In the 1970s the honourable mafia family was the stuff of sophisticated drama, so it only follows that in the 1980s it would be fair game for a spoof. Prizzi's Honor actually features a fairly serious and workable plot, a Machiavellian tale of revenge and double-cross, and looks like it may have begun life at one point as a straight crime pictures. However rather than rehashing a bunch of clichés it takes the tack of sending up that world of casual violence, unshakeable loyalty and half-mumbled Italian accents.
Yes, the basic approach here is to reel out the sillier aspects of the mafia movie and make them sillier still. Jack Nicholson reprises his post-lobotomy face from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and throws in a few Brando-esque grunts and bits of business. It's not among his best comedic roles. William Hickey is actually quite subtle and nuanced as the stereotypical elderly Don, but the performance is just too much of a caricature for anything outside complete farce, which this isn't. Prizzi's Honor does however contain some very fine non-comedy performances. Anjelica Huston stands out in her smooth and confident portrayal of the manipulative outcast daughter. She really dominates the screen without ever once exaggerating or using some trite gesture. Kathleen Turner is very good too. Watch her eyes in the scene where she and Nicholson have their first drink together – she's not listening to him, she's eyeing him up.
Director John Huston was a veteran of the classic era, now in the twilight of his career. In Prizzi's Honor he displays the professionalism of his generation and the uncomplicated, unostentatious approach of an older man, as well as the various tricks that he had been using to make great pictures since the 1940s. He knows exactly how little input is really needed from the camera, letting the action play out in some very long takes, shifting our focus by smoothly dollying in. Sometimes, rather than changing angle or moving in he will have the actor do the work. For example, there is a scene with John Randolph on the phone, sitting back in his chair, but at a key moment in the dialogue he leans forward, effectively putting himself into close-up without the camera moving an inch. His detachment from the action can be sublimely elegant, such as the garage door slowly coming down for a killing to take place offscreen. Huston was never known as much of a comedy director, and as I've hinted the cod-Sicilian business isn't that funny, but he works in a handful of nice sight gags such as a trio of rudeboys all handcuffed together in a row.
The trouble is, Prizzi's Honor is a dreadful mediocrity, and it's not just the hit-and-miss comedy that is to blame. True, the plot is strong enough to have been done without the spoofing, but to be fair the mobster archetypes are so familiar it would be hard to do it any other way without seeming corny. The real problem is that it simply doesn't have enough meat to its bones. There are some decent characters, and their machinations certainly make for a good story, but there just aren't the great, memorable set-pieces or crackling dialogue to make the whole thing rattle along as any decent crime drama should, comical or otherwise. It's a shame. With the amount of talent available here this is a wasted opportunity.
Yes, the basic approach here is to reel out the sillier aspects of the mafia movie and make them sillier still. Jack Nicholson reprises his post-lobotomy face from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and throws in a few Brando-esque grunts and bits of business. It's not among his best comedic roles. William Hickey is actually quite subtle and nuanced as the stereotypical elderly Don, but the performance is just too much of a caricature for anything outside complete farce, which this isn't. Prizzi's Honor does however contain some very fine non-comedy performances. Anjelica Huston stands out in her smooth and confident portrayal of the manipulative outcast daughter. She really dominates the screen without ever once exaggerating or using some trite gesture. Kathleen Turner is very good too. Watch her eyes in the scene where she and Nicholson have their first drink together – she's not listening to him, she's eyeing him up.
Director John Huston was a veteran of the classic era, now in the twilight of his career. In Prizzi's Honor he displays the professionalism of his generation and the uncomplicated, unostentatious approach of an older man, as well as the various tricks that he had been using to make great pictures since the 1940s. He knows exactly how little input is really needed from the camera, letting the action play out in some very long takes, shifting our focus by smoothly dollying in. Sometimes, rather than changing angle or moving in he will have the actor do the work. For example, there is a scene with John Randolph on the phone, sitting back in his chair, but at a key moment in the dialogue he leans forward, effectively putting himself into close-up without the camera moving an inch. His detachment from the action can be sublimely elegant, such as the garage door slowly coming down for a killing to take place offscreen. Huston was never known as much of a comedy director, and as I've hinted the cod-Sicilian business isn't that funny, but he works in a handful of nice sight gags such as a trio of rudeboys all handcuffed together in a row.
The trouble is, Prizzi's Honor is a dreadful mediocrity, and it's not just the hit-and-miss comedy that is to blame. True, the plot is strong enough to have been done without the spoofing, but to be fair the mobster archetypes are so familiar it would be hard to do it any other way without seeming corny. The real problem is that it simply doesn't have enough meat to its bones. There are some decent characters, and their machinations certainly make for a good story, but there just aren't the great, memorable set-pieces or crackling dialogue to make the whole thing rattle along as any decent crime drama should, comical or otherwise. It's a shame. With the amount of talent available here this is a wasted opportunity.