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Lansky
List Price: $9.98Our Price: $5.99 You Save: $3.99 (40%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 8 to 12 days
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0026359147425
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Item Dimensions: 100
Label: Hbo Home Video
Languages: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 SurroundSpanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 MonoEnglish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled),
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
MPN: D91474D
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Academy Ratio
Publisher: Hbo Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: July 27, 1999
Running Time: 116 minutes
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: February 27, 1999
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Editorial Review:
A new version of an old story - the great American dream. LANSKY tells of a young emigrant's rise from poverty to riches through hard-edged business sense ... and a ruthless ability to murder anyone who gets in his way. Richard Dreyfuss is LANSKY - the man who organized organized crime.Running Time: 116 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 026359147425
Meyer Lansky, along with Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano, helped mold organized crime in America into "the Syndicate," a business run as efficiently and ruthlessly as any corporation. Richard Dreyfuss plays Lansky (as do Max Perlich and Ryan Merriman). Starting out with Lansky as an aging, ill, cranky man taking refuge in Israel, the film tells his life in a series of flashbacks, starting out as a young Jewish tough trying to hold his own against Irish gangs in New York. Lansky and his associates climb the ladder of crime over the years, turning Las Vegas from a quiet desert town into a swank gambling hot spot, eliminating any rogue elements or competition that could hurt the cause. Senator Estes Kefauver came along to put a dent in the Mob's activities by the l950s, but Lansky and company came through fairly unscathed. With direction by John McNaughton and a pungent David Mamet screenplay, this should be top-drawer stuff, but, oddly, it comes across as only average. The movie's chronological structure, jumping back and forth in time, becomes a little confusing, then irritating. Three actors playing the same man over the years make it a bit difficult to nail down his real essence, while several other characters are barely more than window dressing. Also, the Judaism of Lansky, Siegel, Rosen, and Rothstein is given short shrift in the story. With tighter editing and firmer direction, Lansky could have been very good, but as is, it's just what it is: a made-for-cable biopic. --Jerry Renshaw
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Lansky
Excellent movie. It explains how Las Vegas was founded and how the gangsters had a lot - if not all - to do with its development.
Rating:  - Mafia
I found the film interesting because it portrays a mafia boss of another origin than those I have seen in other movies. Lansky is a Jew of Russian origin. This is during the pogroms in Russia, and Meyer's parents decide to escape when the rabbi is being killed while the mob put houses on fire. The Lansky family emigrates to the USA.
It is here Lansky meet up with other children in one of the ghettos where immigrants live. It starts with gambling among children, and gradually it goes ... Read More
Rating:  - Trash
The price reflects the quality of this film. Too many things are wrong with this movie to name. First of all, the script is HORRID, and most of the acting is HORRID, its very boring. Secondly, the actor looks nothing like Lansky. The best part of the movie was the beginning when they showed Meyer and Bugsy as kids. It was all downhill from there. I recommend the BONANNO movie instead of this crap, THAT even had more details and interesting bit about Lansky than this flick.
Rating: - What was this?
What was this movie? Meyer Lansky did a lot of good for this country. He was a wonderful, Jewish gangster. There should be more people like this mensch. This director and Richard Dreyfuss, dare to tell the story of a great man such as Meyer Lansky? Oh Please!!!!!!!
Rating: - Dreyfuss and Perlich are Incredible as Meyer Lansky
The overall production quality of "Lansky" is barely adequate. This HBO TV special comes across as a film made under severe time and financial constraints. Nonetheless, the acting talent of Richard Dreyfuss is utterly fantastic. The now middle-aged star gives a performance that ranks among his very best. Dreyfuss clearly understands this low keyed Jewish gangster who lead much of American organized crime in the previous century. The character actor Max Perlich also does a splendid job of ... Read More
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