Movies / The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)
Runtime: 121 min
Genres: Action Comedy Crime Drama
Languages: English
Countries: USA
Picture if you will two cousins, Charlie (Mickey Rourke) and Paulie (Eric Roberts), prowling the mean streets of New York's Little Italy. Charlie is reasonably put-together, a maitre d' at a chic café who aspires to running his own restaurant someday. Paulie is an incurable flake who can't resist a temptation or a goofball scheme, couldn't tell the truth to save his soul, and keeps splashing Charlie with the street slop of his slewing trajectory through life. This includes drawing him into the circles of Mob crime, most especially Paulie's boss, that supreme sleazebag "Bedbug Eddie" (Burt Young). Michael Cimino is said to have had a hand in this movie, though the credited director is Stuart Rosenberg--an impersonal craftsman often hired in midshoot after the star and a more volatile director had parted company. This helps account for the picture's overall lack of rhythm and its wavering between overemphatic, Ethnic-with-a-capital-E idiosyncrasy, and low-key befuddlement. Still, it has its charms, most of them deriving from a terrific cast. At the time it came out, in the summer of 1984, Rourke and Roberts were both exciting, unpredictable talents; Roberts in particular had an amazing talent for being somebody brand new--psychologically, even physically--in every film he made. But even though they're hitting on all cylinders, the boys are quietly upstaged by some redoubtable old pros: the great Kenneth McMillan, the ineffable M. Emmet Walsh, and--scoring her umpteenth Oscar (R) nomination as the mother of an ill-fated cop--Miss Geraldine Page. --Richard T. Jameson
Keywords (57) |
---|
divorcé reference to frank sinatra ex convict restroom police corruption fired from the job waiter heist fainting police detective More Keywords » |
Directors (1) | Credit |
---|---|
Stuart Rosenberg | ... |
Writers (1) | Credit |
---|---|
Vincent Patrick | (screenplay) |
Composers (1) | Credit |
---|---|
Dave Grusin | ... |
Editors (1) | Credit |
---|---|
Robert Brown | ... |
Cinematographers (1) | Credit |
---|---|
John Bailey | (director of photography) |
Actors (49) | Credit |
---|---|
Anna Levine | Waitress at Country Inn |
Betty Miller | Nora |
Bo Smith | Terry the Groom |
Burt Young | Bed Bug Eddie |
Claude Vincent | Bartender at Lime House |
Clem Caserta | Eating Man at Sal's (as Clement Caserta) |
Daryl Hannah | Diane |
Ed DeLeo | Anthony |
Ed O'Ross | Bartender at Sal's |
Ed Setrakian | 1st Inspector |
Eric Roberts | Paulie |
Felix Pitre | Restaurant Helper |
Frank Vincent | 1st Crew Chief |
Geraldine Page | Mrs. Ritter |
Gerard Murphy | Garber (as Gerry Murphy) |
Henry Yuk | Assistant Cook |
Jack Kehoe | Bunky |
Jacques Sandulescu | Chef |
James Bulleit | Cashier |
Joan Shangold | Police Woman |
Joe Grifasi | Jimmy the Cheese Man |
John Eric Bentley | Summons Man (as John Bentley) |
John Finn | Ginty |
José Angel Santana | Bus Boy (as José Santana) |
Ken Butler | Cab Driver (uncredited) |
Kenneth McMillan | Barney |
Kevin Breslin | Tommy Botondo |
Leonard Termo | Fat Waldo |
Linda Ipanema | Cooky |
Marty Brill | Mel |
M. Emmet Walsh | Burns |
Mickey Rourke | Charlie |
Nick Vallelonga | Stickball Player (uncredited) |
Paul Austin | Toll Booth Attendant |
Paul Herman | Stickball Player |
Peter Conti | Waiter at Sal's |
Philip Bosco | Paulie's Father |
Randall Edwards | Hat Check Girl |
Rik Colitti | Barber |
Ronald Maccone | Nicky |
Samuel G. Laken | Vinny |
Talisa Soto | Studio Dancer (uncredited) |
Thomas A. Carlin | Walsh |
Tina Vaughn | Dancer |
Tony DiBenedetto | Ronnie |
Tony Lip | Frankie |
Tony Musante | Pete |
Val Avery | Nunzi |
William Duell | Toll Booth Attendant |