Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

dotcentral This is a truly horrible movie. I joined as I felt the need to speak out. Trying to watch this movie was an exercise in frustration, which goes beyond the old suspend your disbelief mantra.

Joe Day As a native Kansas Citian and fan and somewhat of a historian of the Melvin Purvis, gangland era, I came across this flick the other day. The station ran it as "Gangland." As someone else commented, the movie has the look of a 1970s movie as far as film stock instead of almost 1990. In fact it could pass as an extended episode of The Wild, Wild West. I came in after the movie started so it took me a while to figure that the character of Al Capone was actually the actor I never would have thought him to be. He appeared to be channeling Brando, or trying to. I didn't find Miller a particularly interesting character either; the director seemed to want him in bed with as many women as possible to justify the diagnosis of syphilis even though having VD didn't seem to slow down either Capone or Miller in that regard nor did it appear to bother the many ladies either although they must have known - didn't everybody? But the film really lost me during the Kansas City Massacre. Who did they think they were fooling with that ramshackle train depot? Anybody whose been to KC knows it has one of the most magnificent train stations in the world that dates from around 1917. The credits revealed location shots were in Alabama. I guess they were too lazy to come up to KC or couldn't even look for stock footage of the depot. All in all- an OK flick if you have nothing else to do.

lost-in-limbo Scott Glenn takes on the role of the infamous mob assassin Verne Miller and he simply excels in the part that fits his dry, lean persona. While the production might be low-budget, execution mildly slapdash (although it does have some imaginative flourishes) and the story's account of this larger-than-life figure is somewhat makeshift in its sensationalized details when he becomes an important underworld figure. It's the performances that drive this one home, especially Glenn. I always found him to be an under-appreciated actor and here he's no different. In 1925, ex-lawman Verne Miller is released from prison after spending two years there for embezzlement. Soon he finds himself working along side Chicago Mobster "Scarface" Capone and becoming his number one hit- man. But things begin to change for the worse when he starts going behind Capone's back, the Feds start interfering and his health starts declining.Gangland: "The Verne Miller Story" is a distinctively stark mobster feature (The intro is stylishly presented, like it's taken out of a Bond feature with its saucy opening song). Each scene seems to move quite quickly as in the end it's rather a simplistic take on the rise and fall of Verne Miller. Perfect it's not, but thoroughly entertaining and Glenn gives his character quite a humane quality which stands out in certain scenes when compared to the calculative nature he goes about his business. The dramatics of the narrative can be all over-the-place, sometimes even being comedic in an unintentional manner. Still there are offbeat moments (especially surrounding Thomas G. Waites' portrayal of Capone), a surreal quality (carnival setting and a certain death scene or two) and the script have its witty exchanges. Even brutal, without being excessive in the visuals (like the Kansas City Massacre, which saw Capone turn his back on Millar). Miller is portrayed as quite ladies man, and the women on show give strong performances with the likes of the seductive Barbara Stock (however I did find her narration unnecessary), Lucinda Jenny and Diane Salinger. Also showing up in accessible support are Ed O'Ross, Sonny Carl David, Andrew Robinson and Xander Berkley.

rhino8268 While the movie is about Verne Miller's life it also documents one of the most important events in law enforcement history, the Kansas City Massacre. It was this event that took place at Union Station Kansas City in 1933 that permitted Federal Agents to carry weapons. However, two points to bring up. First is continuity. At the time of the Kansas City Massacre, Al Capone was in Alcatraz and was not, as the movie indicates, out of prison to tell his men not to touch Frank Nash. The second relates to reality. Union Station Kansas City was depicted as an old wooden train "depot" when in reality it is a magnificent 850,000 sq. ft. edifice of marble and granite. Other inconsistencies have been brought to light with recent research. The most significant of these is that the officers killed at Union Station were not killed by Vern Miller and his two cohorts but by other police officers. This was uncovered after the production of this movie.