Great Movie, but this is letterboxed. :(
Added 3/2/2010
I loved this movie since I first saw it back in the 80's and had high expectations of finally seeing it on DVD.
Better save your money until this comes out in the proper format. This is a letter boxed wide screen version so you get black bars not only on top and bottom but left and right also. Please release this in anamorphic wide screen or better yet Blu-Ray.
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The Pope of Greenwich Village
Added 2/28/2010
Is and always has been one of my top 5 movies of all time. So very "New York", Micky Rourke and Eric Roberts at their finest. Must have watched this movie 50 times and still look forward to watching it again and again
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Italians They're Not.
Added 12/4/2009
I'm going to comment on this movie -- and in response to several of the other Amazon reviews of this movie -- as an Italian-American.
First of all, and to quote that famous American philosopher and one-time bag boy at the Whittier Food Fair Richard Nixon, "let me make one thing perfectly clear." ... I like Mickey Rourke films. I consider his film career, overall, to be as good as any actor who has ever lived.
And I say that for one simple reason -- I'm afriad if I don't he'll kick my butt.
Butt seriously, folks, the two fundamental problems I have with this movie are
1.) Mickey Rourke is supposed to play an Italian. I mean, COME ON! Mickey Rourke is a great actor, in my opinion at times in his career as good as Brando ... but an Italian?
Mickey Rourke is an Italian like my Great-Aunt Carmela is one of the Rockettes.
Mickey Rourke's face might as well be a map of Ireland. ("Faith and bejabbers, Paddy, he's a fine broth of a lad.")
What compounds the felony of Mickey Rourke trying to play an Italian is that Eric Roberts also -- at least form the point of view of most Italian-Americans I would imagine -- also doesn't pass "The Laugh Test." The curly-headed permanent wave they gave him for the movie doesn't do it, folks, trust me.
In fact, there's no reason why the Mickey Rourke character and the Eric Roberts character had to be Italians in the first place. Why couldn't they be two *Irish* guys who get mixed up with the local Don played by Burt Young?
I'm even more put off by the stereotypical way in which the movie portrays Italians. *And* by the stereotypical way some reviewers here have bought right into those stereotypes.
Keep in mind that I consider Mickey Rourke to be one of the greatest film actors ever, but every time the camera would shoot a closeup of Mickey Rourke, an Italian in the picture, I cracked up. Even if he had done extensive research on the speech, mannerisms and overall behavior of Italian-Americans, it's his unmistakeable Irish *face* that sinks an otherwise good movie.
People rave about Eric Roberts performace. But here again it doesn't ring true. Both are method actors but the problem with "The Method" is that you can't have Pee Wee Herman in a film starrign as Hamlet or King Lear just because he might be a great Method actor. There are, after all, limits.
An actor like, say, Laurence Olivier -- the exact opposite of a Method actor -- would never take a role where he couldn't convince the audience that *physically* (re. body language, makeup, costume and appearance) he is that guy up on the screen. For me, Mickey Rourke playing an Italian in this movie would be like, not that it would have ever happened, Laurence Olivier playing the life story of Danny DiVito.
Also, the movie never directly ansswer the question: "Why is the Mickey Rourke character putting up with the Eric Roberts character?" The Eric Roberts character is not just self-destructive, he's doing a good job of destroying his supposed best friend as well. .. Bugt here's the ting I object to. The movie does *in*directly answer the question; that is to say, the implication throughout the movie is that "Italians, you know, man, they stick together man, they're loyal." Leaving the audience to conclude that the stupidity of Mickey Rourke putting up with Eric Roberts' dumb-ass shenanigans is rooted in some dumb-ass notion of how a particular ethnic group, in this case Italian-Americans, is supposed to act.
It's not that Hollywood doesn't so this quite often. Hollywood has a long history of portraying ethnic, racial and sexual groups is highly stereotypical ways.
My point has nothing to do with so-called "identity politics." Rather, what I'm saying is that this kind of a.) gross miscasting and b.) simplistic, shorthand ethnic stereotyping stands as an immoveable roadblock to anything approaching art. And in the case of Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts, those are two actors whose work can and at times *has* achieved the level of art.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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great buy
Added 10/22/2009
Great movie. Mickey Rourke at his best. If you grew up in a neighborhood then you will understand this movie.
One of the best opening scences to a movie ever. (Mickey Rourke geting ready to go out on the town, with Summerwind playing in the backround.)
Burt Young from the Rocky movies plays a great mob boss.
