Family Business (film)

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Family Business
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Produced by Lawrence Gordon
Written by Vincent Patrick
Starring Sean Connery
Dustin Hoffman
Matthew Broderick
Rosanna DeSoto
Music by Cy Coleman
Distributed by TriStar Pictures
Release date(s) December 15, 1989
Running time 110 min.
Language English
IMDb profile

Family Business is a 1989 film drama directed by Sidney Lumet with a screenplay by Vincent Patrick, based on his novel. It is produced by Tri-Star Pictures.

[edit] Plot Synopsis

Jessie McMullen (Sean Connery) is a widower, a tough guy and most of all, proud of his past as a career criminal (now semi-retired). He raised his son Vito (Dustin Hoffman) to follow in his footsteps, but Vito went straight once he had a son of his own, Adam (Matthew Broderick).

Over the years, Vito became ashamed of his family's criminal past. He has tried to raise his son right, which in his mind means keeping young Adam away from his ne'er-do-well grandfather. Little does Vito know that this strategy has backfired; the mystery surrounding Jessie has caused Adam to idolize him.

Now that Adam is grown, he is bright, good-looking, successful in college with a scientific grant and without a criminal past. So when he approaches Jessie with a scheme for a burglary, Vito is shocked and disappointed. He warns his son not to pursue this crime and even slaps his face to drive home the point. This pushes Adam even closer to his grandfather, who can't wait to take a shot at a million-dollar payday.

Vito is distressed ... but not necessarily disinterested. The more he hears about the scheme, the more tempted he becomes to have three generations of McMullens embark on one great criminal adventure. And, in the process, he can watch out for Adam along the way.

The plan backfires horribly when Adam, alone of the three, is captured by the police. The only way for Vito to get his son's sentence reduced or suspended is to inform on his own father.

[edit] Cast

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Films directed by Sidney Lumet

12 Angry Men (1957) • Stage Struck (1958) • That Kind of Woman (1959) • The Fugitive Kind (1959) • A View from the Bridge (1961) • Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) • The Pawnbroker (1964) • Fail-Safe (1964) • The Hill (1965) • The Group (1966) • The Deadly Affair (1967) • Bye Bye Braverman (1968) • The Sea Gull (1968) • The Appointment (1969) • King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970) • Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970) • The Anderson Tapes (1971) • Child's Play (1972) • The Offence (1972) • Serpico (1973) • Lovin' Molly (1974) • Murder on the Orient Express (1974) • Dog Day Afternoon (1975) • Network (1976) • Equus (1977) • The Wiz (1978) • Just Tell Me What You Want (1980) • Prince of the City (1981) • Deathtrap (1982) • The Verdict (1982) • Daniel (1983) • Garbo Talks (1984) • Power (1986) • The Morning After (1986) • Running on Empty (1988) • Family Business (1989) • Q & A (1990) • A Stranger Among Us (1992) • Guilty as Sin (1993) • Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) • Critical Care (1997) • Gloria (1999) • Strip Search (2004) • Find Me Guilty (2006) • Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)