User Reviews

Boetticher viewed his heroes, trapped in the past and doomed to wander, with no more sentimentality than his outlaws, who try, often hopelessly, to forget their criminal ways and settle down… His darkest film of all, however, was "The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond," in which the sun-baked desert is replaced by a dark, claustrophobic urban nightmare…

Boetticher's psychopathic hood, played with relentless energy by Ray Danton, is a totally amoral figure whose lust for power leads him to destroy even his brother in order to protect himself… Fast, cruel and violent, the film is one of the cinema's bleakest visions of unrestrained ambition….

" . . . that's why he's dead," the non-grieving First Lady of Crime informs a bystander after her spouse has been assassinated at the close of yet another sobering prophetic prognostication from the always eponymous Warner Bros. With THE RISE AND FALL OF LEGS DIAMOND, Warner Bros.' crack team of seers is once again "spot on" in foretelling the demise of a Real Life American Mob Boss. LEGS DIAMOND explains that a nation may think that it is at the end of its rope, after all the censures fail and impeachment is of no avail, but then in Real Life a "Deus Ex Machina" will surely force Old Scratch to realize that "the jig is up," compelling Him to recall His White House minion down to the Nether World. Though the last 40 months may have been a season for the deplorable rump cushion gang's furor-monger to fill America with imported Kremlin Hate directly from the Red Commie KGB, LEGS DIAMOND reminds Today's viewers that seasons inevitably come to an end as the Dark Lord calls his imp home to roast. "But he never loved anybody" surely will decorate the frosting atop the Obese Orange One's final pancake!

A well known racketeer of the Twenties and early Thirties, who has served as inspiration for a novel and a Broadway play, as well as this movie, Jack "Legs" Diamond is still remembered today. This film is a tightly written and well played gangster drama, with a surprisingly strong vein of black comedy running through it. Director Boetticher said in an interview that he wanted to make a gangster picture unlike any other, that had a sense of humor, and he claimed to have learned a lot of funny anecdotes from real hoodlums who had known Diamond, and incorporated them into the picture. Ray Danton is unforgettable as Diamond. His startlingly good looks make an ironic contrast with his ruthless pursuit of money and power. Legs is able to charm any woman into helping him, and conning other gangsters who think they're smarter than he is. His deep voiced delivery can be either amusing when he makes a wisecrack ,or genuinely menacing when it's obvious Legs isn't kidding about his demands. The other real life mobsters are played broadly, with actors best known for their comedy roles, including Jesse White as Leo, Diamond's primary obstacle to overcome. Robert Lowery portrays Diamond's boss Arnold Rothstein as a cynical and world weary man, who can get more out of one line of dialogue than pages of it. His giving an expensive watch to Diamond with the bitterly polite remark " Just consider it a token of how much I trust you" is a moment that lingers after the movie is over. Joseph Ruskin is quite sinister in his role of Matt Moran, Diamond's deadliest enemy. The scene in which they finally meet for a fatal encounter is a brilliant example of taut, suspenseful direction. The musical score by Leonard Rosenman is very effective, with its jaunty main theme that occurs in several variations throughout the picture. One interesting touch is that the tense, spooky music that accompanies one of Diamond's early crimes, the burglary of a jewelry store, sounds remarkably like the planetarium music Rosenman composed for Rebel Without a Cause some five years earlier. The Twenties backgrounds are believable and the action scenes are exciting. The film does falter a bit toward the end, as Diamond seems to go downhill too rapidly. The filmmakers were obviously trying to mollify the censors by showing Diamond as getting his comeuppance in an overly dramatic way, after basically showing him as the hero we've been rooting for for the greater part of the film. One more observation should be made: the performance by Warren Oates as Eddie, Diamond's consumptive younger brother, is very good, and his slightly more honorable attitudes show Legs up even more as the ruthless , egocentric criminal he is. This is an excellent movie that should appeal to anyone who likes the old gangster pictures with Cagney, Robinson, Raft, and Bogart.

There seems to be little connection between this story of "Legs" Diamond, who rose and fell, from bodyguard to mob boss to mob target in the 1920s, and the series of effective and inexpensive Westerns that Budd Boetticher had directed in the previous ten years. Too bad.

