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The Sopranos is no stranger to shocking deaths, whether it be Christopher Moltisanti or Sal Bonpensiero’s demise, and one thing common among them is that they’re greatly executed on-screen. However, one crucial death in the show has often been criticized for being a literal mess, which is unlike anything the show had offered during its six-year-long dominance on the small screen.

The Sopranos | Credit: HBO

But given David Chase’s history with the show, beneath the rather unsatisfying death, which ruffled a few feathers, it seems the showrunner’s decision to make Jackie Aprile Jr’s death unappealing might have been the point.

Jackie Aprile Jr’s death encapsulates his pathetic existence Jackie Jr.’ in The Sopranos| Credit: HBO

It’s not hard to see why viewers were initially disappointed by Jackie Aprile Jr’s demise, as in contrast to other deaths in the show, his death feels rushed,...

Did Martin Scorsese almost direct The Godfather Part II?(Photo Credit –Instagram/Prime Video)

It’s one of Hollywood’s biggest what-ifs, Martin Scorsese almost helming The Godfather Part II instead of Francis Ford Coppola. At first glance, it sounds like an enticing alternate timeline, two titans of American cinema colliding over the same mythic underworld but if you dig deeper, it becomes clear that the reality we got may have been the best-case scenario.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Fatigue and the Scorsese Suggestion

Back in the early ’70s, Coppola was fresh off surviving the chaotic, pressure-cooked set of The Godfather. Studio battles, shady financing, production headaches, it all left him drained. When discussions for a sequel surfaced, he was hesitant, almost ready to walk and tensions with producer Bob Evans didn’t help either.

Coppola pitched a then-rising Scorsese to take over the reins, a suggestion that says more...

Marlon Brando As The Godfather’s Don Corleone(Photo Credit –Facebook)

It’s tough to picture anyone other than Marlon Brando as the infamous Don Corleone in The Godfather. His portrayal of the mob boss became legendary, with his iconic voice, physical transformation, and those unforgettable mannerisms. But, as with most things in Hollywood, The Godfather wasn’t without its behind-the-scenes drama.

Brando almost didn’t get the role, despite Mario Puzo and director Francis Ford Coppola fighting tooth and nail to get him in the part. Paramount Studios wanted someone else, and a slew of other stars, some of them not even actors, were considered for the role. Imagine The Godfather with a completely different Don! The fight for Corleone almost turned into a Hollywood showdown, but in the end, Brando’s test reel had everyone eating out of his hand, securing his place in cinematic history.

1. Charles Bronson

Charles Bluhdorn,...

Vito Corleone In The Godfather ( Photo Credit – Prime Video )

The Godfather franchise, like all great gangster stories, is steeped in violence, but beneath the bloodshed lies a story rich with soul. It forces us to confront uncomfortable questions: Death, destruction, what were they all for? What did these characters truly achieve before they met their end? What were their final thoughts as life slipped away? In the end, there is a timeless question: after all the blood spilled and all the battles won, what does it mean to live a good life?

When we compare the deaths of two Godfathers from the franchise, Vito Corleone, who established the empire, and Michael Corleone, who expanded the empire and attempted to bring the business toward legitimacy, we can trace both of their lives and deaths to justify the headline.

On the surface, and even from a medical standpoint, both men died peacefully of natural causes.

The Godfather Whispered Secret (Photo Credit – Prime Video)

Film openings are a treacherous art, demanding an impossible balance as they must grab attention, introduce vital players, and sketch a world we’re about to lose ourselves in. Few have ever nailed this as perfectly as The Godfather’s first scene, where Bonasera, the funeral director, humbly steps into the darkened court of Don Vito Corleone. From the moment he asks for “justice” after his daughter’s brutal assault, the film announces itself with a quiet power that words alone could never capture.

What We Don’t Hear Is Just As Powerful

Without theatrics or over-explanation, the scene whispers its intentions, quite literally. Bonasera leans in, breathing his desperate request into Vito’s ear and the audience is left stranded in vain to catch it.

What we don’t hear speaks louder than anything we could have heard. We learn quickly...

Did Francis Ford Coppola reimagine GodfatherPart III’s m ending?(Photo Credit –Instagram/Prime Video)

The Godfather saga may have cemented its place in cinematic history, but the shadow cast by its final chapter continues to stir heated debates. The first two films were lauded as near-perfection unshakeable titans of storytelling and direction. And then came Part III, and with it, a chorus of groans from those who felt Michael Corleone’s story had ended not with a bang, but with a stumble.

