A highly styled ‘genre’ film which can perhaps be seen as a pastiche of all gangster movies. Tom Reagan is the laconic anti-hero of this amoral tale which is also, paradoxically, a look at morals within the criminal underworld of the 1930s. Two rival gangs vie for control of a city where the police are pawns, and the periodic busts of illicit drinking establishments are no more than a way for one gang to get back at the other. Black humour and shocking violence compete for screen time as we question whether or not Tom, right-hand man of the Irish mob leader, really has a heart.
Release Date: 5 October 1990Runtime: 115 min
Stars:
- Al Mancini
- Albert Finney
- Gabriel Byrne
- J.E. Freeman
- John Turturro
- Jon Polito
- Lanny Flaherty
- Marcia Gay Harden
- Mario Todisco
- Michael Jeter
- Mike Starr
- Olek Krupa
- Richard Woods
- Steve Buscemi
- Thomas Toner
Director: Ethan Coen
