Keitel’s the bomb of dons
HARVEY Keitel’s 50plus-year award-winning film career now includes the crime thriller “Lansky.”
“I play Meyer Lansky. A gangster in the old old days. The godfather of organized crime and boss of Murder Inc. I read up about him. I studied him online. He was an immigrant. His parents, who had a little education, fought Cossacks. Later he even organized to break up a Nazi rally, and a line he says is: ‘I wish I had killed them all.’
“The family came to America. Lower East Side. And he became the powerful guy in the Mafia. Even involved with Bugsy Siegel whom he didn’t like but who started Las Vegas. Lansky’s buried in Florida and we filmed in
Alabama. Why Alabama? Save money. This budget movie cost $5 million, not $100 million. It’s not even spending too much with prosthetics. My character had huge ears so all they did was just change my ears. I didn’t even get to meet any of his living family members. Listen, it was just a five-week shoot.
“The FBI starts closing in on him near the end. And that’s where there’s a moving scene in a hospital room caring for his son who’s bedridden most of his life. It’s where we see Lansky stating his feelings emotionally for the boy.
“The movie takes place as the FBI closes in on him and tries to find where his multimillions are hid.”
Terminal New Yorkers, Harvey and his writer wife Daphna Kastner have been sidelined since the pandemic in LA. They miss civilization. Said Harvey as he hung up: “My son’s in school out here. I’m going out now with my wife and son to pick up a dog. The way I figure it is, the three of them will probably be around longer than I will.” “Lansky” is a top movie on Amazon.