Gangsters

Just Been Watching…(113)

~ beetleypete ~ 53 Comments

The Irishman (2019)

***Historical events, so spoilers do not apply***

The first thing I am going to say is that this is going to be an exceptionally positive review
Make no mistake, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS FILM!

I saw this on Netflix, and it is not currently available elsewhere.

Director: Martin Scorsese.
Cast;
Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran
Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa
Joe Pesci as Russell Bufalino
Ray Romano as Bill Bufalino
Bobby Cannavale as Skinny Razor
Anna Paquin as Peggy Sheeran
Lucy Gallina as young Peggy
Stephen Graham as Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano
Harvey Keitel as Angelo Bruno
Steven Van Zandt as Jerry Vale

Look at that cast! And that is just the headliners. Everyone else is great too.

I will start this review with one word, ‘RESTRAINT’.

Joe Pesci is restrained. Older, less hysterical, more composed. And no cackling.
Pacino, known best lately for shouting rather than acting is also less hysterical. Hardly any shouting at all. (Well, a bit)
De Niro is suitably restrained too, and also narrates the story, told in flashback/flash forward. He is ‘The Irishman’.

In fact, everyone is restrained, and the film is all the better for that.

If you liked ‘Casino’, you should like this too.
If you liked ‘Goodfellas’, you should like this too.
If you liked ‘Mean Streets’, you should like this too.
If you liked ‘JFK’, you should like this too.

Alright, what’s it about?

Jimmy Hoffa was the charismatic leader of the Teamsters’ Union in America. (Truck drivers) The union had so much money in contributions and pension funds, that it helped to bankroll the Mafia in the 1950s. Hoffa became a famous personality, and also a famous gangster, due to his Mob associations. He ‘disappeared’ in 1975, and to this day his whereabouts are officially unknown, although he was declared dead in 1982. Irishman Frank Sheehan is a truck driver, and ex-WW2 soldier. One day, he happens to meet a mob figure by chance, when his truck breaks down. That gangster is Russell Buffalino, (Pesci) and he takes a liking to the man, bringing him into the organisation. Petty theft leads to becoming a mob hitman, and then Hoffa’s right-hand man and bodyguard.

Meanwhile, the mob is unhappy with JFK, who has not honoured his pledge to get them back the gambling joints in Cuba, and harassed by his brother Bobby, who is the Attorney General. Nobody trusts anyone, and as time goes on, many leading Mob figures are ‘disappeared’, and Hoffa is getting out of control. When the Mafia chooses Provenzano over Hoffa, events come to a head, and something has to give.

This is conventional gangster fare. Families, wives, girlfriends, divided loyalties, and lots of people ending up dead. Politics, betrayal, and lack of trust.

But this film is just WONDERFUL!

Locations, settings, costumes, music, (even that is by Robbie Robertson, who used to be in The Band) and a flawless feel of time and place.

Before you say it, yes we have seen many similar films before.
And yes, it is long, (three hours and twenty-five minutes) but that length worked for me.

If you didn’t like ‘Goodfellas’, you are not going to like this.
If you don’t like gangster/Mafia films, you are not going to like this.

So if that’s the case, my advice is don’t watch it, then you won’t have to complain later.

For me, it was five stars. With bells on, and an airhorn sounding, as well as a choir in the background.

Can you tell I liked it?

Here’s a trailer.

TV binge-watch: Boardwalk Empire

~ beetleypete ~ 30 Comments

***No plot spoilers***

Binge-watching is a relatively new concept, chez beetleypete. In the past, I have been known to return from holiday and catch up on a series recorded on VHS tape, by watching them all in one day. But that wasn’t called ‘binge-watching’ then. ‘Boardwalk Empire’ is an HBO series, first shown in 2009, with the last episode in 2014. Some years later, it was bought by SKY TV, and shown on their satellite network in the UK. But I have never had that, so couldn’t watch it.