Franics Ford Coppola’s Return to the Crime Family

Many years later, Francis Ford Coppola, still haunted by that sour note, decided he wasn’t finished. He returned to the film, reshaped its bones, and delivered The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. This reimagined cut peeled back the original curtain call, swapping it for something less tragic, and more meditative and just like that, the fanbase fractured again.

“The Alto Knights” is a 2025 movie from director Barry Levinson starring big names like Robert De Niro as Frank Costello/Vito Genovese, Debra Messing as Bobbie, Kathrine Narducci as Anna, Cosmo Jarvis as Vincent Gigante, and more. The movie explores the intense rivalry between Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, with each vying for control of the Luciano family.

The Alto Knights (2025) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis: Who is Frank Costello & Vito Genovese?

The film opens with mafia boss Frank Costello being gunned down in the lobby of a building. Luck, however, is on Costello’s side. He miraculously survives, even after taking a bullet to the head. The police press him for answers, trying to get the name of the shooter or whoever might have hired the hitman. But he claims he has no idea who would want him dead, insisting he’s just a simple man with no known enemies.

The 2025 crime drama film, The Alto Knights, brings to the screen the infamous feud between Frank Costello and Vito Genovese that once made New Yorkers fear that the fight between the two mob bosses might spill into their lives as well. Shot from the perspective of Frank Costello, the leader of the Luciano crime family, the film takes us through the depths of this feud and the multiple incidents that felt like they would be the watershed moment in the rivalry. However, The Alto Knights merely tells the story of these warring crime bosses, without any cinematic or creative flair, and is not too entertaining either.

Spoiler Alert

What is the film about?

The Alto Knights begins on a usual day in 1957 in New York City, where a businessman, officially a gambler by profession, Frank Costello, walks into his apartment building and walks up the elevator after greeting the doorman a good evening.

Beta Film has struck a major deal on the Mafia series “Cold Summer” with Walter Presents for the U.S. and Canada, ahead of its linear premiere in the U.K. on Channel 4 on April 13, with the boxset also made available on its streaming service. It was sold to Sbs Australia earlier this year.

The series broke records on its home turf on Rai Italy, premiering with peak viewership hitting 4.6 million and a remarkable 23% market share, surpassing by far the channel’s median. It was nominated for two Italian Film Awards, known as the Nastri d’Argento, in the best crime series and leading actor categories.

The eight-part series, which was adapted from the novel by former anti-Mafia prosecutor Gianrico Carofiglio, is set in the early 90s in southern Italy and looks at an uneasy alliance between a small-time Mafia boss and an upright police sergeant, Pietro Fenoglio.

Fenoglio...

Some of the greatest stories ever told were told on "The Sopranos."

For six seasons, HBO broadcast the lives and deaths of the titular New Jersey family, led by mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), his conflicted and complicit wife Carmela (Edie Falco), his aimless, hot-headed nephew Christopher (Michael Imperioli), and his scheming uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese). While other crime shows portrayed criminals like these as cowboys conquering the new American frontier, series creator David Chase imagined them as tragic antiheroes, clinging to a fading world as the mundane and universal realities of life knocked them off their horses and into jail cells, nursing homes, and early graves.

Chase and co. made their series even more striking by having "The Sopranos" eschew serial-storytelling conventions of constantly progressing overarching plots and regular cliffhangers, instead approaching each episode as though it were a standalone story. The result was not only a monumental...

The Alto Knights North America Box Office: Release Day Update(Photo Credit –YouTube)

Robert De Niro’s starrer biographical crime drama film, The Alto Knights, is headed for a disappointing affair at the box office on its release day. The movie has collected even less than the second Friday collection of Cate Blanchett’s Black Bag. Keep scrolling for the deets.

It was directed by Barry Levinson and distributed by Warner Bros Pictures. It has opened to mixed reviews from the critics. De Niro appears in a dual role as the 1950s mob bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. It also features Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci, and Michael Rispoli in supporting roles. It has received poor ratings from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes; they gave it 38%, and their collective consensus states, “A competent but tired retread of mob movie tropes, it pits De Niro vs. De Niro with no real victor emerging.

Robert De Niro’s returns to the mob movie genre with “The Alto Knights,” and it’s hitting theaters on Friday.

De Niro pulls double duty in the biographical drama, as he stars two of New York’s most notorious crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. The film serves as a 360 moment for De Niro, as Costello was the inspiration behind “The Godfather” character Don Vito Corleone. De Niro starred as the young Vito in “The Godfather Part II.”

The film was written by Nicholas Pileggi (“Goodfellas”) and directed by Barry Levinson. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch below.

When does “The Alto Knights” come out?

“The Alto Knights” comes out Friday, March 21.

Is “The Alto Knights” in theaters?

