Beatty, Bening at Bash for ‘Bugsy’

The Scene: The screening Thursday of Tristar’s “Bugsy” at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Though it wasn’t an extravagant premiere, it was definitely a Christmas premiere. But rather than sugarplums, visions of Oscars danced in filmmakers’ heads.

Who Was There: The film’s stars, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening; co-star Harvey Keitel; director Barry Levinson; co-producer Mark Johnson, plus 1,250 guests, including Sean Connery, Arnold Schwarzenegger with Maria Shriver, Shirley MacLaine, Whoopi Goldberg, Christian Slater, Macaulay Culkin and Amy Irving.

The Buzz: The most common comment was, “It’s much, much better than I thought it would be.” What were they expecting “Ishtar Joins the Mafia”? Also, there was surprise that it was more love story than gangster movie. One woman said there was more violence in the “Ninja Turtles” films. “It’s kind of hard to imagine Ghandi in the Mafia,” said another guest, about Ben Kingsley playing Meyer Lansky.

Dress Mode: The best clothes were on the actors. The evening was an advertisement for 1940s suits.

Quoted: “Whatever the film is, I hope they don’t categorize it,” said Beatty. “It’s the story of what happened to some people.”

Historical notes: “I think it’s an irony that here’s a city that exists because of some mad lunatic’s idea,” said director Levinson about Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel. “There’s an irony when you think of our history. You say, ‘Well, the Pilgrims established this New England colony, and then this gangster started Las Vegas.’ ”

Observed: Beatty and a very pregnant Bening stayed until the caterer was clearing the tables.

Glitches: The screening was overbooked, with the overflow sent to a nearby theater. Complicating matters were the approximately 300 roped-off reserved seats, many of which sat empty. There was a three-way standoff. Guests were reluctant to leave the A theater hoping a seat might open, the fire marshal wanted everyone seated and the staff hesitated to open the reserved seats to them in case, who knows, maybe Boris Yeltsin would show up. Things got going 15 minutes late.

Party Overdose: Sony’s two studios, Columbia and Tristar, have had five premieres in as many days. Chairman Peter Guber said, “If I never see another silver coffee urn or a plate of petits fours in my life, I’ll be happy.”