The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same- But Without Bush

 Finished 'bingeing' "Boardwalk Empire". It was a pretty intense series. Ambitious too. I know a bit about the beginnings of the Chicago mob, but as soon as Al Capone came on the scene- in Atlantic City??- I had to question the historical accuracy of this undertaking. I had never heard of him having any doings in AC. Same with Lucky Luciano, Arnold Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel and various other, lesser-known gangsters. I know about artistic liberties in film, but this seemed to be a sort of orgy of inclusionary story telling. Too many chefs in the kitchen. 

OK, there was a "Nucky Thompson" in Atlantic City at the time, but his real name was "Nucky Johnson". So, rather than being shirttail Irish, he was Norwegian. He was a bit of a bootlegger and a political boss, but evidently, he never killed anybody or even ordered anyone to be killed. Not a lot to build on there and I can see a writers need to embellish more interesting, relatable characters into the story. Fiction is as fiction does. 

As I was watching, I was trying to figure out who gets killed and who doesn't because I knew the history of the more notable gangsters. Bugsy went on to invent Las Vegas and be portrayed as "Moe Green" in "The Godfather". Meyer Lansky survived to become Hyman Roth in "Godfather II". So, I knew they were going to make it. Trust me- there were a lot of people I was rooting for to get killed in this show. I wanted Capone whacked very early on because he was so fucking annoying! I knew it wasn't going to happen, but if you are going to take liberties with history, why not kill this silly son of a bitch in a glorious, bloody manner? The real Al Capone died of the unnatural causes of dementia brought on by untreated syphilis. Going down in a blaze of machine gun fire would have been a far better tribute to a legendary gangster. It may have been wrong, but why not make it right while doing it wrong? Capiche'? 

OK. So, it wasn't historically accurate- at all. That's entertainment. They got close! That's storytelling. Overall, it was a good, but very involved story that was perhaps too involved. Lots of filler. They had to stretch this thing out over five seasons so, much of the plot goes nowhere, for no particular reason. There is a ton of gratuitous sex and violence. I like that, though some of the violence was too extreme for my tastes. As a kid I grew up on Matt Dillon shooting guys who fell down and died. Not always the way real death is, but we got the gist of it. There was, however, also gratuitous pussy galore! That, I like! You young kids just don't know what it was like when women had bushes. It was a glorious adventure. Every woman in this historical drama had period appropriate pubic hair. They took no liberties there. They took no razors there either. 

It was a bit of an ordeal to get through 56 episodes of Boardwalk, but I'm retired, and I have nothing better to do, so, nevertheless, I persisted. I'm not sorry. Steve Buscemi was wonderful. Really, good performances by all. And whether they meant to or not, those involved told a truly American tale of how greed, violence, and corruption built these United States into the greedy, violent, corrupt country that we enjoy today. Everything old is new again and the same ugly people are having their way with us in politics and crime today, as were a hundred years ago. There is maybe some cold comfort in that after all.