Yes, “The Alto Knights” will premiere in theaters on Friday, March 21. Check the listings below for showtimes.

AMC Theaters Regal Theaters Cinemark Theaters Landmark Theaters...

Inside you there are two mobsters, and Robert De Niro plays both.

There’s a scene near the limp climax of Barry Levinson’s utterly somnambulant The Alto Knights in which Vito Genovese (De Niro) argues violently with his meathead driver and muscle Vincent Gigante (Cosmo Jarvis) about whether or not Palmyra, NY is the birthplace of Mormonism. Palmyra is the birthplace, but Vito is convinced it isn’t, and he is such a hothead narcissist he nearly strangles Vincent to death. The scene goes on for an obnoxiously long time. There are “jokes” about golden books and a lot of yelling. With no apparent thematic or narrative purpose, the unending scene is an unfortunate metonym for Levinson’s entire enterprise. It is, in other words, a complete waste of time, barely aping properly the mob genre for which it is now sure to be an afterthought.

Loosely, the film...

A part of me feels protective of the filmmaking team behind The Alto Knights. For one, Barry Levinson has had a historic and varied career, directing everything from Good Morning, Vietnam to Bugsy and his best collaboration with Robert De Niro, Wag the Dog. This marks his fourth film with the legendary actor, but unfortunately, it is more of a disappointment—much like Sleepers, What Just Happened, and The Wizard of Lies.

Another factor is De Niro’s third collaboration with Nicholas Pileggi, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Goodfellas and Casino (he also executive produced The Irishman). Pileggi lived it. De Niro brings his characters to life. However, many have pointed out that the film is full of crime tropes as if this is the first time it’s happened. I mean, how else do they become them in the first place?

The Alto Knights Review and Synopsis RelatedBlack Bag...

In director Barry Levinson's The Alto Knights, Robert De Niro plays not one, but two mob bosses. You'd think that with double the screen time, the mafia drama would be a big hit with fans and critics who have been following De Niro's career since the days of Mean Streets, but unfortunately that isn't the case here. The Alto Knights has landed with an echoing thud on Rotten Tomatoes, signaling that the two-hour movie is probably worth skipping this weekend in theaters.

Holding a rotten rating of just 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, noted Canadian critic Richard Crouse says, "The Alto Knights is a slick movie, with nice period details, but the shallow look at the relationships of the protagonists and a repetitive, drawn-out script blunts the power of the story." Odie Henderson from The Boston Globe adds:

"When we're not being fed warmed-over narration and editing tricks that remind...

There are, by the organization’s current count, some 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild, many of whom are booking gigs on the regular. To be fair, very few of these performers are genuine 1970s cinema icons, not to mention the brand-name embodiment of a whole genre. Robert De Niro is to Mob movies what John Wayne was to Westerns, and though he’s played every type of role imaginable — boxers, bakers, bishops, ballplayers, cops, robbers, revolutionaries, a stitched-together corpse having an existential crisis, even the devil himself — it’s...

Robert De Niro stars in dual roles in Barry Levinson's new gangster epic, 'The Alto Knights,' which is written by Nicholas Pileggi and produced by Irwin Winkler. The two close De Niro collaborators discuss the actor's involvement in the film and its connection with 'Goodfellas.' 'The Alto Knights' is in theaters on March 21 from Warner Bros. Pictures.

In 'The Alto Knights,' a power struggle between Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, the top bosses of the Mafia, spills into open conflict when Vito orders a hit on Frank. Barely surviving, Frank maneuvers to protect himself and his family from Vito while also planning to retire from the Mafia.

If the digital de-ageing of the holy trinity of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman was a bit distracting at times, get a load of double De Niro in Barry Levinson’s long-gestating The Alto Knights. Demonstrating that when it comes to the greats you can never have too much of a good thing, De Niro plays both leading roles: that of don Frank Costello on the verge of a quiet retirement, and his hot-headed childhood friend and drug baron Vito Genovese, with whom he’s forced to go toe-to-toe.

Based on a true story of mob warfare and penned by GoodFellas screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, the film has been in the works since the 1970s and was finally greenlit in 2022. Watching the early sequences certainly gives one a sense of déjà vu: the film opens in media res in 1957 with an act of violence,...

Robert De Niro pulls Mafia double duty, portraying mobsters Frank Costello and Vito Genovese in The Alto Knights, the latest crime epic from acclaimed Goodfellas screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi. The film's slick editing, make-up, and prosthetic effects sell both performances as De Niro chews up the screen with a familiar gusto. The narrative does suffer from a continuous voice-over narration that wears thin. But Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson overcomes the talk-a-thon by channeling Scorsese's frenetic visual style, rapid pacing, and flashback structure. The result is a breezy and thoroughly entertaining gangster flick that gets laughs aplenty with its stereotypical Italian portrayals.

