I'm gonna go ahead and say The Limey. 1) It isn't told through voiceover, like every Scorcese/Coppola/Pileggi film. 2) It isn't set in New York, like every Scorcese/Coppola/Pileggi film. 3) It isn't about the Mafia, like every Scorcese/Coppola/Pileggi film. 4) It isn't an exercise in inevitability, like every Scorcese/Coppola/Pileggi film. Okay, fine. Specifically mafia films. I'm with William Goldman on this one - fuck those petty tyrants and anyone who aggrandizes them. Yeah, Godfather 1 and 2 are great films, and yeah, Goodfellas and Casino are impressive bits of storytelling but I'm fucking sick of the mafia. I'm fucking sick of the glorious tragedy of omerta. And I'm fucking sick of the outsized swath the Italians have cut through the mentality of Hollywood. So I'll probably sit this one out.
Goodfellas and Casino are great because they show the Mafia for what they really are. The characters are mostly parodies, casting light on this bullshit heroic illusion of what a gangster is. That's what I always thought Scorsese was doing. Showing us how ridiculous these people are. The Sopranos was adept at this as well. I have no sympathy for any of these people (well, maybe Michael Imperioli aka Spider in Goodfellas).the glorious tragedy of omerta
Except that a friend's mom dated the guy Goodfellas is about and he's no Ray Liotta. There's still a glamorization in effect. And hey - I watched all of The Sopranos. I've seen Casino a half-dozen times. I'm just kinda fed up with the artificiality of the mob film and ready to move on. That's a personal thing.
Sad but true. Kills the illusion dead as Dillinger. No happy endings.he's no Ray Liotta
Yeah. Take The Departed. Scorsese spent a lot of time making the first two hours a very interesting movie, I guess because he didn't even have to think about the ending, which was set in stone from the moment he decided to make a genre crime film.4) It isn't an exercise in inevitability, like every Scorcese/Coppola/Pileggi film.