BEFORE: It's still April, but all of a sudden, I've got a plan for the Doc Block. I'd been working on it here and there, whenever I had the time, mostly I go by the cast lists on the IMDB, but those can be unreliable, so sometimes I feel the need to scan through each doc at maybe double-speed, not slow enough that I learn about everything the doc, but not so fast that I miss seeing who appears in it. I had 7 slots open on my streaming/maybe list, so I decided to fill those up with docs, and that brought me to a place where I had everything in three clumps, one with 10 films, one with 11 and one with 12. A little bit of monkeying around with the order, and suddenly I connected everything into ONE big doc chain of 33 films. That's certainly enough for a month of programming this summer - OK, so they're not in a circle, they're just in a line, but that gives me a tentative entry point and an exit point, all I have to do in June (or July) is get to that entry point, at which point the IMF team will cut a hole in the ice and revive me with a special depressurization tent. No, wait...
It's early, I know it's early, but I'm not just stumbling in the dark, guessing which docs I'm going to watch this year, I've got a framework, and if some new docs come along, or I go through some more cast lists, I can try to find a place for each new one somewhere in the mix. So the planning isn't over, not by a long shot, and with each new film I might need to shuffle things around, and you know, too much of that and I'll probably end up scrapping the whole order and start over again, re-grouping the films by subject matter, all the film stars first, then the comic actors, then the rock bands. It's been known to happen, but maybe, just maybe, this order will hold up, I can add 5 or 6 more and call it a chain, because the first doc is SUPER easy to link to, there are about 30 possible people to link to, I guess first I'll have to see where I'm going to be on Fathers Day, and then I can finalize my decisions then. It's cool, I don't want to lock anything down just yet, but there's a plan in place that could work if I have no time between now and then to re-organize everything. And you know from the end of the Doc Block it's usually just one long stretch to Halloween, and then another short one to Christmas movies, and then, well, the year's basically over, innit?
Sydney Miles carries over from "Goodrich".
THE PLOT: Two of New York City's most notorious crime bosses vie for control of the city's streets. Once best friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals set them on a deadly collision course.
AFTER: Yes, tonight's film is THAT movie from 2025, the one where Robert De Niro played two different notable mobsters, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, and sometimes those two characters interacted with each other, at some points they were the only two characters on screen. It was all done with make-up and split screen work, or they used a body double for one guy when they filmed De Niro as Costello, and then put De Niro's face on the body double playing Genovese. Or maybe it was the other way round - but this is simultaneously somehow both the best thing about the movie and also the worst, because De Niro didn't do much to change his voice, so obviously both characters sound like him, and that ruins the illusion, so you're really aware at all times that he's both of them, even when they're talking to each other.
It's a gimmick, and the thing about gimmick is that they stick out, they may be memorable but sometimes they are also annoying. Was I supposed to pretend like I didn't KNOW both characters are Bobby D, just wearing different prosthetics and make-up? It would be impossible not to know, also this messes with my suspension of disbelief, in addition to being confusing as all hell. Do you mean to imply that all Italians sound exactly alike? That's a little disturbing if not flat-out racist. I suppose another implication is that all Italians are gangsters, because I don't think we see any Italian people in this film who are NOT mobbed up, so really, that IS what somebody is trying to say, isn't it?
The film also starts with a hitman, sent by Genovese, shooting Costello as he enters the elevator in his apartment building. Is this an occurence meant to take place early in the relationship, or are we starting the film in media res, meaning "somewhere in the middle, but the most important part" and then is the film going to flashback to the mobsters' teen years and friendship, during Prohibition when gangsters could make a killing just getting to the "hospitality" business. Are we going to flash back and then catch up to the hit on Costello, which really belongs in the MIDDLE of the film, but is seen at the very beginning? I'm genuinely asking, because I'm not really sure. That seems to make the most sense to me, I mean, Vito wouldn't have any reason to put a hit on Frank at the start of the film, and flashing back would be very helpful to explain the WHY of the hit, not just the HOW. But Costello survives the hit, the bullet bounced off his skull but did not go inside, and then Costello is more motivated to try to get out of this life and retire. Ah, but the mob doesn't really LET people retire, right? So was the hit personal payback, or just the mob tying up some loose ends, by not letting anyone out alive?
Again, I'm not sure. There's a scene where Frank Costello testifies to some kind of government committee about organized crime (led by Estes Kefauver), and he spills secrets where most of the other mobsters evoked their Fifth Amendment rights, which is basically just like saying they were guilty, just unwilling to say they were guilty, and the burden of proof would be back on the government. So was the hit on Costello taken out as retaliation for speaking to the committee? I don't know because the answer would be NO if the scenes here are being shown in chronological order, but maybe YES if the film was jumping around a bit in time.
Let me see if I can reorganize a few things here with some actual dates - in 1936, boss Lucky Luciano was convicted of running a prostitution ring, sentenced to at least 30 years. He tried to run the family from prison with the help of Frank Costello, but it was too difficult, so Genovese became acting boss of the Luciano crime family. But then in 1937 Genovese fled to Italy to avoid prosecution for a murder in 1934, so Costello was appointed acting boss, until Genovese came back to the U.S. in 1945, after the murder charges were dismissed due to the death of two witnesses (what are the odds?). Rather than be allowed to run everything again, Genovese was given some territory, but Costello remained acting boss. Most of this is shown in tonight's film, just not necessarily in that order.