The best of Boetticher's Randolph Scott Westerns has some good characterization and some occasionally fine dialog. Scott was always a taciturn man of principle who functioned as a kind of anchor for the other figures. The best of the stories had colorful villains and sidekicks like Lee Marvin and Richard Boone, outlaws with YEARNING.

Alas, there is no Randolph Scott here. The central figure is Jack "Legs" Diamond, played by the marmorial Ray Danton, who was one of those actors, like Michael Ansara, much better at playing painted Sioux Indians than anything else. Karen Steele (Mrs. Boetticher at the time) is his loving wife for whom he cares nothing. She's a competent actress except when she needs to play a drunk, which is awful, and then she's one of those drunks that is embarrassing to watch.

As for colorful villains, they're noticeably absent too. Oh, there are villains aplenty. Everybody is a villain or a weakling. But they're formulaic. They think of nobody but themselves. They have no unfulfilled desires, no spiritual qualities. Diamond himself sheds his friends, or vice versa. He even allows his crippled brother to die because his enemies are "getting to me through him." Well -- the bottom line is, if anybody makes you vulnerable, get rid of him.

The best scene? Jesse White is a rival gangster who has tried to kill Diamond. White and his body guards visit an empty German restaurant, and, instead of the Dunkel that White ordered, Diamond emerges from the dumbwaiter carrying a Tommy gun. He makes White get on his knees and beg for his life while the poor guy is still trying to swallow his sauerkraut. It's the best scene in the movie in that it's the most amusing scene, but it's hardly memorable.

After this production, Budd Boetticher was to go on a vision quest in Mexico where he wound up broke, living in roach-ridden motels and eating burritos. That's fine when you're in your teens or 20s but Boetticher was in his 40s. And that's a different story. To quote Philip Marlowe, "It was the kind of place I was always afraid I'd wind up in -- alone and broke." Still, a man of considerable probity, Boetticher will be remembered for those cheap Randolph Scott gem stones.

***SPOILERS*** Jack "Legs" Diamond, Ray Danton, was undoubtedly a nasty and ungrateful swine who beside killing people he also treated those who loved as well as put up with him like dirt. This in the end lead to his demise in an Albany hotel room on the evening of December 18,1931 when he ended up with five slugs in his body courtesy of the crime syndicate that he tried to muscle himself into. The arrogant an a bit muddled headed Diamond was set up by one of the women that he used and later dumped gangster Arnold "Big Bankroll, Rothstein's, Robert Lowery gun-moll Monica Blake, Elaine Stewart. It was Monica's way of getting back at the two-timing creep who like his long suffering wife Alice, Karen Steel, he had turned into a hapless and falling down on her head alcoholic!

Diamond himself could be a very witty and charming fellow when he wanted to be but that was only to win over one's confidence whom he planned to use for his own advantage. Once he got his hooks into you it was good night Charlie! It's that way that Diamond rose to the top of the New York underworld. And in the end it was that kind of sleazy and back stabbing actions that ended up landing him on a cold slab at the Albany Hospital morgue! What was by far the most despicable thing that Diamond did was have his sick TB infected little brother Eddie, Warren Oates, die on the streets of Denver as a homeless person when he, despite having millions of dollars in ill gotten gains, refused to pay Eddie's hospital bills!

It's when push came to shove in Diamond confronting the syndicate his own gang members deserted him in finally realizing that he wasn't exactly all there up-stairs. And weren't willing to end up in the same place, the grave, together with him. Alone with even his wife Alice, who put up with all the abuse he dished out on her, walking out on him Diamond dead drunk and barley awake, from all the booze in his system, would finally face justice! Not from the law but from those whom he was deeply involved with. And this time around, after three failed assassination attempts that left 11 bullets in his body, the bullets that Diamond thought that he was immune from found their mark!

Fast moving, action-packed and violent, this account of the criminal career of Jack "Legs" Diamond (Ray Danton) is presented with the same energy and drive that the notorious gangster showed when he was making his way to the very top of the New York underground. His determination, ruthlessness and scheming enabled him to achieve his ambition but he was also a man with a fatal flaw which ultimately contributed to his downfall.

