Billy Bathgate with Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman

Hoffman makes a fine gangster. Although seeing him together with Nicole, I am more intimidated by Nicole. It is a size thing...

photo credit: http://www.sondheimguide.com/Stoppard/billydvd.jpg

I should be ashamed. I am a Hoffman and a Kidman fan but I hadn’t even heard of this one. My bad. But then again, I have so many actors to follow. I missed the first 20 minutes or so, but it is a movie where the plot is pretty straight-forward so catching up was easy.

Dutch Schultz’ (Hoffman) is a gang leader. He is smart, quick and pretty ruthless. He is having his fun with the pretty, young and free-spirited Drew (Kidman). He also has a young rookie under his wing: Billy (Dean). Billy wants the glamor and the power. But there are two things wrong with him. 1) He is too nice to be a successful crook. 2) His admiration for Dutch gets overshadowed by his admiration for Drew.

As if these aren’t enough, anyone working for Dutch could be in danger because of a more powerful guy as well. ..

The movie is fun. It is not complicated or really orginal. I am not going to suggest you go running to the closest DVD store but you shouldn’t flip the channel if you run across this one either. I never saw a movie where Hoffman was any less than good. Kidman is so young here. I especially loved Loren Dean- casting him was the perfect choice because he portrays innocence, indecision and conflicts so well. The movie has another couple of niice surprises: It has Stanley Tucci and Steve Buscemi. Even Bruce Willis makes an appearance.

Entertaining experience with actors you like.