The Kefauver Hearings were held in 1950 and 1951, that's when most other mobsters pled the fifth, but Costello started offering up actual information, when the questions got too close, Costello walked out, saying he had a sore throat. Several days later he returned but would not answer every question (what a shock!) and he was found in contempt of Congress and sentenced to 18 months. Then Costello was indicted in 1952 for tax evasion, and he was sentenced to five years, plus the government started proceedings to strip him of his citizenship, BUT in 1954 Costello appealed and was released on bail, THEN came the Genovese hit on Costello in May of 1957. So yes, the movie kind of started in the middle of the story and then flashed back to the beginning, and the hit was likely retaliation for testifying before Congress, plus maybe not giving Vito Genovese back his territory or position, plus maybe also Vito just didn't like him any more. Either way, the hit persuaded Costello to relinquish power and retire.
In November of 1957 was the famous Apalachin meeting, this was the big nationwide meeting held in upstate New York, with bosses from all over the country getting together to discuss new ways to divide up the territory, plus I think there were seminars on loan-sharking and this new thing (at the time) called narcotics. Over 100 Mafiosi attended, and really the whole thing was put together to maybe make Vito Genovese the capo di tutti capi, or "boss of bosses". But somebody tipped off the police about the meeting in this sleepy little town, and the place got raided. The movie depicts Frank Costello as being late for the meeting, suddenly deciding to stop at a farm and pick some apples, which strongly suggests that he might have been the one who dropped a dime on the other mobsters. But you didn't hear this from me...
The state police started taking down plate numbers, from all the luxury cars from around the country that were parked outside a farm for some reason, and when they ran the plates and learned many cars were registered to known criminals, well, suddenly J. Edgar Hoover's claim that there was no national crime syndicate started to seem a bit short-sighted. This was kind of like the Woodstock Festival, only 10 years earlier and the focus was crime, not rock music, but you get the idea. The police set up a roadblock, and when the mobsters spotted it, they all bolted, maybe 50 got away and 60 others were apprehended, including Vito Genovese, and they were all charged with "conspiring to obstruct justice by lying about the nature of the meeting", and fined up to $10,000 each. So they served time for NOT telling the cops what the meeting was about, but I bet they would have served more time if they HAD told the cops what the meeting was about. Oh, and Frank Costello showed up too late to get arrested, imagine that.
Costello did get to retire after that, but he also had to serve 15 years at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta for dealing heroin, and for at least part of that time, Vito Genovese was also a prisoner there. That must have been awkward - but Costello did get out, and managed to outlive Genovese by 4 years.
Directed by Barry Levinson (director of "Here Today" and "Sphere")
Also starring Robert De Niro (last seen in "Killer Elite"), Debra Messing (last seen in "Bros"), Kathrine Narducci (last seen in "Capone"), Cosmo Jarvis (last seen in "Hunter Killer"), Michael Rispoli (last seen in "Nonnas"), Robert Uricola (last seen in "Raging Bull"), Frank Piccirillo, Matt Servitto (last seen in "Disenchanted"), Louis Mustillo (last seen in "One for the Money"), Anthony J. Gallo (last seen in "The Irishman"), James Ciccone (last seen in "Somewhere in Queens"), Joe Bacino (last seen in "Kick-Ass"), Luke Stanton Eddy, Antonio Cipriano, Brian Scolaro, Wallace Langham (last seen in "Draft Day"), Ed Amatrudo (last seen in "Till"), Mike Seely (last seen in "Dark Waters"), Todd Covert (ditto), Abi Van Andel (ditto), Jeffrey Grover (ditto), Wynn Reichert (ditto), Amadeo Fusca, Bob Glouberman (last seen in "Queenpins"), Kimeron Collins, Peyton Stockdale, John Dinello (last seen in "Saturday Night"), Jocelyn Sluka, Bryant Carroll (last seen in "Nutcrackers"), Robert Arce (last seen in "Sandy Wexler"), Brian Spangler, Alex Safi (last seen in "Set Up"), Christine McBurney, Rich Williams (last seen in "Tammy"), Ashton Wolf, Josh Innerst, Mark Axelowitz (last seen in "The Wizard of Lies"), Glenn Cunningham (ditto), James P. Harkins (last seen in "The Accountant 2"), Zach Meiser, Louie Lawless, Andy Knode, Mark Tierno, J. Barrett Cooper, Liam Cronin, Robert DiDonato (last seen in "Striking Distance"), Michael Patrick Trimm, Jeremy Dubin (last seen in "Miles Ahead"), Michael Adler (last seen in "Peppermint"), Itala Sona Ennor, Jean Zarzour, Tino Roncone, Nick Ferraro, Mike Dennis (last seen in "The Old Man & the Gun"), Belmont Cameli, Ed Formica, Seve Esposito (last seen in "Green Book"), Noan Bain Garret, Shantel Routt,
with archive footage of James Cagney, Benny Goodman, J. Edgar Hoover (last seen in "I Am MLK Jr.") and Little Richard (last seen in "Pee-Wee as Himself")
RATING: 4 out of 10 patrons at the Copa club
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