The Alto Knights

2025 Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 2 hr 3min

Crime ~ Drama ~ History ~ True Story

Starring: Robert De Niro, Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci, and Michael Rispoli.

The Most Dangerous Enemy Is An Old Friend.

The Alto Knights is the true story of Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, both members of The Luciano Crime Family, who were prominent Mob Bosses in the 1950’s. The name comes from The Alto Knights Social Club, a real life Mafia hangout in New York City’s Little Italy section. It began life in 1926 as The Knights of Alto Social Club and during Prohibition it was a bootlegging center. Vito Genovese took over the club in the 1950’s and renamed it The Alto Knights Social Club. It was a known hangout for Mobsters of the day including Lucky Luciano and Carlo Gambino.

Vito and Frank came to New York City from Italy when they were teenagers and both ended up in the Luciano Crime Family. They became fast friends but over time they turned into enemies with a bitter rivalry between them. The Alto Knights movie explores that friendship that ended in a bitter rivalry, as well as the history of The Mafia in America, how it started and how it became unraveled. It is heavy on history and not so much on the heavy handed violence you expect in a gangster movie. For that reason alone it is a little lost on itself, jumping from this story to that, meandering through a broad history of the Mafia families.

The Alto Knights started out as a film idea in the 1970’s with a working title of Wise Guys, but every major studio passed on it saying there is just no interest in the story for it to be a major blockbuster. When Warner Bros. was approached by the writer and director to revive the movie with the premise of Robert DeNiro playing a dual role as Vito and Frank, they took the bait and greenlit the movie. One interesting note on the film is they took old 1950’s era cars and trucks and vinyl wrapped them to make them look new.

So it was interesting to watch Robert DeNiro play a dual role as two different gangsters that used to be friends, and now have nothing but animosity for each other. But I feel like that is the only reason to tell you to watch the film. There is nothing else memorable about the film at all, and even then Robert’s performance as Frank Costello and Vito Genovese isn’t all that memorable. It was interesting to watch, but I don’t think I would watch it again. I feel like they should have focused more on just the rivalry between Frank and Vito, and left a lot of the Mafia history lesson off the table.

And while it was interesting to see our Bobby DeNiro take on the dual gangster challenge, I think it would have been way more dramatic to have another well known personality in one of the roles instead of Bobby acting against and playing off of himself. I feel like there would have been a lot more tension and drama with two highly charged but different personalities, like Al Pacino for instance, up against DeNiro. Now that would have been more intense. So while it was interesting, it was really kind of boring and one dimensional when it should have been dramatic as hell. Like gangster rivalries and movies are supposed to be.

So unless you really love the gangster stories or are a huge DeNiro fan and want to see him play opposite himself in a dual role……I’d skip this one.

The Comeback Trail

2020 Cloudburst Entertainment

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 44min

Crime ~ Comedy

Directed by: George Gallo

Starring: Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Morgan Freeman, Zach Braff, and Emile Hirsch.

Hollywood has never pulled a stunt like this.

The Comeback Trail was filmed in 2019 but because of The Covid-19 Pandemic, which also drove the initial distributor out of business, and the subsequent lawsuits over distribution, the release was delayed until February 25, 2025 and is currently on a number of streaming services including Hulu, Amazon Prime and Paramount+.

Let’s not beat around the bush—the trailer for “The Comeback Trail” promises more laughs than the movie actually delivers, except for the scene where the horse kicks Robert De Niro. I literally busted out laughing, it was completely obvious it was going to happen and so stupid, it was funny. You’d think with legends like Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, and Morgan Freeman sharing top billing though, we’d have an instant classic with star-studded comic hijinks blazing across the screen. Instead, what we get is a worn retread of old Hollywood satire, a little too safe, not nearly dark enough, and just sort of… familiar.

If you’re expecting De Niro in full-on comedic genius mode—think Midnight Run or Analyze This—you’ll get flashes of it here, but mostly he’s dialing up the chaos as Max Barber, a washed-up producer who decides his only way out of mob debt is to “accidentally” kill his faded cowboy star, Duke Montana (Jones), to cash in on insurance. Forget twisty plotlines; the story is as predictable as you’re guessing right now, but with fewer laughs than you’d hope for.

The cast puts in the work. Jones, especially, walks off with the movie’s soul, playing Duke with a mix of melancholy and earnestness rarely seen in broad comedies. His suicidal cowboy could have been a running gag, but Jones injects heart and a hint of regret that almost—almost!—makes you care. De Niro is all bluster and wild schemes, burning calories trying to make Max’s desperation land. Freeman, meanwhile, has a few smirk-worthy lines but is largely sidelined.

