I read the Jimmy Breslin novel that's the basis for this film, just about when it first came out, and my recollection is that it was funnier than the movie. The parts about the lion were hilarious. Somehow the written word didn't translate very well to the screen, but even so, there are a handful of observations I'd like to make about the story that seem apropos. First off, an early film for Robert De Niro, looking impossibly young and billed fifth down from the principal lead, Jerry Orbach as Kid Sally Palumbo. De Niro enters the picture as an Italian bicycle racer, and winds up with an eye for Kid Sally's sister Angela (Leigh Taylor-Young). In all the movies I've seen him in, I don't think I've ever caught him do a bedroom scene, but he does so here. It's not risque by any means, but just the idea knowing what he looks like today, it's at least worth mentioning.
And about that lion - did it seem to grow throughout it's tenure in the basement of the Palumbo gang headquarters, or did they use different animals during the filming? In the first scene of the lion in the cage it didn't have a mane, but in subsequent scenes, it appeared to be bigger with a full mane, which maybe could be explained if the story was set over a longer time span. I don't know, maybe it was all that raw meat they fed the lion.
The story also included a newscaster who I recall from back in the day on New York TV, doing on the street reports about the gang war between Palumbo's bunch and godfather, Big Papa Anthony Pastrumo (Lionel Stander), but more often referred to as Baccala. In the picture he was introduced as Sandy Vanocur, but whenever I saw him in the Seventies, he went by Sander Vanocur, which I thought had just the coolest ring to it, and is probably why I remember it to this day.
But most of all, and I've mentioned it in other reviews I've done of gangster flicks, is the quote in my summary line by Big Momma Ferraro (Jo Van Fleet) to her 'family' sitting around the kitchen table, discussing a botched assassination attempt on Baccala. It's really true, whenever you had a major mob hit in the environs of New York City or nearby Jersey, you could count on a front page spread in the New York Daily News, complete with bullet riddled body. Ah, those were the days.
But aside from all that, this isn't one of your better mobster or Mafia films, in fact, I keep an IMDb list of gangster movies I've seen and reviewed, which now has topped over a hundred titles, and this one doesn't make it to the Top 100. But don't be dismayed, it's got a decent cast, even if the individual players aren't at the top of their game. It's even got the diminutive Hervé Villechaize as a mini-gangster, who at one point I thought might have been a single bite for that lion.
And about that lion - did it seem to grow throughout it's tenure in the basement of the Palumbo gang headquarters, or did they use different animals during the filming? In the first scene of the lion in the cage it didn't have a mane, but in subsequent scenes, it appeared to be bigger with a full mane, which maybe could be explained if the story was set over a longer time span. I don't know, maybe it was all that raw meat they fed the lion.
The story also included a newscaster who I recall from back in the day on New York TV, doing on the street reports about the gang war between Palumbo's bunch and godfather, Big Papa Anthony Pastrumo (Lionel Stander), but more often referred to as Baccala. In the picture he was introduced as Sandy Vanocur, but whenever I saw him in the Seventies, he went by Sander Vanocur, which I thought had just the coolest ring to it, and is probably why I remember it to this day.
But most of all, and I've mentioned it in other reviews I've done of gangster flicks, is the quote in my summary line by Big Momma Ferraro (Jo Van Fleet) to her 'family' sitting around the kitchen table, discussing a botched assassination attempt on Baccala. It's really true, whenever you had a major mob hit in the environs of New York City or nearby Jersey, you could count on a front page spread in the New York Daily News, complete with bullet riddled body. Ah, those were the days.
But aside from all that, this isn't one of your better mobster or Mafia films, in fact, I keep an IMDb list of gangster movies I've seen and reviewed, which now has topped over a hundred titles, and this one doesn't make it to the Top 100. But don't be dismayed, it's got a decent cast, even if the individual players aren't at the top of their game. It's even got the diminutive Hervé Villechaize as a mini-gangster, who at one point I thought might have been a single bite for that lion.