by Mike DiBella
review
Trying his experienced hand at the gangster film genre, Dustin Hoffman failed unceremoniously with the loopy and ludicrous Billy Bathgate. Robert Benton and Tom Stoppard were clearly out of their league attempting to bring the E.L Doctorow story to the big screen, which was loosely based on Dutch Schulz and Lucky Luciano's vaunted criminal outfits. Bland and predictable from start to finish, and poorly acted with exception of the sublime Steve Buscemi, this is the apotheosis of an ill-advised gangland period piece.
