The Pope Of Greenwich Village (1984) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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00:00how's it going it's me Bo back here on the film scene investigation channel hope you're all doing

00:19well thank you so much for checking out this video well it's another review and today i'll

00:27be checking out the 1984 crime drama the pope of greenwich village now it's been a while since i've

00:37reviewed a mickey rourke movie on this channel previously i've reviewed year of the dragon

00:43heaven's gate a prayer for the dying and i'd heard about this film before i'd never seen it i saw the

00:51trailer online and uh yeah kind of felt in the mood so uh i ended up watching it before we get

00:58into the review guys if you haven't already please do consider subscribing to the channel if you

01:04like the content that i do here all the support is greatly appreciated so the pope of greenwich

01:12village from 1984 was directed by the filmmaker stuart rosenberg and was based on the novel

01:20by vincent patrick while this movie has indeed gone on to become a cult classic during the time of its

01:29release it was considered a flop basically a failure given the fact that the film only recouped around

01:37about six million at the box office when the actual production cost was around about eight million as for

01:45the narrative the movie focused on the character charlie moran who was played by actor mickey rourke he was a

01:53guy that lived in new york city as a maitre d and uh well he certainly worked hard for his money he was

02:01constantly staying on top of things making sure his customers were satisfied i mean yeah he took his job

02:09seriously whereas his cousin paulie who was played by actor eric roberts was basically the complete

02:17opposite the character of paulie well he was quick-tempered to say the least he was very animated

02:25and it was quite clear from the very beginning that his heart wasn't in waiting tables for a living

02:32he had dreams and big ambitions he felt that he was destined for bigger and better things and that

02:41he was you know basically wasting his time in the restaurant anyways it was soon discovered that paulie

02:49had been skimming tips from the customers and well not telling anyone basically stealing from the

02:56restaurant and as you can imagine once that was discovered he and his cousin charlie were suddenly

03:03fired one moment they're working hard in this busy restaurant serving tables and all that kind of stuff

03:10the next they're suddenly out on the street jobless with suddenly no prospect of getting any money

03:18it was a really silly thing for paulie to do you know stealing tips from customers i mean that kind of

03:24stuff eventually you're gonna get found out but not only did he jeopardize his own future he jeopardized

03:31his cousins as well and for charlie he already had a kid called vinnie who he had to provide for

03:37he was struggling doing his best that he could but suddenly without this maitre d job his life was

03:45going to be a lot tougher while i expected to see charlie have it out with paulie then and there

03:52maybe even you know hit him or something like that charlie was kind of restrained you know he was

04:00angry of course but clearly he loved his cousin and he didn't want anything to break their bond or

04:09come between them to add insult to injury charlie's girlfriend diane who was played by actress

04:16daryl hannah informed him that she was pregnant this was a unexpected surprise but only added to

04:26charlie's financial worries he had a kid to provide for he had another kid on the way i mean it was just

04:35the completely wrong time to not have a job and at this point you know charlie was kind of confused

04:41about what to do next paulie who was still feeling very guilty about losing charlie's job well he came

04:51up with this idea to get involved with this racehorse syndicate he told charlie that it was a surefire way

04:59to make some cash charlie was of course very hesitant at first to even listen to paulie's idea

05:08simply because his cousin had a track record of these money-making schemes yet they were never

05:16successful you know for me i can see where charlie's coming from because just from the way that paulie

05:25acted you know he's so kind of animated i mean he wasn't but he almost acted like a coke head or

05:32something like that you know a guy on drugs he was just you know high energy all the time and so with

05:38you know a guy like that coming up with some money-making idea yeah i would uh i would be a

05:45little bit wary too since charlie was all out of ideas himself and still needed the cash he reluctantly

05:53went ahead and got involved with this syndicate operation that paulie had told him about but for them

06:00to invest in a racehorse well they needed cash they were basically back to square one yet paulie

06:08had another idea to rob this safe from inside this office block that had was rumored to be holding a

06:16fortune the idea was simple they rob the safe take the money and invest it on a racehorse and wait for

06:25a bigger return on their investment paulie gave all the information to charlie telling him all the

06:32you know inside knowledge all the details and even recruited a locksmith called barney simply because

06:39the job was too big for just them two to handle barney who was played by actor kenneth mcmillan

