Alto Knights, The (United States, 2025)

Had The Alto Knights been made a little more than a quarter-century ago, it would likely have generated interest and excitement, even if the end result isn’t deserving of either. After all, back in the late 1990s, director Barry Levinson was near the top of his game and screenwriter Nicolas Pileggi had recently collaborated with Martin Scorsese on Goodfellas and Casino. But that was then, this is now. And, although Robert DeNiro has a dual role in The Alto Knights, the old gangster movie magic proves hard to recapture. Bringing back half the band just isn’t enough.

Pileggi’s original screenplay has been kicking around for decades but never found any backers. The final product makes it clear why: the movie, despite being based on true events, lacks a compelling story. With the exception of one exceptionally taut, well-executed sequence (in a barber shop), the production often feels like its dragging an anchor. Even the climax lacks punch. For most of The Alto Knights, we’re waiting for an inferno to erupt. Instead, all we get is a few flickering flames.

De Niro plays two parts, which I suppose is intended to be the film’s “hook.” Frank Costello is more typical De Niro: intense but restrained. It’s a natural fit for an actor who’s no stranger to portraying this kind of character. Vito Genovese, on the other hand, is more of a stretch. It requires De Niro to be unrestrained in a Joe Pesci fashion. (One can’t help but wonder if the role was originally written with Pesci in mind. Although the actor came out of retirement for Scorsese in The Irishman, it’s hard to envision him being tempted by this part, if it was even offered.) Frank and Vito, friends through childhood and into early adulthood, have become bitter adversaries by the time 1957 rolls around. Vito wants Frank’s position as the acting head of Lucky Luciano’s crime family, a position Frank is reluctant to cede, especially as long as he maintains a strong alliance with Albert Anastasia (Michael Rispoli, from The Sopranos), the head of the Anastasia family.

The movie opens with a literal bang as Vito makes his move, ordering underling Vincent Gigante (Cosmo Jarvis), to kill Frank. The attempted assassination misfires; the bullet grazes Frank’s head but doesn’t inflict serious damage. He gets the message, though, and begins to orchestrate his retirement, transferring all interests to Vito. One problem, though…Vito doesn’t believe him, which offers Frank only one alternative: strike before he is struck.

Admittedly, this sounds interesting enough – pretty typical Mafia stuff but one could understand how it might work if assembled with skill and style. Unfortunately, as good as The Alto Knights looks (and no one could ever accuse Levinson of not being able to mount a credible period setting – consider Avalon and The Natural), it’s largely inert and the final, inevitable confrontation between Frank and Vito never materializes in a meaningful fashion. The argument is that it didn’t happen in real life but it begs the question of why the movie was made in the first place.

There’s enough going on in The Alto Family to make it of interest to those with a fascination for mid-20th century gangsters in general and New York’s Five Families in particular, but I sense that’s a pretty small audience. Those hoping for something more along the lines of The Godfather or Goodfellas or even The Irishman won’t find it here. Perhaps too many stories have already been told about this era of organized crime that the need to find new material has resulted in something watered-down, talky, and only fitfully compelling. It’s not the worst we’ve seen from either Levinson or De Niro but there’s a sense that a pairing of these two working with a Pileggi script should have borne juicer fruits.

Alto Knights, The (United States, 2025)