I can't remember if I've mentioned it, but I love the scene where Joe Gallo tells Frank Sheeran to "get the fuck outta here".

Though it's kind of depressing at the same time to see De Niro treated like such a schmuck.

Can you imagine the Godfather 2/Raging Bull/Heat vintage De Niro being treated like such a putz?

Maniscalco was great. I’ve been looking for a GTFO gif with him as Gallo...

He has the look, the charisma and the acting chops for these kind of roles. If he was ten or twenty years older he would've been tailor-made for a significant part in The Sopranos.

Two conversations caught my ear.

One was Bruno's willingness to leave Frank to the Jewish mob which would have happened had Russell not intervened. Insidious to the last!

The other was Russell's statement to Frank that he and Irene would be okay since they were with him (Russell). So much for "we only kill each other".

And, as Hoffa said after Frank advised him to "get some bodies around you," "...then they come after your family."

Been watching it here and there the past week. Noticed two more callbacks to Marty's past films. Sorry if these were already mentioned.

The guy who tries to shoot Hoffa in the courtroom has the same body language as the kid who shoots the guy in the restroom in Mean Streets, when he's walking up to Hoffa. Hands in coat pocket walking up, same seamless facial expression, etc.

When Hoffa and Buffalino have the argument at Sheeran's formal event, just as Hoffa walks off and strands Russ there the Gold Diggers sing "The Time Is Now". Remember when Michael shoots Charlie, Johnny Boy and Theresa in Mean Streets he says, "Now's the time!" before his gunner (young Marty) opens fire.

One thing I noticed is that, in "Raging Bull," "Mean Streets," "Goodfellas" and "Casino," the pop music soundtrack uses recordings that were popular in the eras depicted in the films. But in "The Irishman," the songs are all over the place, timewise.

True enough TB, But I loved it just the same, Johnny Ray's Cry especially although it was a decade too late (It's lyrics weren't too far off the message that Bufalino wanted Dorfman to get). Of course, In the Still of the night (again, several decades too late) was pure genius; its lryics were appropriately nostalgic.

Mean Streets actually uses a lot of early rock and roll ballads that far predate the early 70's. There's even a scene where Tony tells Michael to only play oldies on the juke. Pledging My Love (Johnny Ace), which plays when the Vietnam vet attacks the girl, predates the set era by almost 20 years.

Oli and Oak: You're right.
"Mean Streets" is best at matching the songs to the mood of the scenes. For example:

--Charlie puts on the monogrammed shirt his mother gave him and looks at himself, adoringly, in the mirror. The song: "I Love You So," by the Chantels.
--Charlie, Jimmy and Johnny drive to Joey Catucci's poolroom. They're out of their neighborhood, almost tentative. The song: "Florence," by the Paragons, quintessential NY doo-wop.
--Tony's bar closed for party for Jerry, Vietnam returnee. Charlie's drunk, everyone's acting silly. The song: "Rubber Biscuit" by the Chips, very silly song.

That Rubber Biscuit sequence was great. They were so hammered. That's always fun to watch.

The way the fun ends that night was definitely Marty making a statement about the war. That was a time of free living on the streets, even in this tight knit, traditional neighborhood. People of all kinds were coming into that bar. A real glimpse of early 1970s NYC I'm sure. The vet flipping out was a reminder that this country was very much at war during this time. This was around the time when a lot of vets were coming back to limited opportunities. Add PTSD and other mental illnesses brought on by their tours of duty and things got ugly. Very much part of the "mean streets" at this time.

To add to the fun:

I'm an opera fan. "Raging Bull" opens with the intermezzo from "Cavalleria Rusticana" by Mascagni. One of the best-known operatic pieces ( you heard it at the end of GFIII). But then, Scorsese (clever fellow) puts in two very obscure (in America) Mascagni pieces: the barcarole from "Stephano" (color sequence after Jake gets married); and the intermezzo from "Guglielmo Ratcliffe" (when Joey has his sit-down with Tommy Como). Plus, they're performed by an equally obscure orchestra: Orchestra Municop of Bologna, conducted by Arturo Basile. Couldn't find either anywhere except for the sound track CD of "Raging Bull."

My favorite music match in "Goodfellas" is the opening of Billy Batts' party at Henry's bar--"He's Sure the Boy I Love" by the Crystals.

I love that as well plus Rags to Riches which opens the film with that wonderful freeze on Henry after his famous, “as far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster” line.

Yes, indeed, Irishman--that was even a better match.

Sopranos used the Raging Bull theme in Blue Comet. Tony and Silvio box in slow motion to complete the Scorsese reference. In the blu-ray's commentary Arthur Nascarella (Carlo Gervasi) doesn't get the reference. Stevie Van Zandt had to explain it to him. How can any Italian from NY not get that? lol.

I've read a lot about people's opinions on The Irishman, and save for this forum, the vast majority of people seem to hate it.

Take a look at this video that explains Scorsese's use of music in The Irishman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTeI05v33Gc

Interesting, Olivant. The music stops for most of the final sequence where they kill Hoffa. Rare for a Scorsese movie. Emphasizing the good times are over after the banquet. Scorsese definitely used his war chest from Netflix to experiment. I wonder that if he'd had his way he would have done Goodfellas and Casino the same way. Spreading out the end for Henry Hill and Ace Rothstein, leaving out the music and quick cutaways. Juxtaposing the emptiness with how they had everything earlier in the film, people around, music playing, etc.

finally caught it. did the irishman actually kill hoffa. i know the iceman richard k said he did it and froze the body. in the movie hoffa, hoffa is killed at the rest stop. we also saw joey gallo and angelo bruno. tony pro and fat anthony salerno also made an appearance. i also never knew hoffa had an adopted son.

There's no credible evidence that he murdered Hoffa just like there's no such evidence that he murdered Gallo. Remember, per the film, that the only reason that Frank gets involved is because Bufalino reasons that he has to involve Frank in it. Hoffa could have been lured to his death without Frank's involvement at all, so Bufalino's reasons were specious at best.

What I question is why was Salerno given such a prominent role since, at the time, he was only a capo in the Genovese family. Well, the film was based on the novel and the novel was based on Fran's recollections much of which could be fiction to begin with.

what happened to the Bobby Ciaro character danny devito played in the hoffa movie. he was not with hoffa at the time of hoffa's death. in the movie hoffa, bobby is also killed.

He was fictional.

it is true one learns something new everyday. i did not know that. one book i have on the mob mentions don frankos the greek and joey black. i believe they also mentioned killing hoffa. richard kuklinski also admitted to killing hoffa and freezing the body. they did make a movie about kuklinski with michael shannon and ray liotta.

Kuklinski was a pathological liar and he definitely was not responsible for Hoffa, Galante, DeMeo or any other big profile hits. He was a serial killer responsible for a handful of murders but he wasn't a mob hit man, and he definitely didn't work for DeMeo or Sammy Gravano. He was observed buying weapons from the DeMeo crew but that's it - the rest is bullshit. When he was in prison he said he had killed a cop on Gravano's orders in the 80s but it was not true. He had been put up to it by Bobby Cabert, a Gambino capo who wanted to discredit Gravano so he could get his conviction overturned. He got found out when he tried to shake down Gravano's legal team to drop the allegation. He likely never even met Gravano.

Hoffa was either killed by Provenzano's people or by guys from Detroit. Not by Sheeran, definitely not by Kuklinski and not by anyone else. George Anastasia, who has written several books on the Philly mob, met with Sheeran before Charles Brandt agreed to write 'I Heard You Paint Houses'. Anastasia recalled that, by that point, Sheeran seemed confused and didn't appear to fully know what he was talking about.

An interesting 20 minute video about the real Frank Sheeran. Looks like the movie was pretty spot on!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGg4pc-EQ8k

The Irishman will have a Blue Ray and DVD release in November 2020 I've already pre-ordered my copy

https://www.amazon.com/Irishman-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B08G6Z9PCC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=EYEJOQ9LWBW5&dchild=1&keywords=irishman+criterion&qid=1600280174&sprefix=irishman%2Caps%2C320&sr=8-1

Criterion offers the best releases. Thinking of purchasing it myself.

I've watched "The Irishman" about 10 times now. It's an absorbing story. It has an excellent script, excellent cinematography, and those patented Scorsese Mafia-type extras. The soundtrack is in the tradition of "Mean Streets" and "Goodfellas." Pesci gives the performance of his career as Russell, Pacino is almost as over-the-top as Hoffa as he was in "Scarface" (but better), and Ray Romano and Welker White are very strong in their roles. DeNiro is good as the ageing Sheeran, but his dialog is weak (too much stuttering and phumphering) and the anti-ageing software doesn't work very well. Physically, he's an old man long before he gets old in the movie (as when he stomps on the grocer's hand and when he clambers over rocks to throw away the guns he used to kill Joe Gallo).

The weakest part of the film: It's just too long. "Goodfellas" was a very long movie, but it consisted of many short, very punchy scenes and never seemed long. Too many of the scenes in "The Irishman" go on for far too long, especially Sheeran's testimonial dinner and all the stuff that led up to Hoffa's murder, plus those useless smoking breaks.

"Mean Streets" - 4 stars.
"Goodfellas" - 4 stars.
"Casino" - 3 stars.
"The Irishman" - 2.5 stars.

Out of 5 stars?

My DVD is on the way. Ill be able to watch for the 1st time..