Jane Austen's Mafia!
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| Jane Austen's Mafia! | |
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| Directed by | Jim Abrahams |
| Produced by | Peter Abrams Robert L. Levy |
| Written by | Jim Abrahams Greg Norberg Michael McManus |
| Narrated by | Jay Mohr |
| Starring | Lloyd Bridges Jay Mohr Olympia Dukakis Christina Applegate |
| Music by | John Frizzell (credited as Gianni Frizzelli) |
| Cinematography | Pierre Letarte |
| Editing by | Terry Stokes |
| Distributed by | Touchstone Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 24, 1998 |
| Running time | 84 mins. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Mafia!, also known as Jane Austen's Mafia! is a 1998 comedy film directed by Jim Abrahams and starring Jay Mohr, Lloyd Bridges, Olympia Dukakis, and Christina Applegate. It spoofs Coppola's Godfather series and various other mafia films, notably Scorsese's Casino and Goodfellas. The film also parodies movies in other genres, ranging from Forrest Gump to Il Postino and The English Patient.
Mafia! was Lloyd Bridges' last film, and is dedicated to his memory.
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[edit] Taglines
- The comedy you can't refuse!
- See it early. Avoid the mob.
[edit] Plot
Like The Godfather: Part II, the narrative of Mafia! consists of a series of flashbacks interwoven with the main plot. Jay Mohr plays Tony, the son of a prominent Mafia don, Vincenzo Armani Windbreaker Cortino (Bridges). As the film opens, Tony introduces the main thread when he exits a Vegas casino and walks to his car, accompanied by a voiceover explaining his philosophy of life. When he starts the car, it explodes.
The story then regresses more than half a century to describe the boyhood of Tony's father, Vincenzo, who was born in Italy, the clumsy son of a Sicilian postman. One day, while making a delivery for his father, Vincenzo trips and the parcel bursts open, revealing a strange white powder. The parcel's recipient, concluding that the delivery boy has seen too much, tracks Vincenzo to a street fair, where he kills his father; the boy, however, escapes to America, where he grows to young manhood, marries, and struggles with poverty before finally finding his destiny as a mafia boss.
The film then visits the recent past; Tony has just returned from the Korean War and is bringing his idealistic protestant girlfriend, Diane (Applegate) to meet his family and friends at his big brother Joey's wedding reception. During the festivities, however, Vincenzo is shot 47 times in an attempted hit and nearly dies. Tony avenges the attack, then goes into hiding in Las Vegas, where he becomes a casino manager. Diane leaves him, saying he's abandoned the peaceful ideals of his youth, and adding that she'll never be anything to his Sicilian family but "that protestant chick who never killed anyone."
Vincenzo recovers from his 47 gunshot wounds and visits Las Vegas, where he officially names Tony his successor; Joey, furious at being passed over, is told "you get Wisconsin." The Don then returns home, where he falls victim to his five-year-old grandson, Chucky, who assassinates him by spraying him with malathion. Meanwhile, Tony's casino is a great success until he meets a femme fatale, Pepper Gianini, hired by a man named Cesar Marconi as part of a deep-laid plan to distract him from his duties and to drive a wedge between him and Joey. The film's time sequence returns to the present after Tony catches Joey and Pepper cavorting in a hotel room together and walks out in disgust - only to have his car explode.
Tony is horribly but temporarily disfigured, and attends his father's funeral in a wheelchair, where he spots the killers when he sees little Chucky taking a payoff. He decides, however, to postpone vengeance until he can win back Diane's love and put his life in order. Diane has by this time become President of the United States, and is on the brink of declaring world peace when Tony goes looking for her. He persuades her to put world peace on the back burner until after their wedding. During the ceremony, with the help of Vincenzo's mother (Dukakis), several henchmen, and an Eskimo, he settles the family's accounts in an orgy of slaughter, even arranging the harpooning of Barney the purple dinosaur by way of a bonus.
[edit] Critical Reception
Jane Austen's Mafia! received dismal reviews.
[edit] Highlights
Vincenzo lies in a hospital bed recovering from an assassination attempt.
Tony You lost a lot of blood...but we found most of it.
At Joey's wedding reception, Vincenzo makes a rather bizarre toast to the bride and groom, and concludes this way:
Vincenzo: So Joey, remember this old Sicilian proverb: Man is like a piece of cheese.
There's an awkward pause as the guests politely await the punchline; Vincenzo, oblivious, merely raises his glass to his lips.
A Guest (catching on): Hear, hear!
Everyone drinks
At a Cortino family dinner, the Don's right hand man, Clamato, is arguing with his wife.
Clamato (tugging at his shirt collar): This shirt is strangling me.
Mrs. Clamato (testily): I told you I'd take it back.
Clamato: It makes me nuts, the way you shop.
A scene from Tony's childhood, when he was called "Tiny Anthony", wore leg braces, and sold flowers on a street corner. One day, he offends the local racketeer and has to run for his life, scattering braces, anvils etc. in his wake.
Tiny Anthony's Girlfriend: Run, florist, run!
Tony has just caught his girlfriend, Pepper, and his brother Joey in a very compromising position.
Tony (accusingly): You're a slut. You will sleep with anyone.
Pepper (snootily): That's what sluts do. If I was particular, I wouldn't BE a slut.
At the dinner table, Tony has just volunteered to kill Sal Gorgoni, the man behind the attack on his father. Diane, shocked, leaves the room; Tony follows.
Diane: We said we were going to dedicate our lives to ending war - to bringing peace to the world. What happened to that?
Tony: World peace? Don't be so naive, Diane. Besides, I can't turn my back on Pop and Joey - they're like family to me.
Diane: Anthony, they're criminals. They're murderers!
Tony: Criminals are people too. If you prick a murderer, does he not leave a blood trail all the way back to his Rockingham estate?
Diane: This is that whole Sicilian thing, isn't it! I'll never belong, Anthony. I'll always just be "that Protestant chick who never killed anyone"!
(Diane puts on her hat and walks out of his life.)
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Jay Mohr | Anthony 'Tony' Cortino |
| Billy Burke | Joey Cortino |
| Christina Applegate | Diane Steen |
| Pamela Gidley | Pepper Gianini |
| Olympia Dukakis | Sophia, Vincenzo's mother |
| Lloyd Bridges | Vincenzo Cortino |
| Louis Mandylor | Vincenzo Cortino as a young man |
| Jason Fuchs | Vincenzo Cortino as a boy |
| Joe Viterelli | Dominick Clamato |
| Tony Lo Bianco | Cesar Marzoni |
| Blake Hammond | Fatso Paulie Orsatti |
| Philip Suriano | Frankie Totino (as Phil Suriano) |
| Vincent Pastore | Gorgoni |
| Marisol Nichols | Carla |
| Carol Ann Susi | Clamato's Wife |
| Gregory Sierra | Bonifacio |
