HBO’s Boardwalk Empire is a period gangster drama following fictional Atlantic City political
giant Nucky Thompson, played by Steve Buscemi. The show is set during the prohibition era
of the 1920s and features many real life famous and infamous individuals associated with the
era, such as Charlie Luciano, Al Capone, Johnny Torrio, J Edgar Hoover and Meyer Lansky. One
such character is Arnold Rothstein, the American Jewish Racketeer and businessman, thought
to be a kingpin of the Jewish mob and mentor to future crime bosses such as Luciano, Lansky
and Frank Costello. Rothstein is played by Michael Stuhlbarg in Boardwalk Empire, an
actor who put so much thought and research into his role that the writers of Boardwalk
Empire came to find that he knew more about the real-life Rothstein then they did, and
they subsequently sought his advice on writing the character.
Arnold Rothstein is a recurring character in Boardwalk Empire. He is cold, calculating,
with a gentlemanly, polite air about him but a sinister aroma that he is playing chess
in his head with you and is already 3 steps ahead. As Gyp Rosetti might put it, he’s
a smug midget who creeps around like a f***ing dentist. He is something of the main antagonist
of season 1 and starts off as the most powerful gangster in the series. In fact, it is actually
his illegitimate workings, such as his sports fixings, which brings Agent Van Alden to Atlantic
City and brings the heat onto Nucky Thompson, kickstarting some major storylines. Rothstein
goes on to continue being a major player in the series, appearing in 48 of the 56 episodes.
Now, Boardwalk Empire covers many historical events, while spicing things up with a bit
of embellishment. The show covers events in the 1920s during its first 4 seasons but for
its final season, it jumped almost 10 years to 1931. The reasons for Boardwalk Empire
being cut so short is a video for another day, but this decision is considered one of
the most controversial of the series, with the bizarre time-jump considered necessary
by show creator Terence Winter to properly close out the show by showing the end of prohibition,
or at least, while it was on its way out. However, one of the bi-products of this decision
was that fans were robbed of potentially classic moments from Boardwalk Empire, things that
happened in real life, such as the 1929 Atlantic City conference, the first major gathering
of organised crime figures in the United States, which you would imagine would be one of the
most memorable segments of the show as it would have put almost all of the principle
crime figures of Boardwalk Empire in the same scene, and Terence Winter has gone on record
highlighting how excited he was to show it and how important the conference was, before
obviously the show was cut to only 5 seasons. The financial crash of 1929 is also missed,
and the fall of Al Capone feels rushed and anticlimactic, seeing as though it took him
several seasons to establish himself as a powerhouse, and the St Valentine’s Day massacre
is never shown. But perhaps the most frustrating thing about
season 5, the most glaring omission, is the absence of Arnold Rothstein who, after being
such a major player and performed brilliantly by Stuhlbarg, just ups and disappears. It’s
a decision even more mind-boggling when you consider that season 4 appears to set up Rothstein
with a major arc for season 5. Boardwalk Empire has its fair share of creative
decisions which have annoyed fans, such as the Jimmy Darmody being killed off at the
end of season 2, the reasons for which I have detailed in a previous video, but for me,
nothing represents and symbolises my issues with Boardwalk Empire more than the disappearance
of Arnold Rothstein. I always had a vibe with Boardwalk, as good as it was, that it never
reached its full potential, and it felt like it was constantly building to something, and
that something never came, what with the show being cancelled. And with Rothstein feeling
the heat himself for the first time in the show in a serious manner, his gambling issues
becoming more apparent – you got the idea that something was really building with his
character, but then the rug was pulled from beneath our feet.
Of course, the real-life Arnold Rothstein was already dead by the time the events of
season 5 take place, and evidently the show runners were unable to find a way to squeeze
a conclusion to Rothstein’s story into the show, via a flashback or something, and adding
him into the events of season 5 would do a disservice to the real history.
But the word ‘disservice’ comes to mind for the way such a principal character is
treated, and an actor like Stuhlbarg who put so much into the role. A brief throwaway line
is said in season 5 to let us know that he died, and that’s it.
Interestingly, Stuhlbarg himself has commented on Rothstein not appearing in season 5, and
the mysterious circumstances surrounding the real-life Rothstein’s death, saying:
Historically, you can look it up, but he got very much in debt at that time in his life
and owed a lot of money to some dangerous people. The last thing we knew of him historically
was that he was hanging out as his usual spot, making deals with people and got a phone call
there saying that there was a card game. This is what I’ve been told or what I’ve read
in the biographies about him. So he went to this room to play cards to sort of perhaps
win back the money that he owed to people and he emerged from the room but with a bullet
hole through his stomach and this was at the park central hotel in New York which is still
there and he found himself out on the pavement out there, caught a cab, was taken to a hospital,
was in a hospital for a couple of days and died from complications from that gunshot
wound, not ever giving up who it was that shot him. A lot of people were speculating
but ya, he sort of lived by the code at that time which was you don’t tell
He doesn’t seem to be bitter at the fact that he was left out of the final season and
Boardwalk Empire never covered his character’s death, saying:
They had to act fast and they had a lot of ground to cover. It was amazing that we all
got as much coverage as we did, considering how many characters they were juggling. I
had so much fun doing the show and I had no regrets. And ya, sure it would’ve been fun
to have shown it but I thought what they came up with was very cool, as it was. I think
if they could have, they would’ve shown it but they didn’t have the time
Interestingly, as mentioned by Stuhlbarg, he was shot during a meeting or card game,
but the full circumstances of his death are not known, especially the key question – who
shot him? It is thought that the shooting may have been linked to debts Rothstein owed
from a 3-day high stakes poker game, which Rothstein walked away with $320,000 out of
pocket, around $5m in today’s money, a game which occurred around 2 months before Rothstein
was shot. It is alleged that Rothstein claimed the game was fixed and refused to pay, leading
to his shooting, although on his deathbed he refused to give up the shooter, allegedly
telling police “You stick to your trade. I’ll stick to mine”. There have been numerous
suspects for Rothstein’s murder, though the mystery has never been solved, and it
would have been interesting to see how Boardwalk Empire would have played it had they been
able to showcase the shooting. I mean there is a scene where he loses money and gets frustrated,
and perhaps if the show runners knew that Boardwalk would have been cut to 5 seasons
when this scene was filmed, maybe they would have converted it to a death scene. Who knows?
So what do you make of Arnold Rothstein being killed off screen? Did it annoy you as much
as it did me? Let me know in the comments below, and thanks for watching.