NOTE IMDb
4,8/10
1,7 k
MA NOTE
Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueThis is the funny story about two warring Mafia gangs in New York City. The weaker gang uses a lion to blackmail the opposite gang's "clients." The police succeed in stopping one of the gang... Tout lireThis is the funny story about two warring Mafia gangs in New York City. The weaker gang uses a lion to blackmail the opposite gang's "clients." The police succeed in stopping one of the gangs, while the other remains without the boss.This is the funny story about two warring Mafia gangs in New York City. The weaker gang uses a lion to blackmail the opposite gang's "clients." The police succeed in stopping one of the gangs, while the other remains without the boss.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
Hervé Villechaize
- Beppo
- (as Herve Villechaize)
Philip Bruns
- Gallagher
- (as Phil Bruns)
Despo Diamantidou
- Mourner
- (as Despo)
Sam Coppola
- Julie
- (as Sam J. Coppola)
James Sloyan
- Joey
- (as James J. Sloyan)
Avis à la une
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971)
** (out of 4)
Weak adaptation of the Jimmy Breslin novel (adapted by Waldo Salt) about a Mafia family (led by Jerry Orbach) who try to take out a rival crime boss but every time they get close to killing him something goes wrong. I haven't read the novel that this film is based on but I've heard it's actually quite funny. With that said, clearly something didn't come over from the page to the screen and I think a lot of the blame has to go to director James Goldstone. The entire movie has such a serious tone that you're often having to remind yourself that you're watching a comedy because the film just needs to loosen up and let the cast do their job. For the life of me I couldn't understand why the comic moments weren't handled better and there are several scenes that should have been so much funnier. One example is when a couple guys are chasing a man they want to kill but they get to some dirty water and they don't want to mess up their expensive shoes. Flat. Another sequence happens when we learn that Mafia leaders send their wives out to start the car each morning just in case there's a bomb. Flat. The strange thing is that a love story breaks out between Orbach's daughter (Leigh Taylor- Young) and a guy named Mario (Robert DeNiro). This love story is actually the best thing about the film and I wondered if perhaps the two actors were so good that they just kept building up more scenes around them. Considering how far DeNiro's name is in the credits and the fact that he's got perhaps the biggest role tells you something. Both of them are quite good together and it's fun seeing a young DeNiro looking exactly like he did a few years later in MEAN STREETS only here he's nice. Orbach is good in his role as is Jo Van Fleet, Burt Young and Herve Villechaize who would appear in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN in a couple years. THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT is certainly a complete misfire in terms of a comedy but fans of DeNiro might want to check it out. It's also worth noting that his role was originally going to be played by Al Pacino but he had to back-out once Paramount agreed to let him have the part of Michael in THE GODFATHER.
** (out of 4)
Weak adaptation of the Jimmy Breslin novel (adapted by Waldo Salt) about a Mafia family (led by Jerry Orbach) who try to take out a rival crime boss but every time they get close to killing him something goes wrong. I haven't read the novel that this film is based on but I've heard it's actually quite funny. With that said, clearly something didn't come over from the page to the screen and I think a lot of the blame has to go to director James Goldstone. The entire movie has such a serious tone that you're often having to remind yourself that you're watching a comedy because the film just needs to loosen up and let the cast do their job. For the life of me I couldn't understand why the comic moments weren't handled better and there are several scenes that should have been so much funnier. One example is when a couple guys are chasing a man they want to kill but they get to some dirty water and they don't want to mess up their expensive shoes. Flat. Another sequence happens when we learn that Mafia leaders send their wives out to start the car each morning just in case there's a bomb. Flat. The strange thing is that a love story breaks out between Orbach's daughter (Leigh Taylor- Young) and a guy named Mario (Robert DeNiro). This love story is actually the best thing about the film and I wondered if perhaps the two actors were so good that they just kept building up more scenes around them. Considering how far DeNiro's name is in the credits and the fact that he's got perhaps the biggest role tells you something. Both of them are quite good together and it's fun seeing a young DeNiro looking exactly like he did a few years later in MEAN STREETS only here he's nice. Orbach is good in his role as is Jo Van Fleet, Burt Young and Herve Villechaize who would appear in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN in a couple years. THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT is certainly a complete misfire in terms of a comedy but fans of DeNiro might want to check it out. It's also worth noting that his role was originally going to be played by Al Pacino but he had to back-out once Paramount agreed to let him have the part of Michael in THE GODFATHER.
