THE IRISHMAN, A Martin Scorsese Picture with de Niro, Pacino, Pesci, Keitel

there's a young Lansky in Boardwalk Empire but he's not really a central figure. And of course there's Moe Green and Hyman Roth in the Godfather(s), but yeah the movies aren't about them

Hesh in the Sopranos is probably my favorite on-screen Jewish mafia character tbh

just as a portrayal of a "type"

I guess there's Tom Hardy in Peaky Blinders, but y'know, Peaky Blinders...

could never get past the title of that tbh

not-good Jewish mob film: Little Odessa

De Niro’s Ace Rothstein in Casino?

the upcoming Fargo S4 has some KC Jewish mob elements

isaac babel has some fun plays

I would love to see a movie about Lansky - dude was like a mafia Zelig. Had his hand in almost every major 20th century mob action that you could name.

I read the Safdies briefly had Harvey Keitel tied to Uncut Gems, they should cast him in this biopic

Once Upon a Time in America?

(xpost) Haven't seen it, but there's a TV movie with a reputable director.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0173974/

Had his hand in almost every major 20th century mob action that you could name

and got away with it! Never did time, never got whacked.

Ashkenazi exceptionalism at its finest

he has a small role in boardwalk empire

and obviously he's the transparent inspiration for lee strasberg's character in godfather part ii

do keep up

I haven't seen Bugsy since its first release, thought it was good not great. No memory of Ben Kingsley playing Lansky.

no

xp

there are a couple Jewish gangsters in Drive portrayed by Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman

Dutch Schultz was Jewish.

Morrie!

hesh was almost assuredly based on this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Levy

Bugsy had a sharp script (James Toback) and the wrong director (Barry Levinson wtf).

Lansky died at the age of 80 in 1983 .. of lung cancer. He rolled with Siegel & Luciano, took over the Flamingo after Siegel was offed, set up Batista with gambling $$$ in Cuba...as Shakey notes upthread, how the fuck comes out of all that with barely a mark is insane. Boardwalk depiction suggests an almost pathological cautiousness & much more strategic, coolheaded nature which would go a loong way to explaining how he survived if even partially true. Plus by all accounts Siegel was fkn nuts, and Luciano was no picnic. AND Batista ffs. He’s surrounded by egomaniacs & sociopathic nutjobs, so *not* getting offed when you have your hand in all this illegal domestic & international million dollar shit is almost unthinkable. Like dont get me wrong, Lansky’s still a scary dude but holy shit.

sorry for derail

one thing i noticed on a rewatch, just a couple of bits:

Frank being an unimportant player in the big game, not as important as he believes:

Frank in the room while Hoffa is screaming at his underlings, Frank leaves because he's offended, he doesn't like being yelled at, Hoffa chases him down and says he wasn't yelling at him, "I didn't even see you there."

----------

Frank coming back to Russ to talk about Hoffa, being told he also doesn't need to know everything, being told without being directly told to "just do his job":

FRANK: I don't understand either, how youse could help get those two fucking Kennedy pricks elected in the first place. It don't make no sense to him, that's for sure.

RUSS: He doesn't have to understand everything. You know what I'm talking about. Sometimes it's better.

----------

Frank's first wife, who was not a part of it at all. Just a regular person, outside of the mob influence. He meets his second wife, who's a server at a mob bar. Russ reps for her a bit, Frank quickly leaves his first wife for her.

^^^this ties in a bit with a moment I thought was just extra, but no: the very specific narration about Russ' wife Carrie:

FRANK: Russ's wife, Carrie, her family goes all the way back, way, way back to the same town in Sicily as the Bufalinos. They talked about it all the time. She came from mob royalty, if you want to call it that. To them, it was like they came over on the... the Italian Mayflower.

Frank had an influence from the outside world in his first wife, but his second wife was all-in. Russ' wife was all in as well. Russ' life at work and at home was completely tied up in the mob, cf Carrie knowing exactly what he did and helping him cover it up. Now Frank's would be as well.

(xpost) This page gives two possible sources for Hesh (one of them Levy):

http://sopranos.fandom.com/wiki/Hesh_Rabkin

The character is based on Harold "Kayo" Koningsberg a legendary Jewish hit man and mob associate who was sentenced to life in prison for murder.

I remember Hesh as such a (relatively, anyway) genial character, Koningsberg sounds wrong.

yeah, that doesn't seem right

was thinking of what a similar Scorsese pic about Lansky would be called but I doubt "THE JEW" would get very far

JEW MOB is the only option

mensches

Jew Don't Know Me

I Hear You Shepp Naches

I had thought Lansky had a major role in the 1919 Black Sox scandal, but it was more Arnold Rothstein's thing

You may have been misled by Rothstein’s stand-in in The Great Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim

...played in the boring Redford-Farrow film version by Italian-American great Howard da Silva

lol typical

but the reverse w/ Sonny Corleone

irl lol


Οὖτις
Posted: January 17, 2020 at 11:55:48 AM
I Hear You Shepp Naches

Someone probably linked it 2 weeks ago, but I highly recommend our ol' pal nabisco's piece on the film (centered on the curb-stomping ridicule) in the NYT Mag dated Jan 5.

another thing i had noticed was how many of the "favors" Frank performs are immediately after an implied threat which lets him know where he stands, or immediately after Russ has said or done something ingratiating to him. i.e. he gives him a ring which brings him into his circle more, and immediately tells him it's time for Hoffa to go.

in the narration he talks about doing things not for money, but out of respect. it's more out of fear and out of a misplaced sense of gratitude.

This movie felt like homework

final grade:

TONY. All the grades are TONY.

*slaps roof of movie* this baby can fit so many Tonys in it.

CRAZY RICH ASIANS was a big hit, so I tried to watch it, and gave up 10 minutes in because it wasn’t for me and nobody was going to quiz me on it anyway, it’s a throwaway romcom

This, this is SCORSESE PACINO DENIRO PESCI so it’s required reading, yes there will be a test, and all I got out of it was 1) DO let your wife smoke in the car, ffs, you’ll get there so much faster 2) DON’T let your son put a fish in the car, everybody is going to make a fuss if he does

This movie felt like homework

https://images.spot.im/v1/production/r9ouudxhnztyi6phoeuq

The problem with making a 3 hour movie about Hoffa is the only “surprise” is when he goes into the crematorium - that’s how they did it!!!

I really wanted to like Pro, because he’s one of the only interesting characters, but Hoffa’s right about him, he’s just an ass

i liked it better the second time around tbh, and appreciated how Scorsese almost exclusively threw out his usual stylistic decisions w/a few pointed exceptions. it was almost closer to Silence in terms of cinematic flourishes (if not story) than it was to something like Casino. i think he was practicing a bit of restraint w/the former film and it carried over to this story, which was obv intended to not be a thrilling ride through the world of the mob (esp since Frank never takes such a ride, he's on the outside).

I didn’t hate this or anything but I’m sure never gonna watch it again.

No one watching this was expecting to be ... surprised, were they?