Other than Al Capone eventually wound up in that new Federal prison on Alcatraz Island for income tax evasion and Anton J. Cermak the mayor of Chicago was shot in Miami in the vicinity of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, there's not a lot that's in any way true about The Revenge Of Al Capone. Hope no one is using this to shortcut a history term paper.
They even have J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI bossing Eliot Ness of the Treasury Department and the lead character Keith Carradine who I'm not sure if he was working for the Treasury, the Secret Service or the FBI. This film is that confusing.
The funny thing is that a few days before seeing this film I was discussing whacked out conspiracy theories with a friend and one of them I mentioned was this notion that Lee Harvey Oswald was really out to get John Connally who when he was Secretary Of The Navy signed off on Oswald's dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps. So naturally he picked a day to it when the Governor of Texas was in the company of the President of the United States and JFK was simply collateral damage.
This film actually does propose that thesis involving Mayor Cermak of Chicago who was one of several people wounded by Giuseppe Zangara when he took a few shots at FDR in Miami. Actually a film blending those stories was made from a two part episode of The Untouchables and that was more realistic than this film.
We also have the killing of Dutch Schultz worked into that and the Dutchman did not die in the way shone and Al Capone had nothing whatsoever to do with that bit of gangland lore.
Ray Sharkey joined a pantheon of players who essayed the character of Al Capone, people like Ben Gazzara, Neville Brand, Rod Steiger, Robert DeNiro, etc. Sharkey did fine with the role, too bad it wasn't in a better film.
