King Of The Roaring 20s (1961)

Set in the 1920s, an ambitious if cold hearted gambler (David Janssen) rises in the world of Manhattan mobsters to the point that he becomes a force to be reckoned with. Based on the book THE BIG BANKROLL by Leo Katcher and directed by Joseph M. Newman (THIS ISLAND EARTH). As with most gangster biopics, this movie on the life of mobster Arnold Rothstein plays fast and loose with the facts.  As a gangster movie, it's not half bad. Janssen plays Rothstein, a notorious gambler who became a kingpin in organized crime (even alleged to have been beyind the 1919 Black Sox scandal) with unusual restraint, perhaps too much restraint. His Rothstein is quite a different mobster than the likes of Al Capone or Bugsy Siegel types. A couple of performances stand out: Mickey Rooney as Rothstein's doomed childhood friend who falls on hard times and the underrated Dianne Foster as Rothstein's ex-showgirl wife. Franz Waxman (SUNSET BOULEVARD) did the jazz underscore. With Jack Carson, Keenan Wynn, Diana Dors (wasted), Dan O'Herlihy, Joseph Schildkraut and William Demarest.