The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967)

Starring: Jason Robards, George Segal, Ralph Meeker, Jean Hale & Bruce Dern

Director: Roger Corman

As any history buff will note, historical films, while often accurate in spirit, are inaccurate in presentation. Filmmakers often find the truth, or true sequence of events, less cinematic than they’d hoped. In director Roger Corman’s 1967 film, history is predominantly accurate—or at least more so than can be expected from a movie.

While telling the story of the massacre, starting with Pete and Frank Gusenburg’s attempted assassination of Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn, Corman enlists the aid of a narrator, who clearly outlines the facts of Chicago’s underworld, introducing each and every character, including a brief history and eventual demise. Beautifully shot and accurately capturing 1920’s Chicago, the film is an intriguing watch with fine performances from Jason Robards as Capone and George Segal as the psychotic Peter Gusenburg. One outrageous scene finds Gusenburg in a knock ‘em down fight with his lover, Myrtle (Jean Hale), over a fur coat.

In telling the story with accuracy, the filmmakers decided to go with the belief the killers John Scalise and Albert Anselmi were part of the killing team, along with Adolph Moller and Boris Chapman (as opposed to Jack McGurn and Tony Accardo). The film also takes the time to wrap up the story, covering the demise of the four killers, as well as the eventual demise of Bugs Moran and Al Capone.

The only glaring inaccuracy is the depiction of Joseph Aiello, a Chicago Mafia leader and foe of Capone’s who allied himself with Moran’s North Side Gang. While the film depicts Capone personally killing Aiello on a train before the massacre, in fact Aiello wasn’t murdered until October 1930, and not at the hands of Capone personally. He was gunned down in a crossfire upon leaving his expensive West Side apartment building on North Kolmar Avenue—undoubtedly, on orders from Capone.

Along with an early performance by Bruce Dern as John May, watch for a brief, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo by Jack Nicholson during the scene at the end where one of the killers is coating his Tommy gun’s bullets with garlic. Overall, an enjoyable film that is worth a look.

100 minutes—20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment