***OFFICIAL*** Boardwalk Empire thread (1 Viewer)

McJose said:

Leeroy Jenkins said:

McJose said:

I liked it but still can't figure out what the deal is with the main character. There really was a guy named Enoch who ran AC's rackets. But his name was Enoch Johnson, not Thompson. I mean they've got Capone, Rothstein, and Luciano but why'd they have to change Johnson's name to Thompson since the charcter is obviously based on him?

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They said because they are going to have the character do some things that Johnson may not have done or agreed to do or something like that. I'm not sure how historically accurate this show is going to be.

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I guess I'm looking at it a little like "Rome". Not all that historically accurate but they used real historical figures and kept their names (as far as I know). It's not a big deal...I just think it's weird.

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McJose said:

shut it down said:

Sepinwall had better be all over this.

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"First rule of politics, kiddo: never let the truth get in the way of a good story." -Nucky

Though my affection for "Boardwalk Empire" only grew over the course of the six episodes I got to see, I think this is a pretty spectacular pilot, particularly in all the Scorsese flourishes (like the freeze-frame on the masked face leading into the temperance woman yelling, "Coward! Monster! Vicious brute!"). But I want to start out with the one part of the pilot that I don't think works very well, and which has been a point of discussion with every single person (mostly critics) I know who saw it in advance.

Specifically, even after the scene where Agent Van Alden and his partner are in the phone booths talking about who all of Nucky's dinner guests are and what they want, and after the scene where Nucky and Arnold Rothstein negotiate the Canadian Club deal, it's still not entirely clear who's allied with whom, then who's screwing with whom later, why Big Jim Colosimo gets killed, etc.

To an extent, I don't know that this could be helped. It's an enormous cast, and a whole new world, to introduce in 75 minutes, and Terry Winter had to concern himself with setting up storylines for the entire season. But it's still a confusing sequence of events, and one where I needed a second viewing of the pilot, and then some extracurricular Google'ing, to fully appreciate it.

The broad strokes:

• Rothstein and Lucky Luciano are running things in New York. They want to buy Nucky's latest shipment of Canadian Club.

• Rothstein then cheats his way to a huge night at one of Nucky's casinos, to the point where Nucky is actually paying Rothstein for the privilege of taking all that whiskey off his hands.

• Johnny Torrio, formerly of New York, is now working in Chicago under Big Jim, and young Al Capone (whose introduction is one of my favorite moments in the pilot, and one that I hope wasn't spoiled for you by pre-show promotion) works as Torrio's driver. Big Jim doesn't want to get into bootlegging, and insists that his people stick to the prostitution business.

• Jimmy Darmody, frustrated at his lack of advancement in Nucky's operation, approaches the similarly frustrated Capone and they decide to rob the Canadian Club after Rothstein's people have taken possession of it, at which point Capone will take it back to Chicago and sell it to Torrio.

• Torrio, eager to get into bootlegging, arranges to take out Big Jim and take his place.

• And because Rothstein assumes the theft was an inside job by Nuck's people, Nucky's now on the hook to him for both the liquor (on top of what Nucky already paid to acquire it) and the gambling money.

All of that is in there, including the bit about Big Jim not wanting to sell liquor, but it's only mentioned briefly by Capone while he chats with Jimmy outside the big meeting. Miss that line of dialogue, and you've pulled the main thread on the whole thing.

But even if that one section is fuzzy, so much of the "Boardwalk" pilot is crystal clear. It's fantastic to look at, whether in the tracking shot as Nucky makes his way down the boardwalk, or Big Jim's assassination itself(*). It has Winter's sense of humor, which at times is very dark, and at times can be quite silly. (For the latter, there was the whole sequence with Nucky's sex with Lucy being interrupted by manservant Eddie, and then Nucky and Eddie trying to break down the bathroom door.) And the cast is just incredible.

(*) As I mentioned in the review, that sequence is the kind of thing that only Scorsese or Coppola can get away with. In a part of our interview that I saved for after this episode, I asked Winter about doing such a classical mob movie moment like that as the climax to his pilot, and he said:

Well it's sort of classic but it's a life imitating art imitating life sort of thing, because Big Jim loved classical music, that's true. In his restaurant, all the walls had opera stars. He was a friend of Enrico Caruso. So it sort of lent itself to that death. So did mob movies steal from that original thing, because there was this mob boss who loved opera? It may have come from real life anyway, but then it's became a staple of what we think of as a mob movie - as soon as the opera music starts, you know somebody's going to get killed. But the story was real. So that was actually an honest depiction of how he died. And the fact that it feels mob movie-like and operatic is just by happenstance. But that was the real thing.

