Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, vie for control of the city's streets. Once the best of friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals place them on a deadly collision course that will reshape the Mafia (and America) forever.
The Alto Knights covers well-trodden Mafia biography territory — the Costello-Genovese rivalry is a familiar story for crime history enthusiasts, and the film doesn't bring a distinctly fresh perspective or visual style to distinguish it from the crowded gangster genre. Robert De Niro playing both roles is a gimmick that generates curiosity but doesn't elevate the material beyond competent execution. The plot is serviceable but episodic, relying heavily on genre conventions. The ending, dramatizing a historical denouement audiences may already know, lands without much punch. Cinematography is workmanlike period-accurate but unremarkable. Overall a middling entry in the prestige crime drama space.