BOARDWALK EMPIRE SERIES ONE: Available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Monday 9th January
Itâs been over three years since Tony Soprano faded from our screens in an equivocal fashion that divided the showâs fans nearly as strongly as the series enraptured them. Some people loved the mystery of that final scene in the cafe, others angrily demanded closure, but all of us lamented the passing of one of the greatest dramas of our time. If like me youâve lost whole weekends to the mob in the past, youâll know that box-sets are great, but they just leave you wishing there were new fiefdoms of luxurious detail to immerse yourself in. Thank HBO for Boardwalk Empire. If you’re one of the people who haven’t seen it yet, then I envy you. If you have, then let me assure you that a second viewing yields almost as much fresh material as the first.
Our tale begins in the glitzy strip of Atlantic City on the eve of prohibition, and after addressing a Womenâs Temperance League on the perils of liquor, City Treasurer Enoch âNuckyâ Thompson heads into town to welcome in what he and his powerful entourage of local officials believe will be an era of unparalleled possibility. âWeâve got something that every manâs gotta have!â? he exclaims and his colleagues are positively squirming with excitement at the prospect. Steve Buscemi is an odd choice as the man at the centre of it all, but his ambiguous nature does serve the character well in many respects. After a glittering career of supporting roles, he has finally landed the part that should be his legacy. We are left in no doubt that while Nucky is a man with a rigid moral code, he will not hesitate when opportunity knocks. However as the story progresses, his belief that he can run a crime empire and retain his position as a respected public figure is quickly dispelled.. âYou canât be half a gangster Nuckyâ? says his talented but trench-ravaged young protégé Jimmy Darmody.
Like everyone else in this rich and finely detailed saga, Thompson is learning the norms of a new culture that is giving birth to itself before his eyes. Aboard a runaway train which is gathering speed inexorably, they are forced to lay the track as they go along. It is this dynamic which makes Boardwalk Empire a very different prospect to any of the other well-respected organised crime parables. Unlike The Godfather series, Goodfellas and even The Sopranos, this is a world that has only just started writing its mythology. There is no Don Corleone, Tony Soprano or indeed any hierarchy at all â every one of these characters is scrambling to get the genie of the bottle first (no pun intended).
If history provided the perfect canvas for Terence Winterâs adaptation, then he has painted upon it marvellously â his creation throbs with authenticity and the attention to detail is simply wonderful to behold. When you consider the legends at his disposal, you almost wonder why the Emmy-winning screenwriter even considered making Sky Atlanticâs showpiece a â50s based drama. The introduction of a young and uninfluential Al Capone is one of many utterly irresistable moments but the Capone: Origins tale is just another tangent in a rich historical vista. Al and Jimmy are a pair of young men who realise that in this new era there are serious opportunities available for men who are prepared to take risks and bend their principles.
Two perpetrators at very different stages of their careers and from very different social contexts are the future mob lords Arnold Rothstein and Charles âLuckyâ Luciano. Urbane and refined, the former is a sharp businessman and an excellent gambler. Conversely, his colleague is a quick-tempered enforcer with a violent nature. In reality both menâs contribution to organised crime was monumental. Rothstein was dubbed âThe Moses of the Jewish gangstersâ and Luciano was credited with being the father of Americaâs National Crime Syndicate. If â as Nucky says â Atlantic City is Americaâs playground, it certainly isnât short of high-rollers. There’s a power vacuum to be filled and watching these early mobsters collide is television of the very highest order.
