''The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond'' is a 1960

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

crime film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Ray Danton, Karen Steele and Elaine Stewart. The supporting cast features

Warren Oates Warren Mercer Oates (July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982) was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah, including ''The Wild Bunch'' (1969) and ''Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'' (1974). A ...

, Jesse White and Robert Lowery. The picture marked the film debut of Dyan Cannon and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Howard Shoup.

Plot

In the 1920s, ambitious but smalltime thief Jack Diamond and his sickly brother Eddie Diamond move to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Jack meets dance instructor Alice Shiffer, lies to her to date her and to steal a necklace from a jewelry store. After being incarcerated for a time, he works with Alice at her dance school while on probation. He then gets hired as bodyguard of infamous

Arnold Rothstein Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 4, 1928), nicknamed "The Brain", was an American racketeer, crime boss, businessman, and gambler in New York City. Rothstein was widely reputed to have organized corruption in professional athletic ...

who gives him the nickname Legs. His plan is to supplant Rothstein with the intention of stealing his bootleg, drugs and gambling businesses. After Arnold is murdered, Legs Diamond sells protection. When he travels to Europe with Alice on a vacation, he sees in the newspaper that the New York underworld has changed with the National Prohibition Act. Legs returns to America and confronts the syndicate, demanding a cut from their operations. He kicks Alice out of his life and turns to Monica, who betrays him. Hit men enter his hotel room and shoot him dead. In the final scene, as his corpse is being removed on a stretcher, Alice says he was loved by many but that he loved nobody.

Cast

* Ray Danton as Jack "Legs" Diamond * Karen Steele as Alice Scott * Elaine Stewart as Monica Drake * Jesse White as Leo "Butcher" Bremer *

as Eddie Diamond * Dyan Cannon (credited as Diane Cannon) as Dixie * Robert Lowery as

* Richard Gardner as

Mad Dog Coll Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll (born Uinseann Ó Colla, July 20, 1908 – February 8, 1932) was an Irish-American mob hitman in the 1920s and early 1930s in New York City. Coll gained notoriety for the allegedly accidental killing of a young child dur ...

* Gordon Jones as Sgt. Joe Cassidy *

Frank de Kova Frank de Kova (March 17, 1910 – October 15, 1981) was an American character actor in films, stage, and TV. Biography De Kova was born in New York City. He was a teacher at a school in New York before joining a Shakespeare repertory group. He ...

as "The Chairman" Frank de Kova's role is only listed as "The Chairman" of the new crime syndicate. He was portraying Lucky Luciano, but as Luciano was alive at the time, it was decided not to name him specifically. The lead role was first offered to

Robert Evans Robert Evans (born Robert J. Shapera; June 29, 1930October 26, 2019) was an American film producer, studio executive, and actor, best known for his work on '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968), ''Love Story'' (1970), ''The Godfather'' (1972), and ''Chi ...

. When he turned it down

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

contract star Ray Danton took the lead. Evans also had turned down the lead for '' The George Raft Story'' that Danton also played. Danton reprised his role as Legs Diamond in '' Portrait of a Mobster'' (1961).

Production

Boetticher said the only actors he truly hated in his life were Gilbert Roland and Ray Danton. He says he wanted to make film like ''The Triumph of the Will'' ("the greatest picture I ever saw") "about one of the most despicable men of all time, Adolf Hitler. So I want to make a picture about a miserable, no good son-of-a-bitch that when you walk out of the theater, you say, "God, wasn't he greatl" And then you take two steps, and you say, "wait a minute, he was a miserable son-of-a-bitch!" He researched the film, found out all Diamond had done "and when I went back to Warner's and told them everything I'd learned, they wouldn't let me make the picture! So we had to clean it up a bit. We had twenty-four days on that; it was a good picture. "Budd Boetticher: The Last Interview Wheeler, Winston Dixon. Film Criticism; Meadville Vol. 26, Iss. 3, (Spring 2002): 52-0_3.

Reception

From Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'': After he saw the film, guitarist

Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...

was inspired to give the name of the film to his ''

The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt" is an instrumental by British group the Shadows. It peaked at number 5 in the UK Singles Chart. Release and reception "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt" was written by all members of the Shadows. Flingel Bun ...

''. In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated this film for its Top 10 Gangster Films list.

Musical remake

The film was remade as a musical titled '' Legs Diamond'' that debuted on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

at the

Mark Hellinger Theatre The Mark Hellinger Theatre (formerly the 51st Street Theatre and the Hollywood Theatre) is a church (building), church building at 237 West 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, which forme ...

on December 26, 1988 and closed on February 19, 1989 after 64 performances and 72 previews.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rise And Fall Of Legs Diamond 1960 films 1960 crime films 1960s biographical films American gangster films American biographical films 1960s English-language films Biographical films about gangsters Biographical films about Depression-era gangsters Films set in the 1920s Films set in the 1930s Films set in New York City Warner Bros. films Films scored by Leonard Rosenman Films directed by Budd Boetticher Films about Jewish-American organized crime Cultural depictions of Legs Diamond Cultural depictions of Arnold Rothstein Cultural depictions of Mad Dog Coll 1960s American films