Double Duty De Niro

The Alto Knights opens in 1957 New York City with Frank Costello surviving an assassination attempt in the lobby of his Upper West Side apartment. Bobbie (Debra Messing), his faithful wife of 40 years, races to his side at the hospital. Frank miraculously escaped with just a scratch.

If you’re going to take a shot at the king, you’d better not miss.

That aphorism, credited to everyone from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Omar on “The Wire,” could be one of the unspoken Cosa Nostra credos in “The Alto Knights,” a dense yet fiercely compelling gathering of some of the heaviest hitters in the contemporary gangster genre: “Goodfellas” screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, “Bugsy” director Barry Levinson and acting icon Robert De Niro in a dual role. That latter stunt makes for a novel hook — one-upping the Pacino-De Niro sit-down in “Heat” by serving up double De Niro as underworld friends-turned-rivals Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, both of whom he embodies beneath heavy makeup.

The movie abruptly kicks off in 1959, with a botched execution in the lobby of Frank’s New York apartment building — a tense, effective scene that finds Levinson operating like the old pro. The rest is narrated from the distant future,...

In 1995, Michael Mann's "Heat" gave cinephiles a face-off for the ages: at long last, legendary actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino would share the screen in an epic crime thriller. Now, in 2025, we have a new crime thriller that has Robert De Niro coming face-to-face with ... Robert De Niro. This isn't such a bad idea: despite a string of questionable roles in the latter half of his long, acclaimed career, De Niro remains one of our finest actors, and he's turned in some recent performances — specifically his work in two Martin Scorsese movies, "The Irishman" and "Killers of the Flower Moon" — that prove he's still got it.

With Barry Levinson's "The Alto Knights," De Niro pulls double duty, playing two real-life gangsters who grew up as friends before becoming bitter enemies. There's a lot of room for potential mob movie fun here, and yet, Levinson's film...

The actor plays Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, two warring mob bosses in 1950s New York, in a caper that lacks the richness of its writer’s earlier Goodfellas

‘They’re the same – he’s marrying himself!” The speaker is an aghast Bobbie Costello, played by Debra Messing, addressing her shruggingly detached mob boss husband, Frank Costello, played by Robert De Niro. They are guests at the wedding of mercurial club owner Anna (Kathrine Narducci) to Frank’s hot-tempered mafia associate Vito Genovese. And Vito is played by … Robert De Niro.

This film is a laborious true-crime account of Frank and Vito’s homicidal falling out in 1950s New York, directed by Barry Levinson and written by Nicholas Pileggi, though with little of the perspective, light and shade and narrative richness of Pileggi’s earlier scripts. As Vito, De Niro is gloweringly resentful, taciturn, bad-tempered and wears glasses and a hat.

Plot: A personal rivalry between Mafia bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese inadvertently changes the balance of power in the mob forever, revealing to the American public just how vast of a criminal empire it really is.

Review: I understand why The Alto Knights must have been a passion project for everyone involved. Producer Irwin Winkler, star Robert De Niro and writer Nicholas Pileggi are three of the men responsible for the greatest mob movie ever made – Goodfellas -, and it’s fitting that they’d want to be the ones to tell one of the most important Mafia stories of all time. Indeed, Vito Genovese’s attempt to kill Frank Costello kicked off a series of events that eventually led to the testimony of Joseph Valachi, who was the first member of the Mafia to ever acknowledge its existence and popularized the term “Cosa Nostra.”

Whether or not you...

It’s rare to see a film in which not a single interesting thing happens over the course of its entire running time. Not only is that true of Barry Levinson’s “The Alto Knights,” but this tired-as-hell mafia story — which wouldn’t merit so much as a footnote in the history of mob cinema if not for the gimmick of casting Robert De Niro as real-life crime boss Vito Genovese and his best frenemy Frank Costello — seems totally at peace with it.

From the moment it starts, Levinson’s first theatrical feature since 2015’s “Rock the Kasbah” is comfortably entombed in the same deep sense of resignation that inspires its main character to get out of the game. Frank Costello knows that his era in the underworld has come to a close, and he narrates the limp saga of his own life as if it were already irrelevant. As...

Robert De Niro and Debra Messing celebrate the release of their new movie, The Alto Knights!

The 81-year-old actor and the 56-year-old actress appeared together in London on the red carpet during the European premiere of the film on Thursday (March 13).

