Main Cast: Don Cheadle, Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr., Jenny McCarthy, Andy Garcia, Christopher Lloyd, William Forsythe, Bill Nunn, Treat Williams
Release Year: 1995
Country: US
Run Time: 114 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In the mode of Quentin Tarantino, this film, directed by Gary Fleder from a script by Scott Rosenberg, concerns itself with hip, smart gangsters. The film is set in Denver, and the title comes from a Warren Zevon song. A retired, good-hearted gangster named Jimmy the Saint (Andy Garcia) runs a company that videotapes dying people giving life advice to their children and grandchildren, to be delivered when they come of age. Jimmy's former crime boss, The Man with the Plan (Christopher Walken), summons him. The Man is wheelchair-bound and doesn't have long to live; he explains that Jimmy owes him a favor and must perform one final job. It involves frightening the boyfriend of the ex-girlfriend of Bernard (Michael Nicolosi), the son of The Man, who has been so shaken by the girl's rejection of him that he has been fondling schoolyard children. Jimmy rounds up his old gang -- including Pieces (Christopher Lloyd), a porno theater projectionist; Franchise (William Forsythe), an ex-biker with a trailer-trash family to support; Critical Bill (Treat Williams), a psychotic, trigger-happy ex-con; and Easy Wind (Bill Nunn), an exterminator. Pieces and Bill pose as cops as part of the needlessly elaborate plan, which misfires badly. The Man, enraged, gives Jimmy 48 hours to leave town, and he orders his comrades wiped out, hiring the notorious hitman Mr. Shhh (Steve Buscemi) to track them down. But Jimmy can't seem to get the others to leave town, and despite The Man's decree, Jimmy is also reluctant to leave, because he's become romantically entangled with Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar). Jack Warden's character serves as a kind of Greek chorus who comments from time to time on the unfolding action. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Gabrielle Anwar - Dagney; Jack Warden - Joe Heff; Steve Buscemi - Mister Shhh; Fairuza Balk - Lucinda; Christopher Walken - Man With The Plan; Marshall Bell - Lt. Atwater; Bill Bolender - Stevie's Dad; Seymour Cassel; Josh Charles - Bruce; Don Cheadle - Rooster; Bill Cobbs - Malt; Joe Drago - Maitre'd; Bill Erwin - Man, Age 70 Years; Willie Garson - Cuffy; Buddy Guy - House Band; Wiley Harker - Boris Carlotti; Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr. - House; Harriet Medin - Old Woman; Susan Merson - Woman With Cancer; Glenn Plummer - Baby Sinister; Don Stark - Gus; David Stratton - Alex; Sarah Trigger - Meg; James Caan; Harris Laskaway - Ellie; Bill C.W. Long - "The Bad Beat" Man; Michael Nicolosi - Bernard; Jenny McCarthy - Nurse; Larry Raben - Young Man; Ray Allison - House Band; Lynn Applebaum - Young Woman; Sarah Levy Arbess - Girl; Chuck Bacino - Accordion Player; Jacob Berenger - Alley Hood; Phil Boardman - Gym Teacher; Bill Coess - Malt; Larry Curry Jr. - Black Youth; William Denis - Businessman; Taylor Hale - Stevie; Scott Holt - House Band; Nate Ingram - Alley Hood; Cheree Jaeb - Little Girl; Selina Mathews - Cynthia; Larissa Michiele - Girl; Danny Romo - Montirez Brother; Ruthay - Receptionist; Greg Rzab - House Band; Archie Smith - Mr Jergen; Deborah Strang - Dodie
Credit
Scott Rosenberg - Associate Producer, Cathy Konrad - Co-producer, Abigail Murray - Costume Designer, Gary Fleder - Director, Eva Gardos - Editor, Richard Marks - Editor, Marie Cantin - Executive Producer, Bob Weinstein - Executive Producer, Harvey Weinstein - Executive Producer, Michael Convertino - Composer (Music Score), Michael Convertino - Songwriter, Nelson Coates - Production Designer, Elliot Davis - Cinematographer, Cary Woods - Producer, Chuck Picerni, Jr. - Stunts Coordinator, Scott Rosenberg - Screenwriter, Richard L. Anderson - Supervising Sound Editor
The film's title comes from a Warren Zevon song of the same name, recorded on his 1991 album Mr. Bad Example, which he allowed under the condition that the song be played during the end credits. The lead character's name, "Jimmy the Saint," comes from the Bruce Springsteen song "Lost in the Flood" off the album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
Jimmy "The Saint" Tosnia (Garcia) is a dapper ex-gangster living in Denver. Once known as "the bitch's bastard" in Denver's crime scene, Jimmy has left the criminal world, attempting to "go straight" with his business "Afterlife Advice", where dying people videotape messages for loved ones. Jimmy's business isn't doing well and he is in debt to a local loan shark known as "New Orleans Sal." What Jimmy doesn't know is that his former boss, the local crime lord known as "The Man With the Plan" (Walken) has bought up his debt in order to command a favor from him.
