When you think of mafia, you think New York City, right? How about Cleveland? “Kill the Irishman” is a crime drama about the rise and fall of 70s mobster Danny Greene and his involvement in a turf war in the summer of 1976 that resulted in 36 bombs being detonated in Cleveland. This highly entertaining movie, directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, uses vignettes and some archival footage to tell Danny’s story. Ray Stevenson imbues Danny with a charm you don’t expect from an Irish-American gangster who muscled his way up from longshoreman to racketeering union leader, and then becoming an enforcer for loan shark Shondor Burns (Christopher Walken). When that goes sour, he teams with gangster John Nardi (Vincent D’Onofrio) to take on the city’s Italian Mafia heavyweights (Tony Lo Bianco, Paul Sorvino). Along the way, Danny becomes a Robin Hood-style folk hero, helping poor families and even handing out free turkeys to city cops on holidays. His fame grows as he survives numerous attempted hits, leading the self-described descendant of Celtic warriors to believe in his own invincibility. Unfortunately, a hit man (Robert Davi) hired by the mob takes out Danny’s trusted associates and then closes in on him.
The movie is based on the book To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia, by Rick Porrello, former Cleveland area police chief. As a direct result of Danny’s murder, Jimmy ‘Weasel’ Frantianno along with Angelo Lonardo, one-time Cleveland Mafia boss, turned government informants. Their testimony helped put away mob bosses Anthony ‘Fat Tony’ Salerno of New York’s Genovese Mafia family, Anthony ‘Tony Ducks’ Corallo of the Luchesse clan and Carmine Perisco of the Colombo family. Adding to the story’s authenticity, Hensleigh intersperses actual news footage between the episodes in Danny’s life. Danny Greene was larger than life and that’s the way Ray Stevenson portrays him. Also top notch are Vincent D’Onofrio, Val Kilmer as Greene’s boyhood friend now police chief, and Christopher Walken. The palette of grainy brown/orange/gold/beige, the many vintage cars and the dreary Detroit (doubling for Cleveland) locations evoke the gritty world Danny inhabited. 3/5/11
2 comments:
Danny Greene was a very tough guy who took on the Sicilian Mafia in Cleveland with no fear and for a while he had them on the run. This movie was ACTION, ACTION and more ACTION. Ray Stevenson spoke at the preview we went to and he brings character and carisma to the screen. I told him he reminded me of a combination of Clint Eastwood and Sean Connerly. He could become a major star with the movies he has coming out later this year (Thor and the 3 Musketeers). He's good!
I meant "Sean Connery"
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