Keep reading to find out more…

The Alto Nights tells the story of “a pair of Italian Americans running two separate crime families during the mid-20th century. Genovese tried and failed to assassinate Costello in 1957, with the latter taking his leave from the mob after being injured during the attempt on his life,” according to Deadline.

Robert plays two characters in the film, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. At the premiere, he talked about what it was like to juggle both of the roles.

“The idea of me playing both parts came up when we were talking about who could play the other part, the Vito part, and I thought about it,...

Mafia movies are known for their raw depiction of an underworld of crime and corruption and everything that stems from those. Some are simply better than others, although when it comes to the mafia genre, it doesn't get any better thanThe Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola's film portrayed the mob as a criminal organization with all sorts of characters loosely based on real-life people. But as grounded as the film was, you don't exactly think of "realism" when you see it. Thankfully, real-life former mobster Anthony Ruggiano Jr. has some insight into what's real and what's not in The Godfather.

The 1972 epic crime drama revolutionized the industry with a deeply compelling story about Vito and Michael Corleone, a father and son who face their true nature as they commit the ultimate betrayal of their family. Widely considered one of the best movies ever made, The Godfather was a remarkable game-changer...

The Godfather remains one of the most acclaimed and celebrated crime dramas ever made. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and released in 1972, the film chronicles the transfer of power from aging mob boss Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) to his reluctant son, Michael (Al Pacino). The Godfather reviews were glowing and the film was a commercial success, not only launching Pacino to stardom, but spawning two immediate sequels.

The Godfather features a handful of iconic scenes that have stood the test of time, including several that are shockingly violent. Though the film couldn't be characterized as an action movie, a number of graphic shootouts and slayings play out over the course of Michael's rise to power, including the attempted assassination of Vito, Michael's killing of corrupt police captain Mark McCluskey (Sterling Hayden) and drug baron Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), and the brutal slaying of James Caan's Sonny Corleone.

Former Mobster...

A pizza order, a thank you, or a death threat — Giuseppe Mantova didn’t know which awaited him as he answered the call the Wednesday evening before Christmas. The phone at Vito’s Pizza had been ringing more than usual that week, thanks to an illustration Mantova’s 30-year-old daughter had taped above the cash register of Luigi Mangione as a saint, wearing an emerald-green robe with a sun haloed behind his dark hair.

“You’re supporting a criminal,” a woman on the other end of the line told Mantova. “I...

The Sopranosis a brilliant mafia show that follows Tony Soprano and the challenges of being a mafia boss. It touches on every reference to the mafia previously depicted in films and elevates them to an even more realistic height. Through its realism and strong story arcs, it redefined the gangster and mafia genre. While it transformed the genre, The Sopranos also honored the traditions of the mafia narrative.

Among the many mafia films, The Godfather series is referenced dozens of times throughout The Sopranos. Sometimes, this occurs through a character quoting a line from one of the movies. Other times, a scene in the show seems almost identical to a moment from one of The Godfather films. Throughout The Sopranos, some references to The Godfather series are taken directly from the film series.

Related1 of The Godfather's Biggest Changes From the Book Was Secretly the Movie's Most Clever Trick...

The Sopranos is the crime-laden mafia series by HBO that follows Tony Soprano, the head of the Dimeo crime family. For six seasons, the show captivated television audiences with its violence, unexpected twists, and brilliant story arcs. Each season features numerous betrayals among the main characters.

Though the betrayals differ from season to season, each one significantly impacts the narrative. Some result in mere squabbles between characters, while others escalate into violent, murderous outcomes. In a show rife with violence and crime, The Sopranos boasts several betrayals that are truly shocking.

Jackie Aprile, Jr. Robs a Poker Game and Causes One of the Players to Be Killed Jackie Aprile, Jr. Betrays the Dimeo Crime Family

Jackie Aprile, Jr. was the son of former Dimeo Crime leader Jackie Aprile. When Jackie Jr.'s father dies from cancer, Tony Soprano promises to take care of him. Jacke Jr. seemed to be doing...

Quick Links What Is Alto Knights About? Who Is Writing and Directing Alto Knights? Who is Starring in Alto Knights? When Will Alto Knights Hit Theaters? Alto Knights' Trailer Hints at an Intense Gangster Movie

In Robert De Niro's upcoming Alto Knights, the legendary actor is coming back to his mafia movies comfort zone, but with a catch: he's set to play not only one gangster but two. De Niro is going back to his crime genre roots with an incredible team backing him, including veteran film director Barry Levinson. On March 21, Robert De Niro will bring two legendary crime figures to life: Vito Genovese and Frank Costello.

