Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Executscan Expected more

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Uriah43 Looking at it in retrospect I suppose this film turned out to be an okay movie which essentially involves a gangster known as "Crazy Joe" (Peter Boyle) who believes that his efforts working for the mob haven't been appreciated enough. So he decides to force the issue and create his own gang. The problem with his logic, however, is that although he was certainly a top-notch thug, he doesn't quite have the discipline or a good understanding of the intricacies involved in building a crime family. Anyway, I thought Peter Boyle did an adequate job but it was Eli Wallach (as "Don Vittorio") and Fred Williamson (as "Willy") who really stood out. I also enjoyed seeing Henry Winkler cast as one of Crazy Joe's thugs named "Mannie" and Paula Prentiss as Joey's wife "Anne". Even so, the pace of the movie sometimes seemed a bit slow and I occasionally felt that some of the movie had been left in the cutting room. Not a great film by any means but somewhat entertaining all the same.

MovieWiz66 A great little period piece from the mid 70's. It follows the story of "Crazy" Joe Gallo. Peter Boyle is fabulous as Joe and the film also has Eli Wallach,Fred Williamson and Paula Prentiss. Eli Wallach plays a crime boss and steals every scene(as usual)that he is a part of. I think the film is not a "Godfather" ripoff as some have suggested,this film has a totally different feel to it. This is a gritty,hip almost an exploitation feel to it and not just because it has Fred Williamson in a supporting role. Great cars,music,clothes and a great look at the wonderful,colorful time that was the 70's. If you haven't seen this flick,be sure to check it out. Playing now(8-22-09)on Crackle,it is worth a couple hours of your time. If you are a fan of gangster films,70's exploitation films or just good old drama and action,this is one film that you may not have heard of that definitely is worth a look. Peace.

fedor8 "What do these Hollywood types know about gangsters?" (Crazy Joe, when he encounters a film crew on the street)Ironically, a good point. (Or was the irony intentional? I doubt it...) Hollywood types have generally proved to know very little about the mob (or almost anything else for that matter), or at least often present aspects of that culture in a misleading or somewhat romanticized manner. However, there isn't too much silliness or idolatry going on here, i.e. CJ's mobsters are to the most part portrayed accurately/realistically, in other words as the uncontrollable sociopaths that they are and always will be. Thankfully, this isn't a Sydney Lumet picture in which the viewer is required/asked to sympathize with criminals by taking an irrational, liberal, childishly anti-establishment attitude. (See "Find Me Guilty", a fantasy mobster court-room drama in which a "happy ending" constitutes a dozen mobster defendants being acquitted of crimes they did commit...) The radiant 70s look, a brisk plot development, and the generally good cast make up for some occasional flaws.Fonz as a gangster?? He is about a head shorter than all the (fe)male cast members - and that includes Harve Villachaize. Truly threatening-looking. Not to mention his perpetual "mild-mannered accountant's" facial expression, which he cannot get rid off even if a team of top plastic surgeons tried to help him in that fantastic feat. That was a major casting blunder. What's next... Kate Hudson as head of NASA? Casey Affleck as Superman? Another casting error, though far less dramatic than the Fonz fiasco, was picking Charles Cioffi to play a rising mob star. An actor's Italian name alone does not necessarily a suitable mafiosi make. He too lacks the aura of psychopathy that even the least violent mobster (which isn't saying much) has, lurking below the surface.Why do mobsters' wives and girfriends, i.e. harlots, nearly always get portrayed favourably in movies? It doesn't take a brilliant deductive mind or world-class detective skills to figure out that such women can't be morally much more impressive than the scum they they date. Admittedly, Paula Prentiss's character is underdeveloped, but whatever little we see of her seems to be far too flattering for that kind of woman.On one or two occasions the jumps from one scene to the next are too quick, making the flow of the movie somewhat shaky. It's as though the initial running time of CJ had been 30 minutes longer, and a commercially-driven butchering job had been implemented at the last minute in the editor's room.

WarnersBrother While I have not seen this film since it's release I am anxiously awaiting the day when it gets the well-deserved DVD release.I would like to set something straight: Another reviewer insinuated that this is a "Godfather" rip-off, and nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact this film is the (largely) true story of the Gallo Brothers and particularly "Crazy" Joe Gallo. I have something of a personal interest in the movie because I lived in NYC during the days of the mob war triggered by the Gallos, and actually had the dubious honor of meeting Joe Gallo several times after his release from prison in 1971 (he had spent ten years educating himself in prison, and became something of a social butterfly and curiosity of the entertainment and arts crowd. I believe this is portrayed in the film.) As to the "Godfather" thing: Coppola/Puzo naturally used many real occurrences and characters from the real-life mafia. This has been analyzed to death elsewhere so I'll be specific here re the Gallo connection: The sequence in GFII where Frankie Pantangeli is lured into an empty bar and the killers attempt to strangle him, only to be thwarted when a Police Officer enters the bar and sees the victims feet protruding from behind a table ACTUALLY happened. It is an EXACT re-enactment of the attempt to murder Larry Gallo in the Sahara bar in Brooklyn in either the late 50' or early 60's, during the Gallo-Profaci war.The character of Joey Zaza in GFIII is clearly based on John Gotti and largely on Joe Gallo, who had been responsible for the worst gang wars in New York since the 1930's.When I have a chance to see this again, I'm going to add my review, as I don't generally comment on movies unless I have recently viewed them.One personal not: The one thing a do recall when I saw it the day it opened was that the great Peter Boyle did an excellent job, the thing that stuck out was Boyle was very tall and bald. Joe Gallo was shortish and dark blond as I recall.UPDATE August 2007: I've just gotten a chance to see this again, and I'm surprised that it holds up very well indeed. This is a nearly perfect cast..Rip Torn is excellent as Richie (Larry Gallo) Peter Boyle is as usual right on his game. Luther Adler makes a great Profaci and Eli Wallach is nearly perfect as "Don Vittorio" (Carlo Gambino) He would get to essentially reprise the role in Godfather III. The only person better suited to the part would have been the great Richard Conte (though he had basically played Gambino as Don Barzini in The Godfather). Paula Prentiss does her best with a small, thankless and poorly written part.The movie is fairly true to the facts (as we know them), but does need to condense and fictionalize events. Example: Two separate attempts to kill Joe and Larry Gallo are presented very effectively as one single event.As much as I am a Peter Boyle fan, I have to say that I always felt that he was not the right person for the part. My own dream cast for this would have been Harvey Keitel, who was physically closer to Joe Gallo, and had the same kind of intensity as Boyle.For some odd reason (probably that he was (and is)still alive), the third Gallo brother, Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo is absent completely from the film; Henry Winkler plays a much watered-down character named "Manny" in his stead. And a fun point: The name Gallo is never used in the film...however, in a scene where Joe is arrested for shaking down a liquor store, the place is comically stacked to the rafters with wine boxes marked "Gallo" in huge letters!!All in all, a film that deserves true classic status in the mob-movie genre.