatty, plus Ben Kingsley, Annette Bening and Harvey Keitel). I liked the script - there was some witty dialogue and some amusing moments, as well as the grittier, violent scenes as well. I liked that some of the female characters were more than prepared to stand their own ground. I would definitely recommend this film, yes.

Offbeat and amusing gangster flick charting Bugsy Siegek's life…well a a hugely embellished version of his life. Makes for good entertainment and it's rare for a film of this genre to genuinely pull off quite a few laughs without losing its edge. Better film than I expected and better than many other highly rated gangster films.

This movie was a huge let down. Great people involved in the production. A director who seemed to be in top form. Just a frustrating mess.

The history of the Flamingo in Vegas is interesting and Bening knocks her psycho sultry role out of the park. Choppy storytelling was the only real drawback.

If you like movies about the mob and can stand brief scenes of horrendous violence, this is a good one of its type. Definitely earns its R rating, mostly for violence, though there is some sex. Beatty and Annette Benning are great in their roles. It wasn't the best mob movie of all time, but it was very good.

Everything about this film is top class, from the production design to the ensemble cast, but putting all things aside, this is the Warren Beatty show. He puts in an electric performance, demonstrating the insanity and brutality of Bugsy Siegel, yet providing the audience with a few subtle laughs along the way. It doesn't get 5 stars, as although I think its a brilliant sceenplay, it felt like they made Siegel the victim and didn't highlight enough the atrocities and pain he caused to numerous people.

Incredible history of Las Vegas origin in this thrilling film.

It's Warren Beatty. How can it not be good?

Surprised 'Bugsy' only has a 69% audience score. Warren Beatty's performance as Bugsy Siegel was incredible and would've/should've won an oscar if The Silence of the Lambs came out another year. 'Bugsy' isn't the best gangster movie ever, but its definitely up there and can be looked at as a prequel to Scorsese's 'Casino' with the only similar character being Las Vegas.

This is a good Biopic about the infamous Bugsy Segal. It came out in 1991 and was nominated for quite a few academy awards. It's not a great movie, but it is a good movie. Annette Bening shines in her role and Warren Beatty does a decent job as Ben Segal.

Although some scenes haven't aged well it's still one of the best Mobster movies I've ever scene.

Intriguing and interesting, with great performances and design/style. For once, Warren Beatty is rightfully cast in his own production, this time as a romantic gangster.

Nothing you haven't seen in a million other biopics

An okay movie, just this actor throws me off. Bugsy Siegel was from Brooklyn NY. This actor (Warren Beatty) talks like a white suburban t@wt. Just throws me off the whole movie.

Barry Levinson has never stood out as a ‘great' director to me but his Baltimore series of films which he wrote and which all feel deeply personal are inarguably his best work as you sense his connection to the stories he is telling. Unfortunately he is working with a screenplay written by James Toback here and that personal connection is never really felt. The production is certainly handsomely mounted and the film contains some stunning shots but it fails to emotionally engage it's audience, largely due to Warren Beatty's weak lead performance, while featuring a love story that never quite catches fire. This isn't one of the best films of 1991 so it is rather odd that it earned a Best Picture nomination with competition like Thelma & Louise (1991) and Soapdish (1991). Gangster Benjamin Siegel, Warren Beatty, meets actress Virginia Hill, Annette Bening, while visiting Hollywood and quickly falls in love with her and the idea of stardom. He spends more time away from his family as he pursues Hill and extends his ambitions to building a casino in Nevada. His inability to control his finances and tempestuous relationship with Hill complicate the process of building the casino and his associates, including longtime friend Meyer Lansky, Ben Kingsley, worry about his actions. The casino has a disastrous opening despite Siegel sinking all of his funds into it and members of the mob who had invested in it have no choice but to kill him for his failure. Fortunately he and Hill make up before he dies as she admits that she stole funds from him and feels sorry for her mistreatment of him. While Annette Bening and Warren Beatty became involved off-set their real life chemistry fails to translate to the big screen as there is no real spark between Hill and Siegel and it is hard to believe in their supposedly tragic love story. The two are constantly fighting and bickering but in the odd moment when we are meant to see a tenderness and a true passion between them I didn't feel it. When Hill begins to betray Siegel I expected it and the devastation he experiences when she admits this betrayal was not affecting because I couldn't believe he really loved her in the first place. Had Harvey Keitel, who plays a supporting role in the film, portrayed Siegel and had an actress like Judy Davis played Hill I would have found them more believable in their roles and their tumultuous love affair would have been gripping and exhilarating. Beatty's performance as a whole is a big issue with the film as he needs to be both a hardened criminal, charming lover and ambitious dreamer worthy of our compassion, he doesn't manage to come alive in any of these three roles. His serious dramatic monologues are laughable as we are meant to be intimidated by him but you can just see Beatty trying his hardest to add some gusto to his speech patterns and that takes you out of a moment that should be exciting. One shot in particular summed up the limitations in his acting ability as he watches Hill, he is meant to feel suspicious of her and worried about his own love for her, the camera rests on his face for a long time and yet Beatty displays nothing and what could have been an emotionally poignant moment is lost. The film needed a strong, charismatic leading man that could display all that made Siegel flawed but also what made him driven and capable of achieving so much in his relatively short life. Who knows, maybe this was a brilliant screenplay but because large amounts of the dialogue of delivered by somebody without the magnetism to make the audience sit up and listen that is lost on us. Fortunately some of the supporting turns are rather impressive with Kingsley playing Lansky as a sympathetic, caring figure to our main character and he gets in some impressive accent work as he never lays on the New York drawl too thick. It is these bright spots that carry you through the film and Levinson is serviceable as the director of a gangster movie but this won't go down next to Goodfellas (1990) and The Godfather (1972) as one of the great films of the genre.