Prizzi’s Honor
A film whose premise was curiously redone in recent years with the atrocious Mr. And Mrs. Smith (two contract killers fall in love, get married, then learn that they’ve been assigned to kill each other), this 1985 release, one of the last from legendary director John Huston and showered with Oscar love at the time, has been largely forgotten mostly due to its slower pace and more old fashioned approach to its material, and whereas Smith took the obvious Hollywood route with the storyline, this one takes more time to explore the depths of respect, loyalty, and integrity. Jack Nicholson stars as Charley Partanna, a none too bright hitman for the mob who nonetheless is so adept at his line of work that in many cases his reputation precedes him, but when he meets a certain woman, all pretenses of discipline go out the window. Kathleen Turner (whose career died quicker than anyone else when the 80s ended) plays THAT woman, herself a professional killer who establishes great chemistry with Nicholson but yet makes the viewer wonder if she truly cares about him or is merely stringing him along. The problem arises when the mob learns that she is involved in ripping them off for a large amount of money, and also killing a mob accountant in the process, but Nicholson tries to ensure that there is nothing to worry about, even though she is also Polish which is something the Sicilians don’t take too well to. Couple that with the fact that Nicholson has earned the enmity of one of the top bosses for his failed romance with the guy’s daughter (Anjelica Huston, who won a Supporting Actress Oscar here but really doesn’t get a lot of screen time) who unknowingly hires Turner to carry out the contract on her husband, and that’s where the complications arise. Certainly Nicholson with his Brooklyn mook accent is a little different than what we’re used to seeing, and as stated Turner matches him in the chemistry department. Other roles see Robert Loggia pretty much wasted in a nothing, empty suit part as one of the other bosses, Lee Richardson as the boss who wants Nicholson’s head on a stick, John Randolph as Nicholson’s father who is also high up on the food chain and best of all William Hickey as the old Don himself: Made up to look like he’s in his nineties (when actually he was in his mid fifties), frail and shriveled up but still drunk with the power he has held for decades, Hickey is at the same time hideous yet mesmerizing, cackling wickedly over his machinations while alternating between being childish and sinister, and it’s a shock that such a stunning turn would fail to win the Oscar for Supporting Actor (which he was nominated for) when it is very clear that he owns this movie, stealing every scene from his better known co-stars and WITHOUT A DOUBT being the clear inspiration for Mr. Burns of The Simpsons fame in later years. Hickey does a virtuoso job of bringing this character to life and more importantly nails home the irony of the film that this seemingly evil, depraved old man actually possesses more reason and integrity than anyone else in the story, since at many times it seems clear that it would make things easier for him to simply have Nicholson killed and cut his losses, and even allow Turner to try to make things right with him and the family, before the inevitable decision is made of what has to be done leading up to the final scenes. And the ending itself, while shocking and sad, is also a departure from the way modern-day Hollywood would have handled things (and did very stupidly with Mr. And Mrs. Smith). The dark humor that the film promised (this was promoted as a comedy) doesn’t really surface much, and the pacing at many times is slow and can’t quite get going, but Hickey and his amazing, macabre work elevates it and makes it the main reason worth watching today, despite the presence of Nicholson and the other big names…
7/10