Nicholas Pileggi
Director Tim Hunter (The River's Edge) and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi (Casino) join forces for this fact-based crime thriller detailing the downfall of Miami's hottest nightclub. Chris Troiano (Jason Gedrick) owns the trendiest nightclub in all of South Beach; a place where the line always winds down the block and only the most beautiful people make it past the velvet rope. Andy (Donnie Walhberg) is Troiano's right-hand man, and whatever the boss says, goes. Lately, the local law enforcement has been snooping around the club, an unsettling fact that doesn't set well with the steroid shooting club owner. The cops know that Troiano is crooked, and it's only a matter of time before he slips. When he does, the storm that follows will blow in from a direction Troiano never anticipated. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Director Ridley Scott spins this yarn concerning a Harlem drug kingpin (Denzel Washington) who smuggles heroin into the country by hiding it in the bodies of U.S. soldiers killed during battle in Vietnam. There was a time when no one noticed reserved driver Frank Lucas (Washington), but when the criminal kingpin he was charged with transporting through the city streets suddenly dies, Lucas seizes the opportunity to build his own criminal empire. In the following months, Lucas solidifies his status as Harlem's most innovative drug dealer by delivering a product that is purer than the competitors' and cheaper, as well. When innovative businessman Lukas attempts to go semi-legit by becoming one of the Manhattan borough's biggest civil supporters, however, street-savvy outcast cop Ritchie Roberts (Russell Crowe) begins to sense a sizable shift in the hierarchy of the drug underworld. But Roberts is one of the few honest detectives operating within a corrupt system, and as he sets out to investigate the case, crooked detective Trupo (Josh Brolin) does everything in his power to compromise the integrity of his idealistic counterpart. Upon clearing all of the usual Mafia-connected suspects, Roberts begins to believe that a previously unknown black power player has come out of the woodwork to dominate the local drug trade. While Roberts and Lucas may be operating on opposite sides of the law, the one thing that both men have in common is a strict code of ethics that separates them from their opportunistic colleagues. Now, as a confrontation between the two men becomes inevitable and the fate of each becomes inexorably tied to the other, it gradually becomes apparent that only one of them will emerge from the conflict victorious. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, (more)
- 2006
Between 1939 and 1959, Toots Shor ran what was debatably the most famous saloon in America. The son of a poor family in South Philadelphia, Shor was a blustery, larger-than-life character who came to New York City in 1930 and soon landed a job as a bouncer in a mob-run speakeasy. Shor had smarts, charm, and nerve, and he soon made plenty of contacts in the liquor trade as well as befriending habitués of Manhattan nightlife. In 1939, Shor opened a bar and restaurant, simply named "Toots Shor's," and it didn't take it long for it to become the Big Apple's most celebrated watering hole, where Broadway stars, sports legends, political bigwigs, and social climbers were frequent customers but anyone with the price of a drink was welcome to belly up to the bar (among the regulars: Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Gleason, Frank Gifford, Earl Warren, and Frank Costello). While "Toots Shor's" was one of New York's most legendary nightspots, Shor sold the business in 1959, and while he opened a new bar two years later (after running through the million dollars he made from the deal), his style of saloon was falling out of fashion with the arrival of the 1960s, and the free-spending Toots died broke in 1977, six years after his last bar went under. Shor's granddaughter, documentary filmmaker Kristi Jacobson, pays tribute to the man and the era personified by his saloon in Toots, which features interviews with family and friends (including Lauren Bacall, Walter Cronkite, Yogi Berra, Pete Hamill, Mike Wallace, and Whitey Ford) as well as rare recordings of Toots telling his own remarkable story. Also known as Toots Shor: Bigger Than Life, Toots received its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival -- appropriately enough, in downtown New York. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Gifford, Walter Cronkite, (more)
