Overlooked Mob Movies...

The pope of Greenwich Village,

10th St.

Things Change.

Mean Streets!

Overlooked by who may i ask??

The new generation.

DN, Have you seen 10th Street? Pope of Greenwich Village?

By alot of people, i think. Most of the people i talk to either don't know it exists, or consider it one of Marty's lesser works (which i disagree with). It's never mentioned nearly enough whenever they do retrospects on his career.

Alot of people i know have never saw Once Upon A Time In America, amazing film. When i tell people it's on for nearly four hours i think that puts them off, but so is LOTR's but everyone has pretty much seen this film....

Sergio loeone's OUATIA is a masterpiece. Also State of Grace is a good irish mob movie.

Alex,

I initially read "The Pope of Greenwich Village" in hardcover shortly after it came out in 1979. I thought the dialogue in that book put anything Puzo ever wrote to shame (that's dialogue, not storytelling ability).

I couldn't wait for the movie to come out and it did not disappoint. That film didn't do well in theatres at all. It became a cult hit on video much later. But I'm one of the people who actually saw it in the theatre.

I still watch it once a month and read the book at least once a year.

I've lost my copy of the book, I think I had it memorized for a while there. I did see the movie in a theatre when it first came out (C. 1984), & have owned it on VHS & DVD. Never get tired of looking at it. The author wrote one other book that never did so well & nor it's following movie, WBTW had an all star cast--Dustin Hoffmann, Sean Connery. It's about a jewel heist but never really catches fire.

DN, Almost forgot about 'Once upon a time in America'. A great one. I think that I enjoyed the first part, the youthful era, more.

Those old bathrooms in the tenement hall? I remember those. Plus my Mom lived in one & used to go to the Public Baths in Brooklyn every Friday w.her Sisters. To those uninitiated- the old NYC tenements would have a sink of some kind only in the Apartments & every floor would have a flush toilet. There were also Public Baths scattered around the City. The Bath in So. B'klyn was the last operating bath in the city. It closed around 1970 & the Building is still there, Corner of Union St & 4th Ave.

Two questions about 'once upon a time...' The youngest kid, the one who dies early; was he supposed to be Italian? I know the rest of the crew are Jews.

And, that ending. Has anyone ever figured out what that is all about? I know there is guilt about betrayal, but WTH? I never could figure it out.

BTW, I always thought that this movie was up there w/The Godfather. At least as good if not...

"Family Business."

I think you'd enjoy the movie for the same reason as I did: It was one of the last movies filmed in New York before the gentrification began. The West Side looks like fucking Disneyland today .

You're right about that, the whole city has become a theme park. I liked 42d St, When it was the skivviest plc in the world. West B'way before the Kiddie/Artist invasion. Everything changes.

Two excellent, overlooked Mob movies:

"The Brotherhood" with Kirk Douglas. Paramount's prequel to "The Godfather."

"Honor Thy Father," an excellent made-for-TV film about Joe and Bill Bonanno featuring splendid performances by Joseph Bologna and Raf Vallone.

One Mob movie i didn't like was "Millers Crossing"..

The Valachi Papers: I first saw this flick back in the days of UHF stations and rabbit ears. Still think it holds up pretty well too.

Massacre Mafia Style: If you're into 70s exploitation, then you will definitely enjoy this flick.

Contraband: Directed by Lucio Fulci, this is a great mafia/splatter hybrid.

The Boss: Henry Silva, need I say more?

Cry of A Prostitute: Silva again, and this time at his most badass.

*gasp* ARE YOU SERIOUS MANG?!!

Just something about it that i didn't like, maybe i need to watch it again as i've only saw it once..

You need to see it again. Miller's Crossing is different from traditional mob movies and thats why its great. Its more of a traditional film noir than a gangsters film but its great

I'd be interested to know why people think it's so good.

I really liked The Pope of Greenwich Village...just a simple story without too much fanfare.... I originally didn't like Miller's Crossing, but when I watched it a second time, parts I thought I didn't like, I liked that time. I may have been in a bad mood or drunk when I saw it the first time. I love noir movies and it really clicked with me.

