Taglines: From Underworld To Empire.
Capone movie storyline. On the evening of May 6, 1918, in Brooklyn, two police officers intercept a fur heist in an alleyway. Capone (Gazzara) had tipped off the heist so that he could ambush the cops on arrival. As the officers arrest the men, Capone violently attacks them, and this results in a fight which ends when they throw Capone through a window, resulting in Capone having several scars on the left side of his face.
The cops arrest Capone, but before they can interrogate him any further, the Police Lieutenant stops them and lets him loose. As he walks out of the station, Capone is picked up by Solly, an enforcer for racketeers Johnny Torrio (Guardino) and Frankie Yale (Cassavetes). It is revealed that the two men in the fur heist were working for Johnny and Yale, and they decide to put Capone on Johnny’s payroll.
A year later, on September 23, 1919, Johnny talks with his boss Big Jim Colosimo (Campanella) about Prohibition – a new law enforcing the eviction of alcohol. Johnny wants Big Jim to invest millions in bootlegging, but Colosimo declines. Johnny calls up Frankie and tells him to send Capone to Chicago. Johnny introduces Capone to co-workers, including Iris Crawford (Blakely). Johnny, despite his affection for his boss, is infuriated that he won’t listen to his ideas, and so appoints Capone to murder Colosimo. The next morning, as Colosimo enters his restaurant and tries to call someone, Capone sneaks in and unloads a gun into the back of Colosimo’s neck before watching him die.
On June 7, 1920, in Joliet, Illinois, during a deal of out-of-town beer for Edward “Spike” O’Donnell, mobsters led by brothers Frank Gusenberg and Peter Gusenberg – a high-ranking enforcer under command from mobster Dion O’Banion – intercept the deal and murder the dealers, causing suspicion when the 600 barrels of beer Spike O’ Donnell ordered do not show up.
Capone correctly suspects that Weiss hijacked the deal, and Johnny creates territories all over Chicago: O’Banion Territory, led by O’Banion, will deal in the North Side; Spike O’Donnell will have his own territory in the South Side; The Genna Brothers will deal in Little Italy; and Johnny will occupy the Loop, and rest of the South Side.
On September 5, 1923, as Capone and Johnny are ready to relocate to Cicero, Spike O’Donnell is gunned down by O’Banion’s men, eliminating his territory in the South Side. At O’Donnell’s funeral, O’Banion threatens to murder the Genna brothers – for whom he has a massive loathing – for encroaching on their territory. That night, O’Banion has Pete and Frank personally execute the family of the Genna Brothers.
Outraged, Antonio and Angelo Genna retaliate by placing a hit on O’Banion. Deputy Sheriff Joe Pryor crashes a party of Capone’s because Capone refused to pay him $5,000. After he and Iris escape, Capone pays him the money. While Capone goes golfing with Iris, he has O’Banion murdered by his men. Capone and Johnny later show up at his funeral, sparking the ire of mobster Hymie Weiss (John Davis Chandler).
On the night of January 15, 1925, Johnny tells Capone that, because of all the senseless killings Capone has masterminded, he plans to negotiate with Weiss and give him the Loop and North Cicero; Capone is furious at the idea. That night, as Johnny arrives at the designated area where they are supposed to meet, Weiss and three other men ambush Johnny and ruthlessly open fire upon him. In the hospital, Johnny plans to leave Chicago, and appoints Capone as the new leader.
Capone is a 1975 Canadian-American biographical crime film directed by Steve Carver, written by Howard Browne, and starring Ben Gazzara, Harry Guardino, Susan Blakely, John Cassavetes, and Sylvester Stallone in an early film appearance. The film is a biography of the infamous Al Capone. It tells the story is of the rise and fall of the Chicago gangster Al Capone and the control he exhibited over the city during the prohibition years.
Capone (1975)
Directed by: Steve Carver
Starring: Ben Gazzara, Harry Guardino, Susan Blakely, John Cassavetes, Sylvester Stallone, Frank Campanella, John Orchard, George Chandler, John Davis Chandler, Royal Dano
Screenplay by: Howard Browne
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: Vilis Lapenieks
Film Editing by: Richard C. Meyer
Set Decoration by: Ned Parsons
Art Direction by: Ward Preston
Music by: David Grisman
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: April 6, 1975 (United States)
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