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| The Pope of Greenwich Village | |
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| Directed by | Stuart Rosenberg Michael Cimino (uncredited) |
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| Produced by | Gene Kirkwood Hawk Koch |
| Written by | Vincent Patrick |
| Starring | Mickey Rourke Eric Roberts Daryl Hannah Geraldine Page Kenneth McMillan Burt Young |
| Cinematography | John Bailey |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | June 22, 1984 |
| Running time | 121 minutes |
| Language | English |
The Pope of Greenwich Village is a 1984 American film starring Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Geraldine Page, Kenneth McMillan and Burt Young. Page earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film. It was adapted by screenwriter Vincent Patrick from his novel of the same name. It was directed by Stuart Rosenberg.
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Plot
Set in the Italian section of New York's Greenwich Village, the film features two characters, Charlie (Rourke), a well-dressed maître d' with aspirations of someday owning his own restaurant, and Paulie (Roberts), Charlie's ever-scheming cousin who works in the same restaurant as Charlie, as a waiter. After Paulie gets caught skimming the checks, both he and Charlie get fired. Now out of work and in debt, Charlie must find another job, but Paulie, who has plans to buy into a racehorse, comes forth with a scheme, based on a tip, of a large amount of cash located in a safe of a local business. Needing the money, Charlie reluctantly agrees to participate, and they do manage to crack the safe with help from an accomplice, played by McMillan, but shortly things go sour, resulting in the accidental death of a cop. Charlie soon learns that Paulie neglected to mention that the money they took belongs to a local psychotic Mob boss, "Bedbug Eddie" (Young), who is incensed that someone has robbed him. The mob tries very hard to find the people responsible. A side plot involves Paulie's part ownership of a racehorse.
Michael Cimino
There have been some discrepancies over the directing credits in The Pope of Greenwich Village. Although it is officially credited to Rosenberg, there have been differing accounts as to who directed what scenes. According to Peter Biskind, Eric Roberts, and Mickey Rourke; Michael Cimino was the original director and was fired in the middle of filming by the studio. Other accounts claim that Cimino directed a few scenes as a favor when Stuart Rosenberg suffered from influenza.
Furthermore, in an interview with John Kerwin, Eric Roberts told a story about clashing with whom he referred to as "the original director" over Paulie's look. Roberts, who had lost 30 pounds and grew his hair into a perm specifically for the role, imagined the character as a "momma's boy", while the original director thought Paulie was more of a street tough.[citation needed] Because of this, Roberts says, the original director asked the actor to resign, which prompted Roberts and Mickey Rourke to call the producer, who eventually had the director replaced with Stuart Rosenberg before filming began. It is unclear if Roberts was talking about Cimino, since he never mentioned "the original director" by name in the interview.
Cultural Effect
- The movie inspired the name of the band Smoking Popes.
- The movie is mentioned by Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) as his favorite film in "The Scene", the seventh episode of the first season of the HBO series Entourage.
- It is mentioned in the American Dad episode "Big Trouble In Little Langley". When Steve accidentally blows off his thumb with firecrackers, Roger tells him to yell, "Charlie, they took my thumb!".
External links
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