Kevin Baker's "The Big Crowd," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Big Crowd by Kevin Baker.

The entry begins:

The Big Crowd is based closely on a series of real events, about a New York City mayor just after World War II who was forced into exile in Mexico, after he was accused of taking part in the greatest unsolved murder in mob history.

It’s a story about politics and crime, with all sorts of conflicting loyalties between what we owe the people we love, and our duty to the rest of those around us, so naturally I thought of Martin Scorsese as the ideal person to direct it. Someone else who understands the nuances of civic and personal corruption in a big city would be James Gray.

For the mayor, Charlie O’Kane, who started out as an Irish immigrant and a beat cop, I thought of Liam Neeson, who can convey that sort of bluff ruggedness but also a certain vulnerability. Someone else like that might be Bryan...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Kevin Baker's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Big Crowd.

--Marshal Zeringue