Kick-Back Friday: #70

When it debuted in 1991, Billy Bathgate—based on the novel by E. L. Doctorow—was generally faintly praised (Vincent Canby) or soundly panned (Roger Ebert). Perhaps the lukewarm reception had something to do with overblown expectations and rumors of production troubles on director Robert Benton's set. But the film is notably sustained by a young Loren Dean as the titular street kid. Dean (Mumford, "Bones"), who never quite developed the career that this movie would have forecasted, strikes a nice reactive-proactive balance as the protege of gangster Dutch Schulz (Dustin Hoffman) and the protector of his boss's mistress (Nicole Kidman).