I don't read much in the way of fiction, but one of the exceptions was Jimmy Breslin's wry novel The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. It was based in part on Joey Gallo's buccaneering crew in South Brooklyn challenging the big Mafia bosses. It didn't Breslin any fans, but Gallo would soon be in no position to exact any vengeance.
The film has some good moments, but overall it should have been a lot better. Jerry Orbach is the Gallo character who thinks he and his crew hasn't been getting enough of a split from the big capo Bacala played by Lionel Stander.
In the meantime a young Italian bicycle rider just come to this country gets caught up in the war mainly because he's interested in Orbach's sister Leigh Taylor-Young. The bicycle rider is Robert DeNiro who would really make his mark in these kind of films.
Two blacklisted people of note are prominent in The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Lionel Stander who had up to the mid 60s been doing films in Europe and screenwriter Waldo Salt.
Two performances really stand out. One is Jo Van Fleet as Big Momma who is Orbach's and Young's mom. I'd worry about getting on the bad side of that woman. The second is crusading for the camera District Attorney Philip Sterling. I've seen so many politicians like him.
A lot of the subtleties from Jimmy Breslin's work are missing here. Nice Brooklyn location shooting helps. It's good entertainment, but it isn't the classic it should have been.
The film has some good moments, but overall it should have been a lot better. Jerry Orbach is the Gallo character who thinks he and his crew hasn't been getting enough of a split from the big capo Bacala played by Lionel Stander.
In the meantime a young Italian bicycle rider just come to this country gets caught up in the war mainly because he's interested in Orbach's sister Leigh Taylor-Young. The bicycle rider is Robert DeNiro who would really make his mark in these kind of films.
Two blacklisted people of note are prominent in The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Lionel Stander who had up to the mid 60s been doing films in Europe and screenwriter Waldo Salt.
Two performances really stand out. One is Jo Van Fleet as Big Momma who is Orbach's and Young's mom. I'd worry about getting on the bad side of that woman. The second is crusading for the camera District Attorney Philip Sterling. I've seen so many politicians like him.
A lot of the subtleties from Jimmy Breslin's work are missing here. Nice Brooklyn location shooting helps. It's good entertainment, but it isn't the classic it should have been.
"Comedy" about two warring Mafia gangs in Brooklyn.
Purportedly the original book is hilarious and this movie has a great cast--but something went wrong. The jokes aren't very funny and the cast just seems to be unable to put across the punchlines. Flat direction doesn't help either.
I'm only giving it a 3 for Leigh-Taylor Young and Robert DeNiro (who are both very good and play a very appealing couple) and Jo Van Fleet who has the movie's only funny lines in a very broad, over the top, amusing manner.
But, all in all, this really isn't worth seeing.
Purportedly the original book is hilarious and this movie has a great cast--but something went wrong. The jokes aren't very funny and the cast just seems to be unable to put across the punchlines. Flat direction doesn't help either.
I'm only giving it a 3 for Leigh-Taylor Young and Robert DeNiro (who are both very good and play a very appealing couple) and Jo Van Fleet who has the movie's only funny lines in a very broad, over the top, amusing manner.
But, all in all, this really isn't worth seeing.
I always want to see a movie that has Robert DeNiro starring in it, so seeing him play Mario an imported Italian bicycle racer who will steal anything even if it is nailed down, was unique. This movie was made in 1971 when Mr. DeNiro was very hungry for lead roles so you can't blame him for the movie's poor content and flow. The movie evolves around a band of goofy dressed Italian mobsters led by Jerry Orbach as Kid Sully who spoof the Mafioso, and Kid Sully's Big Momma (the Godmother figure) is played by a convincing Jo Van Fleet. She certainly nailed her part and blends sweetness with ripe viciousness.
