Don’t Call Me Bugsy + Where’s
Jimmy Hoffa? (1992/MPI DVDs)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: D Main Programs: B-
When you
see the MPI logo pr5oudly announce the company has been in business since 1976,
know that they have a very interesting archive, including some special interest
tiles that are better than you might think and are the kind that made home
video fun early on. Maybe big screen
feature films about gangster Ben Siegel and James Hoffa were an impetus for
these productions, but the shows made are decent, have some great interviews
and good stock footage of the kind you would see more often before everyone
become copyright crazy. Some of that
footage is just great.
Don’t Call Me Bugsy runs 70 minutes and offers
interviews with movie writer Charles Bennett, writer Max Allan Collins (Road To Perdition) and Rose Marie (yes,
of The Dick Van Dyke Show) as it
traces the man’s roots from his young days in the slums to his crazy (literally
for how dementedly murderous he was) ways and his fateful meeting with the Virginia
Hill. It offers some brutal stories and
brutal realities, including Hill herself testifying in front of Congress!
Where’s Jimmy Hoffa? made at the same time runs 85
minutes and offers the same decent content, but also delves into the myths,
rumors and legends Hoffa’s story have inspired and perpetuated before and since
his disappearance. While I was not a big
fan of the Barry Levinson Bugsy
film, I though Danny DeVito’s Hoffa was
a bit better and not as glossed-over.
There is also more story to work with and this special does not
disappoint. Note the interviewees are
less-known.
The 1.33
X 1 on both shows its age originating on NTSC video, but color can be
consistent and the content is as diverse in quality as you would expect from
any such documentary work. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 sound is barely stereo, if that, throughout, but survives better
than the image, which is good since many of the interviewees are no longer with
us. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
