" I don't know what to do, marry her or sew her? This is one of the main questions that has plagued Charlie Partanna since the beginning of the film. He is the best fighter of the Prizzi family, and stands very close to the ruling elite of this mafia clan. At the wedding of one of the members of the family, Charlie meets a mysterious blonde and at first sight falls in love with her. And now they begin a stormy romance... Charlie plays Jack the genius Nicholson, and the first time I saw him appear in such a role. It’s kind of hardheaded... when Charlie Partanna starts to turn his brain, you can probably hear the gears in his brain spinning with a grin. Everything, of course, reflects on his face ... and this perpetually bewildered look on Charlie's face - the supreme chic of Jackson's play. Bravo! John Huston shot a subtle parody of gangster tapes, first of all, of course, there are references to the Godfather. Most amusing, of course, the main character, but the dialogue is beyond praise:"... I can’t, I have a honeymoon... – nothing, spend it in Brooklyn...,"... it’s good that your wife is a fool... Of course, I take them out of context, but it will help to characterize the atmosphere of the picture, which deservedly received so many awards and nominations. By the way, this is one of the last works of John Huston, you can say his farewell bow. It is a must-see.
Hollywood has produced countless crime thrillers and gangster dramas about America’s dangerous and powerful families. In all movies, there is always chaos, blood and death because of money and drugs. And the cross-cutting idea is that there can be no place for love in such a world. This idea became the basis of the criminal tragicomedy “Honor of the Prizzi family”.
Charlie Pantanna's "The Godson" has always been an integral part of the powerful and dangerous Prizzi clan, which provided him with everything - money, drink, woman, and in exchange Charlie masterfully cleaned up everyone who stood in the way of the family. However, everything changes when Charlie suddenly falls in love and marries the charming blonde Irene, who turns out to be a first-class hitman.
Of course, the most remarkable detail of the film is the bright and, most importantly, talented cast. First of all, I would like to mention the unsurpassed Jack Nicholson in the role of the godson. Charlie is forced to make the toughest choice of his life between his family and perhaps his only true love. I also liked the performance of Kathleen Turner, who played the role of Irene, a smart assassin who also has to make a difficult choice between her own life and her only love. From secondary roles, I would mention Angelica Houston as Charlie Mayrose’s ex-lover, who was expelled from the family due to personal shame, but after receiving forgiveness, decided to take revenge for the last years of her life.
As a matter of fact, I am familiar with the work of director John Huston on such films as “Treasures of Sierra Madre” and “Reef Largo”. Like his previous paintings, the atmosphere of Prizzi Family Honor is also filled with a mysterious naur with its pessimistic mood, interspersed with a black humor uncharacteristic of this subgenre. In general, during the viewing, it is felt as one genre neatly flows into another. If at the very beginning of the movie opens to us a black comedy that turns into a Hollywood melodrama, then as the plot develops, the picture turns into an action thriller and drama with unexpected and tragic plot twists. The only drawback is the overall dynamics, which sometimes brings sadness to the viewer.
In any film, regardless of the genre and place of production, I always value the script above all. If the film has a really strong plot and script, then the film will undoubtedly be great. However, in the case of Prizzi Family Honor, there may be a twofold reaction. On the one hand, we see a couple in love whose business leads to a fatal mistake. It turns out that a large amount of money is missing, most likely stolen by Irene. In addition, Irene receives an order for her husband, Charlie. It turns out a tangle of storylines, from which the hero can get out, if only he makes the most painful choice in his life. And, most likely, it is Charlie’s choice that makes the film more believable than any other ordinary crime thriller.
Result At first glance, The Prizzi Family Honor may seem like an ordinary crime comedy with elements of black humor. However, on the other hand, it is the general drama and tragedy that finally spills out at the end of the film that make it more convincing and believable and make you think about what you saw. Anyway, I give the film that rating.
