Tagarchief: GoodFellas

22. The Irishman (2019)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers: Steven Zaillian (screenplay), Charles Brandt (book)
Stars: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Anna Paquin

This review is part of the feature:

The 33 Gangster Films You Can’t Refuse

This 3,5 hours epic marks the welcome return of the master Scorsese to the genre he does best. And with two of his favorite actors, the magnificent Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. Throw in legend Al Pacino and you have an irresistible team on your hands.

The Irishman takes some getting into; this is a different beast than GoodFellas and Casino. Slower, more contemplative, but nevertheless featuring Scorsese’s trademark moments of humor and violence. It is the perfect retirement feature for this legendary cast, who are made young again with de-aging technology and get to live through several decades of mob history.

The story revolves around WW2 veteran Frank Sheeran (De Niro) who becomes a killer for the very controlled mob boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci in a role that is the polar opposite of his explosive GoodFellas and Casino characters). Sheeran later becomes bodyguard and enforcer for Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino) who becomes his best friend.

Although the story is not very spectacular nor surprising (we already know what will happen to Hoffa for example) its direction is nearly flawless. Every wonderful frame and edit is brimming with meaning, even if we usually have to work out what that meaning is for ourselves.

One of the main themes is looking back at one’s life and regretting certain actions. In the case of Sheeran a major betrayal. And if you’re one of the few mobsters to actually survive (every mob character gets a title card detailing how he eventually got whacked) you might end up as a very sad old man in prison.

It is fitting for Scorsese (75 at the time of shooting) to approach the gangster life from this angle this time around. But unlike Sheeran, he ain’t got nothing to be embarrassed about. The Irishman is one for the ages.

The 33 Gangster Films You Can’t Refuse

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


“It’s not just Italian American gangsters. It’s Cagney and Bogart movies, it’s Westerns. Americans seem to have some kind of fascination with outlaws in general. Maybe it’s because we were an outlaw nation to begin with. This nation was born of rebellion against authority, and in a weird way, that’s what these characters represent. That image is very attractive to Americans. It’s part of the national unconscious. It’s practically in our genetic code.”

― Steven Van Zandt in the article ‘A Harried Godfather struggles to balance his personal and professional lives’. By Matt Zoller Seitz in The Star-Ledger, 1-9-1999

Introduction

As far back as I can remember, I always loved gangster movies. Well, that’s not exactly true; I have always loved watching bad guys, so I definitely recognize myself in that Steven Van Zandt quote above – and I’m not even American. As a child, I loved cartoons and action films – like the James Bond movies – that featured inspiring villains.

Then, when I was 13, I saw GoodFellas for the first time. It immediately became my favorite film, my love for the gangster genre was awakened, and I have since watched countless gangster films. So now, more than 30 years later, I have decided to put together my personal ultimate ranking of gangster classics.

But what do I mean by ‘gangster film’? First, I had to get my criteria straight: gangsters must play a lead role in the movie. So is Heat a gangster movie? Definitely. Yes, fifty percent of the film is about the cops trying to catch the robbers, but those robbers play a huge role in the movie. In screen time alone, Neil McCauley’s gang can match most of the other gangsters on this list.

Of the final selection, I had the most doubts about The Untouchables and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The first is really about Elliot Ness and his special police force, but I still felt the gangsters play a very prominent part in the film. Robert De Niro’s Al Capone, in particular, is such a powerful gangster performance that the movie belongs on this list.

As for Lock, Stock: the main characters may not be arch criminals, but they are still up to their necks in crime. Besides, most of the other characters are legendary gangsters such as Hatchet Harry, Big Chris, and Barry the Baptist, so it’s pretty obvious it should be included.

One movie that didn’t make the cut is L.A. Confidential. A brilliant film, surely, but its ‘gangsters’ are mostly crooked cops, and therefore don’t count as gangster characters.

Great movies that almost made the cut: Scorsese’s Mean Streets, which I chose not to include because its characters are so low-level in the underworld and the film features few high-level mobsters.

The terrific A History of Violence, which is more an action thriller focused on the psychology of its characters rather than crime. And Bound, more an erotic thriller in which one main character (Joe Pantoliano’s Caesar) happens to be in the mob.

Movies that do live up to the criteria and almost made it, and therefore deserve an honorable mention: Gotti (the 1996 version), A Bronx Tale, The Roaring Twenties, Little Caesar, Scarface (1932), Eastern Promises, and The Public Enemy.

So now, without further ado, I present the 33 gangster films that define the genre for me… Just don’t go busting my balls about the selection, okay?

The 33 Gangster Films You Can’t Refuse

32. Road to Perdition

31. American Gangster

30. The Killing

29. King of New York

28. The Departed

27. In Bruges

26. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

25. Snatch

24. Get Carter

23. Point Blank

22. The Irishman

21. Bonnie and Clyde

20. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

19. The Godfather: Part III

18. Donnie Brasco

17. The Long Good Friday

16. Menace II Society

15. State of Grace

14. Carlito’s Way

13. City of God

12. White Heat

11. Rififi

10. Once Upon a Time in America

09. The Untouchables

08. Reservoir Dogs

07. Heat

06. Miller’s Crossing

05. Casino

04. Scarface

03. Pulp Fiction

In the month October 2026, a new gangster classic will be added to the list every day…

Stay tuned.

