This delightfully funny collection of eccentric Italian and Hispanic characters is a modern combination of the Bowery Boys films and a Frank Capra movie. Sasha Mitchell is lovable and tough as Spike, a promising boxer who goes up against equally lovable but tough mobster Ernest Borgnine when he dares to fall in love with Borgnine's daughter Maria Pitillo. Mitchell is kicked out of Bensonhurst, ends up in the home of the wonderfully wacky Antonia Rey in the nearby Puerto Rican neighborhood where he is tempted by Rey's tomboyish but beautiful daughter Talisa Soto. Mitchell's equally wacky family tries to intervene when Pitillo ends up pregnant with his baby, while Mitchell tries to figure out in his own way the right thing to do.
This movie is delightfully witty simply by letting these characters just speak for themselves, and that includes Borgnine's second wife, the Alexis Colby wannabee Anne DeSalvo, the cocaine snorting congresswoman Sylvia Miles (seemingly spoofing Bella Azburg). Rey's big-hearted son Rick Aviles (a far cry from his Willie Lopez role in "Ghost") and Mitchell's lesbian mother, Geraldine Smith, who was only 10 years older than the actor playing her son. The film is highlighted by some great scenes reflecting a late 1980's culture, including Borgine's taking Mitchell to his illegal VHS production warehouse, showing soft core adult films being duped right along side some classic cartoons.
A ride up the Westside Highway to Sing Sing where Mitchell visits his inmate father is highlighted by the background extras, seemingly making love in plain sight of everybody else. A ride through a private community in Bensonhurst shows the different styles of neighborhoods between the upperclass home where Borgnine and DeSalvo live, the middle class neighborhood of Mitchell's family, and the slums where Rey's family lives. A confrontation between Mitchell, Rey and her family with some dope users in an abandoned warehouse results in an even funnier confrontation with the cops. This time capsule might not reflect reality as we know it, but it is a fun view of New York City life outside of Manhattan, only seen through the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge.
This movie is delightfully witty simply by letting these characters just speak for themselves, and that includes Borgnine's second wife, the Alexis Colby wannabee Anne DeSalvo, the cocaine snorting congresswoman Sylvia Miles (seemingly spoofing Bella Azburg). Rey's big-hearted son Rick Aviles (a far cry from his Willie Lopez role in "Ghost") and Mitchell's lesbian mother, Geraldine Smith, who was only 10 years older than the actor playing her son. The film is highlighted by some great scenes reflecting a late 1980's culture, including Borgine's taking Mitchell to his illegal VHS production warehouse, showing soft core adult films being duped right along side some classic cartoons.
A ride up the Westside Highway to Sing Sing where Mitchell visits his inmate father is highlighted by the background extras, seemingly making love in plain sight of everybody else. A ride through a private community in Bensonhurst shows the different styles of neighborhoods between the upperclass home where Borgnine and DeSalvo live, the middle class neighborhood of Mitchell's family, and the slums where Rey's family lives. A confrontation between Mitchell, Rey and her family with some dope users in an abandoned warehouse results in an even funnier confrontation with the cops. This time capsule might not reflect reality as we know it, but it is a fun view of New York City life outside of Manhattan, only seen through the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge.