IMDb > Portrait of a Mobster (1961) > IMDb user comments
Filter: Hide Spoilers:
Index 5 comments in total 

6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Good Little Movie, But Morrow Deserved Better, 5 August 2005
8/10
Author: telegonus from brighton, ma

Portrait Of a Mobster is a good little movie about the rise and fall of gangster Dutch Schultz, and is a fairly typical example of the nostalgic gangster films of the late fifties and early sixties, many of them biographies of famous criminals (Al Capone, Legs Diamond, Arnold Rothstein). What distinguishes this film is that its lead actor, Vic Morrow, was more talented than most, and deserved a better picture. The production values of the movie are decent but hardly spectacular, and are roughly on par with the TV shows its studio, Warner Brothers, was producing at around the same time, especially The Roaring Twenties, which this movie could almost be an offshoot of. Many studio contractees have key supporting parts in the film. But it's Morrow's complex and serious performance that holds the movie together and gives it a touch of class. Morrow was in some ways like Jeff Bridges in being a deadly seriously dramatic actor who seldom, if ever, relied on charm. Like so many gifted actors he went the television route and a year after this film was cast as one of the leads in the popular Combat! series, which ran for several seasons and made Morrow somewhat of a star. He continued to work regularly thereafter, always doing first rate, sometimes exceptional work (check out his chilling performance in The Glass House). But Morrow never really had much of a movie career after his small screen success, becoming a reliable actor on mostly made-for-TV movies. He died fairly young in a freak accident involving a helicopter while working on a movie. One wonders what might have happened to Morrow had he stuck to making films, staking his claim as a serious actor on stage and screen. We'll never know, but his work in Portrait Of a Mobster offers a tantalizing glimpse of the star Morrow might have been.

Was the above comment useful to you?

2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A good effort, 8 November 2006
7/10
Author: parachute-4 from Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

My favorite from the WB gangster flick genre of the 1950's and 60's. Contains the memorable line (from Shultze to henchmen after a confrontation with his dipsomaniac girlfriend), "There should be a law against women drinking".

A real virtuoso performance from Vic Morrow who even gets to SING a number or two in this film (though not terribly well). Morrow is consistently believable as the execrable Dutch Shultz, real name Arthur Flegenheimer, the New York prohibition mobster who dominated the headlines for a time in the early 1930's.

The film is notable in that it does not stray too far from historical fact. The phone-booth gun-down of Shultze's arch-enemy, Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll is totally accurate and Shultz's own messy demise along with a number of his henchmen at the Palace Chop House in Newark is reasonably close to the factual details. Shultz's racketeering masterpiece, the control and expansion of "the numbers" in the early thirties under the direction of genius mathematician turned crook, George "Addadabba"Berman is portrayed quite well. (The real Berman met his end in Jersey that night along with his boss, but the numbers racket went from strength to strength)

Many,if not most of the character players in this film were experienced screen thugs or cops from the Warner stable and they all carry their roles well. The love-interest between Shultz's much ill-used moll and her insipid former boyfriend is a bit on the flat side. We can certainly see why she prefers the despicable Dutchman !

Morrow also has what has to be one of the most unromantic lines in screen history, and perfectly in character : As the girlfriend (ably played by Leslie Parrish) emerges from their bedroom disheveled and hungover, Shultz simply sneers at her, "You stink!" Nice guy.

Had he not been so successful in the role of the good Sergeant Saunders in the hit TV series "Combat", Vic Morrow could have gone onto to great heights as a screen villain, and in fact later in his career , he was showing promising signs of developing such roles further. His performance as the boss con in "The Glasshouse" (1972) showed that he had lost none of his touch.

Incidentally, Leslie Parrish went on to turn in a solid performance as Lawrence Harvey's doomed fiancé in "The Manchurian Candidate".

I've always regarded Vic Morrow's portrayal of Dutch Shultze as definitive, and its interesting to compare it with Dustin Hoffman's effective but very different treatment of the same character role in "Billy Bathgate".

R. B.

Was the above comment useful to you?

