From the pen of Goodfellas screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi and the star of Goodfellas , Robert de Niro comes a film like Goodfellas only here it is titled ‘The Alto Knights’ with De Niro playing dual roles often appearing in the same scene as mobsters, the volatile Vito Genovese and the more considered Frank Costello.
A true story it begins in 1957 with an attempt on Costello’s life the aftermath of which then sees one of a series of flashbacks via his voiceover to when the pair of them were childhood friends as Costello recounts how they grew up taking charge of the rackets game until Vito starts bumping off those who are about to incriminate him and he flees the country handing charge of his operations to Costello. It’s only on Vito’s return to the US, having poisoned the final witness to any case against him, that he looks to taking back the operations he used to run. But as Frank tells him, ‘It’s not that simple’. It sees Vito starting afresh resorting to his usual brutal and often fatal tactics.
It’s easy to see the appeal for De Niro to play two differing roles. Castello is the lead role here and is a far different person to his former school days friend Vito. Frank is quiet, thoughtful, always several steps ahead and never carries a weapon having been caught with one when young and imprisoned. In fact despite being a boss he never even goes around with any security or protection despite being anything but the professional gambler he purports to be. And it is this that sees him as such an easy target for an assassination attempt which he knows has been ordered by Vito without any authority from higher up the mob chain. Vito is the brawn to Frank’s brains. Brute force and violence is always his answer and his volatile nature sees him going off on one over anything. It’s very much the Joe Pesci Goodfellas role. But its Frank taking stock of his life after the attempt on his life that decides he‘s retiring and handing over the business to the increasingly insecure and suspicious Vito
Directed by Barry Levinson who’s been far more involved in often forgettable TV films over the past decade this sees him returning to work with De Niro for the first time since 1997’s ‘Wag the Dog’ but both have their fair share of mob movies to their names. And writer Pileggi, whose knowledge of true life mafia life, gives this true story authenticity but the film frequently sees De Niro on screen sat in a chair flicking through a slide projector of moments from his and Vito’s life narrating the back story direct to camera. It takes the audience out of the moment and would have been better left as a voiceover, as so brilliantly done on Goodfellas, before then seeing Frank in a final scene talking to camera.
Any mob movie with De Niro is always going to be worth a watch and The Alto Knights is no different and here the novelty is seeing De Niro play a scene opposite himself and its persuasively done with the expected digital magic but ultimately beyond this the stories of mob duplicity and back stabbing as things fall apart is not new and this does play a little like Goodfellas –lite.
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Here’s The Alto Knights trailer……
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