Capone at the Movies

Andrew Ward
Aug 29, 2017 · 1 min read

Capone loved movies but ultimately wanted nothing to do with Hollywood. He knew he would be outgunned or outwitted by the likes of Sam Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer, and after he and his family were hounded out of Los Angeles a day after they arrived to scout property, his wife Mae refused to return. He was morbidly fascinated by gangster films, but claimed to have donated money to organizations that sought to ban them.

I’m always getting offers I should be in the movies. One time this director name of Hawks was planning a gangster movie and wanted me in it. I told him no. Why’d I do that when I can do what actors do standing on my fucking head? Cause the rackets ain’t fun and games. • I come to believe how these gangster pix, besides getting everything wrong and making me and the boys hysterical, was bad for the kiddies’ morals. I even give dough to get rid of them. But they just keep coming.”

Excerpted from I, Capone: The Memoirs of Al Capone. Copyright © 2017 by Andrew Ward. All rights reserved.

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Written by

Author of nine books, the latest: I, Capone. Former Contributing Editor at The Atlantic, Columnist at Washington Post, Commentator on All Things Considered.

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