Gotti, most people I've talked to didn't know HBO made a movie about him in 1996, and while its a bit shaky in the history department, I think it portrays the mafia pretty well.

And Armand Assante does an awesome job as John Gotti

tenpin - this is a view held by many of us here in the BB. Assante was great as Gotti. I enjoyed Anthony Quinn as Delacroce as well.

One minor thing that always bugged me about the Pope of Greenwich Village-- "Bedbug Eddie" Grant is portrayed as a standard Italian mafioso. But with a name like Eddie Grant, and his reputation for chopping people up, he sounds a lot more like a Westie-type Irish gangster. I never read the book so I don't know for sure, but I always suspected that he was Irish in the book, and that Hollywood just made him Italian because they like that kind of gangster better.

The 'Pope Of Greenwich Village' is very underated.

How about 'The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie' John Cassavates. Kind of portrays the LA mob scene as grubby and pretty cheap but it was a good flick.

This one is one of my favorites and it is called 'What Doesn't Kill You' starring Mark Ruffalo:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDzEH6HlW3o

Hard to call it OC but it is a mob movie, kind of a low rent 'Departed' set in Southie and I actually enjoyed it more than 'The Town' which I thought was a good film about Charlestown. This flick was on the money and these characters were real to me.

I like the Boston flicks but some of them are awful. I'm looking forward to 'Emerald City'. Mickey Featherstone's been helping Sheridan on that project so here's hoping there's some good New York based stuff coming to the screens soon.

I loved Cassavetes!

I only wish I could have sat down in a ginmill with Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk. Now THAT would have been some fun!

"Chicago Overcoat" starring Frank Vincent, Armand Assante, Mike Starr (Frenchy) and Kathrine Narducci. Indy film made by some Columbia College alum who formed their own production company. Pretty good flick!

Good movie, their is also boss of bosses about castellano and witness to the mob about gravano

How about 'Across 110th Street?' I posted up in the other forum but just thought this could easily rate as an underated mob flick too given the Harlem Italian connection and those great scenes between the black hoods and the mob.

I always thought this was a very underrated movie. They used to have it up on Youtube but this is worth watching for the opening sequence and Bobby Womack's title track alone:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxCsIX6iU5o

Great movie, Sean. I've posted about it here a few times over the years. The Womack song is epic. Quentin Tarantino used it again in "Jackie Brown," a pretty fun flick in its own right.

I love 'Across 110th Street' and the biggest thing that strikes me about that flick is desperation, these guys reeked of it, you could really feel for the characters and they felt real. Every one of em from Quinn to the black hoods looking to bolt out of Harlem with the big score.

I must watch 'Jackie Brown' again, I saw it years ago but the only thing I remember is De Niro having a blast on that base pipe and that foxy brown hoochie.

I also watched on Youtube that 'Witness To The Mob' and thought that opening scene was pretty good. I saw this years ago but the main things I remembered were the opening scene and the end. Sammy was obviously a literate guy though I never read the book. Deluded maybe. But the best bits of the movie were Sammy's own words slotted into the flow of the action. Yeah, apart from Jay Leno as Gotti, not a bad flick, slickly done when you compare it to some other B-movie mob stories.

Thanks to the Dapper Don for reminding me of that one.

There's only one Irishman here. That's my pick up line every time I go to an Irish bar in Washington Heights.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Friends_of_Eddie_Coyle

Any flick with Robert Mitchum is worth seeing. Charlestown looks grim in 'The Friends Of Eddie Coyle'.

This movie never gets shown hardly ever but is pretty entertaining. A bit camp with Diamonds prancing around like a ballerina (or so I remember it) but entertaining still. 'The Rise And Fall Of Legs Diamond' shows Legs moving in on Rothstein's operations. Mad Dog Coll also plays a role:- http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0054243/

Good '70s flick, Eddie Coyle was. But not NEARLY as good as the book.

