“The Alto Knights” is a film that has a magnificent double performance by Robert De Niro as mobsters Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. The movie also sports great period costume and sets. At two hours, however, the picture drags on far too long. The jumping around among different time periods is confusing and makes the story lose its narrative cohesion.

The film is essentially a fictionalized version of the conflicts between Costello and Genovese. As such, and as with most biopics, I am not concerned with relating facts of the two men’s story in this review.

The film is directed by Barry Levinson, who won an Oscar for directing “Rain Man” and was nominated for directing “Bugsy” in 1991. As such, he has past chops in dealing with stories of mobsters.

When I entered the theater, I was unaware that De Niro was playing both roles. When the movie starts with Costello at a charity event and with his attempted assassination by Genovese in 1957, I recognized De Niro as Costello immediately. But when Genovese first appeared, I was not so sure that this was De Niro. His facial features and speech were altered just enough to make Genovese unrecognizable as being De Niro. Over time, I could only conclude that De Niro was playing both characters. Yet I still waited for the credits to confirm this fact.

As an actor De Niro in the twilight of his career is going strong. His memorable performance in “Mean Streets” still resonates after all these years. More recently, his portrayal of the evil and self-deluded William Hale in “Killers of the Flower Moon” was another admirable achievement.

Here he gets to chew the scenery as Genovese. Volatile, violent and paranoid, Vito gives De Niro much to work with in getting to the core psychology of the man. Costello is more even-keeled, but still has been involved in his share of shady activities. De Niro shows us his polished, suave veneer as Frank hobnobs with notable society figures and politicians.

Although her role is smaller, Debra Messing gives a solid showing as Costello’s wife, Bobbie. She likes the high life but would prefer one where her husband is not at risk. She provides a rock to steady Costello through the hard times.

Minor performances which I liked include Cosmo Jarvis as Vincent Gigante. He is delightfully inept as he attempts to serve under Genovese. Their repartee is often amusing.

I also liked Kathrine Narducci as Vito’s wife Anna. Her sometimes over-the-top acting perfectly complements Vito. Her life force explains how she and Vito got together in the first place.

A big compliment goes to the period sets and costumes. Life in the Fifties is perfectly captured. This even goes down to the detail of showing black-and-white TV shows on the TV sets in people’s homes, a small but nice touch. The costumes and furnishings add pops of color and style to the film.

Then there is the downside. The scenes throughout the movie are interlaced with either voice-over narration by Costello or by narration where he appears in a garden setting in his later years. This could have served as a recurrent framing device had the film been told in complete chronological order. But with the jumps between the present and the past, the narration just becomes distracting over time.

Then there is the length. After Frank is nearly assassinated, he agrees to retire. Vito continually sabotages his efforts to do so. This protracted give-and-take over this issue becomes tiresome. The movie goes out of its way to pound home Vito’s insecurities and conspiracy theories ad nauseam.

Toward the end of the film, Frank sets up a meeting in upstate New York to hand over his leadership to Vito in front of the national heads of the Mafia. This episode goes on and on. I became very tired of seeing the insides of Frank and Vito’s cars as the pace became plodding and repetitive.

There is no doubt that this picture makes you want to do more research about the real Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. The acting and production values make this movie worth watching. Its flaws make it an imperfect exercise, however.

So overall I rate this movie 3 out of 5 stars.

In the 1950s, notorious New York crime bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese vie for control of the city streets. Once the best of friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals place them on a deadly collision course that reshapes organized crime forever.

Starring: Robert De Niro, Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci, Michael Rispoli
Directed by: Barry Levinson
Written by: Nicholas Pileggi
Music by: David Fleming