Visually, the film actually looks decent. There’s an undeniable flair to the cinematography—the grimy, cut-rate movie sets and LA backlots sell the atmosphere. If you muted the sound, you might be tricked into thinking this is a riotous good time. But Bobby’s cardinal rule: it’s not how it LOOKS, it’s how it PLAYS, and here the play is just… average.

Bottom line? This is one of those late night cable comedies you watch on a whim, forget about by morning, and don’t exactly regret. There’s fun to be had—mostly courtesy of Tommy Lee Jones—but with three Oscar winners on deck and a premise ripe for crazy hijinks, it should have swung for the fences instead of bunting. Not awful, not great, just a movie that’s been here for years, reheating leftovers instead of serving up anything new.

Killers Of The Flower Moon

2023 Paramount Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 3 hr 26min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Epic ~ Mystery ~ Romance ~ True Story ~ Western

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, Scott Shepherd and Brendan Fraser.

“With it’s great black wings of spray, arcing above the rigging, it rose before them like an angel of death.”

In 1821 the Osage Indians were removed from their homes and land they had lived on for generations alongside the Osage river. They were relocated west to the US Government designated “Indian Territories” in Oklahoma. Their former home and lands were sold to white immigrant settlers while the Osage tried to survive on the unhospitable barren Oklahoma land that was foreign to them. It was given to them because none of the white people wanted to live there, being too barren and not much good for farming. They were the poorest people in the United States.

75 years later a group of Osage Indians were walking through the fields of flower blooms in the valley during the annual Flower Moon. The Flower Moon is a name given to the full moon in May by the Osage people because of the flower blooms that take place every year. During May in the Oklahoma hills and valleys of the Indian Reservation, the fields of blooming flowers die out when taller plants crowd them out. The Osage refer to the month of May as “The time of the Flower Killing Moon”. As they were walking they came to a clearing and a patch of mud. Suddenly out of the middle came a geyser of black oil.

The Osage people were sitting on a vast underground oil reserve and almost overnight became the richest people in America. Because nobody wanted the land in the beginning, they had been given and retained all the mineral rights to the land. Almost overnight, the oil companies and oil prospectors invaded the once undesirable Oklahoma land, driven by greed and the temptation of riches beyond the imagination. The money flowed quick and in great volume. Suddenly it became fashionable for a white man to marry into an Indian family and acquire the rights by marriage, or by murder if necessary. It is against this backdrop that KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOONtakes place.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Ernest Burkhart who has just returned home to Oklahoma having been discharged from the army due to a health issue. He returns to his Uncle William Hale’s (Robert De Niro) farmhouse where he is reunited with his brother Byron Burkhart (Scott Shepherd). Uncle William informs him of the current climate amid the oil rush in the county. He tells Ernest that it would serve a fellow well if he were to wed into an Indian family with “Headrights”, he and his family would do very well for themselves. Ernest soon falls for an Indian woman named Mollie (Lily Gladstone), who’s mother and sisters own a very large chunk of “Headrights”. William tells Ernest that Mollie’s mother Lizzie is on her deathbed and soon Mollie would follow.

The Osage People were becoming victim to the white man’s diet and sugary confections. Diabetes was becoming very common and many died from lack of care. And Mollie had diabetes like her dying mother. They were also falling victim to the white man’s greed as Osage people were suddenly becoming victims of violent murders and poisonings referred to as “The Wasting Deaths”. Being Indian deaths there was not much concern for how they were dying, nor any inquiries into why. The foul play and deception led to a string of murders that was brought to the attention of Calvin Coolidge by Mollie. The President brought together a group of highly skilled detectives and law men to investigate. They were the unofficial beginnings of The FBI.

When the FBI arrived and started to investigate, they discovered a plot hatched by William and his family to deceive the Osage people and acquire mineral rights for his family at any cost, even if it meant poisoning and killing. This is unfortunately a True Story, based on the book by David Grann, Killers Of The Flower Moon. It is a long movie coming in at 3 hours and 28 minutes, but it is a good one. A fascinating tale of greed, betrayal and deception. I really liked Lily Gladstone in this, thought she did an excellent job. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro were great as always. It is well shot, great cast, great director, great story…..what’s not to like? Well, maybe the length…….