Men of Respect

Men of Respect
Directed by	William Reilly
Produced by	Ephraim Horowitz
Written by	William Reilly William Shakespeare
Starring	John Turturro Rod Steiger Katherine Borowitz
Music by	Misha Segal
Cinematography	Bobby Bukowski
Editing by	Elizabeth Kling
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	May 1990 (France) January 18, 1991 (U.S.) May 14, 1991 (Philippines) November 29, 1991 (Finland) February 28, 1991 (UK)
Running time	113 min.
Country
Language	English/Spanish

Men of Respect is a 1990 crime drama film, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. It stars John Turturro as Mike Battaglia, a Mafia hitman who climbs his way to the top by killing his boss.

The film also stars Rod Steiger, Stanley Tucci, Dennis Farina and Peter Boyle and is directed by William C. Reilly. It is not the first attempt to transplant MacBeth to the American mob culture; it was done in the 1955 film Joe MacBeth.

Plot

Mike Battaglia, a powerful lieutenant in the D’Amico crime family, executes a large-scale hit on the family's enemies, earning a promotion to caporegime and the undying respect of his boss, godfather Charlie D'Amico. Despite the Don's generosity, however, Battaglia secretly resents D'Amico for passing him over as his successor.

At the instigation of Ruthie, his wife, Battaglia murders D'Amico and has his sons shipped off to Florida, clearing the way for him to assume control of the D'Amico family. He becomes an underworld despot, deciding to kill anyone he suspects as a threat to his power, including former ally Bankie Como and his unconnected son, Philly, who survives an assassination attempt.

At his coronation as boss, a drunken Battaglia alienates two more of the mob's powerful soldiers. Afraid that Battaglia's reign will spell the end of the D'Amico family, several of Battaglia's underlings desert him and ally themselves with D'Amico's eldest son, Mal.

Battaglia puts a hit out on his chief rival, Matt Duffy, but the assassins cannot find him, instead murdering his wife and children. Determined to get revenge, Duffy comes to kill Battaglia, who arrogantly proclaims that "no man of woman borne" can harm him. Duffy responds that he was delivered via caesarian section, and therefore was not technically borne of a woman. Disposing of Battaglia, he clears the way for Mal to assume control of the family.

Cast

External links

• Men of Respect at the Internet Movie Database