Crazy Joe

The mob life of 'Crazy Joe' Gallo.

This is fairly good mobster movie with some reasonably gritty moments that have aged like the 70s fashions.

It mixes the simplistic gangster narrative that you would see in 30s and 40s movies, with a low budget vibe of 70s New York. There is plenty of tough-talking Mafia lingo and insight into the power structures of certain families. I like that it is loosely based on some real people.

Some of the themes relating to the stereotyping of Italian-Americans and Columbus Day rallies are similar to those used in some plot lines of The Sopranos (only much better on that show). One of the strongest bits of spectacle in the movie is a recreation of one such rally.

The cast is very interesting, led by the amusing Peter Boyle, supported nicely by Eli Wallach, and featuring many recognisable faces popping up in numerous scenes.

The production values are pretty low, with action sequences that are not very memorable and some quite rough editing. One scene you can see an obvious jump in a sequence when Peter Boyle speaks. That being said there are some great location shots. Plus the opening sequence with the opera music and establishing shots is excellent.

It is certainly no classic, but I think it is essential viewing if you are a fan of mob movies.

Very trendy c. '74 cast-Eli Wallach, Peter Boyle, Rip Torn, Paula Prentiss, etc. Even has the Fonz as a mob guy. An obvious takeoff of the Godfather, though nowheres near as good. The cast certainly brings this up a notch-Boyle and Wallach especially. I always enjoy seeing Fred 'Blaxploitation film' Williamson in a flick too.

Very dated-check out the boat cars, bellbottems, very '70s '50's fixation-tunes, etc-but worth yer while. Has an interesting run of things it touches on-Attica, Italian 'anti-defamation leagues', etc.

**1/2, see this with 'Donnie Brasco' or 'Friends of Eddie Coyle' to get a better idea of what's what.

A great little period piece from the mid 70's. It follows the story of "Crazy" Joe Gallo. Peter Boyle is fabulous as Joe and the film also has Eli Wallach,Fred Williamson and Paula Prentiss. Eli Wallach plays a crime boss and steals every scene(as usual)that he is a part of. I think the film is not a "Godfather" ripoff as some have suggested,this film has a totally different feel to it. This is a gritty,hip almost an exploitation feel to it and not just because it has Fred Williamson in a supporting role. Great cars,music,clothes and a great look at the wonderful,colorful time that was the 70's. If you haven't seen this flick,be sure to check it out. Playing now(8-22-09)on Crackle,it is worth a couple hours of your time. If you are a fan of gangster films,70's exploitation films or just good old drama and action,this is one film that you may not have heard of that definitely is worth a look. Peace.

Looking at it in retrospect I suppose this film turned out to be an okay movie which essentially involves a gangster known as "Crazy Joe" (Peter Boyle) who believes that his efforts working for the mob haven't been appreciated enough. So he decides to force the issue and create his own gang. The problem with his logic, however, is that although he was certainly a top-notch thug, he doesn't quite have the discipline or a good understanding of the intricacies involved in building a crime family. Anyway, I thought Peter Boyle did an adequate job but it was Eli Wallach (as "Don Vittorio") and Fred Williamson (as "Willy") who really stood out. I also enjoyed seeing Henry Winkler cast as one of Crazy Joe's thugs named "Mannie" and Paula Prentiss as Joey's wife "Anne". Even so, the pace of the movie sometimes seemed a bit slow and I occasionally felt that some of the movie had been left in the cutting room. Not a great film by any means but somewhat entertaining all the same.

Crazy Joe is a well made gangster picture starring Peter Boyle as the title character The names are all changed up but it's not hard to tell who's who. The cast is terrific Henry Winkler,Eli Wallach,Charles Cioffi all support a terrific cast of faces that any mob movie buff such as myself would recognize. There's only one problem this movie is very hard to find so catch it any way you can it's well worth it