The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was released on Blu-ray by Twilight Time last month in a limited edition of 3000 units.
This review comes a bit late, and for that I apologize. This release coincided with the birth of my daughter, and one has demanded significantly more time than the other.
When this disc arrived I didn’t know much about the film, and was surprised to learn that it was directed by the prolific Roger Corman, which made me excited to check it out. Despite his many directorial credits, Mr. Corman is in my mind a producer first and foremost — a man who surrounded himself with great people at AIP and New World Pictures, and helped launch the careers of half the people in Hollywood. He produced some of my favorite films, including Death Race 2000, Big Bad Mama, and Rock N Roll High School. Yet despite loving his output as producer of cinema’s greatest exploitation films, I’ve only seen a handful of his directorial efforts.
In Prohibition-era Chicago, “Scarface” Al Capone (Jason Robards) is the king of the city’s thriving bootleg liquor business. Their sole competitor, the North Side Gang led by George “Bugs” Moran (Ralph Meeker), not only stubbornly hangs onto a portion of the town’s speakeasies, but is brazenly attempting to expand their territory. The war between the Italian and Irish gangs escalates to a fever pitch of retaliatory actions, and there’s certainly an element of communication breakdown evident: if only these guys would just talk, they could probably work this thing out.
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre represents a somewhat different version of Corman than the one we usually know. With a studio-backed budget of $1 million, the film was easily his most ambitious picture. Though not a huge budget by most standards, for low-budget master Corman it was unheard of. Corman stretched his dollar even further by borrowing elaborately decorated sets created for others films including The Sound Of Music. Amusingly, but true to form, he even delivered the film way under budget.
The result is a film that looks considerably more slick and polished than perhaps any other Corman picture, yet still charmingly low-rent (the sets and props sometimes look like… well, sets and props). It’s a pretty far cry from Corman’s usual cheap science fiction and exploitation offerings but convincingly the work of the same gutsy filmmaker with its volatile mix of gangs, booze, and violence. There’s are also some very impressive cinematography, these beautiful shot compositions for example:
Told in a straightforward, almost documentarian style by an omniscient no-nonsense narrator, the film provides a great deal of both insight and drama on the many events and key personalities that lead to a violent conclusion which is also serves as the film’s title. Corman takes time to flesh out many real-life characters on both sides of the conflict, so when the violence erupts, those impacted aren’t simply faceless gangsters but real people.
For some, the historical knowledge of what will transpire may detract from tension and narrative of the buildup, but even if you know exactly what’s coming it’s all pretty engrossing.
Plus, Dick Miller.
The Package
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre comes to us from Twilight Time on February 10 in a limited edition of 3000 units. True to their usual format, the package comes in a flat-spined Blu-ray case and an 8-page booklet with an essay by Julie Kirgo which highlights some thoughts about Roger Corman, violence in cinema, and the film’s making and casting.
Special Features and Extras
Isolated Score Track
Roger Corman Remembers (3:31)
A short but very informative look back at the making of the film with its director
Fox Movietone News (4:41)
This is a strange but fitting inclusion: Vintage newsreels about Al Capone.
Trailer (2:32)
A/V Out.
Available on Twilight Time Blu-ray exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment.
Get it at Amazon:
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre [DVD] | [Instant]