hesh was almost assuredly based on this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Levy
― culture of mayordom (voodoo chili), Friday, 17 January 2020 18:34 (four years ago) link
Bugsy had a sharp script (James Toback) and the wrong director (Barry Levinson wtf).
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 January 2020 18:45 (four years ago) link
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
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 17 January 2020 18:51 (four years ago) link
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.
― omar little, Friday, 17 January 2020 18:52 (four years ago) link
(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.
― clemenza, Friday, 17 January 2020 18:53 (four years ago) link
yeah, that doesn't seem right
― Οὖτις, Friday, 17 January 2020 18:58 (four years ago) link
was thinking of what a similar Scorsese pic about Lansky would be called but I doubt "THE JEW" would get very far
― Οὖτις, Friday, 17 January 2020 19:06 (four years ago) link
JEW MOB is the only option
― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 17 January 2020 19:25 (four years ago) link
mensches
― Banáná hÉireann (darraghmac), Friday, 17 January 2020 19:27 (four years ago) link
Jew Don't Know Me
― papa stank (Neanderthal), Friday, 17 January 2020 19:27 (four years ago) link
I Hear You Shepp Naches
― Οὖτις, Friday, 17 January 2020 19:55 (four years ago) link
I had thought Lansky had a major role in the 1919 Black Sox scandal, but it was more Arnold Rothstein's thing
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 17 January 2020 20:15 (four years ago) link
You may have been misled by Rothstein’s stand-in in The Great Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim
― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Friday, 17 January 2020 20:16 (four years ago) link
...played in the boring Redford-Farrow film version by Italian-American great Howard da Silva
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 17 January 2020 20:18 (four years ago) link
lol typical
― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Friday, 17 January 2020 20:19 (four years ago) link
but the reverse w/ Sonny Corleone
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 17 January 2020 20:23 (four years ago) link
irl lolΟὖτιςPosted: January 17, 2020 at 11:55:48 AMI Hear You Shepp Naches
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 17 January 2020 20:58 (four years ago) link
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.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 18 January 2020 02:18 (four years ago) link
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.
― omar little, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:22 (four years ago) link
This movie felt like homework
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:46 (four years ago) link
final grade:
TONY. All the grades are TONY.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:47 (four years ago) link
*slaps roof of movie* this baby can fit so many Tonys in it.
― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:50 (four years ago) link
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 romcomThis, 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
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:51 (four years ago) link
https://images.spot.im/v1/production/r9ouudxhnztyi6phoeuq
― omar little, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:52 (four years ago) link
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!!!
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:54 (four years ago) link
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
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:55 (four years ago) link
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).
― omar little, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 20:08 (four years ago) link
I didn’t hate this or anything but I’m sure never gonna watch it again.
― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 20:10 (four years ago) link
No one watching this was expecting to be ... surprised, were they?
― I Heard You Ain't HOOS's (Eric H.), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 20:12 (four years ago) link
As i've said, i saw this twice at MoMA and BOTH times people screamed in SURPRISE when Hoffa was whacked.
I was surprised at the brilliant de Niro phone call performance.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 20:28 (four years ago) link
same
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 20:29 (four years ago) link
i think if you don't know the particulars of the (rumored) manner in which Hoffa was killed, the way the scene is filmed doesn't telegraph it. It just happens suddenly. De Niro even takes out his gun in a way that isn't telegraphed.
― omar little, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 20:31 (four years ago) link
I was very sceptical at the prospect of a cgi-ed de Niro playing a much younger person but was surprised how much I barely thought about it. Until some comments after about his comedy hardman granddad gait in some of the violent scenes after I'd watched it. But who cares?
― calzino, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 20:41 (four years ago) link
It's what it is
― ... that's Traore! (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 20:53 (four years ago) link
This movie is definitely what it is
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 22:54 (four years ago) link
Good to know Morbs’ colleagues at the museum screening had no idea that Hoffa got murked by mobsters in an unremarkable midwestern suburb
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 22:56 (four years ago) link
one of my favorite deliveries in the film (non-meat delivery category, but rather dialogue delivery category) is "They're more than a little concerned. There's widespread concern."
― omar little, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 23:01 (four years ago) link
like a Trump lackey talking to an unmoved president
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 23:16 (four years ago) link
there are no episodes
Yes, it was a "joke" about how a lot of people watch it on Netflix in chunks as if there were
― change display name (Jordan), Saturday, January 18, 2020 3:42 AM (one week ago)
took me a month to finish this on the elliptical at the Y
― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Sunday, 2 February 2020 22:01 (four years ago) link
Man that musta been a tiring workout
― ... that's Traore! (Neanderthal), Sunday, 2 February 2020 22:12 (four years ago) link
you have sinned against the primal forces of nature, sic
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 2 February 2020 22:14 (four years ago) link
i cannot think of a worse way to watch it aside from maybe patchy 5 minute intervals while riding a subway
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 2 February 2020 22:25 (four years ago) link
i hear you transfer at union square
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 3 February 2020 13:05 (four years ago) link
actually sic i'll watch the Tarantella epic that way
oops I don't go to the Y
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 3 February 2020 13:08 (four years ago) link
Just A Bunch Of Old Men Eating Tiny Sundaes (2019) pic.twitter.com/o3qCr7LW7M— It's Not Disney. It's Disney Prime Video. (@GetDisneyPrime) January 25, 2020
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 3 February 2020 16:10 (four years ago) link
don't be ridiculous
a three-hour film should only take three hour-ish sessions to watch, not four
― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Monday, 3 February 2020 21:15 (four years ago) link
https://film.avclub.com/oscar-nominee-thelma-schoonmaker-on-de-niro-s-wrinkles-1841363699
I wouldn’t say that there was subtlety in the rest of the editing, but simplicity. Deceptive simplicity. The violence needed to be very stripped down, with no flashy editing, no flashy camera moves. It’s very quick, and shot in a very ordinary way. No wide shots, not a thousand different cuts and crane shots and things that Marty’s done in the past with violence. Here he wanted to show the banality of it. He wanted to show that it’s just a job for Frank. And so the utter simplicity of his movie was something new for me to adjust to—and the sound editors as well, because [Scorsese] kept saying he didn’t even want amplified sound effects. For example, when people walk across a room, the sound editors usually create effects for that, and we add them in. Marty didn’t even want those.
― omar little, Monday, 3 February 2020 23:23 (four years ago) link
stoked for part 3 of this, very much enjoyed the first two episodes
― mark s, Tuesday, 4 February 2020 18:01 (four years ago) link
RIP to Chuckie O'Brien, who died of an apparent heart attack yesterday at age 86.
― omar little, Friday, 14 February 2020 19:56 (four years ago) link
hope he had some nice fish before he went
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Friday, 14 February 2020 20:22 (four years ago) link