For much of the pilot, Steve Buscemi's job is to play the calm, commanding center of this post-Volstead Act maelstrom, and he does a fine job of that. But there are other moments where he turns introspective looking at the baby incubators(**) and perhaps thinks of a more innocent and less violent time in his life, and then there are others where he loses his temper dealing with the likes of Jimmy and Lucy and Margaret Schroeder's abusive, alcoholic husband. It's not a surprise that he can play all those notes so well, but to do it while carrying so much of the expositional load for this long and complicated pilot? That's damn good.(**) That was a real Atlantic City storefront that was part tourist attraction, part hospital.

Michael Shannon gives me the creeps every time I hear Agent Van Alden say the phrase "It's a godly pursuit," and Michael Pitt (with whom I wasn't very familiar) does a great job at establishing Jimmy as both impatient with the state of his Atlantic City career and haunted by what he did in Europe.

Nucky wanted Jimmy to be a politician. Now Jimmy wants Nucky to embrace the fact that they've become gangsters. Which one is right?

Well, we know what a boon Prohibition was to the spread of organized crime - a spread Nucky helps start during this episode - and we see in the Prohibition's Eve party that few in the country actually expect the Volstead Act to be much more than an inconvenience. Mrs. Schroeder's husband, who beats her into a miscarriage in response to Nucky's public humiliation of him, is a sign of why the temperance movement pushed for alcohol to be banned. But dangerous men are dangerous with or without alcohol (see teetotaler Arnold Rothstein), and alcohol is still plentiful after Prohibition goes into effect. In Nucky's world, everyone's a liar, and a hypocrite, and a thief. It's all a matter of degree, and of being smart enough to take money from the man next to you.

It's a crazy world, and a hell of a start to this series, even if there are some expositional bumps along the way.

Some other thoughts:

• While Winter told me that he wants to show all the ways that life in 1920 was similar to life today, one way that's clearly different is that 90 years ago, the whole "and that little boy grew up to be" rhetorical device was still fresh.

• Note that Nucky's late wife is played (at least in that photo) by Molly Parker from "Deadwood." Per Winter, "It was a joint decision between me, Tim (Van Patten) & Marty -- we had all been fans of Molly's work and Tim worked with her several times."

• Another lovely piece of work by Scorsese and the editors: the sequence of Jimmy's son's playing with his soldier figurines intercut with the Prohibition agents going through their military-style training.

• Blink and you might have missed Michael Kenneth Williams' first appearance as Chalky White, who was waiting impatiently to see Nucky. But fret not, "Wire" fans: it may take a few weeks, but Omar coming.

• Considering how strong and natural the rest of the cast is, I can't help cringing a bit at the hammy performance by the guy who plays Mickey Doyle, the giggly bootlegger who works out of the funeral parlor. It's not quite like that "Happy Days" episode where Richie pretended to be a mobster, but it's not far off.

• Even though I knew Dabney Coleman was in the cast of this show, I have to admit I had no idea he was playing Nucky's mentor, the Commodore, until at least two or three episodes in. He doesn't look appreciably older from the last few shows he did, but he carries himself very differently, and his voice is much fainter and less blue-collar than I'm used to.

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Raider Nation said:

Michael Shannon gives me the creeps every time I hear Agent Van Alden say the phrase "It's a godly pursuit."

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GTBilly said:

Did anyone else spew milk through their nose when they read the MARK WAHLBERG producer/exec producer credit?

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GTBilly said:

Did anyone else spew milk through their nose when they read the MARK WAHLBERG producer/exec producer credit?

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After only one episode, HBO has seen to it that Prohibition era Atlantic City is going to see a second season. Boardwalk Empire, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg, Terence Winter and Tim Van Patten premiered Sunday night with 4.8 million viewers (and up to 7.1 million after two repeats). That was the network’s most-watch premiere since Deadwood in 2004, and HBO quickly announced they renewed the show for season two.

Starring Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald and Michael Shannon among others, Boardwalk Empire dramatizes life in Atlantic City, NJ in 1920 when Prohibition began in the United States. Buscemi plays “Nucky” Thompson, a local politician who takes advantage of the day to become an organized crime leader.

Reviews on the first episode of Boardwalk Empire were generally positive, though many people - such as Ken Tucker at Entertainment Weekly - mentioned that the pilot episode, which Scorsese directed, is the weakest of the early episodes. And considering the episode was so entertaining, I can’t even imagine how good this series can get.

“All the ingredients aligned for this one, from Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson’s initial pitch, to Martin Scorsese’s enormous contributions as director and executive producer, to the genius of Terry Winter and the expertise of Tim Van Patten, to a stellar cast led by Steve Buscemi,” said HBO programming president Michael Lombardo in a news release. “The response from the media and our viewers has been nothing short of amazing.”

