BEFORE: Today was the first lift at the Feast of the Giglio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn - it's a giant statue that sits on a platform, with a brass band, and a bunch of Italian men from the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel carry this 3-ton structure through the streets. Actually, there are two platforms, one with the statue and one with a boat, to commemorate the Feast of St. Paulinus - and they lift, carry and "dance" them, while the spectators enjoy the calzones and sausage heroes, and drink Manhattan Specials (espresso soda) to beat the heat. My brother-in-law is one of the lifters, and it's a big annual event for the Italian community in NYC.
On a completely unrelated note, tonight's film is a comedy set in the world of organized crime.
THE PLOT: A mobster travels to Hollywood to collect a debt and discovers that the movie business is much the same as his current job.
AFTER: John Travolta plays Chili Palmer, breaking out an accent similar to the one he used back when he played Vinnie Barbarino on "Welcome Back, Kotter"...
Chili is a Miami loan-shark who follows a dry-cleaner (who had faked his own death) to Las Vegas and then L.A., in order to collect the money he still owes. Why the man's wife would accept a large cash settlement from the man's insurance and then NOT pay off his loan-shark, I'm not quite sure. I guess they thought that his death would clear his debts - but since he wasn't actually dead, I say you can't be too careful about these things...
While in L.A., Chili takes another gig that puts him in contact with Harry Zimm, a small-time movie producer, and Chili's got a plan to get in to the movie business, (which is weird to me, since I know so many people who would like to get OUT of the movie business...) along with a half-written idea for a movie. The film-within-the-film is about, you guessed it, a loan-shark who follows a dry-cleaner (who faked his own death) to L.A. in order to collect. Actually there are a couple of screenplays floating around, but the really meta one is the one that Chili doesn't have an ending for, since he hasn't tracked down the dry-cleaner yet.
This is sort of similar in tone to last night's film, in that everyone is making deals and scheming against each other, and everyone is motivated by the possibility of getting rich, either through making a movie, investing in a movie, or completing a drug deal. And like last night's film, things start to go wrong and spiral out of control, and of course John Travolta's character has to have a plan, then revise it, then try to stick to it. But this film is more complicated than "Lucky Numbers", there are schemes within schemes, and there seems to be much more of a point. Characters have more specific motivations than just getting rich, and that's a good thing.
I love a good double-cross/triple-cross film, and this one doesn't disappoint. It's a little convenient in that everyone seems to know each other already, and in the way that the schemes seem to all intersect, and in the way that things get wrapped up. But I still have to say that it's an original, clever idea - it's based on a book by Elmore Leonard, who admittedly I don't know much about, but since other movies like "Jackie Brown" and "3:10 to Yuma" are based on his stories, I'm intrigued. Perhaps I should check out some of his books, when I'm done watching movies.
Also starring Gene Hackman (last seen in "The Poseidon Adventure"), Rene Russo (last seen in "The Thomas Crown Affair"), Danny DeVito (last seen in "Death to Smoochy"), Dennis Farina (last seen in "Snatch"), Delroy Lindo (last seen in "Broken Arrow", with Travolta), James Gandolfini (last seen in "A Civil Action", also with Travolta), David Paymer (last seen in "Mr. Saturday Night"), with cameos from Bobby Slayton, Harvey Keitel (last seen in "Bugsy"), Penny Marshall, Bette Midler (last seen in "The Rose") and Alex Rocco.
RATING: 7 out of 10 strawberry frappes
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