Three A-list screenwriters -- (Nicholas Pileggi, Bo Goldman, and Paul Schrader) -- contributed to the script of this idealistic political drama. John Pappas (Al Pacino) is the popular, ethical Mayor of New York; Kevin Calhoun (John Cusack) is his even more idealistic and principled deputy. When a detective and mobster kill each other and an innocent six-year-old black child in a shootout, questions arise about what the cop was doing meeting with the gangster in the first place. The Mayor and his staff handle the situation ably, but Calhoun digs deeper and finds troubling evidence that even his seemingly incorruptible boss has not escaped the shadier aspects of political life. The Mafia boss (Tony Franciosa) whose nephew was the dead gangster, along with a Brooklyn political boss (Danny Aiello) with his own agenda, come into the story, becoming part of a series of larger links, secret relationships, and bonds of "honor" between men who, on the surface, would have no reason to be in business with each other. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, John Cusack, (more)
The inner-workings of a corrupt Las Vegas casino are exposed in Martin Scorsese's story of crime and punishment. The film chronicles the lives and times of three characters: "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro), a bookmaking wizard; Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), a Mafia underboss and longtime best friend to Ace; and Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone, in a role she was born to play), a leggy ex-prostitute with a fondness for jewelry and a penchant for playing the field. Ace plays by the rules (albeit Vegas rules, which, as he reminds the audience in voiceover, would make him a criminal in any other state), while Nicky and Ginger lie, cheat, and steal their respective ways to the top. The film's first hour and a half details their rise to power, while the second half follows their downfall as the FBI, corrupt government officials, and angry mob bosses pick apart their Camelot piece by piece. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, (more)
Deadbeat dads be damned. Patrick Swayze plays a con man who tries to live up to the ideals of "family values" by kidnapping his son and daughter from the evil clutches of a corrupt orphanage and taking them on a cross-country trip in his vintage convertible. To complicate matters, his daughter has been sexually molested by the head of the orphanage, who fears that she may prosecute if given the opportunity. This family drama is also a zany road movie as the re-united father and children flee the police on a quest to restore their family. ~ Laura Abraham, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Swayze, Halle Berry, (more)
Martin Scorsese explores the life of organized crime with his gritty, kinetic adaptation of Nicolas Pileggi's best-selling Wiseguy, the true-life account of mobster and FBI informant Henry Hill. Set to a true-to-period rock soundtrack, the story details the rise and fall of Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian New York kid who grows up idolizing the "wise guys" in his impoverished Brooklyn neighborhood. He begins hanging around the mobsters, running errands and doing odd jobs until he gains the notice of local chieftain Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino), who takes him in as a surrogate son. As he reaches his teens, Hill (Ray Liotta) is inducted into the world of petty crime, where he distinguishes himself as a "stand-up guy" by choosing jail time over ratting on his accomplices. From that moment on, he is a part of the family. Along with his psychotic partner Tommy (Joe Pesci), he rises through the ranks to become Paulie's lieutenant; however, he quickly learns that, like his mentor Jimmy (Robert DeNiro), his ethnicity prevents him from ever becoming a "made guy," an actual member of the crime family. Soon he finds himself the target of both the feds and the mobsters, who feel that he has become a threat to their security with his reckless dealings. Goodfellas was rewarded with six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture; Pesci would walk away with Best Supporting Actor for his work. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, (more)
The "wise guys" referred to in the title, Harry Valentini (Danny DeVito) and Moe Dickstein (Joe Piscopo), turn out to be not so wise after all in this crime-oriented comedy. Harry and Moe run the risk of certain death when they steal money from a Mafia don (Dan Hedaya) and then try to multiply their ill-gotten gains at the horse races. Naturally, they lose the bundle and the next thing they know they're running from hitmen and trying to come up with enough cash to pay back their debt. Wise Guys' blend of comedy and action represented something of a change of pace for director Brian DePalma, best known for his offbeat thrillers and Hitchcock homages. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny DeVito, Joe Piscopo, (more)
