Chicago Overcoat

I was living in Chicago when much of this was filmed. This is true life, forget "fake reality TV", this is the real deal. The main star grows on you, you can empathize and feel what he is feeling, although you might not choose his route! Point is, when I finished watching, early in the morning, I thought, "Wow, this is a great movie". Gritty, real in the mob life, the drug life, the police life, and politics. Here you have a criminal, a former hit-man, and he has needs, to care for his family, to hold his rep, to be cared for. The ending was I surprise. I won't spoil, just watch the movie!

I liked the story line and the tommy gun action but the rest of he film was a boring mess of obscenities and dumb stupidities!

The hitman dropped guns full of fingerprints and the acting was over the top Italian gangster mumble talk.

Cops made so many mistakes around the gunmen they deserved to die. Running straight into a room where a gunman may be.

Final shootout has the hitman swing round with a gun when any good cop would have stepped back and to the side ready for such a thing and put two bullets into him!

What baffled me was why are the streets, bars and restaurants so empty!

I'll not bother watching it again.

While this story isn't breaking any new ground, it is something of a surprise. The writing feels adequate and nothing seems awkward in the telling of this mediocre screenplay, but it is definitely Frank Vincent who carries this movie on his back. Frank plays Lou Marazano, an aging enforcer for a Chicago crime family who finds himself needing to help his divorced daughter and grandson. To help them out, he takes on a few important contracts which the head of the family, Lorenzo Galante (played by Armand Assante) puts on 3 persons who have first hand knowledge of his past crimes. If this knowledge gets in the hands of the Feds, Galante would go away for a long time.

The cast does an amazing job and the direction pulls things together nicely. Everything considered, the performances make this run of the mill story engaging and dramatic.

If you are like me and enjoy mafia stories, you will probably like this. If not, you will probably find this movie mundane.

If you can relate to the great American author Arthur Miller who wrote the stage and theater play Death of a Salesman than you know the tragic life that Willy Loman the main character in Death of a salesman had. Frank Vincent plays Lou Marazano an aging mobster muscle who never makes captain of his crew. Now Lou's legacy is his daughter and his young grandson. Lou realizes that he has not always been the best father to his daughter during his lifetime of criminal activities. He wants to make things right in his waning years.

Lou's son-in-law is a low life criminal who would rather snort cocaine and hang out at the local strip club than spend any quality time with his wife and son. Lou takes it upon himself to just talk to his step son but this low life has little respect for an aging mobster who could never make captain in his crew. Lou needs to set this scumbag straight not on who he is as a man, but that his grandson needs his father and if his son-in-law does not want to fulfill his parental obligations Lou has an alternative plan.

To make some extra money Lou agrees to take on the contract hits of three local stool pigeons who are going to proceed to court against a mob boss. Lou's signature for completing a contract hit was to always send the widow a bunch of flowers minus the sympathy card. There is an old detective named Ralph Maloney played very well by character actor Danny Goldring who remembers this old mobster's signature calling card but he has to prove that Lou Marazano has come out of retirement after almost 30 years of staying silent with his gun.

So the chase is on and the story line I felt was not only appealing but intriguing and kept the audience guessing how this modern day Willy Loman copycat would end up. Actor Mike Starr plays mob boss Lorenzo Galante who is taking his instructions from the big boss Stefano D'Agnostino played by Armand Assante who orders the hit on the three witnesses that aging Lou Marazano pleads to take on as he really needs the money. We learn later that the assassination money is to be used for only good purposes which I don't want to spoil for anyone who has yet to see this good mobster film.

Lou also has a love interest in the attractive Lorraine Lionello played by the versatile actress Kathrine Narducci. I just loved her role in the Chazz Palminteri 1993 crime film "A Bronx Tale". She played the mother of a young boy named Calogero who was torn between his love for his bus driver dad played by Robert DeNiro and the local mob boss Chazz Palminteri. In my opinion, this is one of the best crime films I have ever seen and it ranks right up there with the Godfather.

As for Chicago Overcoat the title refers to a 1940's term for a gangster rubbing out his opposition and when the dead guy is in his coffin, he is termed to be wearing a Chicago overcoat. The film is well worth watching and I must say I like the way the film ended. I will say no more but encourage you to watch the film. I rate it a 6 out of 10.

I have seen Goodfellas and Casino and No country for old men and this genre is as watchable on all levels. I'm just trying to get through to people who enjoy substance over CGI and i watched this without getting bored and I recommend it. This is not your usual suspects, in fact with little effort it has managed to make Old men Dangerous and young people should remember that there is no substitute for experience and being 50 years old myself means I am like Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, Very Dangerous because Death is not the worst thing that can happen to you and you can take your time which is deadlier than any young punk on a mission