“Honor of the Prizzi family” was received rather sluggishly. Despite the fact that its rating is quite high, and it is often mentioned by critics, it cannot be said that our audience appreciated this film. The situation is different in the US. The penultimate film of the legendary John Huston is considered a cult classic, in addition, it was fondled by almost all the main film awards - more than 30.
The largest American critic Roger Ebert put the film almost the maximum rating and called “the Honor of Prizzi” one of his favorite paintings. "This is the strangest comedy in months, so black, cynical and funny that perhaps only Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner could keep their faces serious during love scenes," he wrote.
Our viewer of the humor of the picture did not smell. For the simple reason that we do not have such a subgenre as “ironic paraphrase”. We do not have a culture of gangster film, so most viewers take the picture seriously, as a real gangster saga, as a once unseen Soviet viewer seriously took “Fantomas” – a hilarious parody of spymania.
In fact, Prizzi’s Honour is a parody, but not a gag like Abrahams’ Mafia, released 13 years later, but a much more subtle, stylistic, inverted film. And in Russian, the English name sounds quite accurate and funny - "Honor Prizzi" - exactly so, without translation. And it makes more sense because ...
John Huston, who directed “The Maltese Falcon”, has already parodied the gangster movie in the film “The Devil’s Shades” and now again decided to turn upside down what the viewer was taught by “The Godfather”. Look: In The Godfather, the mighty Marlon Brando is a broad, powerful, true clan leader. In “Prizzi” – a meager short man William Hickey, who will fall apart on the move. The Corleone family is the color of the mafia, in the juice itself, Prizzi has degeneration, solid old people, fooled like one. In "The Godfather" - honor, family, brotherhood - what the mafia holds. This has become a farce. Don Corleone decides, don Corrado is mainly engaged in purely family matters - weddings, celebrations, christenings, the return to the family of lost granddaughters and the guardianship of misguided godchildren of pre-retirement age. Michael Corleone was undergoing a metamorphosis – from an ordinary good-natured guy he became a real boss of the mafia thanks to questions of family honor, Charlie also undergoes a metamorphosis and also becomes a boss, but only because he is a fool and a weakling, and it is easy to manage – both a woman, for whom he, fooled, drags, and a father, without whose advice he will not sit on the pot. Sonny Corleone was killed because he was too rogue, Dominic Prizzi was also killed, but only because he believed his daughter, a first-rate whore and intriguer. To prevent the slaughter of clans and competition, Corleone destroys the heads of all 4 families to prevent war with the police, Prizzi must give the wife of his new boss, whose hands committed most of the murders in the film.
Each episode of the film somehow refers to "The Godfather" - with mockery, albeit without outright toothache. In this Prizzi Honor (where everyone talks a lot about honor, but honor itself is absent, and, moreover, it is elevated to the rank of absurdity) is like a jester who drags after the king and twists his every word.
You can’t say that I was lying on the floor laughing like Ebert, but if you know what it is, if you remember “The Godfather” well, you perfectly capture the irony and sarcasm of the author, as well as the cynicism of what is happening in the frame. After all, the truth is the main character - a fool and a weakling, for nothing that the mafioso. One girl twisted, another twisted, dad said one thing, don - another. He'd rather sit still and eat grapefruit. We must see with what lazy and doomed mine Nicholson goes to perform the task of the don! And how he freezes in hesitation after learning something about his wife. And how then does stupidity after stupidity, acting more and more like a rag.
Family! What a family! Everyone is ready to drown the other, each for himself, some words about honor and trust - and even then not very confident. That's why the mafia degenerated - from the fact that there was no love, all the good women were killed - Huston grimly jokes. Honor? Family? Love? Nope. Prizzi would rather eat their own baby than part with the money. .
Nicholson is beautiful. They say Houston reminded him before each take, "Don't forget you're a fool." And he did not forget: his hero is a dummy and a dummy, albeit not the same as we used to see a dummy and a dummy in comedies. He's an idiot, totally serious, stoic. After all, there were fools among the gangsters, not because they smoked cat tails like Abrahams, but because they did not know how to make the right decisions, and they did not know how to make any! So Charlie lost his happiness and dullly tried to perform the “work of honor” to the one he loves a little more than the fly that flew by. But I'm not embarrassed! Man!
