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Bugsy (1991)
In Barry Levinson's complex gangster biopic:
- the meeting of psychopathic, larger-than-life, East
Coast 40s Jewish gangster Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel (Oscar-nominated
Warren Beatty) and sassy, slinky, and leggy B-movie Hollywood starlet
Virginia "Flamingo" Hill (Annette Bening, who engaged
in an off-screen romance with Beatty, leading to their real-life
marriage in 1992), on the set of a Hollywood film - they were in
front of an artificial backdrop when he offered to light her cigarette
and they verbally jousted together: (Virginia: "The way you
were staring at me, I thought you were gonna ask me for something
a little more exciting" Bugsy: "Like what?" Virginia: "Use
your imagination" Bugsy: "I'm using it" Virginia: "Let
me know when you're finished")
- afterwards, she turned and left, but was still in
front of the set; Bugsy rushed back to her side and admitted that
he was interested in her, even though he was married to Esta (Wendy
Phillips), and she was his associate Joey Adonis' girl; she questioned
his faithfulness: "I'll bet Esta lives her life faithful to
her one and only Ben, who plays around like a jackrabbit on the side
and lies about it through his teeth"; she bluntly asked: "Are
you ready for a divorce, Mr. Siegel?"; she ended the conversation
by calling him a "f--k-happy fellow" and urging: "Why
don't you run outside and jerk yourself a soda?"
- the scene in which they first kissed - silhouetted
in the light behind the screen of his projected screen-acting test
when she told him: "Do you always talk this much before you
do it?"
- the brutal scene during a dinner date with Virginia
in which Siegel humiliated cheating crime associate Jack Dragna (Richard
Sarafian) for skimming funds: ("Did you think you could steal
from ME?"), and sadistically made him crawl on the floor and
bark like a dog: ("Now bark like the dog that you wish that
you were decent enough to be") and then squeal like a pig: ("Now
let me hear you oink like the treacherous, devious pig that you are")
- Siegel's gluttonous food binge at the dinner table
- and loving attention and passionate kisses all over his face by
his sexually-charged moll
- the scene of the visionary and grandiose Bugsy having
a "religious epiphany" in the desert about building a casino
("the single best idea I ever had")
- the memorable scene in which adulterous family man
Bugsy (in a ridiculous chef's hat) was in his East Coast home hosting
three different groups: (1) his wife Esta and two children celebrating
daughter Millicent's (Stefanie Mason) birthday, (2) his trusted foul-mouthed
associate Mickey Cohen (Harvey Keitel) on the phone as he jealously
sought to know mistress Virginia's whereabouts in California, and
(3) his New York gangster associates being convinced to provide $1
million in funding for his flamboyant dream to build a casino in
the Nevada desert
- the striking scene in a restaurant's women's room
of Bugsy avoiding admitting that he wanted a divorce from his stunned
wife Esta: ("You want a divorce, don't you?")
- the final scene of Bugsy's multiple-gunshot murder
by a sniper/hitman outside of his Beverly Hills home while he was
in his living room reading an LA Times newspaper and sentimentally
watching a projected film reel of his own awful Hollywood screen
test
Bugsy's Murder - Multiple Gunshots
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First Meeting with Bugsy's Future Moll Virginia Hill on
a Hollywood Set
Their First Kiss
Crawling on Floor Humiliation
Food and Kissing Binge
Dream to Build Casino in Nevada Desert
Esta: "You want a divorce, don't you?"
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