Stylish ‘Alligator’ Honors Gangster Films

On the walls of Dino’s Bar, where almost all the action in veteran character actor and freshman director Kevin Spacey’s stylishly derivative “Albino Alligator” takes place, there are movie posters featuring tough guys James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. The Cagney poster is for the 1935 “G Men” and the Bogart, presumably, for the 1948 “Key Largo.”

The title on the Bogart poster isn’t visible, and with a smaller image of co-star Lauren Bacall on it, the film could just as well be “The Big Sleep” or “To Have and Have Not.” But since “Albino Alligator” is all about honoring the spirit of old gangster movies, and “Key Largo,” in particular, we’ll make the leap.

“Albino’s” hotel is Dino’s Bar, its Key Largo is modern New Orleans, and the storm keeping everyone inside, mixing the combustible elements of swindlers, sociopaths and frightened hostages, is the swarm of ATF agents--G-men!--who think they have a gunrunner cornered.

Dino’s, a basement haunt that’s been serving liquor since its speak-easy days, is about to close when three men, one bleeding and being carried over another’s shoulder, burst in. We’ve already met these guys, hoods whose bungled robbery attempt ended in a car crash. Dova (Matt Dillon) is their nervous leader, Milo (Gary Sinise) is his injured brother, and Law (William Fichtner) is the psycho running with them.

Soon, a gun is drawn, and Dino (M. Emmet Walsh), the bar’s mush-mouthed proprietor, his feisty barmaid Janet (Faye Dunaway) and three customers--a passive young man (Skeet Ulrich), a defiant older man (John Spencer) and a mysterious French-Canadian (Viggo Mortensen)--are being held hostage.

The screenplay, a first effort by 25-year-old Christian Forte (son of ‘50s pop star Fabian), offers Spacey an opportunity to blend his experience from both film and theater. The opening chase sequence is exhilaratingly choreographed. When the getaway car slams into another, we watch from an overhead camera, and whoever’s body it is we see crashing through the window and landing on the car in front gets our early vote for stunt of the year.

Once the three men have limped inside Dino’s, “Albino Alligator” becomes a very tight character drama, with the gang members bickering among themselves over the fate of their hostages. We go outside now and then, to see ATF boss G.D. Browning (Joe Montegna) joust with TV crews, but the questions carrying the story are simply who will get out alive, and how.

Spacey plays with the story and its characters like a kid with a chemistry set, mixing ingredients together and waiting for reactions. The most volatile combination is Law, who’s itching to go on a rampage, and Milo, who rejects any plan that will kill hostages.

There’s another test of wills between Dova, a control freak with no ideas of his own, and Janet, who seems determined to push him.

The title “Albino Alligator” comes from a legend, laboriously recalled by Law, about the habit of alligators to sacrifice weaker members of their own group in order to trap and destroy their rivals. Law offers it as advice in a pool game, but it’s so clearly intended to set up the last act that all we can do is guess who will be asked to sacrifice for whom.

“Albino Alligator” doesn’t break any new ground for the genre, but it’s a nice first piece for Spacey. Inevitably, the interior of Dino’s becomes a stage, and the actors are given to theatrical monologues. But the production is so smoothly orchestrated--with fluid camera movements and tightly controlled editing--that we feel as if we’re in among the characters rather than looking on from the orchestra seats.

The performances are all solid, but Sinise, the one with the most stage experience, stands out. If Spacey were to have taken a role for himself, Milo’s the one best suited for him. He left it in good hands.

* MPAA rating: R, for strong violence and language. Times guidelines: Except for the wall-to-wall profanity, it’s no more graphic than a TV cop show.

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‘Albino Alligator’

Matt Dillon: Dova

Gary Sinise: Milo

William Fichtner: Law

Faye Dunaway: Janet

M. Emmet Walsh: Dino

Viggo Mortensen: Guy

Joe Montegna: G.D. Browning

A Brad Krevoy/Steve Stabler production, distributed by Miramax Films. Director Kevin Spacey. Producers Brad Krevoy, Steve Stabler, Brad Jenkel. Screenplay Christian Forte. Camera Mark Plummer. Editor Jay Cassidy. Music Michael Brook. Production design Nelson Coates. Art direction Burton Rencher. Set decoration Linda Sutton. Costumes Isis Mussenden. Running time, 1 hour, 37 minutes.

* Exclusively at the Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (213) 848-3500, and Edwards South Coast Plaza, 3410 S. Bristol St., Costa Mesa, (714) 546-2711.