Damn good Kathleen Turner. It electrifies the frame. Her character is a dual character. Until the end of the film, it is not clear who her heroine is: an experienced intriguer, a greedy fool or a poor guy who really fell in love with the wrong guy. But Turner plays great. In the 80s, her skate was just such heroines - beautiful, fatal, strong and at the same time weak, sensual, romantic and completely practical. Unfortunately, the absolutely atypical beauty of Turner quickly withered, and having lost the lion’s share of her sexuality, largely due to illness and alcoholism, this wonderful actress, without losing a single ounce of talent, prematurely aged, and was undeservedly forgotten by Hollywood. But here she is brilliant - from an aggressive killer - to sensual tenderness. From a playful coquette to a corrupt creature. Incredibly wide range of roles! And all this with her incredible voice, which in any case can not be duplicated!
Well, we can not forget Angelica Houston, which the father-director took on the episodic, in fact, the role of “lost Prizzi”, which Angelica with her inherent demonic brilliance turned into one of the main figures of the film – a kind of “gray cardinal”, the only person in the film who achieved his goals – without any honor! This small role became one of the milestones in the career of the famous actress and brought her her only Oscar.
In general, we need to look at this film more carefully. This is a brilliantly played and well-directed film, which is quite caustic laughs at what is caringly and focused was grown gangster sagas Coppola, Scorsese, De Palma, and Houston itself. Such a caricatured catalogue of illusions about the limitless possibilities of the mafia and those who filmed it.
9 out of 10
Full-sounding solemn singing, elegant lace of light stone carvings, lush foam of the veil, patterned neckline, decency and ritualism. Meetings, business, dense networks of clan relations. The authors seem to provide the viewer with what is supposed to be presented in such a situation, regularly and on a scale, and at the same time they mock it themselves, at first very inconspicuously, but skillfully and poisonously, and after all with great sarcasm.
There are films that fundamentally debunk the romance of the world in which sophisticated, or at least quite cunning gangsters act - "Good Guys", for example, clearly demonstrated what kind of in fact the brave mafiosi have a kindred and friendly bondage and whether they really do not surrender their own. And there are films like “Honor of the Prizzi family”, where they seem to balance on the edge, vaguely, vaguely, provocatively, resting on one thing only to then turn one hundred and eighty degrees and again glorify what was ridiculed or mourn what seemed to be very frivolous before. But again, the feeling that all this is able to turn again some other, previously not even planned side, seen - to be only an insidious staging, about which the characters simply do not know. The ending looks like a kind of quote from the early “Maltic Falcon” of the same Houston, but, oddly enough, the hero this time gets a much more sunny ending.
And honor... oh, honor is an inexhaustible concept, even when it is limited by the notorious literary conflict between duty and feeling, driven from childhood. Especially in the context of satirical and ironic reinterpretation or confusion of these conflicts. In the end, the honor of mafia clans fits quite well into the term "passans will not understand." And the whole film can be seen as the story of one not very young and very lonely woman who happened to find what she wanted in the end, despite the fact that the ideas of honor that her father adheres to, she challenges without any embarrassment.
Pros. A wonderful star couple in the lead roles. At one point, while watching, I was happy to say that this is the most touching and romantic story about the mafia that I have ever seen, despite the fact that there is a whole complex of features inherent in such films: violence, murder, conspiracies, corruption, deceit and betrayal. It is a pity that it ended so unromantic... This love couple created such a wonderful mood with their sincere relationship that when they suddenly changed, it became somehow uncomfortable. Like a sickle... Until the very last moment, there was hope that the brilliant Charlie would sort everything out and “rule it out”, but the laws of the genre inexorably pressed everything into the Procrustean bed of unprincipled inevitability.
