The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960) on Netflix
In Prohibition New York, Jack Diamond and his sickly brother Eddie work as jewel thieves. Jack aims to take the bootleg, drug and gambling operations of gangster Arnold Rothstein.
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- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.7/101,598 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes75%
Trailer
Plot summary
In the 1920s Jack Diamond, an ambitious but smalltime thief, and his sickly brother Eddie move to New York City, where the two of them steal jewelry. Jack meets a dance instructor and lies to her to get a date, using the outing to rob a jewelry store. After a stay in jail he works at her dance school while on probation, and from there he is hired as bodyguard for the gangster Arnold Rothstein. Rothstein is the man who gives him the nickname Legs. Jack's plan is to supplant the boss and take over his bootleg, drug and gambling businesses.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Philip Yordan was fired from the film by producer Milton Sperling after Yordan's own secretary came forward and said she had written the script, a claim Yordan admitted was true.
- George C. Scott was announced as the star in August 1959, but the lead was offered to Robert Evans, who turned it down; the part went to Ray Danton, who played Legs Diamond again in Portrait of a Mobster (1961).
- Frank de Kova's syndicate boss is listed only as "The Chairman" because he was portraying Lucky Luciano, and the film chose not to name Luciano since he was still alive.
- Budd Boetticher said he cast Ray Danton partly to try to save Danton's marriage to Julie Adams, and that of seven actors he tested, Danton's was the only screen test he shot properly; Jack Warner approved him.
- Budd Boetticher researched the real Jack Diamond's crimes so thoroughly that Warner Bros. refused to let him make the picture as he wanted, forcing him to clean the story up; the film was shot in twenty-four days.
- Budd Boetticher injured himself falling from a horse while directing the film and called it the most difficult picture of his life, saying he learned to hate co-star Karen Steele and that Ray Danton was no friend of his, yet worked harder when he disliked the people.
- Budd Boetticher and cinematographer Lucien Ballard deliberately made the film stock look old and grainy so it would mix with real stock footage from the period, aiming for an authentic 1920s atmosphere.
- Guitarist Hank Marvin was inspired to give the film's name to his tune "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt" after seeing the film.