06:47was an experienced locksmith he had the equipment and felt sure that he could you know crack the safe

06:54all he needed was time to do it completely uninterrupted while charlie was still kind of

07:02trepidatious about the whole thing once again he'd come this far and agreed to already you know invest

07:08in this racehorse idea so he figured he might as well continue on and rob the safe so the three men

07:17went ahead with the robbery showing up in a van in the middle of the night ready to break in to this

07:24office charlie wasn't exactly in a great mood but his cousin paulie you know just kept reassuring him

07:32it's going to be fine we're going to do this we're going to get the cash you know he was he was in high

07:37spirits you know all the time once the trio got into the office successfully broke in well the work

07:44began and we started to see barney you know drilling the safe as the guys just stood back

07:51and watched cracking a safe i mean that whole thing was a very slow process and yet the guys had

08:00not a minute to spare as the clock ticked away we then saw a plain clothed police officer

08:07enter the building and head upstairs to the office the cop was a man called walter ritter

08:15a corrupt detective who was played by actor jack keogh ritter was there on that night to collect some

08:24money from the same safe that the guys were trying to break into so paulie saw the guy coming up the

08:32stairs you know the drilling stopped and the trio all took cover hiding behind the shelf the cop of

08:40course entered and immediately went to the safe he saw that the lock had been tampered with saw the

08:47drill holes and immediately knew that someone had tried to break in detective ritter immediately i took

08:54out his gun you know ready to shoot you know whoever it was that was trying to rob the place but he took a

08:59misstep and out of nowhere he fell down an elevator shaft which killed him it all happened so fast

09:07the guys that were hiding in the back they were in shock you know they literally expected to be caught

09:14there and then suddenly the cop was dead this was supposed to be a simple job you know a simple

09:22robbery open the safe take the contents invest in a racehorse and that was it right but

09:28no nothing went to plan and not only did they have a death on their hands but it was a death

09:35of a cop i mean there was no way that the authorities were going to just let this one slide i mean

09:42no way and so you know with those guys knowing that they were panicked charlie didn't know what to do

09:49and to make matters even worse we found out that the money that was inside the safe actually belonged

09:57to a local mafia kingpin called bed bug eddie who was played by the late actor burt young as you can

10:06imagine once this mafia kingpin found out that his money had been taken well charlie barney and paulie

10:16suddenly became public enemy number one now one of the main themes that i picked up on while watching

10:26the pope of greenwich village was loyalty and the importance of telling the truth this was of

10:34course all told through the relationship between charlie and paulie you know two cousins that had a very

10:42strong family bond i mean yeah it was obvious from the very beginning that these two guys these two

10:50cousins they cared for each other they really did even though paulie had a bit of a strange way of

10:58showing his affection numerous times we saw paulie lie and cheat you know hide things from his cousin

11:07yet charlie just just forgave him you know he he never held a grudge against his cousin through thick

11:16and thin charlie knew the importance of family and that's why he remained loyal and just hoped that

11:23one day his cousin would follow in his footsteps with all that said the movie also didn't shy away

11:31from showing the repercussions of having blind faith in someone as charlie started out the movie

11:40you know with the job you know with a girlfriend and by the end of it he'd lost it all the charlie

11:49character needed to be more stricter more firm with his cousin yet countless times he just forgave him

11:57and you know ultimately that was a poor decision on charlie's part it was all gone he lost it all and

12:06you know you can put some blame onto paulie definitely but some blame also has to go on

12:14charlie himself when it comes to the performances mickey rourke really nailed his performance as the

12:21charismatic protagonist charlie moran he felt like you know a real guy you know just trying to survive

12:29the harsh economic conditions of the 1980s also his character was not one-dimensional absolutely not

12:39i mean charlie had multiple layers to his personality and all of that you know seeing that on show

12:47it made him very endearing to the audience one moment he could be angry you know frustrated

12:57the next he could be in tears and it was that range of emotions on show that really impressed me

13:07you know for me mickey rourke's best scene had to be the confrontation between charlie and bedbug eddie

13:15that whole thing that whole scene uh i absolutely loved it here you had two men that absolutely hated

13:24each other you know you could just feel the animosity between them with of course bedbug eddie his money

13:32was stolen from the safe you know i could understand that he was angry about that but separately charlie's

13:38cousin paulie had lost a thumb so yeah both guys were extremely angry and were not willing to back down

