Billy Bathgate

1991's Billy Bathgate is a movie that frustrates me. I like the 1930's setting, I love films about organized crime, and the cast is solid. This film should work, but it just doesn't.

Based on a novel of the same name, which I admittedly have never read, Billy Bathgate is the story of a teenager from the Bronx named Billy (played by Loren Dean). Early on Billy meets a gangster named Dutch Schultz (played by Dustin Hoffman) and joins his organization. Alongside Dean and Hoffman the film also stars Bruce Willis and Nicole Kidman, and both are fine in this one. For me, Billy is the weakest part of this film and the main reason why I don't like it more. Unlike a good crime film like Goodfellas in which we see the rise and fall of our main character(s), Billy basically just serves as a personal assistant to Dutch. He doesn't kill anyone, or have to dispose of a body, or launder money, or rough-up a guy... he's a bland, vanilla character. Now, I get that we're supposed to like Billy but, a good movie can get you to empathize with people who do terrible things over the course of the film. In all fairness, even though Billy is a flat character, he isn't the only problem. The movie also has some scenes that drag on too long and yet simultaneously doesn't seem to have time to give any character development to the other members of Dutch's crew. The movie also fails to reach a satisfying conclusion; a main story thread that drives the plot is Dutch's upcoming tax-evasion trial. However, even though Dutch is acquitted of the charges he's abruptly gunned down by a rival gang a short time later.

Overall, Billy Bathgate is a film I want to love but I just don't. It isn't unwatchable, and there are bits here and there that I do think are good, but I don't recommend this one.
1.5 out of 5