Being a huge fan of HBO’s programming, in particular The Sopranos, The Wire and Entourage, Boardwalk Empire seems to fit nicely into their oeuvre. It has a lot of the family and crime drama that we know and love from The Sopranos, in a gorgeous period setting that not only lends itself to a great story, but also amazing historical references.

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4x champ said:

GTBilly said:

Did anyone else spew milk through their nose when they read the MARK WAHLBERG producer/exec producer credit?

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Definitely, I was suprised to see him in the preview, being credited with exec producer. But exec producers can do as little as contribute financial backing for a project. It doesn't necessarily mean he has alot of input on the storyline or actual show production.

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Raider Nation said:

That corpse was sporting a helluva old school bush!

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jdoggydogg said:

Raider Nation said:

That corpse was sporting a helluva old school bush!

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I don't know if you saw The Bank Job, but the casting search had a hard time finding women that "looked the part" down there. So the women in that film wore toupees. Seriously.

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Raider Nation said:

Raider Nation said:

Michael Shannon gives me the creeps every time I hear Agent Van Alden say the phrase "It's a godly pursuit."

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I was trying to figure out where I had seen this actor before.

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jdoggydogg said:

Coincidence? I just watched Casino, and DeNiro's character is named Sam "Ace" Rothstein. DeNiro's character is based on Frank Rosenthal, who ran the Stardust, Fremont and the Hacienda casinos in Las Vegas for the Chicago Outfit from the 1970s until the early 1980s.So I wonder if the Rothstein character name in Casino is a tribute to the real life gambler / gangster Arnold Rothstein that appears in Boardwalk.

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Major said:

Is the battered wife, the young Scottish chick from Trainspotting that McGregor nails after da club? Haven't IMDB but pretty sure it is.

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belljr said:

Well i've now fallen asleep 2 times trying to watch this. Not because of the show just my schedule.Going to have to fire up on demand to get through the whole thing.ETA: Surpirsed as much as you guys mentionedMark Walhberg - Executive Producer, guess him and Marty got close on entourage.

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belljr said:

ok finally watched, one question.

I'm a little confused. So they hit the Chicago guys but they stole the alchohol to take to another Chicago gang?

I'm a tad lost. Help
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WVU Alum said:

belljr said:

ok finally watched, one question.

I'm a little confused. So they hit the Chicago guys but they stole the alchohol to take to another Chicago gang?

I'm a tad lost. Help
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WVU Alum said:

belljr said:

ok finally watched, one question.

I'm a little confused. So they hit the Chicago guys but they stole the alchohol to take to another Chicago gang?

I'm a tad lost. Help
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The Ref said:

TLEF316 said:

very good first episode. Some interesting characters and lots of action.

The sets and costumes look awesome. Typical high production values from HBO.

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Lets just hope if this turns out well they won't shut it down because of the high costs like they did with Rome and Deadwood.

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Tremendous Upside said:

Major said:

Is the battered wife, the young Scottish chick from Trainspotting that McGregor nails after da club? Haven't IMDB but pretty sure it is.

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Kelly MacDonald

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Premier said:

Thought it was pretty boring tonight.

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Premier said:

Thought it was pretty boring tonight.

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McJose said:

Premier said:

Thought it was pretty boring tonight.

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There is so much to like about this show...the cast, the setting, the dialogue, the effects etc.I like the show but it just hasn't grabbed me yet.

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Premier said:

Thought it was pretty boring tonight.

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Nucky Thompson is a hard man to get close to, though several characters in this episode keep trying to do so. Jimmy wants back in after the rift he created with the Canadian Club heist. Agent Van Alden wants very much to find out how a county official lives like a pharaoh. And Margaret Schroeder seems eager to put the memory of her murdered husband and miscarried child behind her if the kind and generous (and wealthy) Mr. Thompson were to ask her to do more than vote Republican.

But of course Nucky is showing a different face to each of them, as Steve Buscemi's effortless performance demonstrates the many roles a man in Nucky's position must play.

With Jimmy, he's a cold mob boss, forcing his one-time protege to cough up an additional three grand he doesn't have. And when Jimmy finally produces it (in part by stealing back the jewelry he just bought his mother), Nucky immediately bets and loses it all in front of him. It's a cruel lesson, but an effective one. Jimmy wants to be a big-time gangster, but Nucky operates on a scale Jimmy can't comprehend. To Jimmy, that money was everything; to Nucky, it was nothing.

With Van Alden, Nucky is a smooth politician, fending off the G-man's every question with various lines of prepared bull - like the notion that Mrs. Schroeder's late husband Hans could have been responsible for the massacre in the woods - and though Van Alden believes not one word of it, Nucky shows no chinks in his armor.

