Main Cast: Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Anjelica Huston, William Hickey, Robert Loggia
Release Year: 1985
Country: US
Run Time: 130 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Richard Condon's delicious black comedy was lovingly translated to the screen by legendary director John Huston in one of his last movies. The Prizzis are a powerful family of mobsters, as devoted to their code of honor as they are to bending laws and breaking skulls. Charley Partanna (Jack Nicholson), a Prizzi hit man, is not quite so honorable, at least where affairs of the heart are concerned. While attending a mob wedding, he throws over his longtime sweetheart Maerose Prizzi (Anjelica Huston) in favor of gorgeous Irene Walker (Kathleen Turner). Supposedly a tax consultant, Irene is actually a paid killer like Charley--and this endears her to him all the more. But when it turns out that Irene has betrayed the Prizzis, Charley finds himself on the horns of a dilemma: does he kill Irene or marry her? Fortuitously, Irene helps Charley make up his mind by attempting to kill him. The film's strongest suit is its matter-of-fact approach to Charley and Irene's profession; in the movie's most memorable scene, the two lovers calmly discuss their dinner plans while disposing of the corpse of their latest victim. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, Prizzi's Honor won Best Supporting Actress for Huston's daughter Anjelica, playing the "art imitates life" role of Nicholson's cast-off girl friend. The win made Anjelica, John, and Walter Huston the only three generations of one family all to win Oscars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
This wickedly post-modern gangster film about a dull-witted Mafia hitman who falls for a slightly smarter version of himself is distinguished by the bleakly comic dialogue by Janet Roach, an exquisitely droll performance by Angelica Huston, and an amusingly gravelly-voiced turn by William Hickey as a deceptively vicious don. Based on an irony-rich novel by Richard Condon (The Manchurian Candidate), Prizzi's Honor was craftily directed by Hollywood veteran John Huston and lusciously photographed by Andrej Bartkowiak. The movie so charms us that we almost forget that these are mobsters whose livelihood depends on others' misfortune, a point cleverly driven home when the married mobsters are hired to kill each other. Jack Nicholson alternately hams and charms his way through the role, while Kathleen Turner is in fine full-throated form as the noir-ish femme fatale. The film carries a subversive subtext about American business practices that hints at Condon's and Huston's deeper purpose, but it is so well disguised by Huston's light touch with the dark material that Prizzi's Honor effortlessly transcends its sinister undertones. ~ Dan Jardine, All Movie Guide
John Randolph - Angelo "Pop" Partanna; Lee Richardson - Dominic Prizzi; Michael Lombard - Filargi "Finlay"; Lawrence Tierney - Lieutenant Hanley; Joseph Ruskin - Marxie Heller; Ann Selepegno - Amalia Prizzi; Erasmus C. Alfano - Cigar Smoker; Seth Allen - Gomsky; Tomasino Baratta - Opera Singer; Dominic Barto - Presto Ciglione; Sully Boyar - Casco Vascone; Scott Campbell - Groom at Mexican Chapel; Henry Fehren - Bishop; Michael Fischetti - Kiely; Ray Iannicelli - Photographer; Debra Kelly - Bride at Mexican Chapel; Dick O'Neill - Bluestone; Vic Polizos - Phil Vittimizzare; CCH Pounder - Peaches Altamont; Beth Raines - Airport Clerk; George Santopietro - Plumber; Ray Serra - Bocca; Tom Signorelli - Photographer; Stanley Tucci - Soldier; Antonia Vasquez - Theresa Prizzi; Luis Accinelli - Man at Mexican Wedding; Jonathan L. Arland - Man at Mexican Wedding; Bill Brecht - Cigar Smoker; John Calvani - Don's Bodyguard; Kenneth Cervi - Bodyguard; Enzo Citarelli - Priest; John Codiglia - Policeman; Peter D'Arcy - Cigar Smoker; Danielle Frederick - Woman at Mexican Wedding; Alexandra Ivanoff - Soprano in Church; Joe Kopmar - Cigar Smoker; Thomas Lomonaco - Cigar Smoker; Skip O'Brien - Bartender; Michael Sabin - Charley at 17; Themi Sapountzakis - Policeman; Teddi Siddall - Beulah; Murray Staff - Gallagher; Theodore Theoharous - Priest; Michael Tuck - Anchorman Fred; Marlene Williams - Mrs. Calhane; Ruben Gonzalez - Man at Mexican Wedding
Credit
Tracy Bousman - Art Director, Michael Helmy - Art Director, Alixe Gordin - Casting, Donfeld - Costume Designer, John Huston - Director, Kaja Fehr - Editor, Rudi Fehr - Editor, Deborah Lee - Location Manager, Alex North - Composer (Music Score), Mickey Scott - Makeup, E. Thomas Case - Makeup, Dennis Washington - Production Designer, Andrzej Bartkowiak - Cinematographer, Donald C. Klune - Production Manager, John C. Foreman - Producer, Charles Truhan - Set Designer, Bruce Weintraub - Set Designer, Connie Brink - Special Effects, Richard Condon - Screenwriter, Janet Roach - Screenwriter, Richard Condon - Book Author
Pauline Kael wrote of it: "This John Huston picture has a ripe and daring comic tone. It revels voluptuously in the murderous finagling of the members of a Brooklyn Mafia family, and rejoices in their scams. It's like The Godfather acted out by The Munsters. Jack Nicholson's average-guyness as Charley, the clan's enforcer, is the film's touchstone: this is a baroque comedy about people who behave in ordinary ways in grotesque circumstances, and it has the juice of everyday family craziness in it."[1]
