Reviews

Capone and Ness about to duke it out on the stairs of a hotel. Capone's and Ness's people hold them back. Nobody would defy Capone that way. A cop gets shot in a place where there are plenty of cops and Ness goes after him to battle with him on the roof, with no cops following after him. The court house would have been full of cops. He goes to the train station to confront the bad guys, also no cops around. Capone punching his attorney in the court house and then going after the judge. I doubt that happened. This thing is so obviously fabricated. Talk about Hollywood fluff. First of all, Sean Connery contrary to what most people think, is in my opinion a lousy actor. So, is Kevin Costner. Andy Garcia is totally not awake. Brian De Palma should stick to thrillers of a more superficial variety and stay away from historical drama. The movie is definitely watchable and entertaining, but it's no great masterpiece.

Marilyn Monroe is shown in a not-so-larger than life, almost clinical light, yet without too much hype, and little embellishments, or conjectures. There are plenty of on camera interviews with those who knew her best-- several of whom admit hardly knew her at all. The structure of the script is excellent. It takes the viewer from her childhood be shuttled from one foster home to another, a brief "real" home with her own mother when she was 9 before her mother was committed to a mental institution and on through her brief marriage at the age of 16, the modeling career that lead her into the Hollywood life that confused and destroyed her. Naturally since this was made in 1964, some of what we know of her life today-- such as her affair with Kennedy and the alleged conspiracy that surround it were not covered, as well as the fact she was sexually abused as a child--but it is nonetheless thought-provoking and moving experience.