The Alto Knights (15)

New York organised crime bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese were once the best of friends but now they are fierce rivals, competing for control of the city's mean streets. Petty jealousy and simmering resentment set the two men on a collision course that will tear the Mafia apart and reshape the upper echelons of power and influence in the Big Apple.

LondonNet Film Review

The Alto Knights (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Bad blood spills easily after the first cut. In Michael Mann’s incendiary 1995 thriller Heat, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino’s sworn enemies trade verbal blows on opposite sides of a table in a busy diner. The memorable scene is soaked in tension and provides a delectable prelude to the bitterness and betrayal of a bullet-riddled second act. Director Barry Levinson’s gritty crime drama repeats the striking imagery of a tense face-off between rivals as a centrepiece. Here, digital trickery allows two De Niros to glower at each other from opposite ends of a booth at the Waldorf-Astoria in 1950s New York…

The Alto Knights is a slow-burning study of fraternal jealousy and deceit fashioned by Oscar-nominated GoodFellas screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi from true events, which tore the Mafia apart and forcibly reshaped the upper echelons of power in the Big Apple. Impeccable prosthetics and make-up allow De Niro to burrow beneath the skin of two ruthless men, who rose to prominence during Prohibition when the Land of the Free was controlled by “thirsty Americans, crooked cops and politicians”. Simmering resentment and paranoia gnaw at the bonds of trust, culminating in an assassination attempt in a hotel lobby.

Levinson’s picture opens in May 1957 in New York with a gun pointed at professional gambler Frank Costello (De Niro), head of the Luciano crime family and leader of the country’s Mafia bosses, as he waits for the elevator to his penthouse. The shooter, Vincent Gigante (Cosmo Jarvis), is operating under the direction of Frank’s onetime best friend, Vito Genovese (De Niro again), who has ordered the hit without the express approval of the other heads of the New York City Mafia families.

Frank survives and time rewinds to chart a blood-stained history punctuated by Vito’s tempestuous marriage to fiery-tempered Anna Vernotico (Kathrine Narducci). “She’s a moron. He’s a maniac,” warns Frank’s wife Bobbie (Debra Messing). An ugly marital dispute played out in court memorialises ties between Frank and Vito. Subsequently, Tennessee senator Estes Kefauver (Wallace Langham) spearheads a special committee to investigate crime in interstate commerce and calls forth Frank and Vito to testify. Frank ignores advice from his lawyer (Matt Servitto) to share his truth. “Only guilty people plead the Fifth,” he bullishly professes.

The Alto Knights stylishly evokes an era of backroom brotherhoods and secret handshakes to buy the silence and complicity of police and the judiciary. De Niro delivers markedly different and nuanced performances that immediately distinguish between Frank’s quiet, steely resolve and Vito’s fast-talking, coiled aggression. Impressive production design evokes the era of wise guys and droll dames with aplomb, wooing the eye when Pileggi’s script puts up its feet and reduces pace to a shuffle.

– Jo Planter