29th Street

First rate drama-comedy that is delivered beautifully to us like a Valentine in the performances of Aiello and Lapaglia, who are brilliant as father and son who dream of dreams and hope for anything to come along. Their dreams start to become reality when Lapaglia has a shot at winning big on the lottery. Based on the true exploits of Frank Pesce, who has a role in the film, this is moving portrait about family, love and that little thing called luck.

I have always liked this film. Imagine my surprise when I found out my

wifes uncle is in the movie! He plays Irv the pawnbroker. I had seen it a bunch of times before I found this out. He is the guy who sells Frank the lottery ticket. There are some great scenes in this film. The one where they are going to pick up the insurance check for their car that was "stolen" Ha! Ha!. is a classic. I have always liked Danny Aiello. He is one of the great Character actors of all time. And Anthoney Lapaglia is a solid actor also. The real Frank Pesce is also in the movie. You might recognize him from Beverly hills Cop with Eddie Murphy and other films of the like.

29th Street is a cult hit and one of the most underrated films of all time. It is the touching story about a nice Italian guy who is at the same time blessed and cursed with good fortune. The acting in this film is 1st rate. Everyone nails their role down. Danny Aiello, Robert Forster, Lani Kazan are magnificent, but the actor who steals the show is Anthony LaPaglia.

The film combines Old School Italian-American humor with traces of mob genre films to tell the story about the 1st ever New York State Lottery winner in 1976 Frank Pesce(LaPaglia). The script is 1st rate, George Gallo's directing is excellent, the music is perfect for the film.

Pay attention to the scene when Frank and his pals go to the draft physical in order to apply to the Vietnam war. IT IS SO FUNNY!!

This is the type of film that you can watch over and over again. My buddies and I continuously quote this film. Enjoy and you will feel a lump in your throat @ the end of the film.

When I first saw this film many years ago I had no idea it was based on the true story of how Frank Pesce Jr. won the lottery, so it came as a bit of a surprise when I bought the DVD a couple of weeks ago and found out that it was. It's a lovely, funny, poignant film about the relationship between father(Aiello) and youngest offspring (LaPaglia). As a seasoned film actor Aiello puts in a solid performance. More interestingly LaPaglia who must have been approx 34 and hadn't yet made those many films up to this point is staggeringly good at portraying Frank Pesce from age 16 to mid twenties. This is definitely one of his classier performances. I particularly liked the running joke about the father's pizzas. Also of interest is that the real life Frank Pesce plays his own older brother!! All in all the film is a little miracle.

Although not highly rated by critics, this film has a great story with both poignant and funny moments. An excellent cast, I would recommend it to anyone. If you're an East coast born and bred Italian American, you'll especially love the ethnic comedy that many of us have seen or lived through. Danny Aiellos' portrayal of the out-of luck father is one of his better performances in this "based on a true story" tale. It will finally be available on DVD in 2005, and is great to watch around the holidays since the main storyline occurs at Christmas. The tag line on the packaging is right on stating it's "Goodfellas meets It's A Wonderful Life." This movie proves that the critics aren't always right!!