The Alto Knights (2025)
Directed by: Barry Levinson
Premise: Based on true events. Mob boss Frank Costello (Robert De Niro) is nearly assassinated by his underboss Vito Genovese (also De Niro). Tension rise in the New York crime world as Costello weighs retirement.
What Works: The Alto Knights is mostly set in the 1950s and the era is recreated well. The detail of the costumes and sets is convincing and the world of the film looks organic and lived in. As a gangster story, The Alto Knights puts a human spin on the genre. These stories can sometimes become a little too Hollywood and turn the characters into larger-than-life folk heroes. The Alto Knights emphasizes the relationships and the gangsters retain a flawed and human scale. There is a lot of humor in the movie which humanizes these characters. Frank Costello is particularly interesting. Costello is a mobster but he’s also a practical businessman who, at least as he’s portrayed here, tried to contain the violence. There is an underlying moral conflict in Costello’s character and he wants out of this life. That tension makes him interesting. The Alto Knights also addresses the way organized crime worked its way into the government by creating relationships with politicians and other powerful people. The film convincingly suggests that mobsters, politicians, and businessman are not so different.
What Doesn’t: In a novel bit of casting, Robert De Niro plays both Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. This is a mistake. De Niro is too old for the roles. He’s decades older than Costello and Genovese were at the time. There’s no reason to cast De Niro in both roles except as a stunt. Costello and Genovese were childhood friends but they weren’t brothers and De Niro has a very specific and recognizable voice. He doesn’t have the ability to disappear into a role the way Peter Sellers or Eddie Murphy could and the prosthetics that De Niro wears as Genovese are rubbery and fake looking. The storytelling is clumsy. The pacing often feels rushed. There’s no room for the characters or the story to breathe and it feels like large chunks of the plot are missing. The film includes narration by De Niro as Costello. The movie doesn’t need it and the voiceover spells out the obvious. The end of The Alto Knights is underwhelming. The events of the climax are supposed to herald a sea-change in the history of organized crime but that significance is lost.
Bottom Line: The Alto Knights is a disappointing dramatization of what ought to be a fascinating gangster story. The storytelling is erratic and clumsy and stunt casting De Niro in multiple roles backfires.
Episode: #1042 (April 6, 2025)