The Alto Knights, Short Takes on other cinematic topics
Double Your Pleasure (… or not)
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, though better options may be coming soon. (Note: Anything in bold blue [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
As Pope Francis has met his untimely death, the Roman Catholic Cardinals will gather at Vatican City under the watchful eyes of the magnificent Sistine Chapel Michelangelo frescos (full disclosure: I was raised in that faith, now have more faith in the paintings) to elect a new Bishop of Rome, so it might be time to revisit the newly-relevant Conclave (Edward Berger, 2024), still my #1 of 2024’s releases (review in our January 8, 2025 posting, won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, could have taken others in my opinion—though the Academy frequently doesn’t listen to me) to explore a fictional version of the secretive infighting that’s part of such a monumental decision. Now, onto our regular business—which I admit will be cut a bit short due to a lot of other situations for me and my wife, Nina, this week as she must deal with a badly-chipped tooth (sadly, it's not an easy fix).
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
WHAT HAPPENS: In this docudrama we begin in 1957 NYC where capo di tutti capi (“boss of bosses”) Frank Costello (Robert De Niro [on the right in the photo above]) of the Luciano family is the victim of an attempted assassination orchestrated by his spiteful underboss, Vito Genovese (also played by De Niro [in case you think there's something wrong with this photo]), who, several decades ago as these childhood friends grew through the ranks of the underworld, assumed himself to be in this powerful position but fled to Italy in 1937 to avoid arrest for heroin smuggling and murder charges. When Genovese returns to the U.S. in the mid-1940s he demands to be put back in power but Costello doesn’t agree even as he tires of all of the violent drama of Mafia life, intends to retire (after having survived Vito’s planned attack; yet, in the trial of hitman Vincent Giganti [Cosmo Jarvis] Frank doesn’t testify against him, trying further to keep the peace among the Five Families), but when he chooses Albert Anastasia (Michael Rispoli) as his successor, Vito’s successful in having this guy gunned down in a barbershop. In response to this, and facing ongoing fear of more violence to himself and/or his wife, Bobbie (Debra Messing), Costello makes a plan to bring down the entire Mafia organization at a planned gathering of many of the gang heads in Apalachin, a small town in upstate New York. (During this time Vito’s having trouble with his wife, Anna [Kathrine Narducci], who takes him to court, where she gets alimony and the ownership of a club they previously shared.)
⇒Costello supposedly tips off the cops (not proven, not shown), then takes his sweet time getting to the gathering (confusing his driver in the process), so when his colleagues realize they’re being watched they try to escape by running into the woods; however, about 20 of them are rounded up, arrested, leading to greater public awareness of Mafia activities due to media coverage of the various trials. Genovese was convicted on narcotics charges in 1959, died in prison of a heart attack in 1969, with Costello (never jailed during this time) dying of the same cause in 1973.⇐ (If you like, you can learn a lot more details by reading about the lives of Frank Costello and Vito Genovese.)
SO WHAT? You might wonder what the film’s title refers to: it’s the name of a social club in Manhattan’s Little Italy where the mobsters liked to hang out. What you probably don’t have to wonder about is why certain scenes are reminiscent of plots of The Godfather films (Francis Ford Coppola; 1972, 1974, 1990) such as: Costello being shot in an elevator reminding me of Clemenza using a shotgun on a Mafia chief as part of Michael Corleone’s elimination of the Five Families heads; Costello being opposed to Genovese’s dealings in drugs just like Vito Corleone’s refusal to work with Virgil Sollozzo’s drug schemes (and, of course, sharing of the name Vito); Genovese berating Gigante over not killing Costello just as Sollozzo says incredulously to Tom Hagen about the hit on Vito Corleone (I’ll paraphrase): “Five shots and he’s still alive!”; Costello trying to get out of the gang life but then Genovese has Anastasia killed, reminds me of Michael Corleone in The Godfather: Part III (I'm approximating): “Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in!” Damn!
Of course, all of these depicted events in The Alto Knights take place before Mario Puzo wrote the book that inspired Coppola, The Godfather (1969), so I’m not implying that Levinson and his screenwriter, Nicholas Pileggi, were borrowing from Coppola’s films—for all I know, events and statements such as these from the 1950s may well be part of what inspired Puzo’s book and his screenwriter-collaboration with Coppola, but such allusions may either prove to give further weight to what we see in The Alto Knights—along with the long association De Niro has with notable gangster roles—or they might prove to be a problematic distraction if a viewer sees these fictional elements as undermining the historical accuracy of this tale of Costello and Genovese. For that matter, some viewers (not me) might be bothered by the use of De Niro playing both of these prominent roles, as it might come across as more of a gimmick than an artistic decision. I had no problem telling the 2 men apart, though, as Costello sports a noticeable large nose while Genovese almost always wears glasses; further, most of their direct interactions are done in traditional dialogue shot/countershot manner so we’re mostly seeing just one of them at a time, although there are some wider 2-shots, obviously created in postproduction. No matter which De Niro’s on screen, though, he commands the shot and the scene as we’ve come to expect over his lengthy, successful career in the cinema.
BOTTOM LINE FINAL COMMENTS: The Alto Knights opened domestically (U.S.-Canada) on March 21, 2025, doesn’t seem to have much theatrical presence (made $6.1 million, $9.5 million worldwide)—if any—now so if you want to see it you’ll most likely use streaming where you can rent it for $19.99 from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+. If that’s an acceptable price, I’ll encourage you to watch it because, for me at least, anytime I can get another 2 hours of De Niro (it’s even better with 2 De Niros this time) I’ll likely invest in the opportunity, with this example being a pleasure to watch, even as it did bring up some allusions to The Godfather trilogy, which, of course, is a much better investment of your time and money than practically anything else you can choose.
Nevertheless, the OCCU won’t give you such encouragement about … Knights, with the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at a miserable 40%, the usually-lower Metacritic average score at 47%. I’ll let my local (San Francisco area) critic (and sort-of-colleague, in that we’ve met a couple of times although I doubt he’d remember me [through no fault of his own]), whose opinions I usually agree with, Randy Myers, speak for the many who’ve dismissed this De Niro-pairing: “[This] new film operates in fits and starts, as if it were an antique Studebaker hitting the road after a long sabbatical. […] “Knights” is like watching someone shadow boxing in a broken mirror. […] What “The Alto Knights” nails is its opulent production design. Levinson obviously relishes bringing all that history to nostalgic life and robustly cycles us through the various eras, especially the ‘50s: from the music, the clothing, the cars, and the details of the homes […] But too often, “The Alto Knights” doesn’t trust its own true story or its characters, resorting to filling in blanks by having De Niro’s Frank jarringly speak into the camera, sometimes speeding up and then slowing down, as if simulating an interval training workout. Too bad, as there is obviously enough talent in front of and behind the camera to get the job done.” He gives it 1½ of 4 stars, so if he convinces you more than I do, I encourage you to read his entire review. Or, as alternative to all of this you could just listen to my closing tactic of a Musical Metaphor, Foreigner’s “Double Vision” (on their 1978 album named for the song) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD-SpHH7qDA where the lyrics could refer to both Frank and Vito: “Fill my eyes with that double vision […] Tonight’s the night, I’m gonna push it to the limit / I live all my years in a single minute." I wonder if they ever saw themselves in each other.
SHORT TAKES
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
Here are just a couple of options for your fine consideration: (1) IMDb's Five Things to Watch on the week of 4/21/2025; (2) Sequels, prequels, and spin-offs coming to theaters and streaming.
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