Formerly titled Wise Guys, Alto Knights has been rechristened after a series of difficult test screenings resulted in a few changes to the film itself. That's not exactly a great sign, and considering the turbulent quality of most of Robert De Niro's recent filmography,...

The Sopranos is one of the best things to happen to HBO, let alone television entirely. With creative story arcs and interesting characters to follow, the mafia violence succinctly tied it all together. It pushed television into a new era, often called The Golden Age. The Sopranos did a beautiful job of creating characters that audiences could latch on to. Fans got to watch the rise of some of the secondary characters who kept the North Jersey mob afloat. One of those characters was Vito Spatafore, played by Joseph R. Gannascoli.

Vito had a different arc than most of the characters in The Sopranos but faced the same turmoil that most of the secondary characters dealt with. Vito took opportunities to become a top earner and worked hard to earn his place in the world of organized crime. He also had a personal life that little to no one knew about,...

While The Godfather is about the rise and fall of the powerful Corleone mafia family, the story is bigger than that, with five families at the center of the mafia war. The Godfather trilogy begins with the critically acclaimed movie, The Godfather, which is still regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. The cast of the Godfather trilogy features veteran actors like Marlon Brando and rising actors who would later become major stars, like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

The main themes running through the Godfather trilogy are trust and the way that alliances can make or break the movie's crime families. The Godfather begins with the Corleone family seemingly in power, but that status starts to crumble as Don Vito Corleone discovers that he has trusted the wrong people. The Corleone family's biggest mistakes and attempts to hold onto their power are the basis of The Godfather's story.

“The Love Scam” is a 2025 Italian film directed by Umberto Riccioni Carteni. With an ensemble cast that shines, the movie is headlined by Laura Adriani, Roberto De Francesco, Loris De Luna, Antonio Folletto, Biagio Manna, Vincenzo Nemolato, and more. The film tells the story of two brothers, Vito and Antonello, who find themselves in a desperate situation where their home is on the brink of being demolished, and the only way out is to scam a wealthy woman.

The Love Scam Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis: What Troubles Vito & Antonello Are Dealing With?

The film opens with Vito receiving some long-awaited good news after a tough stretch. After weeks of tirelessly dropping off resumes at stores and shops, he finally lands a job. The position requires him to work seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It offers a monthly pay of 800 euros plus meal vouchers. However, during the interview,...

The Godfather is a masterclass in storytelling, and any discussion about the world’s greatest cinema is incomplete without the mention of this Francis Ford Coppola directorial. The layered plot, iconic performances, and hauntingly beautiful score have forever etched the film in our culture. But in recent years people have been debating whether the mafia drama should be considered a Christmas movie.

Marlon Brando in The Godfather | Paramount Pictures

At first glance, you might think the Corleone family saga which is rife with betrayal, crime, and power struggles has no place in the list of movies that would be associated with the holiday season. But upon a deeper dive, you would understand why the film resonates so deeply with some fans during Christmas time.

Family at the core: The Godfather on shared spirit Al Pacino and Marlon Brando in The Godfather | Paramount Pictures

The one thing that everyone looks forward...

Directed by Umberto Riccioni Carteni and starring Laura Adriani, Roberto De Francesco, and Loris De Luna, The Love Scam is an Italian-language romantic comedy-drama now available on Netflix. Brothers Vito and Antonello were in a fix when they figured they would have to let go of the apartment they had been living in since they were born. As a father to a toddler, Vito needed to find a full-time job to win the sole custody of his child, but he was always rejected when he explained in interviews that his little boy might accompany him to work on some days. Vito could not financially rely on his brother either. Antonello always got into trouble, and he came up with new scams every other day. The brothers had to devise a plan to keep their apartment, but what did they come up with? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

What was the love scam?...

Stalking has been treated as a normal part of romance since before movies were even a thing. Even though Sholay is a classic, the basis of Veeru and Basanti’s romantic subplot is stalking, which borders on sexual harassment. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is considered a classic, with many idolizing Raj and Simran’s relationship as the epitome of romance, but the couple got together because of Raj’s not-so-subtle art of stalking. Bachna Ae Haseeno repurposed this trope and tried to improve on things by making this new-age Raj apologize for his sins. Tere Naam and Kabir Singh upended any progress that Hindi cinema could’ve made by treating stalking and physical abuse as the cornerstones of romance. Then there were atrocities like Saawariya, Raanjhanaa, R… Rajkumar, and Love Aaj Kal (2020) that went on to define what glorification of problematic stereotypes actually means. Now, I assumed that Bollywood had...

Actor John Cazale is notable not just for his talents and intensity as a performer, but also for having one of the most impressive filmographies for any actor with a career as short as his. Cazale, a prolific theater veteran, famously only appeared in five feature films before his untimely death of lung cancer in 1978 at the age of 42. Those five films, however, are often considered some of the best and most significant films of the 1970s, which is saying something.

