This afternoon, Quintin and I saw GANGSTER SQUAD, and we both loved the movie.  It really had some great moments, and some funny ones, as well.

GANGSTER SQUAD is secret crew of Los Angeles police 1949 officers led, by two determined sergeants, who work together in an effort to take down the ruthless mob king Mickey Cohen who runs the city.

Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Nick Nolte, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Mireille Enos, Ryan Gosling, and Austin Highsmith delivered some great performances.

The plot was easy, but the assembled cast was worth wading through the predictability.  I had most everything figured out two steps ahead of what was happening on screen, but it was still a very good watch.  It is your typical let’s-shoot-’em-up gangster/mod movie.  The thing that seemed different than previous gangster movies is that it takes place in 1949, not the 1930’s with the G-Men, Dillinger and the gang, and it was in Los Angeles and not Chicago.

At the beginning of the film, “Based On A True Story” appeared.

Just before the credits began scrolling, the voice-over stated that Mickey Cohen was arrested, and sent to Alcatraz where he met a cruel end with a metal pipe shortly after his arrival.  This would have been approximately 1950.  When I returned home and began reading about the mob boss, I learned that the movie’s epilogue was not even close to the truth.

In 1950, Mickey Cohen was sent to prison for four years for tax evasion.

Mickey Cohen was sent to Alcatraz in 1961, but again, for tax evasion.  It was during this time that another inmate attempted to kill him with a lead pipe.

Released from prison in 1972, Mickey Cohen toured the country to speak out against prison abuse.

Mickey Cohen died in his sleep, 1976.

In recent weeks, I have been engaged in many discussions about the legitimate facts being preserved for film and screen.  In particular, the LINCOLN movie has come under severe scrutiny in its portrayal of Mary Lincoln.  I’ve explained that a dramatist’s job is to tell a story, not facts.  As one who respects facts, I am also a playwright/director who understands the critical need to tell a story.

Tis a fine line I walk.

Those who sit down the Sunday night after each Christmas would not even recognize the true events preceding and surrounding the von Trapp family’s escape from Austria – there is very little connecting material.  The Smith family of St. Louis lost all its identity with Vincent Minelli’s MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS.  The only thing that did not change was their  Kensington Avenue address, and the World’s Fair being held in St. Louis.  Anna Leonowen’s true-life adventures in Siam are nothing like the musical/motion picture, THE KING AND I, and Gypsy Rose Lee’s transfer to the musical stage is a far cry from the true events of her life.

For me, if the movie is to be solely based on facts, it then becomes a documentary.  When a screenwriter, or playwright pens a script based on an actual event, it seldom appears before an audience as a non-fictional vehicle.

I’ve become weary of explaining reasons why dramatists make the decisions they do.  The theorists of history will never be placated unless it is a documentary – and even in some documentaries, the facts are skewed.  It all depends on who is telling the story.

I do not agree with of Jessica Baxter’s thoughts, but GANGSTER SQUAD review offers some interesting things.  The LOS ANGELES’ TIMES review provides interesting detail about the sets and filming on location.

In an Pan MacMillan interview with Paul Lieberman, author of the book GANGSTER SQUAD, he clearly describes the difference between the movie

Q: The book’s cover says the true tale “inspired” Warner Bros.’ upcoming movie of “Gangster Squad.”  Is that an acknowledgement that a lot of license was taken in the film in the name of cinematic drama?

PL:  Short answer, yes. The characters are there:  O’Mara is played by Josh Brolin, Wooters by Ryan Gosling and Mickey by Sean Penn. But it’s a Warner Bros. gangster film. That studio was behind the old classics of the genre staring James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and the like. So the film also is a riff on the genre, meaning there’s a lot more violence than in real life.  O’Mara did sleep with a Tommy gun under his bed but the squad didn’t have the wild shootouts you’ll see in the film. One of O’Mara’s daughters is upset by the violence but his other daughter attended a lot of the shoot and was fine with it. “It’s a movie,” she noted. The movie is set in 1949, the year Warner Bros. released one of its greatest gangster films, “White Heat,” in which Cagney plays a deranged hood a bit too close to his mother. The famous last scene has him high atop an oil refinery, where he shouts as it blows up, “Made it Ma! Top of the world!”   That too was cinematic invention, not real life. I think audiences understand the difference.

Like O’Mara’s one daughter so aptly stated, “It’s a movie.”