But Billy Bathgate really belongs to Dustin Hoffman, it's one of his best screen performances and should not be missed by anyone especially fans of Dustin. Kidman's not bad either as the immoral heiress who has affairs with gangsters for kicks. Also look for some really good performances in this excellent cast from Steven Hill as numbers cruncher Otto Berman, Tim Jerome as lawyer Dixie Davis, and Bruce Willis as the luckless Bo Weinberg. As heiress Nicole Kidman so aptly puts it to Billy, he's quite an ordinary man your Mr. Part of Schultz's temper might have been bedroom performance. As you watch Hoffman's performance, these sudden fits of violence you can certainly understand why Lucky Luciano wanted to rid themselves of this problem. Doctorow is true to gangland lore about why and how Schultz was done in. It's the reason we see them hanging around on the subway tracks outside Schultz's headquarters when Billy's juggling act catches the Dutchman's attention. One can't forget that this was the Depression, there were no jobs to be had for young Billy of Bathgate Avenue and his gang. Schultz reigned supreme in the Bronx of the Jimmy Walker early Fiorello LaGuardia days. The film is seen through the eyes of its title character who is a young man from the Bronx played by Loren Dean. If you do a search on the web about Schultz and see a film, you'll find Dustin Hoffman looks quite a lot like him in real life. It's very much along the lines of Vic Morrow's performance as Schultz in Portrait of a Mobster, but Hoffman is better. It's a harrowingly accurate portrayal of Schultz who was every bit the hot tempered homicidal maniac Hoffman shows him as.
The main reason to see Billy Bathgate is the mesmerizing performance of Dustin Hoffman as Arthur Fleigenheimer better known as Dutch Schultz. Doctorow also authored Ragtime and while this film isn't as gaudy and expensive as Ragtime, Billy Bathgate is an accurate recreation of the times of post Prohibition New York City.
Doctorow's historical novel about New York in the Thirties.
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