Here we go again. It seems every few weeks we’re reminded of how mobsters are just “good fellas gone awry” here at The Late Nite Landfill. From our very first post covering “A Good Night to Die” (http://latenitelandfill.blogspot.com/2008/02/good-night-to-die.html), to our entry on “Amongst Friends” (http://latenitelandfill.blogspot.com/2008/02/amongst-friends.html) just a few weeks thereafter, the neighborhood has been swarming with “wise guys.”
These movies all tend to have the same things in common:
1.) They borrow liberally from the oeuvre of Martin Scorsese, be it “Mean Streets,” “Casino,” or especially “Goodfellas.” You can throw in all the other low-level hood flicks you can think of (with or without DeNiro), too.
2.) Those made after the debut of “The Sopranos” TV show tend to add similarly quirky characterizations and humor.
3.) They try to exploit the above facts by either evoking the names of famous mob movie directors in their trailers or actually hiring actors who have appeared in better fare before.
Like actors from “The Sopranos.”
“Under Hellgate Bridge” hedges its bets. It features not one, not two, but THREE Sopranos alums… and as a special bonus, one of those alums also happens to have had a major part in “Goodfellas.”
Are the producers uncertain about the screenplay or is it simply a matter of marketing? I’d lean toward the latter if it weren’t for the fact that a precedent has already been set for exploiting known talents in lackluster productions. Of course, I could be wrong. My viewing of the trailer left me with a feeling that’s there an air of desperation to the whole affair.
I won’t go into details on the “Sopranos” actors – namely Vincent Pastore, Dominic Chianese, and Frank Vincent – as there’s already plenty on the internet about them and the famous characters they played on “Sopranos” (and for Vincent, the even more famous Billy “go get your shine box” Batts from “Goodfellas”).
Among the rest of the supporting players, I did notice one famous sibling - Jonathan LaPaglia, younger brother of Anthony. But co-star Brian Vincent is NOT related to Frank – Brian’s real last name is Kelly! Rounding out the cast are various TV series actors with a lot of “single time role” (as opposed to recurring role) credits.
I mentioned the time change for this Saturday’s movie. Due to the annual showing of the epic “Ten Commandments,” which fills a 4 hour and 45 minute time slot that starts at 7PM and ends at 11:45 PM, Channel 7 will start the late movie at 12:20 instead of the usual 11:35.
View the trailer here:
Or watch the entire film on WABC-TV Channel 7 on Saturday, March 22nd (wait, make that SUNDAY MORNING, March 23rd) at 12:20 AM... if you dare!
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