Legendary Oscar-winning cinematographer Nestor Almendros. ... it just wouldn't be true.'' With Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Loren Dean, Bruce Willis. Directed by Robert Benton. Set in the Bronx in the 1930s during the Prohibition Era, American author E.L. Doctorow’s historical novel Billy Bathgate (1989) tells the story of fifteen-year-old Billy Behar who is taken under the wing of the real-life Jewish-American mobster, Dutch Schultz.Billy Bathgate won numerous literary awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award. The fictional Billy Bathgate takes his name from Bathgate Avenue in the Bronx, a lively market street in the mid-1930's, the time of the novel. Barrie but against a grim underworld backdrop. Here is the story of a young man so bland and colorless that even becoming the protege of a gangster doesn't make him interesting. Billy Bathgate is a 1991 American biographical gangster film directed by Robert Benton, starring Loren Dean as the title character and Dustin Hoffman as real-life gangster Dutch Schultz.The film co-stars Nicole Kidman, Steven Hill, Steve Buscemi, and Bruce Willis.Although Billy is a fictional character, at least four of the other characters in the film were real people from New York of the 1930s. The Pen/Faulkner award-winning Billy Bathgate is E.L. Doctorow’s untraditional Depression-era coming-of-age tale. What is gained—or lost—by Billy as an adult telling the story of Billy as a teenager? Terry spoke to E.L. Doctorow in 1989 when "Billy Bathgate" was published. Why do you think Doctorow chose to tell his story in this way? 15. 15. It details how the New York street urchin of the title is accepted into the Dutch Schultz gang, undertaking adventures reminiscent of the stories of Mark Twain or J.M. Billy Bathgate, E.L. Doctorow Billy Bathgate is a 1989 novel by author E. L. Doctorow that won the 1989 National Book Critics Circle award for fiction for 1990, the 1990 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the 1990 William Dean Howells Medal, and was the runner-up for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize and the 1989 National Book Award. Academy-award winning screenwriter and noted playwright Tom Stoppard. Billy Bathgate brought together impressive talents to tell the story of gangster Dutch Schultz's downfall through the eyes of a 15 year old kid from the Bronx: Distinguished novelist E. L. Doctorow. In the year 1935, a teen named Billy Bathgate finds first love while becoming the … Billy Bathgate is a gangster film that is based on E.L. Doctorow's novel of the same title.It stars Loren Lean in the title role of the street-smart kid who gets connected and wins the confidence of 1930's mob Dutch Schultz.Nicole Kidman, Steven Hill, Steve Buscemi,Bruce … What is gained—or lost—by Billy as an adult telling the story of Billy as a teenager? Why do you think Doctorow chose to tell his story in this way? The book is set in New York in 1935, where Billy, a teenager, works for the gangster Dutch Schultz.