Prizzi's Honor (1985)

Excellent, a Must See

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

John Huston, as he reached the end of his life, was clearly searching for new ground to cover as a director. In this film he may have put a foot wrong, but that's not to say this isn't a very, very enjoyable film. You can sense from the quality of the performances the willingness of the actors to do anything for the chance to work with the legendary actors. There is a virtual clinic put on by all the key performers in this movie, from Jack Nicholson putting on a very convincing Brooklyn accent to depict a hard-nosed, not-too-bright tough guy to Kathleen Turner as his romantic and professional foil. Turner, in this film gives us the blueprint for how James Bond could ever be depicted as a woman. She sizzles with cool. For my money, one of the most amazing, terrifying performances I've ever seen is William Hickey as Don Prizzi in this film. His voice is not intimidating but his demeanor is. The detachment and reserve in his voice makes his cool demeanor all the more terrifying. He was so scary that I actually wondered if it was a joke. It nearly veers into farce, it's so scary. He steals every scene he is in as the aging mob boss. Honestly I found Angelica Huston's performance a bit one-note. She had the look of a hangdog puppy in the picture and I didn't feel much charisma emanating from her.I thought softening up a wonderful plot with some sentimentality was not the best decision but the acting, direction, and the fencing between the two leads make this a very enjoyable movie.

To watch any film includes Jack Nicholson's sex scenes on screen literally makes me squirm, and at age of 49 in this film, he and his love-at-first-sight object Kathleen Turner's shagging is so self-consciously clumsy (Ms. Turner basically is off-scene), despite of being graphically implicit. Physically speaking, he has never aged well, and technically the eye-broccoli might suit well with a comical tone of this Godfather parody. Directed by John Huston (his penultimate work before THE DEAD 1987) and earned Anjelica Huston an Oscar for BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, the film has its dated setbacks, as a BEST PICTURE nominee, it is bizarrely mediocre. Supposedly Mr. Houston aspired to stew a Mafia burlesque, but the scarcity of comedic fodder stunts the intention and after 27 years, which bears out to be an inadequate oddball. Anyway, the film proffers a fitful performance treat, Anjelica's win sounds like a moot point to me since her flare only glistens for basically two scenes (viciously confronting her father and schemingly seeking help from her grandfather), but her costumes should be merited for her compulsive appealing. Another two nominees are Jack Nicholson and William Hickey, the latter is plain worthy (a steadfast panache exuding from an ailing but slick godfather) while the former is less impressive to say nothing of Nicholson's a dozen of other virtuoso acting prowess. The leading lady Kathleen Turner is on the other hand, a bona fide underachiever, both as a wife and a professional killer, and a mawkish affection is such a pain to watch. So, Alex North's arrangements of Gioachino Rossini's music is an utter saving grace (namely, Il Barbierie di Siviglia), and the film actually is more pleasant to ears if one can erase its incongruous scenario and an awfully lame denouement.

Mafia hit man falls in love with a hit woman, but complications arise. Nicholson is not at his best here. To reinforce the notion that his character is a dim wit, he apparently stuffed tissue under his upper lip for this role. It is very distracting. Otherwise, the acting is generally good, particularly Turner, Randolph, and Huston. However, Hickey steals the film in an amusing turn as an aged mafia boss. Plotwise, it is hard to believe that Nicholson and Turner become engaged hours after meeting, and the ending is unsatisfying. Anjelica Huston won an Oscar under her father's direction. John Huston also directed his father Walter to an Oscar (Treasure of the Sierra Madre).

I feel that I would have understood or liked this movie more if I had seen it back in the 80s (but I was too young for that then). Now in 2010, I feel that it is lacking in many respects, and that it has perhaps aged a little bit and follows the movie-making styles that were the rule thirty years ago.Watched with today's eyes, my personal opinion is that it hasn't stood the test of time the way other old movies do. The black comedy just isn't funny enough, the action is not exciting at all, and it doesn't work as a gangster-mafia movie either (which other older gems obviously succeed at). It aims at many things and doesn't succeed at any of them. There is too much dialog that doesn't serve any real purpose, as it does not move the plot forward or make for any entertainment, either; and I'm all for movies with good dialog, but this one just isn't one of them.I loved Kathleen Turner and Anjelica Huston in this, but everything else was quite disappointing.