Themes: Going Straight, Fathers and Sons, Musician's Life
Main Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tisa Farrow, Jim Brown, Michael Vincente Gazzo, Marian Seldes
Release Year: 1978
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Jimmy Angelelli (Harvey Keitel) wants to be a concert pianist. Jimmy's dad, Ben Angelelli (Michael V. Gazzo), wants his son to go into the family business. So far, so banal. But the "family business" depicted in Fingers is organized crime, and therein lies the film's perverse appeal. Fingers represents the directorial debut of screenwriter James Toback, who also wrote the script. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Jimmy is seen alone at his piano playing Bach. When he finishes, he sees a beautiful girl outside the window. He chases after her. This establishes Jimmy's nature. He is full of passion and can channel it in any number of directions. What will happen if he can't channel that passion? Jimmy's gangster father enlists his help in picking up payments. Simultaneously, Jimmy is practicing for a Carnegie Hall audition. The film, which barely has a plot, is an examination of Jimmy slowly becoming psychologically undone because of the pressures from both the outside world and his internal intensity. James Toback's script sets the audience up for Jimmy's instability. His institutionalized mother, his violent father, and his passionate nature all work together to create a portrait of a man slowly losing his grip. In addition to the beautifully structured script, Keitel is willing and capable of making viewers believe the character. In one early scene, Jimmy is sitting in a restaurant playing a radio very loudly. A man asks him to turn the noise down. Keitel, with a sinister smile on his face, explains to the man that the song is one of the most innovative rock songs of all time. Jimmy is brimming with the desire to deck the man. Keitel captures the fervent, violent, and tumultuous inner life of the character. Toback utilizes many of the same filmmaking techniques Martin Scorsese applied in his earliest work. The prominent use of popular music, the shot-on-location New York settings, and the display of low-level gangsters' everyday lives are reminiscent of both Who's That Knocking at My Door? and Mean Streets, both films in which Keitel stars. While certainly paying tribute to Scorsese, Toback has a purpose to his style beyond simple homage. By putting viewers in this violent, realistic, un-Hollywood location, Jimmy's madness becomes palpable. The world of the film affects the character and the audience in equal measure, making the audience identify all the more with the disturbing aspects of Jimmy's inner life. It is worth noting that Toback gave the disturbed lead character in his directorial debut the same first name as himself. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Albert Wolsky - Costume Designer, James Toback - Director, Robert Lawrence - Editor, George Barrie - Composer (Music Score), Gene Rudolf - Production Designer, Michael Chapman - Cinematographer, George Barrie - Producer, Fred C. Weiler - Set Designer, Bill Varney - Sound/Sound Designer, Les Lasarowitz - Sound/Sound Designer, James Toback - Screenwriter
Fingers is a 1978dramafilm directed by James Toback. It features Harvey Keitel as a pianist who also works for his loan shark father as a "collector". He is a conflicted soul, torn between his art, his loyalty to his father, his sexuality, and his past. The film makes use of music to create a dichotomy between what the viewer is hearing and what they are seeing, which helps them feel the schizophrenia being experienced by the protagonist.
Two notable pieces from the film are "Angel of the Morning" by Merrilee Rush and "Summertime, Summertime" by The Jamies. Director Toback, who is very knowledgeable about music, initially wanted to use the song "Summertime"[citation needed] because the movie had "a summertime feel to it," and they wanted to shoot it during the summer months. It wasn't to be however, yet he thought it appropriate enough to leave the song in there.
