Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998)

Takeoff on the Godfather with the son of a mafia king taking over for his dying father

Director:

Jim Abrahams

Writers:

Jim Abrahams, Greg Norberg,

Stars:

Jay Mohr, Billy Burke, Christina Applegate

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jay Mohr	...	Anthony 'Tony' Cortino
Billy Burke	...	Joey Cortino
Christina Applegate	...	Diane Steen
Pamela Gidley	...	Pepper Gianini
Olympia Dukakis	...	Sophia
Lloyd Bridges	...	Vincenzo Cortino
Jason Fuchs	...	Young Vincenzo Cortino
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

Storyline

Young Vincenzo Cortino, son of a Sicilian postman, delivers a package for his father and accidentally sees something he should not see. In a donkey's, well, he is smuggled out of town, where he tries to reach a ship headed for America. There, Vincenzo works his way up to the top of the Mafia. One day, his youngest son makes a mistake and has to leave town. A little later, he ends up as a casino boss in Las Vegas. But the heads of the other families want old Don Cortino out of the way. So, they shoot him 47 times and send a *very* attractive woman to distract his son from his casino work. Will he fall for her or will he return to Diane, who, by the way, had run for President successfully in the meantime?

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Plot Keywords:

casino | mafia | donkey | boss | war hero | 

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Taglines:

From One of the Goodfellas that brought you the Naked Gun

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor, language, violence and drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 July 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mafia!

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$6,577,961 (USA) (24 July 1998)

Gross:

$19,882,538 (USA) (16 October 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tapestry Films, Touchstone Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In keeping with the jokey nature of the proceedings, composer John Frizzell had his name Italianised for the credits into Gianni Frizzelli.

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Goofs

Lloyd Bridges' character Don Cortino is called "Don Cortizone" at one point in the film.

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Quotes

Anthony Cortino: Gianini... any Sicilian in you?
Pepper Gianini: Not since last night.

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Crazy Credits

Another caption informs us that Anthony's son went on to become the first blonde leader of an organized crime syndicate.

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Connections

Spoofs Striptease (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Joy of Living"
Written by Ray Davies

User Reviews

Armani windbreaker

Jim Abrahams, the director of "Jane Austen's Mafia", is a man that knows a thing, or two, about what to give the public as he has already shown in his acerbic satires. This one, came without any warning the other night and frankly, either we were in a giddy mood, or we were ready to laugh looking at this spoof on the different Godfathers films, as well as others, most notably, Goodfellas and Casino. Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese might have laughed at seeing some of the material they directed seen in a different light.

The casting was excellent. LLoyd Bridges, for whom the film is dedicated, gives a great performance as the older Vincenzo Cortino. Jay Mohr as the younger Cortino is good. The same can be said for the rest of the cast that do some amazing funny turns.

The only suggestion is to stay tuned to the credits because of the funny lines in between the names of the people involved in this film. If you're in a mood for fun and want to see some light fare, this is the film for you.