Cazale appeared in three Francis Ford Coppola movies, as well as Sidney Lumet's stirring bank robber drama "Dog Day Afternoon" and Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter." Cazale played supporting roles in all of them. Each one of them was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Three of them won.

Cazale's film career, of course, was only a small piece of his acting experience. Notoriously guarded and shy,...

Michael Corleone shared many traits in common with his father, Vito, but even Marlon Brando's iconic The Godfather character would have refused to carry out Michael's worst crime. While Brando's swollen-jawed mafia boss remains synonymous with the Godfather movie franchise, the overarching story was really about Al Pacino's Michael, who reluctantly took over from his father as the Corleone family's don. Of Vito's three sons - Sonny, Michael, and Fredo - Michael was the closest to his father in personality, displaying intelligence, patience, coolness, cunning, and leadership.

Like Vito, Michael occupied a middle ground between the hot-headed Sonny and the gaffe-prone Fredo, and it was these similarities that made Vito's youngest son the ideal Corleone family successor. Nevertheless, Pacino's protagonist was no mere copy of his old man. Sometimes subtly, sometimes less so, Michael Corleone evolved into someone markedly different to Vito both in terms of...

Death is a constant specter in the violent mobster world of The Sopranos. Many of the show's most memorable storylines are punctuated by the death of a main character. Sometimes the audience can tell when these tragedies are imminent and they're left waiting on the edge of their seats for the inevitable. Alternatively, there are plenty of Sopranos deaths that are sudden and shocking.

Many of The Sopranos' mobsters carefully toe the line between life and death, but that doesn't make it any less painful when fans lose their favorite characters, like Christopher Moltisanti at the hands of Tony Soprano. These deaths, whether they're by betrayal, wrath, or cold pragmatism, are part of what makes The Sopranos such a great tragedy and an evergreen television classic.

Updated by Arthur Goyaz on December 30, 2024: Most characters in The Sopranos are horrible people who will kill innocents without thinking twice. Still, the...

Bella Thorne and Julia Fox are celebrating the premiere of their new movie The Trainer alongside the film’s star Vito Schnabel!

Vito, who is best known for being an art gallery owner, is making his feature film acting debut in the new film, which premiered at the 2024 Rome Film Festival on Sunday (October 20) in Rome, Italy.

The actors were joined at the event by director Tony Kaye.

Deadline reports that the movie is based on an original story by Vito and the film unfolds “over eight days of sleep-deprived chaos and follows Jack (Schnabel), a down-on-his-luck fitness expert living with his mother in Los Angeles, who takes a maniacal swing at fame and fortune, trying to realize his version of the American dream.”

“The idea of the film came into my head about ten years ago and it’s incredible to have it come together with Tony Kaye, whom...

The competition continues to heat up on Strictly Come Dancing. The long-running BBC staple is currently in the midst of its 22nd series, and to say that the competition is well underway would be an understatement.

Last week's episode saw the first shock Dance-Off of the series as Shayne Ward, who had a high score and landed in the upper half of the middle of the Leaderboard had to dance again to remain in the competition. He did so well, but it once again highlighted how anything can happen on Strictly when the public vote (and multiple ties on the Leaderboard!) is involved. And with Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtuk departing the series last week after elimination, the remaining 13 couples took on new dances this week in a bid to impress the judges and the viewers at home. But who thrived and who struggled?

Here are all of the Strictly spoilers,...

“Eccentric” is a word we throw around a lot in Hollywood. We use it for financiers from faraway places with deep pockets and no real connection to show business. Or for actors that exist on different planes of consciousness and, perhaps, speak of cow birthing in their Oscar speeches. It’s a polite way of saying one is nutty.

But there are times when the word applies with a sort of affection, and holds appreciation for the fruits that eccentricity bears. Such is the case with Tony Kaye, the long-lost director of the cinephile favorite 1999 film “American History X.” Upon my rescheduling our original interview earlier this week, Kaye responded that he now had time to “drink my vegetable soup in peace.” When we do connect on Zoom, he spends a period muting his microphone and strumming a guitar before spitting out lyrical answers to questions. His mane of shock...

Its hard to imagine anyone other than the legendary Al Pacino in the role of Michael Corleone some 50 years after the premiere of The Godfather, but if the iconic actor had his way, he wouldnt have appeared in the movie at all. Thats according to his new memoir Sonny Boy, which hit shelves on October 8, and revealed in Pacinos own words how he felt relieved after an ankle injury threatened his permanent removal from the production.