And with Margaret, he's someone far more tender and vulnerable, but only so much. Her life with Hans was so awful that she seems eager for his attentions (note how disappointed she is when the "Mr. Thompson" at her hospital bed is Eli, not Nucky). And something in Margaret strikes a chord in Nucky in a way that Lucy, for all her eagerness in bed, can't. But Nucky feels guilt over the role he played in Margaret's miscarriage, and with Hans as the fall guy for the massacre, he can't afford to get too close to her. But you can see, right before he answers her question about what he wants from her, that he wants her just as much as she wants him.

When you have a pilot as expensive as last week's episode was, and when you get a noted feature director to helm it, there's always the fear that episode two will be a disappointment. But Tim Van Patten very much carried on the Scorsese style, give or take a few of the pilot's little flourishes. (The episode didn't open and close with an iris the way the pilot did, for instance.) Big Jim's Chicago funeral had the visual sweep of many of the pilot's bigger sequences, the shot of Van Alden lighting his match at Margaret's house looked very much like a Scorsese shot, and the sequence where Van Alden tells his boss how Nucky's business works was very evocative of Henry Hill doing the same for the "Goodfellas" audience.

So the show still has the visual flair Scorsese brought. It still has that incredible cast, and Terry Winter giving those actors great material to play (and not having to lay out quite as complicated a story this week), and it has a world with storytelling possibilities as limitless as Nucky's power seems at this moment.

No let-up. At all.

Some other thoughts:

• I may have to start a regular This Week in Van Alden Creepiness feature, though here I'm not sure I'd be able to choose between the moment where he tells the clearly bruised and battered Margaret that he's sure Hans was a fine and decent man, or Van Alden writing a letter to his wife lacking any degree of warmth or affection. I've only ever seen Michael Shannon play weirdos (even the guy in "World Trade Center" was unsettling in his military focus), but he's fabulous at it.

• The episode tries to give us a deeper understanding of Jimmy, too, and in keeping with that we get to meet Gretchen Mol as Gillian, who at first seems like a mistress he's gone to after Tommy interrupts Angela's attempt to make love "the French way," but who is revealed to be Jimmy's mom. (She obviously had him very young.)

• It takes Arnold Rothstein a long time to get through to Nucky, but in the interim, Michael Stuhlbarg gets to deliver a wonderfully menacing little speech to Frankie Yale (the guy who whacked Big Jim) about the cue balls. "The moral of this story is if I'd cause a stranger to choke to death for my own amusement, what do you think I'll do to you if you don't tell me who paid you to kill Colisimo?" (Reminds me a bit of a famous scene from Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye" where a gangster slashes his girlfriend's face to prove a similar point to Marlowe about how dangerous he is.)

• Al Capone, on the other hand, isn't so much with the intimidating speeches, instead taking the direct approach towards showing his displeasure with the reporter who wants a statement about Big Jim's murder.

• The Ku Klux Klan are seen passing out fliers on the boardwalk. The show takes place only a few years after the release of D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" rekindled interest in the KKK among certain virulent portions of society.

• Meanwhile, the Commodore reveals that his own prejudices extend to disdain for women, as he makes his argument against women's sufferage by shaming his uneducated maid with a question about the League of Nations that he knows she can't possibly answer.

• Nucky tries to help his friend George (who later stumbles across the not-quite-dead guy from the woods massacre) by telling his blonde companion about his plans for a big Atlantic City beauty pageant. The year after season one takes place (when season two, which HBO recently ordered, will presumably be set) would bring the Atlantic City Pageant, which would a year after that morph into Miss America. I haven't been able to find anything connecting the real Nucky Johnson to the pageant's founding, but I haven't looked very hard.

• Eli is Nucky's enforcer, but we see when Nucky complains about the disposal of Schroeder's body that Eli doesn't appreciate being lectured by his older brother.

• The screeners HBO sent out back in July didn't have the main title sequence attached, so the first time I saw it was last week, and I have to admit that I don't love it. The music ("Straight Up and Down" by The Brian Jonestown Massacre) is anachronistic, which might be okay if the rest of the series were more stylized and didn't lean so heavily on the period music, and the overall tone doesn't really feel like the show that follows.

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biggamer3 said:

Can someone explain to me why they had the comedian do his shpiel during the Jimmy heist and murders?

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Raider Nation said:

biggamer3 said:

Can someone explain to me why they had the comedian do his shpiel during the Jimmy heist and murders?

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That's one of Marty's signatures. Remember in Goodfellas, Henny Youngman was telling jokes as Tommy and HENDRY were robbing Air France?

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gump said:

Watching Ep 1 last night.... I'm in.Hard to believe that was Coleman.Loved the scene with the little people boxing....showing why Capone got his nickname, then the look on his face as he turns to Billy's question about the liquor pickup.

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