| Director | Brian De Palma, Josh Trank |
|---|---|
| Budget | $20.6 million |
| Box office | $858,281 |
On Thanksgiving 1945, Alphonse Capone, the notorious mob boss of Prohibition-era Chicago, lives at his Florida estate with his wife Mae after being paroled from prison due to the effects of neurosyphilis and a stroke. He continues to decline physically and mentally, and is troubled by thoughts of an illegitimate son who rarely calls.
Mae struggles to pay the family's expenses by selling luxury items from the estate, as federal investigators monitor them constantly. Capone's physician, Dr. Karlock, advises Mae to keep his surroundings familiar by finding a way not to have to move. Johnny, an acquaintance from Chicago, visits and takes Capone fishing. During the outing Capone tells Johnny that he hid $10 million and can't remember where. Later, as Capone is talking to Johnny on his terrace, he tells Mae to bring Johnny a drink. Mae tells him that no one is there, leading to a brief fight and a check-in from Gino, who heads Capone's security detail.
Later that night Capone does not recognize Mae and tells the police that he has been kidnapped. He sees a young boy with a newsie cap and gold balloon walk past and follows the boy through a series of dreams about his Chicago years. These include singing a duet with Louis Armstrong, watching Gino stab a traitor to death, being seduced by a woman who offers clues about the treasure, and finally crawling over the bodies of shootout victims. Mae finds him on the floor paralyzed from another stroke.
Karlock meets with his federal contacts and asks for more time to get information. At the estate, he explains Capone's condition to Mae, Capone's brother Ralph and his son Alphonse Junior. During motor rehabilitation therapy Karlock asks Capone to draw a picture of a bag of money. Junior examines Capone's drawings and finds one of the boy with the balloon, which Capone says is his son Tony. As Capone continues drawing later, Ralph urges him to share any secrets he's keeping before he dies. At dinner Capone is upset by the sight of Gino cutting meat, which reminds him of his earlier dream. As Capone lies in bed afterward, Johnny appears and forgives Capone for killing him years ago, then cuts out his own eyes and offers them to help Capone find the treasure.
Desperate for a breakthrough, the federal agent overseeing the surveillance questions Capone. Capone stirs when asked about the money but says nothing. Angered, the agent threatens to monitor his family for the rest of their lives. Capone goes missing on the estate; a groundskeeper finds him with a gold-plated tommy gun. Gunfire sounds across the estate, and Capone is seen walking around with the gun, shooting Gino and anyone else in sight. Remembering the dream woman's clues, he dives into his lily pond, which swells into a wave and washes him into a picturesque Italian farm scene. He sees the gold balloon rise into the sky and the boy smiles down at him. Gino and the family find him lying on the floor and the groundskeeper nearby with a shot-out knee. As the groundskeeper is taken away in a wheelchair he sees movers take Capone's favorite statue.
The following Thanksgiving, the extended family joins Capone again for dinner. In the evening Mae brings Tony to sit beside him on the terrace. Tony holds Capone's hand, and Capone opens his eyes in astonishment.