The gung ho fires roar and roar.
Another squad is pulverized, the ones that came here before.
A half a shot of redemption, hanging afloat half a mile.
200 red candles burning, no one here.
No one can hear.
Paranoid thoughts, ugly trembling, self-loathing…
All this is a sorry excuse.
A war that shouldn’t have been.
My courage that should have been.
Those children…
We need to sleep now and forget it.
Never again.
The latest Scorsese is out! Let’s not hope it is his final film, but if it is, it’s a great one and it contains all the elements of a typical Scorsese movie: criminal conspiracies, the founding myths of America, sin and morally corrupt men… they are all there.
If you know Scorsese’s oeuvre, you might have thought about his other movies during the viewing of ‘Flower Moon’. I certainly did. There was one reference in particular that caught my eye. Logically, since I have seen GoodFellas probably more than 30 times, so I couldn’t miss this reference.
At the end of GoodFellas, protagonist Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) decides to join the witness protection programme and testify against his former superiors James Conway (Robert De Niro) and Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino). In the scene before the final scene, Hill is in court and he is asked by the prosecutor to point out Conway and Cicero for the jury. Hill does and the prosecutor says:
“Your honor, please let the record reflect that Mr. Hill has identified the defendant James Conway.”
In Killers of the Flower Moon, De Niro’s role is similar to James Conway, since his character – William Hale – is like Conway, leader of a major criminal conspiracy.
Towards the ending of ‘Flower Moon’, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Ernest Burkhart is testifying against Hale in the Osage murder trial. And when I saw De Niro sitting there in the courtroom, I knew it was coming. And yes, Burkhart is asked to point out Hale and surely the prosecutor says:
“Your honor, please let the record reflect that Mr. Burkhart has identified the defendant William Hale.”
Nice one, Marty!
A Scanner Darkly (1977)
Semi-autobiographical novel about Dick’s experiences of living with a group of dope users. The main character is Bob Archtor, an undercover agent who gets addicted to a futuristic drug (the novel is set in 1994 in Orange County) called ‘Substance D’, a drug that soon leads to serious brain malfunction, and Archtor starts to lose his identity. Dick wrote it after a period in which he wasn’t able to produce any fiction due to drug consumption, so this novel functioned as a turbocharger of sorts. It contains flashes of brilliance, especially when it commentates on the lifestyle of heavy drug users, but as a whole it is quite a dull read, especially for a terrific writer as Dick. Turned into a 2006 movie by Richard Linklater, starring Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, Winona Rider and Robert Downey Jr. The book ends with a list of all the dopers Dick hung out with who had died since then. It is quite a long list.
The Man in the High Castle (1962)
Who is the Man in the High Castle? It is the author Hawthorne Abendsen who wrote a subversive novel in which the allies won the Second World War. You see, this classic novel by science fiction legend Philip K. Dick is set in an alternative America which is governed by the Nazi’s and Japanese who have won WWII. In this world, American culture is quickly vanishing from existence, and an artificial America is rising. The novel follows various American, Japanese and European characters who try to make their way in this reality, thereby using the Taoist book ‘I Ching or Book of Changes’ as their guidance. The fascinating thing about ‘The Man in the High Castle’ is how believable Dick has crafted this alternate world. It makes the reader realize that we live in such a world ourselves, the result of countless choices and actions. We take it for granted, but everything could easily be very different. Turned into a television series by Amazon in 2015.
VALIS (1981)
‘VALIS’ follows the adventures of Horselover Fat (great name for a character!), an alter ego of the writer. This later, partly autobiographical book, is about Dick’s religious experiences. VALIS stands for Vast Active Living Intelligence System and represents the writer’s vision of God, which is that God is actually one huge macro-mind that connects everything. Unfortunately, the book – that was published one year before his death – contains not much more than endless philosophizing about the divine, madness and alien intelligence. Yes, Dick certainly had some fascinating thoughts and ideas, but they lack clarity here. And a plot is also sorely missing in ‘VALIS’. I’m afraid I am more a fan of Dick’s earlier works, like the phenomenal ‘Ubik’. ‘VALIS’ is part of a trilogy that also included ‘The Divine Invasion’ and ‘The Transmigration of Timothy Archer’, his final novel.
Terminology
Agita: Stress
A good earner: What wiseguys are supposed to be.
Associate: Involved with Mafia but not yet a made guy.
Bada Bing!: Stripclub owned by Silvio Dante (in The Sopranos).
Busting someone’s balls: Bothering somebody with sh*t.
Bust Out: Ordering on a company’s account till it runs out of credit and goes bankrupt.
Capo / Captain: Crew boss. Leads a number of soldiers. Reports to underboss.
Consigliere: Counselor of the Don. For example Tom Hagen in The Godfather and Silvio Dante in The Sopranos.
Contract: Someone needs to disappear by means of a hitman.
Don: Boss of organised crime family.
Fanook: Gay
Goomar: Steady girlfriend on the side. Of course most wiseguys are married like good Catholics ought to be.
Illegal gambling: A wiseguy’s main source of income
La Cosa Nostra (LCN): Literally ‘our thing’. Mafia. Organised crime families.
Made Guy: Connected to the mob by blood-oath.
Making one’s bones: Performing a first kill for the mob.
Mustache Pete: An old-fashioned mob boss.
OC: Short for Organised Crime. Term used by the FBI.
Omerta: Bow of silence. Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.
Opening the books: New members (made guys) are accepted by the mob commission.
Outstanding loan: It’s time for a weekly visit to collect or bust some skulls in.
Points: Interest over debt. Average mob rate is two points weekly.
Pop someone: To shoot someone.
Rat/stoolie/turncoat: Wiseguy that betrays his friends. Usually because he fears a lengthy prison sentence or getting whacked (or both).
RICO Laws: Main government tool for prosecuting members of the Mafia. Stands for ‘Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations’. According to the federal statutes, RICO can be applied to anyone who is involved in the ‘operation or management’ of a ‘pattern of racketeering activity’ designed to acquire or maintain an interest in an ‘enterprise’.
Sit down: Conversation between the Don and two conflicting made members.
Soldier: Lowest rank under made guys.
To eat: To be allowed to earn.
To flip: To turn FBI informant.
Vig: Amount charged by bookmakers for services. Short for Vigorish. Also known as juice.
Whack someone: To kill someone.
Wiseguy, Goodfella: Made member of the mob.
Expressions from The Godfather
Moe Green Special: Gunshot clean through the eye because someone’s eyes became bigger than his stomach.
Going to the mattresses: Going to war.
‘Take the gun, leave the Cannoli’: What you say after you have popped a guy.
An offer you can’t refuse: Either your brains or signature will be on the contract.
Rules
Never insult, threaten or hit another made guy. (*GoodFellas, The Sopranos, Gotti)
Stick to the omerta (never rat out your friends). (*GoodFellas, The Sopranos, Gotti)
Money should be carried in a bundle. Not in a wallet. (*Donnie Brasco)
Mustaches are not acceptable. (*Donnie Brasco)
Who kills a don can never become a don. (*Mobsters, Gotti)
A made guy is untouchable for anyone except of course the bosses. (*GoodFellas)
A soldier kicks up money to his capo who gives a piece to the (under)boss. Never keep income secret from the bosses. (The Sopranos)
Never start an affair with another member’s wife. (Casino)
* Examples of movies in which those rules were broken.
Read also: The Sopranos – 100 Greatest Moments
FRAGMENTEN UIT HET SCHEMERLAND 