Scorsese and HBO Have a Hit with "Boardwalk Empire"

Long ago, Martin Scorsese established himself as on of the greats in American movies. Last night, the country saw him take on TV for the first time with HBO's new series "Boardwalk Empire." The format was different, but it was another "Scorsese-does-gangsters" piece. Which made it very entertaining, and what little negative criticism there is of the work stems largely from high expectations.

The first episode takes the viewer through the hypocrisy of Prohibition in America. As the countdown to the implementation of the Volstead Act ticked away, Atlantic City's nightclubs were booming. When the bell rang declaring America to be dry, everyone celebrated by having drink. Then, the gangsters, corrupt police and politicians on the make starting supplying illegal goods at a huge profit. The parallel with the current drug laws is uncomfortable for many opposed to legalization.

The cast is led by character actor Steve Buscemi as Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (based on real life crooked politico Enoch L. Johnson). He plays the role solidly with a half smirk during moments of dark humor, but this might just be THE ROLE in his career. Much will depend on the writing of future episodes, but the quality of the acting is assured.

Michael Pitt as James "Jimmy" Darmody is convincing as a WWI vet who can't find his way back into civilian life. Aleksa Palladino is his wife, Angela Darmody, and no doubt domestic misery lies ahead somehow. Kelly Macdonald as Margaret Schroeder has already had her domestic misery, with an abusive husband who falls foul of Thompson and winds up dead, falsely blamed for a bootlegging hijack and murder. Michael Shannon as Agent Nelson Van Alden will play the good guy the audience cheers against, and he has already started to annoy with his straitlaced persona. Michael Stuhlbarg plays Arnold Rothstein, the man who fixed the World Series in 1919 the year before the series begins. He is not a tough street thug so much as a gambler who likes a rigged game. He will get others to do the dirty work. And among those are Stephen Graham as Al Capone and Vincent Piazza as Lucky Luciano, before either was a big deal. Their development could be the most entertaining part of the series.

Mr. Scorsese and the other executive producer, Mark Wahlberg (who has come a long way since being Marky Mark in the underwear ads), have created a vision of Atlantic City as a Las Vegas of the 1920s, the very thing many in AC wish it could be again. The filming is far more cinema than TV, and the pilot is said to have cost $18 million (HBO can afford it). Unfortunately, it will be compared to "The Sopranos" because of the content and HBO's involvement. Such comparisons are unfair to both. The key to Tony Soprano's story lay in its seeming normality of America in the 1990s and 2000s. The key to Nucky's story in 1920s is how his people helped create an indelible part of America in the 20th century.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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