Kill the Irishman (2011)

The true story of Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug working for mobsters in Cleveland during the 1970's.

Director:

Jonathan Hensleigh

Writers:

Jonathan Hensleigh (screenplay), Jeremy Walters (screenplay),

Stars:

Ray Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Val Kilmer

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ray Stevenson	...	Danny Greene
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	John Nardi
Val Kilmer	...	Joe Manditski
Christopher Walken	...	Shondor Birns
Linda Cardellini	...	Joan Madigan
Tony Darrow	...	Mikey Mendarolo
Robert Davi	...	Ray Ferritto
Fionnula Flanagan	...	Grace O'Keefe
Bob Gunton	...	Jerry Merke
Jason Butler Harner	...	Art Sneperger
Vinnie Jones	...	Keith Ritson
Tony Lo Bianco	...	Jack Licavoli
Laura Ramsey	...	Ellie O'Hara
Steve Schirripa	...	Mike Frato (as Steven R. Schirripa)
Paul Sorvino	...	Tony Salerno

Storyline

The true story of Danny Greene, an impoverished but charismatic young Irish-American who rises to power as president of longshoreman's local and is charged with corruption but evades serious jail time by becoming an FBI informant. With fearless nerve he joins forces with a Mafia gangster to rise to power in Cleveland's underworld, gaining the reputation of a Robin Hood figure and a man with nine lives as he escapes countless assassination attempts.

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Plot Keywords:

longshoreman | corruption | irish american | mafia | assassination attempt | 

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Taglines:

Based on the true story of Danny Greene the man the mob couldn't kill

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Genres:

Action | Biography | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexual content/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Anchor Bay Films [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 May 2012 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Bulletproof Gangster

Filming Locations:

Detroit, Michigan, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$145,430 (USA) (11 March 2011)

Gross:

$1,187,711 (USA) (24 June 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anchor Bay Films, Code Entertainment, Dundee Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Both actor 'Ray Stevenson' and director 'Jonathan Hensleigh' have been with The Punisher film series (despite all three films have been reboots). Ray played The Punisher in Punisher: War Zone and Jonathan directed The Punisher.

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Goofs

In the movie, Danny Greene is killed in his Cadillac, but in reality he was killed in his Lincoln Continental.

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Quotes

Joan Madigan: [Looking at the run-down house] We can't live here!
Danny Greene: It'll have to do.
Joan Madigan: What are you gonna do for work?
Danny Greene: It's Ameriva - the land of opportunity.

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Connections

Featured in Youngstown: Still Standing (2010)

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Soundtracks

"DON'T WORRY TRACY"
Written by Doug Davis
Performed by Christopher Blue
Courtesy of John P. Dixon for Blue Ram and Fervor Records

User Reviews

Deserved a bigger budget

Kill the Irishman tells the story of Danny Greene and his rise from rags to riches through the mob and their many attempts at killing him. Being of Irish decent, the aspect of this one Irish guy who kept getting on the Italian mob's nerves, it peaked my interest.

The film has a great story to tell and I can only imagine how amazing the film would have been if they had a director like Martin Scorsese behind the camera. That's what I kept feeling while I watched this film, that it was a Scorsese wannabe. That's not exactly a bad thing, because I did enjoy the film, but I wanted to enjoy it so much more.

There are aspects of the film that are great and if a masterful craftsman were behind the camera than I can honestly see this film being one of the best of the year. The film feels short on a lot of things, mainly the small things that would have made this film great. The relationship between him and his wife was nonexistent. The smaller characters played by Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer and Vinnie Jones deserved more screen time. There was a relationship between Stevenson and Kilmer that was interesting, as one was a cop and the other a known mobster, but the film decided not to dive any further than two scenes. I hate to throw Goodfellas into the mix, but had the story been crafted more like that film, then this could have been great.

The story is based on true events, with some liberties of course. Some of the special effects, like the car bombings are incredibly poor. A story like this deserves a bit more attention to detail from the writer and director. It felt like they loved the story, but didn't know exactly how to tell it. Again, if they had proper backing in the budget department, then this film would have been really great. The car bombing scenes are really poorly done and this is such an integral part of the film. Some of them are actual explosions, others aren't. It's poor production values, stick with the real thing.

Kill the Irishman is a good movie when it should be a great movie. In terms of gangster flicks, it's one of the better ones. It's nowhere near the calibre of Goodfellas or Donnie Brasco. It feels like the odd film that wants to be apart of the family. It just falls short of admittance. A good film is good film though.