The Reel Review
Frank Costello, the retirement-minded New York City mobster whose actions in 1957 likely revealed that the mafia was actually a nationwide crime syndicate, is portrayed in this historical biopic starring Robert De Niro and Debra Messing.
Named for the mobsters’ actual supper club/hangout in the city’s Little Italy neighborhood, The Alto Knights is a solid, albeit at times dry, old fashioned mob drama. The strongest aspects of the film are director Barry Levinson’s spot-on, immersive depiction of the period, with vintage cars and costuming, and clever docudrama-style storytelling featuring fascinating archival video. Kathrine Narducci (Euphoria, The Irishman) steals her scenes as the outspoken wife of Costello’s super paranoid, former bestie-turned-rival Vito Genovese, with Messing adding color as Costello’s increasingly worried wife.
The film’s biggest weakness is De Niro’s decision to play both crime bosses. Between the odd-looking prosthetics as Genovese and a performance a bit too similar to his portrait of the much craftier Costello, it would have been much more compelling had Vito been played by another, prosthetic-free actor with an appropriately volatile presence (Joe Pesci, anyone?) Regardless, the predictable story and its cartoonish villains are still compelling enough to make it an entertaining watch, considering much of this really happened.
REEL FACTS
• The Alto Knights is Robert De Niro’s first film in which he plays two characters.
• This is the fifth collaboration between Barry Levinson and Robert De Niro after Sleepers, Wag the Dog, What Just Happened and The Wizard of Lies.
• Robert De Niro and Kathrine Narducci also appeared in 2019’s The Irishman and 1993’s A Bronx Tale.
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