Boardwalk Empire on HBO (pt2)

I never missed an episode of Boardwalk Empire, and it will rank as one of the best HBO series ever. Storylines, casting, historical context, everything. Superb and gripping as can be, and the final episode was a morality tale of the first order. I'll miss this series, that's for certain.

However...Stephen Graham (a wonderful actor) cast as Al Capone?? Sorry, it bothered me every time he appeared onscreen. The real Scarface was five inches taller and about a hundred pounds heavier, and I think they could have, and should have, chosen someone else. It's weird that Mr. Graham was previously cast as another Chicago gangster whom he didn't closely resemble, Baby Face Nelson, in Johnny Depp's Public Enemies. What's going on?

In my book, Graham follows Jason Robards(!) as the screen version of Capone most un-like the real deal. Now, Robert DeNiro in The Untouchables, or even Rod Steiger back in the '50s -- those "Al Capones" were pretty good. James Gandolfini (RIP) probably would have been a great choice, as well, but sadly that was not meant to be. Maybe someday Hollywood will do a full Capone biopic with a lead characterization that comes closer to Big Al himself.

 

Watched it today unspoiled. Great ending episode to a great series. I like how they didn't run the title sequence and went right into the "last" show.

 

I did too. And as much as I loved the show, I always thought the title sequence was pretty dull. Just Steve Buscemi on a beach, really nothing interesting happening, and I don't like the music. One of the weaker title sequences for a long running HBO show.

 

At least it teaches how a suit should fit, a necessary tutorial in these days of J. Crew corsets.

 

Just watched the cast and writers show last night.

Great watch. Amazed at how much work went into the details of the show.... It will be missed....

 

After watching the final episode of this series, and then the wrap-up video where they interview the director, writers and actors, I came to the conclusion that I will have to watch the entire show over again. It is that good.

There is so much detail and so many subtleties in Boardwalk, it deserves another look.

One thing that I didn't realize is how many of the actors are from the U.K. They all managed to hide their own accents and capture the American accents perfectly.

 

It's very, very, very difficult to find a Jewish actor on the East Coast. So no surprise they chose someone from the UK to play Lansky.

Have I mentioned lately how much I miss Stuhlbarg as Arnold Rothstein? I like that it was his, not Nucky's, way of doing "business" that gave Margaret the tools and insight on how to be a powerful player - ethically or not. She did it legally. I didn't think much of Margaret throughout the series to be honest, it ended so well with her because it showed the strength she had in reserve we saw hints of for so long now on full and confident (sweaty palms aside) display.

And she teased her investors into making money, and left Nucky with a brief moment of mixed feelings about a future I think Nucky knew inside he never had.

I don't believe that Nucky believed he was truly ever getting off the boardwalk - his explanation of how he's changing businesses (no doubt he would have succeeded at it) was a front. It was something others may have believed, but I think he knew he was going to die right where he was "born" when meeting The Commodore: on the boardwalk. I don't think he knew how, but once he lost the boardwalk, he seemed lost in general. Though I would have high-tailed it to another country, Nucky seemed in no rush. Felled by the Commodore's grandson.

Great show - a tragic tale. One of the best TV series I've ever seen.

Do we need to add "Spoiler" at this point? The show's over - we don't add spoilers to old movies.

I believe that Nucky's wife aborted the baby herself - I think Nucky didn't realize it until it was too late to swim back to shore, but he had chosen a life that was incompatible with being a good family man. His wife knew it and said something along the lines of she "doesn't even know Nucky anymore, or what he does".

And that pain, and his "generosity" or offerings to mentor and support, though powerful enough business-minded enough to take it away at his discretion, was the life he may not have intentionally chose, but he did. He did it well, but lost the potential of having a real family in the process. He died alone and without a real legacy to leave. Really, a wonderfully done tragic tale.

Jeff

 

While I wouldn't argue that Graham is not the physical embodiment of Alfonse, his presentation of the personality of Capone is very accurate. That pleasant -turn on a dime- violence was very well done. Even the parting with his son was well done. Jason Roberts may not have looked like Capone, but his depiction in St. Val Massacre was a gas, and that was a fun movie. I didn't think much of DeNiro in Untouchables because he didn't really show that manic side that was Capone. Same with Steiger. Too stoic.