There were some smaller parts for good actors such as Burt Young, as Willie Quarqulo the bomb maker, Jack Kehoe as a scared bartender assigned to spike two of the rival gang's drinks, and Lionel Stander as the made man Baccala.
I guess the animal rights groups made pictures like this a target for changing the times, as the poor lion was mistreated in front of the camera by a few of the actors, including a scene which shows the fully grown lion shackled to the conveyor belt in a car wash and forced to go through the car wash even if it was just with sprayed water. The lion appears in quite a few scenes and does some stunts that needed a great Animal Trainer to handle. I was very surprised that the lion did not receive any acting credit what so ever, nor did the animal trainers. Shame on you MGM.
Well I wouldn't roar about this movie, (no pun intended) but it is a victim of the times, and the screenplay could have been a lot stronger even for a mafioso spoof.
There were some smaller parts for good actors such as Burt Young, as Willie Quarqulo the bomb maker, Jack Kehoe as a scared bartender assigned to spike two of the rival gang's drinks, and Lionel Stander as the made man Baccala.
I guess the animal rights groups made pictures like this a target for changing the times, as the poor lion was mistreated in front of the camera by a few of the actors, including a scene which shows the fully grown lion shackled to the conveyor belt in a car wash and forced to go through the car wash even if it was just with sprayed water. The lion appears in quite a few scenes and does some stunts that needed a great Animal Trainer to handle. I was very surprised that the lion did not receive any acting credit what so ever, nor did the animal trainers. Shame on you MGM.
Well I wouldn't roar about this movie, (no pun intended) but it is a victim of the times, and the screenplay could have been a lot stronger even for a mafioso spoof.
Baccala is the rich, powerful mob boss of Brooklyn. His subordinate Kid Sally Palumbo (Jerry Orbach) hates getting cut out of the money and being disrespected. Baccala assigns him to supervise a six day bicycle race which is important for the Italian community. Mario Trantino (Robert De Niro) is one of the racers from the old country. He is coupled with Kid Sally's sister Angela.
This is an odd mix of very broad comedy, and an indie mobster movie. I wouldn't mind the indie mobster movie. The very broad comedy almost never works. The story telling is messy and there's a lion. I would cut out the bicycle thing. De Niro should simply be a young hustler from the old country. It is interesting to see him before he joined Scorsese and the early 70's NYC style. It does need to cut the attempted comedy and clarify the script.
This is an odd mix of very broad comedy, and an indie mobster movie. I wouldn't mind the indie mobster movie. The very broad comedy almost never works. The story telling is messy and there's a lion. I would cut out the bicycle thing. De Niro should simply be a young hustler from the old country. It is interesting to see him before he joined Scorsese and the early 70's NYC style. It does need to cut the attempted comedy and clarify the script.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesWhile Paramount brass dithered over whether to cast him as Michael Corleone, the role that would make him a star, a frustrated Al Pacino signed up for the role of Mario Trantino in this movie. When Paramount finally decided to offer him Le Parrain (1972) role, they had to buy him out of his contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ironically, the role went to Robert De Niro, whom Le Parrain, 2ᵉ partie (1974) would also help to make a star.
- GaffesToward the end of the film, when Kid Sally attempts to shoot a mafia leader in the head but the gun backfires in his hand, another goon outside puts a bucket of ice and fish on a police officer. However, in the next shot, her head is completely dry and looks as if it wasn't even affected in any way.
- ConnexionsFeatured in Casting By (2012)
Meilleurs choix
Connectez-vous pour évaluer et suivre la liste de favoris afin de recevoir des recommandations personnalisées
- How long is The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight?Alimenté par Alexa
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- Spaghetti Killer
- Lieux de tournage
- Carroll Street Bridge, Brooklyn, Ville de New York, New York, États-Unis(gang stuck on bridge)
- Société de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
- Durée1 heure 36 minutes
- Mixage
- Rapport de forme
- 1.85 : 1
Contribuer à cette page
Suggérer une modification ou ajouter du contenu manquant
Lacune principale
By what name was The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971) officially released in India in English?
Répondre