Main Cast: Danny Aiello, Anthony LaPaglia, Lainie Kazan, Frank Pesce, Donna Magnani
Release Year: 1992
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
Plot
A hybrid cross-pollination of a Martin Scorsese and Frank Capra film, this feel-good comic fantasy is loosely based on the real-life story of a New York lottery winner. Anthony LaPaglia stars as Frank Pesce Jr., a New Yorker with a good-luck streak that is unmatched in his Little Italy neighborhood. When Frank throws a pair of dice in a game of chance, he doesn't just toss a winning hand, the dice land on top of each other. When he's stabbed in the chest by a girlfriend's brother, his doctors find a pre-cancerous tumor. Although he tries again and again to get rid of a vehicle he no longer wants, it is retrieved every single time by the authorities. So when New York announces its first statewide lottery in 1976, Frank buys one ticket and immediately becomes everybody's best friend. Unfortunately, Frank's good luck is matched by the equally bad luck of his hard-working father, Frank Sr. (Danny Aiello), who has run up a gambling debt to a local mobster. The wise guy is willing to forgive the note if Frank Jr. will just hand over his sure-to-be lucky ticket, leaving the city's luckiest Italian-American in a bit of a moral quandary. The real Frank Pesce Jr. executive produces and co-stars in 29th Street as his own police officer brother, Vito. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
Bubbling with good-natured charm, the directorial debut of Midnight Run screenwriter George Gallo breezes along on a likable current of cheer, buoyed by excellent performances from leads Danny Aiello and Anthony LaPaglia. Although the ostensible plot involves the first New York State lottery winner and is based on a true story, the real fun of Gallo's film is its depiction of an Italian-American clan in a humorous, blessedly nonviolent manner. Without a doubt, the characters in this film owe a debt to the wise guys who came before in the films of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. On the one hand, they're from the same world: They argue, love, eat, and work heatedly, and they scheme after better lives by performing duties somewhat outside the legal boundaries of society's rules, adhering to their own set of eccentric standards. The difference is that the characters here are not murderers, crooks, and criminals, but working-class salt of the Earth types with dreams both large and small, people that would have been instantly recognizable to Frank Capra. Despite a formulaic and somewhat anecdotal script, perhaps to be expected since it's loosely based on someone's real-life biography, 29th Street is a triumph because it never loses focus on what's best about it: Its full-bodied, amusing cast of big-as-life characters. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Rick Aiello - Jimmy Vitello; Vic Manni - Louie Tucci; Ron Karabatsos - Philly the Nap; Robert Forster - Sergeant Tartaglia; Richard Olsen - Father Lowery; Frank Acciarto - Jimmy-Age 8; Hope Alexander-Willis - Lucy Sills; Jerome Alfano - Italian Wedding Band Member; George "Aggie" Anest - Joe Numbers; Nicky "Pop" Anest - Tommy the Geep; Darren Bates - Sal Las Benas; Don Blakely - Sergeant Jones; Alexander Fehr Blue - Baby on Train; Vito "Baldie" Boccanfuso - Johnny Cake; Lee Boyd - Italian Wedding Band Member; Richard Cerenzio - Dom the Bomb; Vincent Chase - Army Eye Doctor; Philip Ciccone - Rocky Sav; Ted Cleanthes - Pit Boss; Lou Criscuolo - Ticket Buyer; Vincent Curto - Zippers Bad Lungs; Karen Duffy - Maria Rios; Tom Ellis - Newscaster; David Ferraro - Cousin Leo; Joe Franklin - Himself; Giovanni Gianoni - Italian Wedding Band Singer; Joe Gironda - Carmine Tucci; Jerry Guarino - Chickens; Charles Haugk - Tucci's Driver; Eugene Kobisky - Italian Wedding Band Member; Adam LaVorgna - Frankie-Age 8; Paul Lazar - Needle Nose Nipton; Tony Lip - Nicky Bad Lungs; Julie Lott - Julie the Usherette; Gloria Mann; Cecil McKiethen - Italian Wedding Band Member; Tony Monte - Jesus Rios; Vic Noto - Auggie Falcone; Jessen Noviello - Needle Nose-Age 8; Jim Ondatje - 2nd Patrolman; Bill Ricci - Mickey the Dwarf; Joe Roberto - Patrolman Tollen; Sal Ruffino - Angelo; Rocco Savastano - Social Club Bartender; Sam Shamshack - Irv the Pawnbroker; Tony Sirico - Chink Fortunado; Anne Sterling - Maternity Nurse; Shirley Swanger - Nun; Richard Tacchino - Social Club Waiter; Leonard Termo - Dr. Puccini; Mario Todisco - Zipper's Bodyguard; Ingrid van Dorn - Nurse; William Phillips - Lottery Finalist; Louis Di Giaimo; Pete Antico - Tony
Credit
Dayna Lee - Art Director, Frank Pesce - Associate Producer, James Franciscus - Associate Producer, Pierce Gardner - Associate Producer, Katie Jacobs - Associate Producer, Louis Di Giaimo - Casting, Ellen Erwin - Co-producer, Peggy Farrell - Costume Designer, George Gallo - Director, Kaja Fehr - Editor, Jerry A. Baerwitz - Executive Producer, William Olvis - Composer (Music Score), Jerry A. Baerwitz - Production Designer, Bob Ziembicki - Production Designer, Steven Fierberg - Cinematographer, David Permut - Producer, Hugh Scaife - Set Designer, Danny Aiello III - Stunts, Frank Pesce - Screenwriter, George Gallo - Screenwriter, James Franciscus - Book Author, Frank J. Pesce - Book Author