The whole film is accompanied by beautiful classical music or singing. All the scenery is designed in strict and expensive tones, everything blows respectability and luxury, the eye rejoices and rests on each individual frame.
Scenes of violence are sustained in a very restrained manner, according to the old classical canons.
Cons. Some episodes surprised by their frivolous ill-thought-outness. There are a lot of them and they left behind a lot of perplexed questions, so the so-called detective component in the film is clearly lame. For example, when in broad daylight one of the managers of a mafia family was shot in the street, no one rushed to look for the killer and avenge the bitter loss, although from the plot itself it is clear who had a hand in this. Or when the daughter of a mafia boss gave her sick father some poison instead of water, he only bowed down, but then life went as if nothing had happened, and the father, like a cucumber, and the daughter no consequences. And so on.
Conclusion. Quite an interesting film with an intriguingly fascinating plot. I want to immediately after watching it again, try hot on the trail to disassemble everything on the shelves. But let’s keep this feeling of a pleasant aftertaste from a wonderful film.
You'd think she was a thief and a murderer. That doesn't mean she's a bad woman.
For a picture nominated for eight Oscars (won one), six Golden Globes (won four) and two British Academy Awards (won one), this work looks a little faded. Probably because of the high expectations: knowing that Houston was making a kind of parody film, I was waiting for something much more lively and fun. In reality, however, there is an atmosphere of anxiety, hopelessness, deceived hopes; so if I agree about blackness, then comedy is out of the question. Even the real everyday life of the real Sicilian mafia is probably more fun. In addition, the plot was too flat, while I wanted intricacies and intrigues.
With a duration of two-and-a-half hours, Prizzi Family Honor looks at all three and a half. Many pauses, digressions, and even a soundtrack consisting of a selection of classics, including my unloved Gounod. On the other hand, if the director wanted to make a small film that looked like a saga, he succeeded.
As for actors, Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner played smoothly, albeit unemotionally. It is strange to see them in such roles, but the eye does not cut - you get used to it quickly. Who I can name as one hundred percent hit is William Hickey (Don Carrado). That's a really old mobster. As always, Angelica Houston is an actress in the third generation. Her May turned out to be perhaps the most interesting character: you sympathize with her and want to fall through the earth. After this picture, Angelica finally ceased to be associated exclusively with Morticia Addams.
Perhaps the tape would reanimate a quality translation. Listening to the monotonous voice of a man who does not pronounce hissing and whistling, noting the inconsistency of the translation with the original is an occupation worthy of the title of Chinese torture. It is strange that many works of a maestro like Houston, lack adequate voice in Russian.
So, personally, I would like everything, add the creators of dynamics, humor and unusual situations. And so - above Condon, the author of the book, Houston did not jump.
I repeat: if, after reading reviews, wait for a baroque comedy on the verge of a grotesque, then the film may not live up to expectations. Even Mr. and Mrs. Smith, released many years later, looks funnier and more dynamic. But if you tune in to a black tragedy with elements of farce, everything will fall into place. I recommend it to those who know what they want.
The film in the style of the works of Mario Puzo, reveals to the viewer the hardship of life when you belong to the mafia family. It should be noted that I like to watch these kinds of films, where murders and murderers have their own charm, style, endurance. But I didn’t get much excitement after watching this tape.
First of all, it's overstretched. No events occurred during the hour of viewing.
Secondly, predictability, until the end, hoped for at least some gesture of rebellion on the part of the main characters. No, I clearly understand that the purpose of the film is to show submission to the caste to which you belong, but it is already very close.
Last but not least, I want to mention the actors. I don't remember her for anything special. No development of character, no surge of emotions, no change, nothing. They did it all pretty gray, somehow. These are the actors we call 'The Great'. Many of the actions of the heroes also remained a mystery to me.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, comedy doesn't smell here. For the whole film, without exaggeration, not one joke. They laughed once, maybe twice. I missed the second one.
Summing up, we can say that the film did not deserve a positive assessment, and he did not leave anything negative after watching. Nothing.