And agreed Gandolfini would have been perfect for that role. Problem is that the legend of Capone was far more compelling than the man was in real life. I always remember the description of him in the book The Godfather -a light weight and dfinitely not a Sicilian.

 

I just love the dry humour of this line (and yes, I did choose the British spelling, despite being an East Coast Jew).

 

One of my favorite HBO series. Very faithful to the eras portrayed. Liked the nod to very early TV when Nucky went into the "future" tent. Didn't quite understand the significance of that scene.

 

As you say, "the legend of Capone was far more compelling than the man was in real life." Absolutely true, but after reading quite a bit about him, I don't think he was quite as psychotic as he has been portrayed, but was just a pragmatic bootlegger, panderer and racketeer with a mild homicidal streak, not unlike the fictional Nucky Thompson.

And Roger Corman's St. Valentine's Day Massacre was a lot of fun, but pretty worthless from a historical perspective.

 

Agreed. Considering they were building a plot around a fairly trivial event, but one that became quite nortorioius, they did a great job of keeping me entertained. I especially enjoyed the ending in which each potential victim was shown starting "the last day of his life...".

Another good movie on this whole subject is Lansky with Richard Dreyfuss. On the other hand I thought "Bugsy" was a chance for Warren Beaty to be Warren Beaty.

 

Me too. I'm going to wait until the super-duper blu ray set appears that has everything in one shot. I've held out purposely on buying any of the Boardwalk individual seasons. I learned my lessons with the Sopranos. Paid $69 a set for each season on DVD (and that was the bargain Sam's price). Now the Blu set is out in the UK for less than $150 for the whole thing. $200 in the US. Everytime I go to Sam's now, I see those Sopranos single season sets sitting there brand new for $15!! Schmucks paid $89.99 for those at Best Buy.

Well off to Amazon.CO.UK to spend another $143 on the Sopranos blu ray set.

Come Terrance, take my money. I'm beggin' ya!!

 

I agree 100%. I never got the idea of using contemporary rock music for a show set in the 1920s and 1930s.

 

I found "Bugsy Malone" a very poor portrayal however.

 

I'm currently rewatching Sopranos via Amazon streaming. Free if you are a Amazon Prime member.

 

It would be nice if they had continued the soundtrack CDS. Great show

 

A third CD is coming out in January.

 

Nucky made $29 million on the stock manipulation right before he died. Did he have a will, does all that money go to Margaret as his surviving spouse, or what?

Nucky was holding a book with stock or bond certificates when the phone call came which caused him to rush out of the club now owned by Luciano. Did he take those with him or are they left behind for Luciano to cash in?

I have read somewhere that Nucky's wife committed suicide after their child was not born. If so, her suicide was not shown in the finale. How is that known-was it explicitly stated in an earlier episode?

Had Gillian just had an unnecessary hysterectomy before Nucky's visit? She said she needed help standing because it was tender.

I thought that the scene of young Nucky taking young Gillian to the Commodore was more chilling, more terrible, than I expected. It had been described in earlier episodes that Nucky had done this, but the circumstances of it were so tragic that it caused the Nucky-Gilian relationship for the rest of ther lives, to make more sense for me. I could see why Nucky always felt some obligation to her.

 

I thought I heard that as $2.9 million, not 29...

 

The Dr. at the facility was based on a real quack that believed that he could cut out what was bad in these women and make them better. In the series, a few were shown before and after their surgery. Gillian had obviously undergone this surgery and succumbed to the same fate as the other women.

 

Don't get me started on THAT topic. It drives me crazy, even if the music is off by one decade.

 

Only the theme was current music. I don't remember hearing any era inappropriate music in any of the episodes proper.

 

Yes, they did a great job overall on Boardwalk Empire -- I was speaking of films and TV shows in general. For instance, in The Sting, way back in the '70s, they used Scott Joplin rags from the turn of the 20th century, while the movie itself took place in Chicago c. 1920s-'30s, when ragtime was already considered old hat, and Fats Waller piano music would have probably been more appropriate.