R.I.P. Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Vincent Pastore, the Italian-American actor from New York who played the legendary Salvatore ‘Big Pussy’ Bonpensiero in The Sopranos, has died. He was 80 years old.

Pastore was a former club owner in New Rochelle, New York. He became friends with Matt Dillon and Kevin Dillon – two of his regulars – who convinced him to try acting. He was in his forties when he got into the business. He died with nearly 200 film credits to his name (including Flodder in Amerika!).

In 1990, he had a small role in GoodFellas (credited as ‘Man with Coatrack’), one of the greatest gangster films ever made. That year marked the start of the decade of the mob movie, and Pastore appeared in many of them: State of Grace, New Jack City, Carlito’s Way, Sugar Hill, Gotti, The Last Don, A Brooklyn State of Mind, and Witness to the Mob.

In 1999, he was cast in The Sopranos as Big Pussy Bonpensiero, one of Tony Soprano’s crew members. His character’s name was based on a real gangster, apparently – something show creator David Chase had picked up somewhere. In fact, there were two Pussys in the mob: Big Pussy and Little Pussy. This became one of the big mob jokes in the pilot episode:

HESH: I hear Junior wants to whack Pussy Bonpensiero?
TONY: Pussy Malanga.
HESH: Oh, Little Pussy?
TONY: Yeah, Little Pussy. What, you think he’s gonna fuck with Big Pussy? My Pussy?

In the first season, Big Pussy became one of the leading characters. Then, in episode 11, Tony is told by a corrupt cop on his payroll that Pussy is a rat. A heartbroken Tony tells his soldier Paulie to go and check, and after a tense confrontation, Pussy flees.

Later that season, Tony suspects the cop was actually referring to Jimmy Altieri, another “fat fuck with black hair”, and Jimmy is killed on Tony’s orders. Pussy is exonerated, but he remains on the run, fearing his friends want to whack him.

When season one became a phenomenal success, fans wondered what happened to Pussy. David Chase realized he had to bring him back for season two. And so Pussy returns – only for us to quickly discover he’s working with the FBI to get Tony indicted. The way Tony eventually discovers this, and deals with it, leads to my favorite moment in The Sopranos in my favorite television episode of all time, from any show.

He would always remain famous for this role. I remember him coming on the ‘Talking Sopranos’ podcast, telling the story of how he took his grandchildren to the zoo and people recognized him: “Hey, it’s Pussy!”

So, 26 years after his fictional death in Funhouse, now Pussy has joined Tony (James Gandolfini) and Paulie (Tony Sirico) in Tony’s heaven crew.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Read some of Big Pussy’s best lines on The Sopranos here.

The Roaring Twenties (1939)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


‘America’s Most Colorful Era!’

Directed by:
Raoul Walsh

Written by:
Jerry Wald (screenplay)
Richard Macaulay (screenplay)
Robert Rossen (screenplay)
Mark Hellinger (story)

Cast:
James Cagney (Eddie Bartlett), Priscilla Lane (Jean Sherman), Humphrey Bogart (George Hally), Gladys George (Panama Smith), Jeffrey Lynn (Lloyd Hart), Frank McHugh (Danny Green), Paul Kelly (Nick Brown), Elizabeth Risdon (Mrs. Sherman), Ed Keane (Henderson), Joe Sawyer (The Sergeant)

The Roaring Twenties opens in the immediate aftermath of World War I, as soldiers James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart return home in 1919. They find a nation grappling with economic hardship and rising living costs just as Prohibition is ratified, turning alcohol into both a forbidden fruit and a lucrative business opportunity.

The film follows Eddie Bartlett (Cagney), a former doughboy who seizes the moment and rises to power in the bootlegging underworld. Along the way, he reconnects with Jean Sherman, a woman he corresponded with during the war, securing her a singing job at a nightclub. His path eventually crosses again with his old comrade George Hally (Bogart), now a rival booze importer. Their partnership sours, and tensions escalate when they double-cross fellow bootlegger Nick Brown.

The movie by Raould Walch, who would ten years later make the best gangster film yet at that point – White Heat – is a trendsetter in more than one way. Walsh crafts The Roaring Twenties with a dynamic, almost documentary-like style. Crisp black-and-white cinematography is punctuated by newsreel-style interludes, lending the film an energetic, GoodFellas-esque rhythm. The story of the ‘working gangster’ feels like a clear influence on Scorsese, blending ambition, a jetset lifestyle, and eventually an ugly downfall.

Cagney delivers another magnetic performance as Eddie Bartlett, a character who begins as a mild-mannered entrepreneur, but grows increasingly volatile as his world unravels. What sets The Roaring Twenties apart is its focus on redemption: Eddie’s final act is a selfless one, driven by love rather than greed. It is a rare moral twist for the genre.

Like most gangster tales, it ends with a memorable line, this time spoken by a dame: “He used to be a big shot.”

Rating:

Quote:
EDDIE BARTLETT: “I just ran into a streak of bad luck, that’s all. I’ll be there on top again. I just got to figure out a new angle.”

Trivia:
Gladys George replaced Ann Sheridan (the female star of Cagney’s previous gangster film Angels with Dirty Faces) who had replaced Lee Patrick who had replaced Glenda Farrell for the character of Panama Smith.