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Reviews
Under New Management (2009)
Should have gone theatrical!
Under New Management, a wonderful take on the Mafia genre, concerns a socially conscious Wall Street Yuppie named Robert Monte (played superbly by Chris Diamantopoulos) with ties to the mob. Raised by his uncle, a capo, because his own father was whacked, he honors said uncle's dying wish to reform his crew by helping them go legit and generate enough revenue to pay a mob debt, lest they all meet their demise. Robert forms a real-estate company and the wise guys turn into real-estate agents. On their road to legitimacy, they find it helpful to occasionally return to their mob roots when they need a little extra boost to pull something off. All this happens under the watchful eyes of a couple of FBI agents, one of whom is a beautiful, Irish woman played by Kelly Overton; her relationship with Monte forms a major subplot that keeps you wondering whether she wants to put Monte away for life or have his baby. The movie is a drama mostly played for laughs, and I found it brilliant and hysterical, with Monte continually comparing the Mafia to Wall Street: "Bernie Madoff made you guys look like shoplifters." What's so funny is how true his opinions are. When the gang grumbles about paying taxes, he points out to them, would you rather pay taxes or lawyers? Pay FICA or do prison time? A rich cast of pros (many you will recognize from forays on The Sopranos), supported by an intelligent script by Denis Hamill made this a winner for me. I don't plan on erasing it from my DVR anytime soon.
Touch of Evil (1958)
Heston the Mexican
Let's not forget, folks, Heston was shoved down Wells's throat. He didn't want to cast Heston as Vargas -- the studio wanted a "star" to play the role. But I think the future NRA frontman did fine in the role. In fact, the whole movie was cut to shreds and reedited (this happened a lot to Wells post-Citizen Kane). Look at what happened to the Magnificent Ambersons. Anyway, luckily, Touch of Evil was later recut to fall more in line with Wells's original vision. In fact, on the DVD I own, you can read Wells's impassioned memo to the empty studio heads imploring them to at least respect the film's tapestry, flow of visual images that no one but Wells and possibly some of the great critics could probably even appreciate. Thank God for DVD! I say the film works and is an excellent visual experience, with strong story telling, striking imagery (check out Deitrich!), memorable characters (did someone actually complain about Dennis Weaver as the schizo motel clerk?) We even have a gang rape of Janet Leigh, in a '50s movie. Just remember, ultimately, Wells's career was only a shadow of what it could have been thanks to the fallout of Citizen Kane. Hence, Wells would end up fatter than his Touch of Evil character, and selling no wine before its time. In fact we are lucky to have Heston as the Mexican Vargas; it is better than having no one, and no Touch of Evil (which is what the studio wanted once they viewed the film, which was several years' ahead of what they knew about film-making).