Billy Bathgate (film)
Encyclopedia
Billy Bathgate is a 1991 American
crime film
directed by Robert Benton
, starring Loren Dean
as the titular character and Dustin Hoffman
as gangster Dutch Schultz
. The film co-stars Nicole Kidman
, Steven Hill
, Steve Buscemi
, and Bruce Willis
. It is based on the novel of the same name
by E.L. Doctorow. The screenplay is by Tom Stoppard
. Doctorow distanced himself from the film for the extensive manner in which it deviated from the book in style and content.
Billy is taught the ropes by Dutch's business associate Otto Berman and given menial chores. Dutch, meanwhile, is busy trying to beat a rap in court and also determine whether his partner Bo Weinberg has been betraying him. Even though he likes Bo, it is Billy who eventually helps prove that Bo lied about his whereabouts.
Dutch and his thugs take Bo captive and prepare to send him to a watery grave. Dutch proceeds to claim the attentions of beautiful Drew Preston, a married young socialite Bo has been seeing who clearly has a weakness for powerful, dangerous men.
Facing a court case in an upstate New York rural community, Dutch brings along his "protege" Billy and the sophisticated lady Drew to put up a front of respectability, ingratiating himself to the locals with good manners and money. While his boss Dutch stands trial, Billy's job is to keep an eye on Drew, a free spirit who likes having Billy's eye on her as she bathes nude in the woods.
Billy falls for her and admires his new boss, at least until witnessing first-hand exactly how ruthless a criminal Dutch really is. Unable to intervene on Bo's behalf, the best Billy can do in the end is try to save Drew's life and his own.
, North Carolina and Saratoga Springs, New York.
In an episode of VH1
television's Confessions of a Teen Idol
, Jamie Walters claimed he was up for a part in Billy Bathgate and even went to Dustin Hoffman's house to audition, but ultimately did not get the part.
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
crime film
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
directed by Robert Benton
Robert Benton
Robert Douglas Benton is an American screenwriter and film director.Benton was born in Waxahachie, Texas, the son of Dorothy and Ellery Douglass Benton, a telephone company employee. He attended the University of Texas and Columbia University. Benton has won numerous awards for both writing and...
, starring Loren Dean
Loren Dean
Loren Dean is an American actor. He has appeared onstage and in feature films.-Early life:Loren Dean Jovicic was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. His mother worked as a family and marriage counselor and his father was in the clothing business. His parents divorced when he was a small child...
as the titular character and Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
as gangster Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz was a New York City-area Jewish American gangster of the 1920s and 1930s who made his fortune in organized crime-related activities such as bootlegging alcohol and the numbers racket...
. The film co-stars Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, Steven Hill
Steven Hill
Steven Hill is an American film and television actor. His two better-known roles are District Attorney Adam Schiff on the NBC TV drama series Law & Order, whom he portrayed for ten seasons , and Dan Briggs, the original team leader of the Impossible Missions Force on CBS's television series...
, Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
, and Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
. It is based on the novel of the same name
Billy Bathgate
Billy Bathgate is a 1989 novel by author E. L. Doctorow that won the 1989 National Book Critics Circle award for fiction for 1990 and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was the runner up for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize...
by E.L. Doctorow. The screenplay is by Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
. Doctorow distanced himself from the film for the extensive manner in which it deviated from the book in style and content.
Plot
Billy Behan is a poor 15-year-old kid in the 1930s Bronx. After the wealthy gangster Dutch Schultz takes him under his wing, Billy adopts the name of a neighborhood street and begins to work for the organization.Billy is taught the ropes by Dutch's business associate Otto Berman and given menial chores. Dutch, meanwhile, is busy trying to beat a rap in court and also determine whether his partner Bo Weinberg has been betraying him. Even though he likes Bo, it is Billy who eventually helps prove that Bo lied about his whereabouts.
Dutch and his thugs take Bo captive and prepare to send him to a watery grave. Dutch proceeds to claim the attentions of beautiful Drew Preston, a married young socialite Bo has been seeing who clearly has a weakness for powerful, dangerous men.
Facing a court case in an upstate New York rural community, Dutch brings along his "protege" Billy and the sophisticated lady Drew to put up a front of respectability, ingratiating himself to the locals with good manners and money. While his boss Dutch stands trial, Billy's job is to keep an eye on Drew, a free spirit who likes having Billy's eye on her as she bathes nude in the woods.
Billy falls for her and admires his new boss, at least until witnessing first-hand exactly how ruthless a criminal Dutch really is. Unable to intervene on Bo's behalf, the best Billy can do in the end is try to save Drew's life and his own.
Cast
- Dustin HoffmanDustin HoffmanDustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
as Arthur "Dutch Schultz" FlegenheimerDutch SchultzDutch Schultz was a New York City-area Jewish American gangster of the 1920s and 1930s who made his fortune in organized crime-related activities such as bootlegging alcohol and the numbers racket... - Nicole KidmanNicole KidmanNicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
as Drew Preston - Loren DeanLoren DeanLoren Dean is an American actor. He has appeared onstage and in feature films.-Early life:Loren Dean Jovicic was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. His mother worked as a family and marriage counselor and his father was in the clothing business. His parents divorced when he was a small child...
as Billy Bathgate - Bruce WillisBruce WillisWalter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
as Bo Weinberg - Steven HillSteven HillSteven Hill is an American film and television actor. His two better-known roles are District Attorney Adam Schiff on the NBC TV drama series Law & Order, whom he portrayed for ten seasons , and Dan Briggs, the original team leader of the Impossible Missions Force on CBS's television series...
as Otto BermanOtto BermanOtto Biederman, known as Otto "Abbadabba" Berman , was an accountant for American organized crime. He is known for coining the phrase "Nothing personal, it's just business."... - Stanley TucciStanley TucciStanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
as Lucky LucianoLucky LucianoCharlie "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian mobster born in Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and the establishment of the first commission... - Mike StarrMike Starr (actor)Michael "Mike" Starr is an American actor. Starr is notable for his large size, standing 6 ft 3 1/2 in , and has typically been typecast as thugs or henchmen....
as Julie Martin - Steve BuscemiSteve BuscemiSteven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
as Irving - Frances ConroyFrances ConroyFrances Conroy is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth, the matriarch of the Fisher family, on Six Feet Under, which earned her a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award.-Early life:...
as Mary Behan - Moira KellyMoira KellyMoira Kelly is an American actress. She is best known for playing single mother Karen Roe on the teen drama One Tree Hill. She also directed two episodes of the series: "Resolve" and "I Slept with Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me"...
as Becky - Jack MulcahyJack MulcahyJack Mulcahy is an American actor best known for playing the eldest brother Jack McMullen in Edward Burns' first film The Brothers McMullen . He also achieved notoriety in 2006 for starring and singing a jingle in a Snickers commercial opposite stage actor Jimonn Cole...
as Fire Inspector (uncredited)
Production
The film was shot in HamletHamlet, North Carolina
Hamlet is a town in Richmond County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 6,018 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Hamlet is located at ....
, North Carolina and Saratoga Springs, New York.
In an episode of VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
television's Confessions of a Teen Idol
Confessions of a Teen Idol
Confessions of a Teen Idol is an American reality series that began airing on VH1 on January 4, 2009 and concluded on February 22, 2009. It ran for eight episodes. The series was hosted and produced by former teen idols Scott Baio and Jason Hervey...
, Jamie Walters claimed he was up for a part in Billy Bathgate and even went to Dustin Hoffman's house to audition, but ultimately did not get the part.
Awards and nominations
The film received one Golden Globe nomination;- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (Nicole KidmanNicole KidmanNicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
)