1000% inaccurate but still wildly entertaining. It's a standard Hollywood biopic (albeit one whose subject was still very much alive) that sticks closer to feel good fiction than anything approaching reality. Ray Danton is George Raft and he's terrific in the film's first half, fighting and hoofing his way to the top of the New York rackets. When the film shifts to Hollywood, it skirts camp as it attempts to portray Raft as some sort of acting wunderkind when in fact his talents were pretty much limited...to fighting and hoofing. The direction by Joseph M. Newman is pretty pedestrian, but the colorful supporting cast really livens things up: Julie London; Frank Gorshin; Robert Strauss; Barrie Chase. Jayne Mansfield steals her scenes as a sort of wise-cracking Greek chorus, calling out Danton on his inflated ego and meager talents. She's priceless. Neville Brand pops up briefly as Al Capone.
Review of The George Raft Story
