Rating: NR
Genres:
Drama
Crime
Romance
Release Date: 01/31/2006
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 72 min
Distributor/Studio: HBO Home Video
Long before the
Warren Beatty/
Annette Bening vehicle
Bugsy (92),
Harvey Keitel portrayed gangster
Bugsy Siegel and
Dyan Cannon costarred as Siegel's mistress Virginia Hill in the made-for-TV
The Virginia Hill Story. Told in flashback, the film traces Virginia's life from the time she takes up with Bugsy; we see Siegel's takeover of the Las Vegas gaming tables and his eventual death at the hands of his mob rivals. The flashback is bookended by Virginia's 1951 testimony before the Kefauver Committee. The film's attention to period detail does not extend to its "revisionist" dialogue, but it's gratifying to see the often ill-used Dyan Cannon in a worthwhile role. Harvey Keitel is alternately sinister and sensual as Siegel, while
Herbert Anderson (the immortal Henry Mitchell from the old
Dennis the Menace series) is the living image of Estes Kefauver. A note worth noting:
The Virginia Hill Story premiered the same November week in 1974 as the network debut of
The Godfather (1972).
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide