Over Fragmenten.blog

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Welkom op Fragmenten uit het Schemerland, mijn persoonlijke website en content-verzameling. Je vindt hier veel artikelen over films en series in de FilmDungeon. Ook vind je op deze site mijn achtergrondverhaal, een selectie van mijn professionele werk, en een groeiende collectie blogs – fragmenten genaamd – over uiteenlopende onderwerpen. Veel leesplezier en bedankt voor het bezoeken van mijn blog!

— Jeppe Kleijngeld

PS: Bezoek ook eens mijn andere website over bewustzijn en mijn visie op de ware aard van het universum:

14. Carlito’s Way (1993)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Brian De Palma
Writers: David Koepp (screenplay), Edwin Torres (books)
Stars: Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller

This review is part of the feature:

The 33 Gangster Films You Can’t Refuse

Carlito’s Way is a character study of a Latino gangster, Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino), who is released early from a lifelong prison sentence due to the use of illegal evidence during his trial.

He desperately wants to stay clean, but the underworld of New York City keeps drawing him back in. In that sense, it is also a plot-driven movie: can Carlito escape with his love, the dancer Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), to the Bahamas?

Carlito’s Way is based on two novels – ‘Carlito’s Way’ and ‘After Hours’ – written by a New York judge of Puerto Rican descent, Edwin Torres. It’s an intriguing crime story with an interesting lead character and thereby the perfect vehicle for the reteaming of Brian De Palma and Al Pacino after the gangster classic Scarface ten years earlier.

De Palma is often called the second Master of Suspense (second only to Alfred Hitchcock), and with Carlito’s Way he lives up to that reputation. The film is very much a thriller as well as a gangster picture. De Palma even has the nerve to show us how the movie will end right at the beginning. Yet the suspenseful scenes lose none of their power, even though as a viewer you already have a pretty good sense of how things will play out.

The masterful finale at the train station is, just like the unforgettable train station sequence in De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987), a classic nail biter with fantastic cinematography.

Pacino is once again excellent in the lead, and the supporting cast members all hit the mark. The outlier is Sean Penn who is sensational as the sleazebag lawyer Kleinfeld, whose awful haircut inspired the classic video game character Ken Rosenberg in GTA Vice City.

The ending, even though it’s expected, will hit you hard. ‘You are so beautiful’, a wonderful song by Joe Cocker, never sounded more poignant.

15. State of Grace (1990)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Phil Joanou
Writer: Dennis McIntyre
Stars: Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright

This review is part of the feature:

The 33 Gangster Films You Can’t Refuse

State of Grace is for the Irish mob what GoodFellas is for the Italian mafia. It’s that good. Terry Noonan (a moving Penn) returns to his old neighborhood Hell’s Kitchen in New York after a twelve year absence.

He hooks up with his old best friend Jackie (a sensational Oldman) whose brother Frank (a mesmerizing Harris) now leads the extremely violent Irish gang. He also rekindles the romance with his old flame Kathleen (an impressive Wright), Jackie and Frank’s younger sister.

Noonan, we soon learn, is really an undercover cop, sent in to get the dirt on Frank. It isn’t before long that he is torn between his duty and his loyalty towards his friends. Meanwhile, Frank is trying to make a pact with the Italian Cosa Nostra, which is disrupted by his loose cannon brother.

Terrific writing, acting and cinematography make this little gem the best gangster film that few people have seen. The final scene – a Wild Bunch style shootout in a bar – is one of the greatest endings in gangster cinema history.

If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you put it on your ‘to watch list’ today. Goes well together with a pitcher of Guinness. And did I mention that Ennio Morricone composed the music?

16. Menace II Society (1993)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Writers: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes, Tyger Williams
Stars: Tyrin Turner, Larenz Tate, Jada Pinkett Smith

This review is part of the feature:

The 33 Gangster Films You Can’t Refuse

A hard-hitting crime drama by the Hughes Brothers.

It opens with two young Black men – Caine (Tyrin Turner) and O-Dog (Larenz Tate) – walking into a store to buy a beer. The scene ends in an armed robbery and a double homicide.

This is where the young Caine ended up. We flash back to his youth in Watts, Los Angeles, in 1965, where, as a boy, he watches his father Tat (Samuel L. Jackson) murder a man in cold blood during a card game. He was initiated into this life of crime early.

Still, Caine seems like an alright guy. When he’s not selling drugs, he’s helping a friend – the single mom Ronnie (Jada Pinkett Smith) and her son, whose husband went to jail – and he’s graduating from high school. If only he could escape from ‘the life’…

His friend Sharif has converted to Islam and wants to leave the city. So there’s an out. But the life of crime is alluring. It’s the only way for them to get some of the things they like. It’s also a sure way to get themselves killed.

The violence in Menace II Society hits you hard – like a sledgehammer. The screenplay is very much inspired by GoodFellas, but with another ethnic group of criminals at its basis. It’s a powerful gangster tale drenched in the reality of Black America that carries an emotional punch.

The ending – no matter how many times you’ve seen it – is still devastating.

17. The Long Good Friday (1980)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: John Mackenzie
Writers: Barrie Keeffe
Stars: Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Paul Freeman

This review is part of the feature:

The 33 Gangster Films You Can’t Refuse

Gangster Harold Shand is having a very bad day. An unknown competitor nearly blows up his mom at church on Good Friday, and an associate of his is whacked at a swimming pool. Harold must uncover who is behind these attacks – and fast – because two American mafiosi are in town to finalize the deal of his lifetime, and he can’t afford to scare them off.

Produced by HandMade Films – George Harrison’s production company – and directed by John Mackenzie (known for the Scottish crime film A Sense of Freedom, based on the autobiography of Glasgow gangster Jimmy Boyle), The Long Good Friday is the quintessential British gangster film.

Bob Hoskins delivers one of the most iconic gangster performances of all time. From his minimalistic yet powerful first scene – Harold striding through the airport to the film’s blasting original score – to the unforgettable final moments, there’s never any doubt about who this character is. Harold Shand sees himself first and foremost as a businessman with a grand vision: to transform London into the glorious capital of Europe. He hosts guests and conducts shady business dealings aboard his luxurious yacht in the London Docklands.

His girlfriend, Victoria – a splendid early role for Helen Mirren – is effectively his co-manager in their criminal enterprise, known as ‘the corporation’. While Harold brings bravura and bold ambition, Victoria provides the keen psychological insight and patience needed to achieve their shared dream: legitimizing their empire.

What makes this movie work so well is how the events affect the lead characters. There is a whirlwind of emotions running through nearly every scene. Harold for example – when learning of the loss of his close associate Colin – can seem genuinely sad one moment and enraged in the next that somebody has done this to him.

The movie is packed with unforgettable scenes, from men dangling from meat hooks during interrogations to Harold’s defiant and hilarious final speech to the Americans (“The Mafia? I’ve shit ‘em!”).

The ending ranks among the most powerful in gangster cinema. Though The Long Good Friday may not be as widely remembered today, it absolutely deserves a reappraisal; this is one of the finest contributions the Brits have made to the genre. And as Harold might say, that takes more than a hotdog, know what I mean?