Fingers (1978)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

James Toback

Writer:

James Toback (writer)

Release Date:

23 August 1978 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Music

Tagline:

A powerful film about sex, music and violent crime.

Plot:

A dysfunctional young man is pulled between loyalties to his Italian mob-connected loan shark father and his mentally disturbed Jewish concert pianist mother.

Plot Keywords:

Piano | Debt Collector | Pianist | Interracial Relationship | Prostate

Cast

Harvey Keitel	...	Jimmy Fingers
Tisa Farrow	...	Carol
Jim Brown	...	Dreems
Michael V. Gazzo	...	Ben
Marian Seldes	...	Ruth
Danny Aiello	...	Butch
Ed Marinaro	...	Gino
Georgette Mosbacher	...	Anita (as Georgette Muir)
Tanya Roberts	...	Julie
Carole Francis	...	Christa
Lenny Montana	...	Luchino
Vasco Valladeres	...	Luchino's Son
Tony Sirico	...	Riccamonza (as Anthony Sirico)
Tom Signorelli	...	Italian Prisoner
Dominic Chianese	...	Arthur Fox
Woodrow Garrian	...	Conventioneer
James Fields	...	Pianist
A. Andrew Pastorio	...	Elderly Driver
Frank Pesce	...	Carmine
Zack Norman	...	Patrolman Levy
Jane Elder	...	Esther
I.W. Klein	...	Bail Bondsman
Murray Moston	...	Doctor Fry
Emmy Falahi	...	Young Gangster
Tina Fox	...	Young Girl
Harlan Cary Poe	...	Trucker's Helper
Henry Judd Baker	...	Leonard (as Henry Baker)
Charles Polk	...	J.R
Linda Blia	...	Pizza Customer #1
Francine Gabel	...	Pizza Customer #2
Josh Clark	...	Pizza Customer #3
Bud Nease	...	Bartender #1
Paul Ricci	...	Bartender #2
Sam Coppola	...	Sam
Andre Waters	...	Dreem's Bartender
Josie Johnson	...	Dreems Girl #1
Susan McWilliams	...	Dreems Girl #2
Tia Rance	...	Dreems Girl #3
Aida Random	...	Dreems Girl #4
Leza Van Buren	...	Dreems Girl #5
Largo Woodruff	...	Dreems Girl #6
Pembrose Deans	...	Black Prisoner #1
Arthur French	...	Black Prisoner #2
John F. Dempsey	...	Police Clerk
David Ellsworth	...	Waiter
Paul Stocker	...	Bartender
Patricia J. Earnest	...	Receptionist
Joe De Kama	...	Doctor Schwartz

Directed by
James Toback

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
James Toback		writer

Produced by
George Barrie	....	producer
Richard Stenta	....	line producer

Cinematography by
Michael Chapman

Film Editing by
Robert Lawrence

Casting by
Jane Feinberg
Mike Fenton

Production Design by
Gene Rudolf

Set Decoration by
Frederic C. Weiler

Costume Design by
Albert Wolsky

Makeup Department
Irving Buchman	....	makeup artist
Bob Grimaldi	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Dick Stenta	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Steve Irmo	....	dga trainee
Stewart Lyons	....	second assistant director
Daniel McCauley	....	first assistant director
Peter A. Runfolo	....	second assistant director (as Peter Runfolo)

Art Department
Edward Garzero	....	scenic artist
John Oates Jr.	....	property master (as John Oates)

Sound Department
John Fundus	....	sound recordist
Richard Guinness	....	boom operator (as Dick Guiness)
Les Lazarowitz	....	sound mixer
Bill Varney	....	sound re-recording mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Brian Hamill	....	still photographer
Richard Quinlan	....	gaffer
Tibor Sands	....	first assistant camera
Fred Schuler	....	camera operator
Robert Ward	....	key grip

Casting Department
Sylvia Fay	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Beverly Cycon	....	costumer: women
Max Soloman	....	costumer: men (as Max Solomon)

Editorial Department
Andrew Pressman	....	assistant film editor

Music Department
James Fields	....	classical music coordinator

Transportation Department
Harry J. Leavey	....	transportation captain (as Harry Leavey)

Other crew
Robert F. Colesberry	....	location coordinator
Jeffrey Fischgrund	....	production assistant (as Jeff Fischgrund)
Fred Golini	....	production assistant
Nancy Hopton	....	script supervisor (as Nancy Tonery)
Stephen Klein	....	production assistant
Adeline Leonard Seakwood	....	production office coordinator
Bert Schneiderman	....	business affairs
Marion Taub	....	location bookkeeper

Production Companies

• Brut Productions
• Fingers Productions Inc.

Distributors

• Brut Productions (1978) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1986) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Parafrance Films (1978) (France) (theatrical)
• Turner Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Turner Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (VHS)
• Worldvision Enterprises

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | France:-16 | New Zealand:R18 | Canada:R | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1979) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Australia:R

Filming Locations:

468 Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Brut Productions

Trivia:

Tisa Farrow was working as a waitress and cab driver when director James Toback tapped her for the role.

Quotes:

Jimmy Fingers: What if I want a slice of pizza?
Luchino: Can't you read the signs outside? We don't sell sliced pizza.
Jimmy Fingers: What if I wanted 60 slices of pizza?
Luchino: You deaf? No slice pizza! Take it on the arches!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in An Almost Perfect Affair (1979)

Soundtrack:

Mockingbird

A vile but fascinating character.

Why do we want to spend the hour and a half that it takes to watch this movie in the company of a character so loathsome that we would do anything to avoid him if we met him in real life? Jimmy Fingers is arrogant, self-obsessed, sexually violent and just plain creepy. O.K., there are moments in which we get to see that he has a better side, when he comforts a destitute women who is crying in a doorway, or when he sticks by his small time hoodlum father, in spite of the fact that he is even more repellent than Fingers himself. There is so much in this movie to make you squirm from the no-holds barred, bloody violence and a painful proctological exam to the scenes in which Fingers annoys everyone in earshot by playing loud doo-wop music on his portable tape player and threatening violence towards anyone who objects. With its fine acting and totally unpredictable story-line, this film is undeniable entertaining, but it's appeal is a rather masochistic one.