In exchange for forgiving Jimmy's debt, The Man With The Plan wants Jimmy to lead a crew on one last job. The Man With The Plan was rendered a quadriplegic some years ago in the wake of a failed attempt on his life. Left bitter and immobilized, The Man With The Plan is interested in helping his son, Bernard (Michael Nicolosi), a burgeoning pedophile who is still in love with an ex-girlfriend. The Man With The Plan believes that Bernard will be able to resume a relationship with this woman once her new boyfriend is out of the picture, and wants Jimmy to lead a crew in scaring off the man. They are to beat him up so that he dumps Bernard's ex. Initially reluctant, Jimmy takes the job when The Man With The Plan bribes and threatens him.
Jimmy puts together a team made up of several old acquaintances from his criminal days, many of whom have also tried to leave the criminal life, with generally less than satisfying results. This team includes Franchise (William Forsythe), a grizzled biker, Easy Wind (Bill Nunn), an easy-going African American, and Pieces (Christopher Lloyd), who has an unidentified disease which causes his digits to fall off. The last member of the team is Critical Bill (Treat Williams), a psychopath who works in a mortuary where he uses corpses as punching bags in order to "keep my powder dry."
The plan is to have Pieces and Critical Bill pose as Denver police officers. They will pull their target over on the highway and, under the pretext of some sort of traffic violation, take him to a waiting trailer where Jimmy and Franchise will administer a beating. The plan begins to go wrong when their target turns out to be more observant and spirited than anticipated. He immediately becomes suspicious of Pieces and Bill's identity as police officers and begins to ridicule them. This enrages Critical Bill, who pulls out a knife and stabs the man in the throat. At this point, the commotion rouses Bernard's ex-girlfriend, who had been sleeping in the back of the target's van. She comes out and screams when she sees her boyfriend's dead body. Startled, Pieces shoots her dead with a handgun.
The group realizes that they are in a terrible spot. What was supposed to have been a simple beating has ended up with them having two dead bodies on their hands, one of them someone looked on fondly by The Man With The Plan. They dispose of the bodies and Jimmy goes to see their employer. The Man With The Plan is furious at the outcome of their botched mission. He informs Jimmy that out of consideration for their past relationship he will allow him to live. However, the other members of the team have been sentenced to "buckwheats", in the slang of the film assassination in a particularly gruesome and painful manner, in which the person is shot up the anus.
The group comes to terms with their own impending deaths as they are stalked by a mild-mannered, yet deadly hitman known as Mr. Shush (Steve Buscemi). Pieces accepts his fate, to which Shush provides a quick death. Easy Wind goes into hiding with a gang lord named Baby Sinister (Glenn Plummer), but is given up after Shush infiltrates and kills most of Sinister's entourage. Franchise attempts to flee with his family but is killed. Shush finally locates a shut in Critical Bill, but is ambushed in Bill's home and the two kill each other. In the wake of Mr. Shush's death the contract falls to a trio of Mexican brothers, who attempt to track down Jimmy. In his last days, Jimmy says goodbye to a woman Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar), he had fallen in love with. He also has sex with Lucinda (Fairuza Balk), a prostitute with whom he has long been acquainted, in order to fulfill her wish of having a baby. Leaving a farewell message for his unborn child, Jimmy realizes that the only way he can exact revenge on The Man With The Plan is through his son. Knowing that he will most likely be killed, he murders Bernard for all the misery he indirectly brought upon the group. The trio of killers catch up to Jimmy but he takes his death with grace. The man in the diner who had been narrating Jimmy's tale, notes that while he died he still beat The Man With The Plan as he took away his only legacy; as such the crime boss never made another criminal act as he was completely broken. In the end, Jimmy and his dead friends are shown on a boat in the ocean, happily having "boat drinks" (a celebration of the end of a large life).