Per Variety, Pacinos performance in The Godfather when he was around 30 years old wasnt living up to Paramounts expectations, leading to rumors on set that he was going to be released from his contract, and that director Francis Ford Coppola would also be terminated because he was the one who championed Pacino for the part. As such, when it came time to perform his own stunt which saw his character of Michael Corleone jump onto a moving car,...

Al Pacino hoped that an injury he received on The Godfather would allow him to leave the film. In The Godfather, Pacino plays Michael Coreleone, the son of crime boss Vito Coreleone (Marlon Brando), who eventually takes his father's place as the head of the crime family. Since its release in 1972, The Godfather has continued to be celebrated as one of the greatest films ever made.

While appearing on the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast (via EW), Pacino said that while filming The Godfather, director Francis Ford Coppola told the actor that he was not happy with the performance he was giving. After seeing some of the footage, Pacino thought that his performance was "not spectacular," but that his goal was to have Michael blend in before his transition into becoming a crime boss. After receiving the criticism, Pacino revealed that he was hoping to leave the film.

I went,...

The Godfather sequel is largely considered the best in the trilogy because it delved into Vito and Michael Corleone's stories. Al Pacino revealed the missteps he made with his character that almost cost him the role in the first film.

Al Pacino was injured while filming The Godfather, and he saw that as an excuse to exit the movie. In an episode of the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast, he recalled doing his own stunts in a highlight scene, where Michael Corleone killed off two enemies before hopping into a moving car in a quick escape. "They didn't have a stuntman [on set],' he quipped. "Maybe they assumed that I would jump and get hurt, and I'd be outta the film." That turned out to be wishful thinking, as he actually sprained an ankle after failing to stick the landing.

Related 'Humbling': Al Pacino Reacts to Rewatching The Godfather Over...

There may not be another film with a more watchable and intriguing cast of characters than Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. Every single member of the Corleone family is fascinating, from Vito (Marlon Brando) to Connie (Talia Shire), as well as the supporting characters who bring their own purpose and color to the gangster world. The antagonists of The Godfather have typically been the characters most often ignored, as it's understandable we are more intrigued by our protagonist's villainy. However, whilst most will name Barzini (Richard Conte) as the main villain of The Godfather, Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), also known as 'The Turk' is perhaps the more significant of the two, for what his actions lead to, and how his ties to real-life gangsters add a degree of realism to The Godfather.

Al Pacino, the Hollywood legend known for his roles in films like Scarface, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico and, of course, The Godfather trilogy, rose to stardom when he was cast as Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 drama epic. Nevertheless, the process of getting the part was far from ideal. The actor has revealed in his new memoir, Sonny Boy, that Paramount Pictures questioned whether he was the right actor to play Michael.

The Godfather follows the Corleones, a family in New York City whose patriarch, Don Vito Corleone, is one of the leaders of the Five Families of the Italian mafia. Vito gets ambushed, and while his enemies don't kill him, he's forced to give the power to one of his sons. He chooses Michael over the rest, and though Michael is reluctant at first, he knows he must follow his father's steps in becoming the new godfather.

We've made it to Week 4 of Strictly Come Dancing already! How is it Week 4? Wasn't it just last week that this year's couples were paired together for the twentieth anniversary series of BBC's staple Saturday Night TV show? Apparently not, because we are now four weeks in with two eliminations already in the rear-view mirror.

Last week's episode saw Toyah Wilcox and Neil Jones eliminated from the competition after a Dance-Off with Paul and Karen. The latter couple returned this week with a glitzy Quickstep that earned them praise from the judges for their improvement, but what else went down as the competition heated up.

Here are all the Strictly spoilers, results, and scores from the Week 4 Saturday Night show and all that took place on the dancefloor.

Strictly spoilers and results: Week 4 Leaderboard

It's been an unusual night for Strictly Come Dancing. There were a lot of positive...

The Godfather trilogy covers 100 years of the Corleone crime family's history. Throughout the years, there have been many alliances, betrayals, and murders. With so many different character motives and plot points, this leads to many unanswered mysteries.

Some questions fans have been asking arise due to a lack of details in certain scenes, possibly because they were simply overlooked by the director and writer. Other fan theories developed about open-ended interpretations that were intentionally planted by Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo. There are also countless debates about what certain characters would do, given what fans know about their characteristics. The Godfather films have an incredible amount of depth despite consisting of only three movies, and with depth comes many complex questions that fans are still pondering.

Update: 2024/10/09 21:44 Est By Brian Cronin

I've updated this fascinating list about The Godfather Trilogy by adding five more questions that fans have had about the iconic film franchise.