13:48from one another it was just a great scene and you know that moment at the end where they you know

13:54clutching hands and mickey rourke leans in and declares himself as the pope of greenwich village he even

14:02kind of clutches and then he punches burt young's hand i mean man that was just uh just some brilliant

14:08acting yeah you really felt charlie's anger in that moment yet surprisingly he you know kept himself

14:17composed and that's what i really found interesting because it could have been so easy for you know

14:23the filmmakers to have had this kind of fight at the end between charlie and eddie you know maybe you

14:30know eddie's henchman or something like that you know throwing other tables and you can just you

14:34know imagine it but yeah they took a different approach and uh i i thought it worked really well

14:42because you had charlie so restraint it kind of for me it really grounded the whole story because

14:50in my eyes the way that meeting that confrontation went that to me felt like how most likely a real

14:59confrontation between two people like that would likely go down as for eric roberts

15:06this guy this actor he really committed to the role of paulie a man who was you know high energy all

15:16the time and a guy that had some big big ambitions i really like this performance and to be honest you

15:24know eric roberts was so memorable as paulie i kind of think it would be fair to say that he almost

15:32overshadowed mickey rourke and you know while there were a few scenes that i did feel eric roberts

15:42kind of went a little bit over the top for the most part i thought uh the actor really committed and

15:48portraying an individual like paulie someone that has you know so much high energy as i said kind of

15:57almost kind of reminiscent of some sort of like you know drug addict cokehead or something like that you

16:01know yeah that would have been a pretty big challenge for any actor to undertake so yeah

16:08credit to eric roberts growing up never heard of eric roberts you know i wasn't aware of him at all

16:14didn't know he even existed it was only really i guess the 2008 christopher nolan movie the dark knight

16:22you know the classic movie that uh i first was introduced to eric roberts and having now seen

16:30some of his earlier work including the pope of goodness village i must say i am genuinely surprised

16:37that roberts never went on to become a bigger star like his sister julia now i'm not saying that eric roberts

16:47isn't a successful actor he's very successful he's very prolific you know still working today

16:52and yeah good for him but just from seeing the paulie character and seeing that raw potential

17:02on show from eric roberts genuinely i said i i'm how comes he didn't become a household name you know

17:11very very surprising i also should mention the brilliant chemistry between mickey rock and eric

17:20roberts as you know these characters were integral to the story so it was crucial crucially important

17:29that the filmmakers cast the right pair of actors both rock and roberts yeah they felt very believable

17:38as if they genuinely had you know a real life family bond it didn't feel awkward it didn't feel forced

17:47and uh yeah in terms of the casting perfect absolutely perfect as for the supporting cast

17:55i thought the actor kenneth mcmillan who played the experienced locksmith and accomplice to the robbery

18:01was very good in his role i really liked barney's characterization because once again similar to

18:10paulie and charlie he felt like a real person he was very much in the same predicament that those guys

18:16were he needed cash and he was desperate i think also giving the barney character a backstory

18:24and you know seeing how the repercussions of the robbery impacted his family it certainly added

18:34a lot more weight and significance to the story the lovely daryl hannah played charlie's pregnant

18:41girlfriend diane she was very good in the role um but if i'm going to be honest overall it was kind of

18:51inconsequential daryl hannah did nothing wrong i mean she delivered her lines well and of course she

18:58looked beautiful on screen but yeah if i'm if i'm honest you could have taken her out of the film

19:08inserted another actress and yeah it would have made no real difference i also really enjoyed

19:16burt young's performance as bedbug eddie the sleazy scumbag mafia boss who got his comeuppance

19:23at the end of the film the late burt young even though i guess from what i've heard stories on set

19:31that he was a bit of a asshole to be around you know he wasn't very nice guy to a lot of people in

19:37real life he certainly played that scumbag villain role very well and so i can totally understand why

19:45he was typecast in those types of roles the only downside for me when it comes to him and this

19:52movie was that i don't feel that he featured enough before we get to dislikes i also want to quickly

20:01mention the actress geraldine page who played the character mrs ritter the mother of the detective

20:09the corrupt cop who died in the elevator shaft so the cop died at the scene and once you know the

20:18dead body was found the authorities came knocking looking for answers from mrs ritter now the reason i