Shortly after Jack and his sickly brother Eddie (Warren Oates) arrive in New York City, Jack meets dance instructor Alice Schiffer (Karen Steele) and is frustrated in his attempt to date her because she's due to take part in a dance competition. After pulling a couple of dirty tricks to incapacitate her dance partner and eliminate the couple who were expected to win, Jack and Alice win the competition and celebrate by going to a movie. During the performance, Jack exits the building via a skylight in the bathroom and steals a valuable necklace from the jewellery store next door before casually returning to his seat. After he slips the necklace into Alice's purse, the couple leave the building and avoid any problems with the police officers who are checking patrons outside because Alice is able to provide Jack with an alibi. Later that night, Jack dumps Alice because, in his eyes, she'd served her purpose.

Jack is subsequently found guilty of the theft and serves time in prison before contacting Alice to assist him in getting paroled. She obliges, but after working as her dance partner for the duration of his parole, Jack dumps her again and then focuses on stealing from people who aren't able to go to the police for help. To this end, he tries unsuccessfully to get hired as a bodyguard by underground kingpin Arnold Rothstein (Robert Lowery) and instead, is taken on by another gangster called Little Augie (Sid Melton). Shorty after, he and Augie are attacked by a couple of gunmen and although Jack miraculously survives (despite sustaining three bullet wounds), his boss is killed. When Jack recovers, he takes his revenge on the gunmen in an act that impresses Rothstein sufficiently for him to hire Jack as his bodyguard.

Jack uses his new job and an affair he has with Rothstein's girlfriend to learn everything he can about his boss' business and after Rothstein is killed in mysterious circumstances, establishes a protection racket to collect 25 % of the earnings made by the city's remaining crime bosses. Many complications follow as Jack gets shot again, marries Alice and sends Eddie away to a hospital in Denver to get treatment for his tuberculosis before having to deal with a whole series of further challenges, including the end of prohibition.

Jack, as depicted in this movie, is charming, confident and an incredible opportunist who's clever at using various schemes to achieve his goals. He's absolutely ruthless and brutal in pursuing his aims and is particularly callous in his treatment of his brother and the three women with whom he has affairs. After repeatedly recovering from being shot, he actually starts to believe that he can't be killed by a gun and his wife Alice sums up her feelings about him when she says that "he never loved anybody". Ray Danton is perfect for his role and is, in fact, so good that it's hard to imagine that anyone else could have equalled his performance.

"The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond" has a humorous undercurrent that works surprisingly well and also some top class camera-work. A low-angle shot of Jack seen through a skylight and an overhead shot of him standing outside a pawnbroker's shop are just a couple of examples of how well some of the scenes are composed. Overall, the movie is exciting and solidly entertaining and compares favourably in quality with the other gangster films (e.g. "Machine-Gun Kelly" and "Baby Face Nelson") which were so popular during the 1957 - 1960 period.

Good film. Warren Oates does well, and the photography is superb. A Scorsese caliber picture, before the Don of Urbana surfaced!! A well worth watching movie. It has the truth without the shine. It never slows or gets dull. Amazing for a movie with guys that were unknowns @ the time. Although it's a true story,it is depicted like a newsreel from the 30's. You feel like Legs himself.He has a contagious ambition, and he is naive to what new powers exist. He is heartless but always ambitious. His coldness towards others that are on his side amazes anyone. He wants to get ahead sooo bad, and he does. The story never gets dull, and ends with prophecy/look back.

Picture starts out with a promising mission: It was to show the rise and fall of Legs Diamond. At once, the guy is shown to be a selfish cad. Ray Danton looks almost glassy-eyed here in his portrayal of the noted gangster.

Jesse White, as Leo, is totally miscast. White sounds like he is almost ready to do another Maytag commercial. He is totally unconvincing as a gangster.

The picture quickly dissolves into a shoot them up action film. The characters are not given any chance to develop, especially the part of Arnold Rothstein.

Karen Steele does well in the part of the abused wife. She really drinks her way down a downward path.

Rather weak writing does this 1960 film in. Ray Danton, 5 years before, you made your film debut as Susan Hayward's ill-fated attorney-boyfriend in the classic "I'll Cry Tomorrow." You were voted most promising actor. Then, you began to make films of lower quality and you were soon washed up as an actor. As far as this film, while we realize that Legs is portrayed as someone not capable of loving anyone, it is never fully explained why he turned on his sickly brother.