The Brink's Job

Gangs of New York

The Untouchables

Donnie Brasco

Carlito's Way

Mafioso ( Italian) subtitled

This is a pretty good biker movie from the early 90's. Starring Charlie Sheen and Michael Madsen this 'fact based story' is exactly what you'd expect from a biker flick. It's called 'beyond The Law' and it is here on Youtube for anyone wanting to catch a sneak of what is routine drill for outlaws everywhere, weeding out the rogue Cop in the ranks played by Charlie Sheen:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOafGkbgQis

Oh yeah, it also features Robbie Robertson's 'Broken Arrow' which is one of the few power ballads of the 80's that I really like and this always reminds me of it.

Probably should have been posted in an outlaw biker thread this one but to be honest I can't think of too many outlaw biker flicks worth seeing. There's pretty much Sons Of Anrchy and this. The rest have either been 'Easy Rider' or dreadful IMO.

Whoa, just thinking of any decent flicks with outlaws got me thinking of my second fave Sam Peckinpah flick cos of that scene where Kristofferson and his biker buddies cross the Spanish dude and pay with their lives.

This one's called 'Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPaUPU9xdgM and the whole plots just a glorified shoot em up of epic proportions but don't let that put you off cos there are some damn near perfect scenes and to me its just a great mob movie cos...

1) He's he's on the trail of some deadbeat bandit who committed the ultimate sin and knocked up some Mexican mob boss's daughter

2)The hired trigger men add real class even if they have none, elbowing hookers at the bar and killing anything and everything that stands in their way.

3) It even has a reference to a Saint in a way any mob guy could relate to. When Elita pleads Warren Oates character Bennie about the sanctity of this and that and sacred ground he just turns to her and spits with real venom something along the lines of "Well it's okay to dig up a saint ain't it? Well Alfredo's a saint, he's the saint of our money" and that puts it to bed real cold and his reasoning of it cos we need bread and fuck the sanctity of the dead is his take on it.

Pretty messed up shit the whole flick just explodes in carnage but it works cos it's Sam Peckinpah and he knows what he's doing. It's far from perfect but that's what I like about it. Watch it and you'll see what I'm talking about.

This one divides opinion but I love it!

Catch joe Pesci first movie The death collector with joe cortese prett good I thought. My all time favorite is public enemy youth Cagney. You have to see it more then once to really aporeciate the little bits of dialog in it. That was a great movie.

I like Pacino in Donnie brasco and others. I did not like Johnny depp only because I could not get past those little baby hands of his. He could not hurt anyone with those little mitts of his. Unless he had a gun in those hands.

There is a movie about scores. Which was called score Robert deNiro in it. I did not think it was realistic I have benn in a hundred scores, but never anything like that. He was a genius " it just physics" is he kidding me I take a physic when I need to take a dump. To me a real score was tge one in heat when a big truck crashes into sn armored car.

All like you steal a truck crash into kings plaza and crash it in a jewelry store and take what you can get and drive out.

Or you find yourself sitting next to Jerry Lewis first wife watching a chorus line. The notice the nice diamond ring on her finger. Then all of a sudden you make up your mind and take tge ring off her and run out of tge theather.

Or etc etc etc

I agree. It wasn't good.

10th & Wolf is alright.

That movie sucked. I guess it was hard for them to do, considering the fact that Skinny Beat all those murders

Once upon a time in america is the most underrated movie of all time

Married to the mob and Analyze this..if comedies count..

Surprised there's been no mention of Bugsy yet. Beatty is great in it and Annette Bening is smoking. Excellent movie imho.

The Don is dead. B movie but its great. It even has te commission in it which I liked because I allways look at how realistic this and that is. Anthony Quinn is the Don. I can't believe no one mentioned this movie!

the freshman with marlon brando

witness to the mob

I personally can't stand that movie i much prefer Gotti.

If we can throw comedies in I would say "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight." Supposedly there were a lot of similarities to the Gallo crew and their associates. Also it features a very young DeNiro in what I think was one of his first roles.On the other side of the coin, I think that Gotti with Assante was one of the worst movies ever. Other than the fact that there were people named John Gotti,Sam Gravano,Neil DellaCroce,and Angelo Ruggiero in real life there is very little to separate this film from the fiction category. Also I wasn't a big fan of Assante's performance,not because he can't act,but because Gotti was such a one-dimensional mook that it doesn't take much of a stretch to portray him.Take an average actor,dress him in a suit,do his hair and have him either perform mayhem or threaten mayhem,and you pretty much have it down.

