The Alto Knights (movie review)

I picked this out almost at random it seemed, though the MMU angel might’ve been guiding my hand. I was in the mood for something in New Releases and paid an extra dollar for that privilege. We rented Scarlett Pimpernel at the same time.

Robert De Niro plays both gangster principals, friends turned enemies, meaning he appears playing against himself in several scenes, in ways film allows but not live theater. You’re not meant to be thinking “special effect”; you’re expected to forget entirely there’s just the one actor behind both characters. Dave looked it up later to confirm. We went in no realizing this was going to happen.

What I found interesting in terms of timeline is the events were right around the time of my birth, late 50s, early 60s (in the 1900s). I remember those car makes and models were indeed prevalent on the road back then, although these memories are dim, plus cars evolved quickly in terms of shape and size, and even underlying technology to some degree.

The idea that “everything changes” and yet some people find it hard to adapt, to let go of old patterns, as one of the two principals most clearly demonstrates. He has come back from hiding overseas to an entirely changed United States, New York City in particular, and he expects to pick up where he left off, in his own mind.

The friend who returns to New York, from hiding out, is the hot head De Niro. The friend to whom he left the racket, to manage in the meantime, has done so quite successfully, per the consensus of other crime bosses. Costello is the relatively cool-headed dude, who most anchors this drama.

One of the funnest parts was on the drive to upstate NY, seeing the signs for Palmyra. The hot head gets into an argument with the driver, against whom he holds a grudge, about whether the Mormons really got started in Palmyra. The driver is correct in thinking they did, but given he’s botched the murder of the other principal he was tasked with, his boss on the backseat starts to physically attack him.

The film is meant to be anthropological as well as historical. We’re exploring an ethnicity, and how it operates.