Crazy Joe

I recently viewed Crazy Joe (1974) on Tubi. The film delves into the real-life story of the gangster "Crazy" Joey Gallo, portraying his strategic and aggressive ascent through the mafia ranks, ultimately leading to his downfall.

Directed by Carlo Lizzani (The Violent Four) and featuring a cast including Peter Boyle (Monster's Ball), Paula Prentiss (The Stepford Wives), Fred Williamson (From Dusk till Dawn), Rip Torn (Men in Black) and Henry Winkler (Happy Days).

While it may not be the pinnacle of gangster movies, Peter Boyle's performance is undeniably enjoyable. He delivers a tremendous portrayal of a character that's easy to root for and engaging to follow. The entire cast delivers solid performances, and the shootouts, while very '70s in style, are entertaining. The story's twists and turns may be somewhat predictable, but they remain fun to watch unfold, and the conclusion is executed perfectly.

In conclusion, while Crazy Joe may not reach Scorsese levels, Peter Boyle's presence alone makes it a must-watch, and it's still a worthwhile addition to the gangster genre. I would rate this a 7/10 and strongly recommend it.

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.

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

"What do these Hollywood types know about gangsters?" (Crazy Joe, when he encounters a film crew on the street)

Ironically, a good point. (Or was the irony intentional? I doubt it...) Hollywood types have generally proved to know very little about the mob (or almost anything else for that matter), or at least often present aspects of that culture in a misleading or somewhat romanticized manner. However, there isn't too much silliness or idolatry going on here, i.e. CJ's mobsters are to the most part portrayed accurately/realistically, in other words as the uncontrollable sociopaths that they are and always will be. Thankfully, this isn't a Sydney Lumet picture in which the viewer is required/asked to sympathize with criminals by taking an irrational, liberal, childishly anti-establishment attitude. (See "Find Me Guilty", a fantasy mobster court-room drama in which a "happy ending" constitutes a dozen mobster defendants being acquitted of crimes they did commit...)

The radiant 70s look, a brisk plot development, and the generally good cast make up for some occasional flaws.

Fonz as a gangster?? He is about a head shorter than all the (fe)male cast members - and that includes Harve Villachaize. Truly threatening-looking. Not to mention his perpetual "mild-mannered accountant's" facial expression, which he cannot get rid off even if a team of top plastic surgeons tried to help him in that fantastic feat. That was a major casting blunder. What's next... Kate Hudson as head of NASA? Casey Affleck as Superman?

Another casting error, though far less dramatic than the Fonz fiasco, was picking Charles Cioffi to play a rising mob star. An actor's Italian name alone does not necessarily a suitable mafiosi make. He too lacks the aura of psychopathy that even the least violent mobster (which isn't saying much) has, lurking below the surface.

Why do mobsters' wives and girfriends, i.e. harlots, nearly always get portrayed favourably in movies? It doesn't take a brilliant deductive mind or world-class detective skills to figure out that such women can't be morally much more impressive than the scum they they date. Admittedly, Paula Prentiss's character is underdeveloped, but whatever little we see of her seems to be far too flattering for that kind of woman.

On one or two occasions the jumps from one scene to the next are too quick, making the flow of the movie somewhat shaky. It's as though the initial running time of CJ had been 30 minutes longer, and a commercially-driven butchering job had been implemented at the last minute in the editor's room.