Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

bkoganbing Certain friendships play a part in history in that without the relationship history itself might have been different. FDR and Winston Churchill for example. It works negatively too, just look at Lyndon Johnson and Bobby Kennedy.In gangland lore and this was by no means easy in those clannish days the friendship of Italian Charles Luciano with Jewish Meyer Lansky. Crossing ethnic and religious lines was by no means easy then, but these two formed the national syndicate of organized crime that still is in operation. Richard Dreyfuss and Anthony LaPaglia play the mature Lansky and Luciano characters. Eric Roberts is Ben Siegel otherwise known to those who didn't know him as Bugsy. You've seen parts of the story in Mobsters from Luciano's point of view and in Warren Beatty's film Bugsy. In Lansky the same story is now told from Meyer's point of view. The kid who saw pogroms in Poland and who fought with Ben Siegel's help on New York's mean streets to stay alive. The main component of the Lansky Legend is that the man was never convicted of a major crime. As Dreyfuss says you keep it all in your head and write nothing down. You do have to have prodigious memory to do that and apparently Lansky did.The story is told in flashback with an aging Dreyfuss in Israel hoping to settle there the rest of his days exercising the law of return. Politics intervened and he couldn't do it. He has some interesting explanations why.It ain't exactly history but pretty close. These people fascinate us and will do so for the next century.

Iva96 To put it in a few words: not enough real facts, not deep psychological analysis of the characters. The only good thing about the movie is the acting. But it does not make it for the movie length...After seeing the trailer, I waited the movie with very high expectations. I mean, hello, this was a movie about Meyer Lansky, the brain behind the Syndicate, one of the most influent mob leaders ever. An ocean of opportunities... And, what did I get for the two hours spent in front of the TV? just a big mark of question: "what did it want from me?!" There was not the rush and the fascinating action from "goodfellas" or "casino", nor the sympathetic romantic retrospective from "bugsy", and it was far from stories like "once upon a time in America". The biography is romanced and extremely brief. If you do not know the real life of Lansky, for sure you will not understand too many things from this movie. If you know it, you will be disappointed. And if the intention was to analyze the feelings and emotions of the character, well then, it didn't do it deep enough.

Peter Hayes Life and times of a key - but low key - character from the old-time Mob.Let us start with a morality play about Hollywood and the subjects it deems worthy of its lens. Few presidents get their own film and even when they do (Nixon, for example) audiences stay away.However the mob get the full-on treatment from Capone to Gotti there's a film (or more than one) in all of them! Yep, they are the Americans that really matter!The problem with Lansky is that he was certainly there and in the midst of it, but only in the sense of being around. He held the "stupidity" together allowing some money earning to take place rather than one long round of gang warfare.The choice of Lansky - as the central character is only about one thing: The others have been done. We are near the bottom of the barrel so we will have to make do with this slow speaking and low lying non-Italian!Eric Roberts is one of my favourite actors. He is in a lot of rubbish, but he is often the best thing in it. Here he has a real role (Bugsy Siegel - no less) and really gives it his all. The guy took a wrong turning (or maybe had no lucky break), or then again maybe Dreyfuss (Lansky) took it all?(When has a short bland guy - Dreyfuss - been cast in the lead of so many big movies without being any kind of box office draw? The rubber shark was the big star of Jaws - the audience would have cheered if he had been turned in to lunch!)I feel a cheat reviewer because the real life of Lansky is filed under "don't know - don't care." Well beyond the background knowledge of few books and TV documentaries.His life limped along and although pursued by law-and-order they didn't really have it in for him. There was never any big bang climax in his life and all we have as a climax here is more cod philosophy and accusations that you can buy or not buy.I can't buy anything he says, because he was a professional liar. For me buying the word of a professional liar would rather be like buying a hair restorer from a bald headed guy!

Brad K. I'd seen a preview for Lansky on HBO a couple of weeks ago and it looked like a fascinating movie. Too bad the film couldn't meet the expectations. Richard Dreyfuss (Mr. Holland's Opus, Night Falls on Manhattan) stars as Meyer Lansky a gangster from the early 1900's. The film deals with his character throughout the film going back and forth from different ages. Dreyfuss is not the only actor to play Lansky in the film. Dreyfuss plays him from his 30's on, Max Perlich (Beautiful Girls, Georgia) plays him in his 20's, and a child actor plays him at a younger age. The film deals with his dealings in the mob and his family life. Eric Roberts (Runaway Train, Most Wanted) plays Bugsy Siegel and Anthony LaPaglia (The Client, Commandments) plays Lucky Luciano. Both of these actors do well, especially LaPaglia, but aren't given enough screen time. Richard Dreyfuss is very good in the lead, but is out-acted by Max Perlich playing Lansky in his earlier years. I know the film probably wanted a big name (Dreyfuss) but I would have preferred to see Perlich play him the whole time instead of Dreyfuss. The film takes some good choices on how to tell the story, but the story itself is kind of boring. It's interesting at times, but nothing special.