"The Pope of Greenwich Village" is one of those movies about "ethnic" guys in New York City who talk really quickly and often repeat themselves. They have big hair, dress better than you'd expect, preen in the mirror, but always seem on the verge of violence.
I guess Scorsese made a cottage industry for himself with these types of movies. Probably it could never be done better than "Mean Streets" or "Goodfellas". The guy who made this one, Stuart Rosenberg, is no Scorsese, and the movie is way over-long.
It feels especially lengthy being that the material is so familiar: a down-on-his-luck working class boy has a ne'er-do-well cousin who tempts him with one big score that ends up deadly when the two clueless lads rob a local mobster, played by Burt Young.
Eric Roberts is a great actor, albeit one with no interest in quality control, but he may have been miscast here. As the cousin he evinces no sympathy, and just seems like a slimeball. Rourke, however, as our protagonist, is right on the money.
With movies like this it's always interesting to see how many of the actors who played wiseguys ended up in "The Sopranos", which seemed to use basically every actor who ever had big hair and a leather jacket on screen. What's interesting is that with this movie, I only counted two - I believe I saw Frank Vincent, who played Phil Leotardo, and of course Burt Young.
The movie comes together with one pretty good scene, but then ends at a moment where the plot should probably keep going. It's an odd affair, an over-long movie that ends too soon.
I guess Scorsese made a cottage industry for himself with these types of movies. Probably it could never be done better than "Mean Streets" or "Goodfellas". The guy who made this one, Stuart Rosenberg, is no Scorsese, and the movie is way over-long.
It feels especially lengthy being that the material is so familiar: a down-on-his-luck working class boy has a ne'er-do-well cousin who tempts him with one big score that ends up deadly when the two clueless lads rob a local mobster, played by Burt Young.
Eric Roberts is a great actor, albeit one with no interest in quality control, but he may have been miscast here. As the cousin he evinces no sympathy, and just seems like a slimeball. Rourke, however, as our protagonist, is right on the money.
With movies like this it's always interesting to see how many of the actors who played wiseguys ended up in "The Sopranos", which seemed to use basically every actor who ever had big hair and a leather jacket on screen. What's interesting is that with this movie, I only counted two - I believe I saw Frank Vincent, who played Phil Leotardo, and of course Burt Young.
The movie comes together with one pretty good scene, but then ends at a moment where the plot should probably keep going. It's an odd affair, an over-long movie that ends too soon.