However, when I set up my NOW TV streaming box, I was excited to find that the whole thing, five seasons numbering 56 episodes, was available for me to watch. I started slowly, with the $18 million pilot episode, directed by the estimable Martin Scorsese. I liked it a lot, and had soon seen season one, after a couple of weeks. Then I noticed a warning come up on screen. I had limited time to watch the rest, before NOW TV, in their wisdom, took it from the schedule to replace it with something else. There was nothing for it, but to embrace the concept of binge-watching, and cram in as many episodes a day as I could manage.

Two weeks later, and I have seen it all, watching the final episode of series five on the last day it was still available. Now I am someone who doesn’t mind waiting for ‘next week’s episode’. I always avoid the annoying trailers showing what will happen next week too. But this series was perfect for this new way of watching, as it enabled me to completely understand the complex flashbacks, and to get to know the huge cast of characters quickly and easily.

So, what’s it about? It is about gangsters. Real people like Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Seigel, Johnny Torrio, Lucky Luciano, and Nucky Thompson,the boss of Atlantic City, New Jersey They are already involved in all kinds of crime and corruption; from prostitutes, to the numbers gambling rackets, and extorting protection money. Then the Volstead Act is passed, Prohibition arrives, and the gangsters start to cash in on the illegal booze business. If you have ever seen a gangster film set in the 1920s or 1930s, you will know what to expect.

But there’s more. Some of the action goes back as far as the 1890s, when Atlantic City was a new idea, a small seaside town on the east coast. It follows the corrupt elections of town officials and even presidents; wheeling and dealing with influential senators, and the way that gambling and illegal booze turned two-bit gangsters into millionaires overnight. It deals with the greed that leads to the formation of the Mafia, and the ruthless way that they dealt with any rivals. Then it goes much deeper, looking at the lives of prohibition agents, the early days of Hoover and the FBI, and even examines the backgrounds and family life of the most notorious gangsters of their time. It has vast scope, and 56 episodes will allow that kind of exploration.

Did I like it? Of course I did. It was great. But that comes with warnings, lots of them. It has nudity, in abundance. Sex scenes, (quite graphic at times) in abundance, and violent deaths of all kinds. (Yes, they are in abundance too) Side stories deal with distressing things like sex with minors, (discussed, not shown, but still upsetting) the unfeeling medical treatment dished out to psychiatric patients at the time, and overt racism from both white gangsters, and the Ku Klux Klan. (Including any name-calling you can think of) There is domestic violence, drunkenness, drug-taking, and a great many scenes set in bordellos. Incest too, even that. Just one incestuous adult encounter, but it is shown in some detail. And swearing, lots of it, all the time. Every bad word you can think of, uncut.
It extends the locations to include deals down in Cuba to buy rum, (with a nod to the revolution that followed later) and covers the lead-up to the election of FDR, during the Great Depression. As I said, scope.

Stereotypes abound too. Irish drunks and wife beaters. Black people who cannot read and write, Italians who are all gangsters, and stiff federal agents who might all be amenable to the right bribe, or a night with a girl supplied by Nucky. The Jewish people in the drama are gangsters too, and racial slurs are thrown at them thick and fast. Characters of Scandinavian origin talk like the Swedish Chef on The Muppets, and there were times when subtitles might have been useful to understand everything mumbled by some of the black characters. But never forget, it is reflecting a time period, and a real one, not a fictional one. Most of the events shown really happened, and the treatment of minorities by rich white people is a matter of historical record.

In case you might already be thinking ‘this isn’t for me’, let me mention the cast. Because in something like this casting is all, and as well as the old clothes, cars, convincing sets, great period feel, and use of contemporary music, the cast is just perfect. Star of the show is Steve Bushcemi, born to play Nucky Thompson. Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald shines as Margaret, the Irish widow who becomes Nucky’s second wife. Michael Shannon is on wonderful form as the religious Prohibition Agent, Nelson Van Alden, and British actor Stephen Graham delivers a convincing Al Capone, always on the edge of madness. It just goes on, (and on) with Gretchen Moll, Dabney Coleman, Patricia Arquette, (looking deliciously voluptuous) Bobby Cannevale, Jeffrey Wright, and so many more.

OK, that’s a long review, I admit that. But it was a long series!
Here’s a trailer.

Just been watching…(7)

~ beetleypete ~ 31 Comments

Legend (2015)

Reggie and Ronnie Kray were identical twins, born and brought up in a tough part of London. During the late 1950s and into the 1960s, their criminal gang controlled most of east and central London, and they became men to be feared, though not admired. That is why I have some issue with the title of this biopic, as it implies some status that these sadistic criminals do not deserve. Extortion, intimidation, murder, blackmail, fraud, and corruption are hardly things to be considered the stuff of legend. However, if Jack The Ripper qualifies, then I suppose that the precedent is set.

Their story is well known, at least to most people in the UK. And a very similar film of their activities and background has been done before, in ‘The Krays’ (1990), with twins Gary and Martin Kemp playing the brothers. But that film seemed stagey, the sets felt contrived and lacking authenticity, and the Kemp twins, famous as musicians from the group ‘Spandau Ballet’, did not really impart sufficient gravitas to their roles.

This new film uses one actor to play both of the twins. This could have proved to be a disaster, but director and writer Brian Helgeland made the perfect choice, in Tom Hardy. Hardy does hard men well, and he does London even better. Despite the limitations of over the shoulder shots, and obvious problems when both brothers are in the same room, Hardy brings off the dual roles with conviction, and is believable at all times. Whether portraying the more sensible and occasionally sensitive Reggie, or the bespectacled, lisping homosexual sadist, Ronnie, he manages the balance perfectly.
There is a bonus too. The supporting cast is near-perfect, and seem like they are in period. Some of our best British character actors turn up. Chris Eccleston plays the Scotland Yard detective, Nipper Read, who made it his life’s work to hunt down the gang. Paul Bettany appears briefly as the Kray’s south London opposite number, Charlie Richardson, and the wonderful John Sessions gives an accurate and rather affectionate turn as the Tory peer, Lord Boothby. Strong female roles are provided for Emily Browning, as Frances, the doomed wife of Reggie, and Tara Fitzgerald, who is very convincing as her mother. Chazz Palminteri plays the Mafia connection. Chazz is one of my favourite American actors, but he is almost unrecognisable, as plastic surgery appears to have been his undoing.

But this is undeniably Hardy’s film. He dominates every scene, whichever brother he happens to be at any given time. The nuances that betray the slight differences between the twins are handled to perfection, and there is no slip up, or merging of the two. London in the 1960s is something I know intimately, and it is recreated well here. The cars, the streets, and the interiors of the old houses or modern flats are meticulously rendered. The seedy clubs of the west end might lack some authenticity, but they no longer exist to film in, and this is the only area where the film feels less than convincing. But the pub interiors, cafes, and street market scenes all come with the ring of truth, for anyone who was actually there.

This is a film about violent gangsters, and accordingly has many violent scenes. They are very realistic, and spare the viewer none of the graphic details. A fight with iron bars and knuckle dusters is ouch-inducing, and a vicious stabbing, using a small cocktail knife, is so well done you might think you were in the room. The problem is, who are we supposed to be rooting for? Not the horrible criminals, that is made clear. Not the detectives and policemen, whose bungling and corruption allows the gang to continue their reign of terror. Certainly not the politicians featured, as their lust and cover-ups were tying the hands of the very police officers tasked to catch the Krays. The tragic Frances perhaps, ill-used by Reggie, living a life of broken promises? Well, not really. She knew who he was, and what he was, long before she agreed to go out with him, so should have honestly expected nothing less than what she got.

What the film leaves us with, is a faithful tale of two violent and unpleasant men, and their associates. What they did, how they did it, and what they were prepared to do to keep what they had. If you are interested in this as a piece of history, perhaps know the story, or want to see them get what many considered to be their just desserts, then this might be for you. It is something of a niche film, perhaps more of interest to an audience in the UK, or those of us old enough to remember some of the events. Is it a great film? No. But it is better than some. I watched it for Hardy, and I wasn’t disappointed, at least not by him.

Here’s the trailer.