What do you think of Witness To The Mob if you've seen it?

Boss of All Bosses, Witness to the Mob, & Gotti all tell the same story with its own personal slant. They are each entertaining, but they each pretty much suck. But I still like them.

I agree they're not good movies unless your into this stuff but i mainly like Gotti for Armand Assantes performance.

I agree with that.

Not strictly a mob movie, but check out 29th Street (1991) starring Danny Aiello and Anthony LaPaglia.It is based on a true story about Frank Pesce,the first New York lottery millionaire winner. There are some great mob characters in the movie,in supporting roles,but several of them really steal the show. It's called a comedy-drama movie in the IMDB and that's a good description as any.

29th street was a great. Another favorite is Hoffa

Murder Inc. (1960)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydwARWNMuVI

Milano Calibro 9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bMavpcqlas

The Boss (1973)

Contraband
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRxILtG4qjI

Wise guys with Danny de vito

Find me guilty with vin disel, halarious movie thats based on A true story

Peter Faulk's portrayal of Abe Reles in Murder, Inc. was one of the best ever. Wiseguys was quite amusing. But the one I think that doesn't get enough credit is The Brotherhood with Kirk Douglas.

Crazy Joe (1974)

Staten Island with Ethan Hawke and Vincent D'Onofrio

I just saw "Things to Do in Denver When You are Dead." It was recommended to me by a film professor I had last semester. Not directly about the mob but a complimentary story line.

Also, I am looking for a list of movies that deal with organized crime outside of the United States. I keep finding a lot of US centric stuff (Best Drug Related Movies and Best Mafia Movies mafia cultures) but all very North America focused. Anything on Japanese organized crime?

I would suggest Boiling Point or Sonatine for Japan. Also Oldboy which isn't Japanese or related to OC lol, but it's a great Asian (Korean) crime film.

Bugsy,Billy Bathgate,Bella Mafia,Kansas City,L.A.Confidental,Last Man Standing,The Last Don,The Cotton Club,The Sicilian,Things To Do In Denver When You r Dead....some of these movies aint the greatest ones and most of them r from the 90's but i think this is my list for overlooked mob movies

Autoreiji or Outrage 2010 movie about japanese yakuza.It does have a lil bit more of action stuff in it but i liked it very much.

And ill add these Italian movies also as a must see...

I Cento Passi,Il Capo Dei Capi,Ill Divo,La Siciliana Ribelle

Couldn't agree more.

I loved that movie. It had an ending that I did not expect.

Dustin Hoffman was perfectly cast as Dutch Schultz. It's amazing how similar they looked, in both face and height (Dutch was 5'7")

Brooklyn Rules written by Terrence Winter and directed by Michael Corrente was actually a pretty good story, lots of mafia elements about the Gambino Family in the 1980's and how the mafia affected a group of friends in the neighborhood.

Thanks, JCB. I have to watch this movie.

I can't believe I wasn't aware of this mob related film, as it stars Alex Baldwin, Freddie Prinze Jr, Scott Caan and Mena Suvari. You'd think it would have done well, but it didn't even gross a half of a million dollars at the domestic box office.

Once Upon a Time in America
Point Blank *first screen appearance of S&W model 29 .44 magnum
Prime Cut
The Mechanic *original w/Bronson
The Brotherhood
Federal Hill
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
Prince of the City
The Funeral
True Romance

True Romance is a good film and has a lot of great actors in it. I haven't seen it in awhile but would recommend it to anyone that's looking for a good laugh. There's a mob presence in it but nothing that relates to LCN from the past or present.

I still enjoyed it, as the story line about four neighborhood friends all taking different path's with a strong mob overtone.

10th & Wolf was also really good, loosely based off the Philly 1990's war between the young Turks against the old Zips.

Another underrated movie was called "Teamster Boss: The story of Jackie Presser.

Three of my favorites were also The Pope of Greenwich Village, Road to Perdition and Mean Streets as well as Raging Bull.

Hide in plain sight...Dated but fairly true to the actual events.