BUGSY is an elegant, knowing, but ultimately heartless homage to the bygone glamour of Hollywood and Vegas. Director-star Beatty portrays gangster legend Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel as both a romantic visionary and a psychopathic killer--a raw mass of contradictory impulses.
Bugsy Siegel (Beatty) arrives in California, charged with taking over the various LA rackets. Seduced by Hollywood's tacky glamour, he is soon romancing starlet Virginia Hill (Bening) and concocting a plan to build a luxury hotel and casino on an unpopulated expanse of Nevada desert--the roots of
modern-day Las Vegas. As the cost of building the Flamingo soars to $6 million--six times the budget...
Released:
1991
Rated:
R
Length:
135 mins