20:26bring this up and what i found so interesting was that geraldine page the actress she only had

20:33two scenes in the entire film that was it just two scenes yet i actually was surprised to find out that

20:42she was actually nominated for an academy award based on this performance when i heard this i had to

20:50actually go and you know double check myself because it just seemed very far-fetched now i'm not

20:56saying that geraldine page didn't do a good job she did she really did but it was such a limited

21:05minor role i mean literally two scenes and that was it really really surprised that the academy would go

21:14on to award her and a nomination based on you know such little material geraldine page she absolutely

21:25made the most of her screen time and yeah you know good for her it just was very surprising to know that

21:33that the academy would award her for such a small performance didn't make sense to me and so dislikes

21:43for the pope of greenwich village from 1984. my biggest dislike for the film would have to be

21:52its overall length as for me it simply just felt way too long you know in one way i did appreciate

22:02you know the filmmakers giving this long drawn-out story with lots of characterization i mean this is

22:08very or was a very character driven story and that was good don't get me wrong but taking a step back

22:16and looking at the overall film you know there were just a number of scenes that easily could have

22:22been removed i mean you know one scene for example would be when paulie went to visit his dad in the

22:31hospital they had this conversation in the hallway you know went back and forth for like you know a few

22:37minutes but was it really that important yes it gave us a little bit of more insight into paulie and you

22:44his background but yeah i mean it was just another two or three minutes you know added to a very long

22:52runtime well how about the subplot with paulie having all the trouble with the traffic cop after his car

23:01got towed away paulie ended up using a laxative and uh yeah i mean there was some kind of comedic

23:09elements to it and i'm not you know bashing the comedy that's fine it's you know it was handled well

23:15but did it really make any real impact to the overall narrative not really the main bulk of this

23:23story was the robbery and the investment you know into the horse racing syndicate that was it and that

23:31was more than enough for us to you know be invested and keep interested in the story so

23:37to me it was like the filmmakers just adding extra stuff you know extra scenes that kind of weighed

23:46down the my overall experience as i said unnecessary and um yeah just just a tighter

23:55more leaned run time i think would have probably made the film a lot more enjoyable another dislike

24:03i had was the lackluster score by the composer dave grusin now for me this felt very paint by numbers

24:14you know i didn't feel like a lot of creative effort had gone in to this score i'm not too familiar

24:23with the composer's other work but yeah i mean look there was nothing right i guess this was more

24:30of a nitpick than a dislike because the score didn't ruin my enjoyment didn't ruin the film but um

24:38you know i've watched a lot of films and uh as we know a great score a great soundtrack that can really

24:47elevate the material the visuals that we see on screen and uh yeah i used the word earlier but uh

24:54the score was um very inconsequential it really didn't you know there was no real kind of identity

25:02there and uh yeah it could have been so much more so that was a disappointment i guess the only thing

25:11that saved it was the inclusion of the frank sinatra songs at the beginning middle and end of the film

25:19at least that kind of you know gave the music some sort of identity so ratings for the pope of greenwich

25:30village from 1984 i'm gonna be rating this movie a solid 6.5 out of 10 the pope of greenwich village

25:41was an entertaining drama with its exploration into family bonds and low-level crime as expected

25:50the great mickey rourke once again delivered a brilliant performance in the leading role though

25:57with that said i would actually say that his co-star eric roberts was even more impressive

26:06their on-screen chemistry was fantastic you know really believable and it kind of reaffirmed the

26:14themes you know the film had of loyalty and the importance of family respect ultimately the pope

26:22of greenwich village was a story about two cousins that you know were just trying to survive you know

26:30in new york they really were desperate went in cash and they made multiple bad decisions but having that

26:37of all the characters doing that in such a gritty urban environment well yeah it was the perfect

26:45combination if you've seen the pope of greenwich village then please let me know your thoughts and

26:52memories in the comments section below for those who haven't this is 100 a recommendation from me

27:01i feel that um you should be prepared for somewhat of a a long film but uh that said it's worth a watch

27:10absolutely and for any mickey rourke fans out there that you know may have kind of missed this one

27:15definitely go check it out and well that's all from me today guys i do hope you've enjoyed this

27:22review of the pope from good news village from 1984 i'll be back next week of course with another

27:29cult movie review don't forget to like and subscribe if you like the content i do here

27:36and of course take care guys

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