Hollywood has long enjoyed an almost incestuous relationship with the so - called Mafia who,it strikes me,are rather like"Pop",the Etonian society that is entirely self - electing and is answerable only to its own members.Contrarily,on the one hand we are always being told that the Mafia does not exist and that is entirely a racist conceit and ,on the other hand that Organised Crime figures wield serious influence in the film industry,not the least through the unions. Certainly most movies concerning themselves with Italian - American criminal gangs whilst ostensibly being careful to avoid glamourising the milieu nonetheless make sure that due deference is paid to the "Honoured Society" ethos at some point,perhaps in order to avoid the producer waking up one morning with his favourite Arab stallion's head on his pillow.Whatever the truth - and I doubt we'll ever know -"Prizzi's Honor" is yet another Mafia movie that slyly offers admiration to the Organisation whilst disrespecting some of its members. Mr J.Nicholson,loyal and not clever enough to be dangerous to his superiors and Miss A. Huston,too clever for her superiors,are on/off lovers and Miss K.Turner,not quite as clever as she thinks she is, make up a deadly triangle.They all overact with evident relish,and therein lies the fatal flaw of the whole movie,there is not one believable performance in it.We all know it's Jack Nicholson with a New York accent with "dese and dose" abounding and are happy to be in on the joke but we can't take him seriously as a hit-man. Another drawback for a movie supposedly a "dark comedy"(whatever that means) is that "Prizzi's Honor" isn't remotely funny.A police captain's wife is cold - bloodedly shot dead in a lift and we're supposed to fall about laughing? I don't think so thank you. The Partana family obviously couldn't organise a drink - up in a brewery unlike the real thing that continually evades the best efforts of cop and FBI alike and no one will be fooled that the Mafia is full of husky - voiced old geezers spitting impotent hate across the table at the younger generation,but who have hearts of mush under all their psychopathic exteriors. "The Godfather" was a fine movie but Mr Coppola has a lot to answer for. Too many second rate "hommages" of one sort or another have rolled down the pike ever since and,disappointingly,"Prizzi's Honor" must rank amongst them
Review of Prizzi's Honor
