Mobsters is a 1991 crime film starring Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsey, Richard Grieco and Costas Mandylor as the younger versions of crime bosses Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel and Frank Costello.
The movie costars Lara Flynn Boyle, F. Murray Abraham, Anthony Quinn and Michael Gambon.
Tropes
- Alliterative Name: Mara Motes.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Farranzano subjects Luciano to this when he still refuses to join his family. Leaving him with his trademark scars and yet more motivation for revenge.
- Did Not Get the Girl: What was supposed to be a hit for Lucky, it was Mara that gets whacked in bed while Lucky makes coffee.
- The Dragon: Rocco for Don Farranzano and Catania for Don Masseria.
- Kosher Nostra: Jewish gangsters feature prominently, especially Meyer and Bugsy. The former in particular is portrayed as the brains of the operation, but is astute enough to know Luciano has far more charisma and cachet among the predominantly Italian underworld.
- The Mafia: Naturally—with an "all-star" collection: Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and even Al Capone as a quick
One-Scene Wonder. The importance of Jewish gangsters is not overlooked, though, both in their organizational skills (Lansky) and capacity for violence (Bugsy, who would go on to help found Murder, Incorporated). - Mob War: Manipulated by Lucky and Company to wipe out the old order and set up a new one.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Lucky and his friends' rise to power in the Mafia (and their setting up of the "Commission" structure we all know and love) is portrayed sort-of more-or-less as it happened...with added romance and revenge elements.
- Precision F-Strike: Bugsy gets in a good one to members of a rival mob:Try this again and I will kill your mothers, fuck your sisters, and turn your brothers into eunuchs!
- Psycho for Hire: Mad Dog Coll kills just as much for sheer enjoyment as he does a paycheck, and even says as much at the climax.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Not "now" so much as "what happened after"—what each of the four wiseguys are known for in Mafia history (such as Bugsy's reputation for "building" Las Vegas).
