‘The Alto Knights’ Review: A Double Helping of De Niro

“The Alto Knights,” a new mob movie starring Robert De Niro, carries a lot of weight from its very beginning. Not just historical weight about the Mafia — it concentrates on a stretch from the mid-1950s into the early 1970s — but cinematic weight as well.

It’s the story of a gangster friendship that turns homicidally sour. The New York City crime lords Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, we’re told here by way of narration from Costello, became best friends in a Little Italy social club called Alto Knights.

The criminals develop different styles. Vito stayed downtown, calling shots, literally and figuratively, from a crate-filled back room, while Frank cultivated such a high profile as a, ahem, “professional gambler” that he made the cover of Time magazine. Frank is enjoying his life so thoroughly that he doesn’t register Vito’s irritation until he survives a shooting by one of Vito’s foot soldiers, a hulking brute by the name of Vincent Gigante.

Yes, it’s that Vincent Gigante, the one who eventually got the nickname “Chin” (and the actor playing him, Cosmo Jarvis, does his level best to put that facial feature forward in all his scenes). Debra Messing plays Costello’s wife, Bobbie, whose role in the marriage seems to be to smile reassuringly. Other names that will ring bells with Cosa Nostra connoisseurs include Albert Anastasia and the quaint upstate hamlet called Apalachin.

Even the soundtrack strikes familiar notes of the period and the milieu; there’s a glimpse of the duo Keely Smith and Louis Prima, and Jo Stafford’s version of “You Belong To Me.” Along the way the filmmakers remind you of the real-life hit that inspired the harrowing barbershop killing in “The Godfather.” The violence is frequent, but much of “The Alto Knights,” directed by Barry Levinson from a script by Nicholas Pileggi (“Goodfellas”), will feel almost, well, cozy. Several of the camera setups in the movie look to have been cribbed from “Goodfellas,” by way of tribute, one supposes. (Given the average age of the cast, this picture could have been called “Oldfellas.”)

Is there anything really new here? Well, yes.

In a move that pretty much dares you to call it a stunt, the roles of Genovese and Costello are both played by De Niro. And the actor pulls it off, at least as far as anyone could pull it off. He provides each figure with a genuine, distinct characterization. His Genovese hides behind tinted glasses, but he’s vulgar and volatile — De Niro here seems to be lifting a little from his old co-star Joe Pesci. His Costello, however, is a jovial glad-hander, a deft strategist and a bit of a fatalist; this leaves a lot of opportunities for him to put on his familiar “ambivalent” face, a kind of shrug delivered with mouth and eyebrows. While it’s inevitable that some, maybe many, viewers will find the dual role a distraction, those who hunger for De Niro in mobster mode will get more than their fill.

The Alto Knights
Rated R for violence, language and mob stuff. Running time: 2 hours. In theaters.