1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
" My Name is Arthur Flegenheimer ", 16 October 2008
7/10
Author: thinker1691 from USA

There are many actors who's talents are made for certain parts. From the very best to the lowly actor, some parts are best suited for others. This is the story of Arthur Flegenheimer, who became the notorious "Dutch Schultz " and made his fortune in Organized Crime in the 1930's. The selection of Vic Morrow as Schultz was a fortunate step for Morrow and for his fans. The rise of this talented, but troublesome individual lent many to believe he was very lucky. His side kick Bo Wetzel played by Norman Alden predicted that so long as they two of them were together, nothing could happen to them. His foresight was better than Shultz' as proved by their historical demise. Joseph Gallison plays Vincent 'Mad Dog' Coll and Ray Danton is dangerous as 'Legs' Diamond. The rise and fall of this brutal gangster is aptly plays for the audience and even if you know the fate of the hood, it's nice to see Morrow at his best in this part. Good film. ***

Was the above comment useful to you?

It Had To Be Vic., 8 November 2008
8/10
Author: kayaker36 from Queens, NY

When Vic Morrow in the title role proclaims to the assembled members his freshly formed organization, "I'm a Bronx boy!" you can feel he wasn't just acting. A Jewish boy from the Bronx (N.Y.) himself, Vic Morrow was made for the role of the Jewish mobster Dutch Schultz, known as the Beer Baron of the Bronx. And when Schultz reminisces to Leslie Parrish about getting respect on the mean streets of the East Bronx by being tougher than anyone else, you get the impression Morrow is summoning up his own experiences. He is simply superb in the role, portraying Schultz as brutally ambitious, cruel and crude ("I'm sorry he got plugged," Schultz says to the daughter of a man he himself had killed.) yet oddly sympathetic, the product of a criminal environment who had little choice but to turn out as he did.

This black and white picture lacks high production values, marquee names or a brilliant script. It scrambles some of the known facts in Schultz's life and shortchanges some important characters. What it does have is sharp, memorable characterizations--of Schultz himself, of Mafia boss "Lucky" Luciano, of "Legs" Diamond and "Mad Dog" Coll.

Was the above comment useful to you?

Underrated gangster biopic with excellent performance by Vic Morrow, 1 April 2007
8/10
Author: mlraymond from Durham NC

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This modestly budgeted gangster movie can be seen as a sequel of sorts to Warners' earlier Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond, with Ray Danton doing an extensive reprise of his Diamond role. The interesting part is that here, Diamond is portrayed as a successful, wealthy, almost respectable businessman type, and not the ambitious small time hoodlum of the first movie. He is shown as the established gangland authority figure to whom the younger, on the make Dutch Schultz comes for a job. Diamond is shown giving orders to his henchmen in a palatial office/home, but not carrying a gun himself. His amused, condescending attitude toward Schultz is contrasted with the belligerent, hard nosed behavior of Schultz and his pal Bo Wetzel as a couple of street toughs.

Morrow makes Schultz a believable and more than one dimensional gangster character. He is nasty and crude, coldblooded, vain, greedy, and yet capable of an unexpected charm and shy awkwardness at times. It's a performance that makes the character capable of surprising behavior, sometimes generous and well meaning, with a basic crudity that never quite goes away. Morrow's playing, and the writing, might remind the viewer a little of Rod Steiger's characterization a couple of years earlier in the biographical Al Capone.

The one weakness of the movie is the character of the police detective who ends up on Schultz's payroll. This rather annoying character is perhaps played a little too convincingly by Peter Breck as a spineless boozer, whose wife ends up for a time as Schultz's mistress, though he regains a bit of integrity at the end.

Norman Alden is quite good as Schultz's sidekick Bo Wetzel, with effective turns by other gangster movie veterans like Frank DeKova in various mobster roles. This is a movie definitely worth checking out for fans of Twenties gangster stories. A preachy attitude underlies the action, mixed oddly with a black comedy approach that makes for an interesting contrast in the presentation of the movie's subject.

Was the above comment useful to you?

Add another comment

Related Links

Plot summary Ratings External reviews
Plot keywords Main details Your user comments
Your vote history