To hear high praise for Eric Roberts in a movie is a rare occurrence, but he really deserves it here for his portrayal of smarmy con man Paulie Gibboni. Trying to stay one step ahead of his buddy Charlie Moran (Mickey Rourke) and the gangster he figures on robbing, Roberts' performance is at the same time annoyingly pushy and disturbingly self destructive. Rourke's character is only slightly more balanced, but his hunger for a big payoff sends his pregnant girlfriend (Daryl Hannah) in search of a better life after the one big score that threatens to unravel and rain down retribution from mob boss Eddie 'Bed Bug' Grant (Burt Young). Now I don't know if it's just me, but it seemed like the money they stole with the help of hot shot safecracker Barney (Kenneth McMillan) was limitless in scope. I'm pretty sure I caught Barney counting out and taking his cut of the loot, amounting to fifty grand, but later on, Charlie claims to mail a package to the guy with another fifty thousand after he high tailed it out of town to avoid the mob's wrath. But Charlie's girlfriend took off with most of his share, and Paulie had his money, so where did the extra cash come from? Could be Charlie was lying about it, but if so, it didn't make sense.
A bonus for this viewer was the scene where Charlie and Diane left the city to scope out a potential restaurant for sale upstate. The Iron Forge Inn is in the next town over from where I live in Warwick, New York, only about seven or eight miles away. I never knew about this bit of trivia, so it came at me as quite the surprise. What wasn't a surprise is how the mob guys got Paulie to rat out his fellow robbers, though unlike most films involving gangsters, both wound up with their necks safely intact. And with only a few minutes left in the story, the title of the picture comes into focus in that conversation between Charlie and Bed Bug Eddie. And if you haven't seen the movie, believe me when I tell you, the aftermath of Paulie slipping lye into Eddie's coffee leads to one of the most over the top, and I'll say, hilarious death scenes in the annals of gangster flicks.
Book ended by Sinatra's 'Summer Wind', "The Pope of Greenwich Village" deserves a wider IMDb audience, as it only has a paltry sixty plus reviews as I come by it. You'll never come across a pair of goombah buddies like Rourke and Roberts, both looking impossibly young, and conniving their way through the story for all it's worth.
A bonus for this viewer was the scene where Charlie and Diane left the city to scope out a potential restaurant for sale upstate. The Iron Forge Inn is in the next town over from where I live in Warwick, New York, only about seven or eight miles away. I never knew about this bit of trivia, so it came at me as quite the surprise. What wasn't a surprise is how the mob guys got Paulie to rat out his fellow robbers, though unlike most films involving gangsters, both wound up with their necks safely intact. And with only a few minutes left in the story, the title of the picture comes into focus in that conversation between Charlie and Bed Bug Eddie. And if you haven't seen the movie, believe me when I tell you, the aftermath of Paulie slipping lye into Eddie's coffee leads to one of the most over the top, and I'll say, hilarious death scenes in the annals of gangster flicks.
Book ended by Sinatra's 'Summer Wind', "The Pope of Greenwich Village" deserves a wider IMDb audience, as it only has a paltry sixty plus reviews as I come by it. You'll never come across a pair of goombah buddies like Rourke and Roberts, both looking impossibly young, and conniving their way through the story for all it's worth.