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.