A true cinema classic.
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Rourke & Roberts Shine
Added 8/25/2009
I've seen this movie several times. The chemistry between Rourke and Roberts is fantastic. I like everything about this movie. The acting,the story,the music and the setting. I recommend it highly. You won't be disappointed.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Great Movie, but this is letterboxed. :(
Added 3/2/2010
I loved this movie since I first saw it back in the 80's and had high expectations of finally seeing it on DVD.
Better save your money until this comes out in the proper format. This is a letter boxed wide screen version so you get black bars not only on top and bottom but left and right also. Please release this in anamorphic wide screen or better yet Blu-Ray.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
The Pope of Greenwich Village
Added 2/28/2010
Is and always has been one of my top 5 movies of all time. So very "New York", Micky Rourke and Eric Roberts at their finest. Must have watched this movie 50 times and still look forward to watching it again and again
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Italians They're Not.
Added 12/4/2009
I'm going to comment on this movie -- and in response to several of the other Amazon reviews of this movie -- as an Italian-American.
First of all, and to quote that famous American philosopher and one-time bag boy at the Whittier Food Fair Richard Nixon, "let me make one thing perfectly clear." ... I like Mickey Rourke films. I consider his film career, overall, to be as good as any actor who has ever lived.
And I say that for one simple reason -- I'm afriad if I don't he'll kick my butt.
Butt seriously, folks, the two fundamental problems I have with this movie are
1.) Mickey Rourke is supposed to play an Italian. I mean, COME ON! Mickey Rourke is a great actor, in my opinion at times in his career as good as Brando ... but an Italian?
Mickey Rourke is an Italian like my Great-Aunt Carmela is one of the Rockettes.
Mickey Rourke's face might as well be a map of Ireland. ("Faith and bejabbers, Paddy, he's a fine broth of a lad.")
What compounds the felony of Mickey Rourke trying to play an Italian is that Eric Roberts also -- at least form the point of view of most Italian-Americans I would imagine -- also doesn't pass "The Laugh Test." The curly-headed permanent wave they gave him for the movie doesn't do it, folks, trust me.
In fact, there's no reason why the Mickey Rourke character and the Eric Roberts character had to be Italians in the first place. Why couldn't they be two *Irish* guys who get mixed up with the local Don played by Burt Young?
I'm even more put off by the stereotypical way in which the movie portrays Italians. *And* by the stereotypical way some reviewers here have bought right into those stereotypes.
Keep in mind that I consider Mickey Rourke to be one of the greatest film actors ever, but every time the camera would shoot a closeup of Mickey Rourke, an Italian in the picture, I cracked up. Even if he had done extensive research on the speech, mannerisms and overall behavior of Italian-Americans, it's his unmistakeable Irish *face* that sinks an otherwise good movie.
People rave about Eric Roberts performace. But here again it doesn't ring true. Both are method actors but the problem with "The Method" is that you can't have Pee Wee Herman in a film starrign as Hamlet or King Lear just because he might be a great Method actor. There are, after all, limits.
An actor like, say, Laurence Olivier -- the exact opposite of a Method actor -- would never take a role where he couldn't convince the audience that *physically* (re. body language, makeup, costume and appearance) he is that guy up on the screen. For me, Mickey Rourke playing an Italian in this movie would be like, not that it would have ever happened, Laurence Olivier playing the life story of Danny DiVito.
Also, the movie never directly ansswer the question: "Why is the Mickey Rourke character putting up with the Eric Roberts character?" The Eric Roberts character is not just self-destructive, he's doing a good job of destroying his supposed best friend as well. .. Bugt here's the ting I object to. The movie does *in*directly answer the question; that is to say, the implication throughout the movie is that "Italians, you know, man, they stick together man, they're loyal." Leaving the audience to conclude that the stupidity of Mickey Rourke putting up with Eric Roberts' dumb-ass shenanigans is rooted in some dumb-ass notion of how a particular ethnic group, in this case Italian-Americans, is supposed to act.
It's not that Hollywood doesn't so this quite often. Hollywood has a long history of portraying ethnic, racial and sexual groups is highly stereotypical ways.
My point has nothing to do with so-called "identity politics." Rather, what I'm saying is that this kind of a.) gross miscasting and b.) simplistic, shorthand ethnic stereotyping stands as an immoveable roadblock to anything approaching art. And in the case of Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts, those are two actors whose work can and at times *has* achieved the level of art.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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