Meet the Mobsters (2005)
"Johnny Slade's Greatest Hits" (original title)

Down-and-out lounge singer Johnny Slade is hired by a mystery man to open a hot new club, the catch being he's given a new--and terrible--song to sing each night. Noticing that whenever he ... See full summary »

Director:

Larry Blamire

Writers:

Larry Blamire, John Fiore (story)

Stars:

John Fiore, Vincent Curatola, Dolores Sirianni

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Fiore	...	Johnny Slade
Vincent Curatola	...	Mr. Samantha
Dolores Sirianni	...	Charlie Payne
Richard Portnow	...	Jerry Kaminski
Douglas Stevens	...	Red Peters (as Doug Stevens)
Frank Santorelli	...	Lou Genova
Ray Iannicelli	...	Steve Labonte
John Tromboli	...	Al Colletti
Joseph R. Gannascoli	...	Abner Hunnicutt (as Joe Gannascoli)
Dossy Peabody	...	Special Agent O'Donnell
Richard Snee	...	Special Agent McDonnell
Lonnie Farmer	...	Special Agent Donaldson
David Ian	...	Billy Toole
Eugene Boles	...	Tully
Ken Cheeseman	...	Victor

Storyline

Down-and-out lounge singer Johnny Slade is hired by a mystery man to open a hot new club, the catch being he's given a new--and terrible--song to sing each night. Noticing that whenever he sings one a new crime is committed, Johnny gradually realizes his songwriter-benefactor is a powerful mob boss in hiding and his "Greatest Hits" are the only way the man can give orders to his crew...

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Plot Keywords:

club | lounge singer | mob boss | singer | fbi | 

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Taglines:

A little talent... can be a dangerous thing

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Music

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 August 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Meet the Mobsters

Filming Locations:

Tewksbury, Massachusetts, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Johnny Slade Productions, Winston Davis and Associates

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

User Reviews

My new favorite mob movie

I seem among commenters to be alone as someone who came into this movie not as a Sopranos fan, but as a Larry Blamire fan—I've only seen The Sopranos once. It was good, but not enough for me to get cable hooked up again.

So no, I come in as a rabid Skeleteer, a fan of "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra". And I was *going* to quote my IMDb review of Lost Skeleton, wondering what Blamire's directing style was like when he was shooting for himself and not emulating a style or genre, but looking at it, I see I never actually made that query in that review, so apparently I'm going to have to quote a hallucination.

It is *definitely* a question I had in mind after one of my (large but still finite number)th viewing of Lost Skeleton: if he's shooting a movie for its own sake, how would he do it? The answer is: extremely well. When you take the camera off lockdown, he moves it sensibly, a welcome relief from the vertigo-inducing roller-coaster Peter Jackson used on 'King Kong' or the attention-deficit jump-cuttery of Michael (spitspit) Bay. Personally, I found his technique reminiscent of Altman: the camera moves with purpose, not just because it can. The violence is handled with care: real enough to underscore the plot, not so real as to derail the comedy.

I'm looking forward to further non-genre projects in addition to The Lost Skeleton Returns Again, Dark and Stormy Night, and whatever else he may have in mind.

The writing—heck, I'm still giggling over "Some of the biggest comedians in the world have done comedy!" It's perfect. Some of the … well, it's too twisted to be a simple 'turn of a phrase'. Some of the phrasing is very reminiscent of Lost Skeleton. Like the directing, however, when freed from the restrictions of the genre, we see whole new dimensions to Blamire's work.

John Fiore dove in all the way to the character of Johnny Slade. I can't even begin to think of how many takes it required in studio to get a clean take on those lyrics. He's completely committed to the character, and so is Vincent Curatola as the mysterious and weirdly creative Mr. Samantha, and watching their interactions as their relationship evolves over the course of the movie is terrific.

Highly recommended, whatever the title (it'll always be "Johnny Slade's Greatest Hits" to me—"Meet the Mobsters" just doesn't swing). It's funny all the way through—I had several 'pause for an extended gigglefit' moments.

8/10