This film is a condensed version of the miniseries. It is a highly romanticized version of the lives of two real gangsters - Benjamin "Bugsy" Segal and Charlie "Lucky" Luciano - and a third character Michael Lasker, who is a composite of several people (including Meyer Lansky). The lives and businesses of these three are intertwined with most of the more famous crime bosses (including Al Capone and Dutch Schultz), and the story deals with the patterns of alliance and betrayal among the bosses, leading to the birth of organized crime. The story covers nearly ten years, so there's not as much depth as in the series, but despite this and the inaccuracies I enjoyed it as a bit of American myth-making.
