Movies starring Chazz Palminteri
New York-born and raised Chazz Palminteri was a natural choice to continue the Italianate torch in film. In the tradition set forth in the 1970s by such icons as director 'Martin Scorsese' (qv) and actors 'Robert De Niro' (qv), 'Harvey Keitel' (qv) and 'Joe Pesci' (qv), Palminteri brought grit, muscle and an evocative realism to the sidewalks of his New York neighborhood, violent as they were. Born in 1952, Palmintieri grew up in a tough area of the Bronx and it gave young Calogero (Palminteri's given first name) the life lessons that would later prove very useful. He graduated from Theodore R ...
show all New York-born and raised Chazz Palminteri was a natural choice to continue the Italianate torch in film. In the tradition set forth in the 1970s by such icons as director 'Martin Scorsese' (qv) and actors 'Robert De Niro' (qv), 'Harvey Keitel' (qv) and 'Joe Pesci' (qv), Palminteri brought grit, muscle and an evocative realism to the sidewalks of his New York neighborhood, violent as they were. Born in 1952, Palmintieri grew up in a tough area of the Bronx and it gave young Calogero (Palminteri's given first name) the life lessons that would later prove very useful. He graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and started out pursuing his craft in 1973 studying with 'Lee Strasberg' (qv) at the Actor's Studio. He appeared off-Broadway in the early 1980s while paying his dues as a bouncer and doorman in nightclubs, among other jobs. In 1986 he headed west and found that his ethnic qualifications helped tremendously. Slick attorneys, tough hoods and hard-nosed cops were all part of his "tough guy" persona in such TV shows as "Wiseguy" (1987), "Matlock" (1986) and "Hill Street Blues" (1981). In films he started off playing a 1930s-style gangster in 'Sylvester Stallone' (qv)'s Oscar (1991/I). Although his roles were sharp, well-acted and with a distinct edge to them, there was nothing in them to show that he was capable of stronger leading parts. Then in 1988 he wrote himself a play entitled "A Bronx Tale," a powerful one-man stage commentary in which he depicted his bruising childhood in great detail, which included witnessing gangland slayings. Palminteri brought each and every character to life (18 in all) in this autobiographical piece -- his friends, enemies, even his own family. He showcased for years in both Los Angeles and New York, finally sparking the interest of his film idol, 'Robert De Niro' (qv). DeNiro, wanting to direct for the first time, saw the potential of this project and brought both it and the actor/writer to the screen. Palminteri played one of the flashier roles, Sonny, a gangster, in the movie version. An unknown film commodity at the time, he had stubbornly refused to sell his stage property (the offers went into the seven figures) unless he was part of the package as both actor and screenwriter. DeNiro, who became his mentor, backed him up all the way, and the rest is history. Bronx Tale, A (1993) was a major crowd pleaser as well as a critical hit, and, at age 41 Palminteri became an "overnight" star. Other important projects quickly fell his way. He received a well-deserved Oscar nomination the following year for his portrayal in 'Woody Allen' (qv)'s hilarious jazz-era comedy Bullets Over Broadway (1994) of a Runyonesque-type hit man. He was on the right side of the law in both Perez Family, The (1995) - his first romantic lead--and Usual Suspects, The (1995). He was the ill-fated brute in Diabolique (1996) and wrote a second screenplay, Faithful (1996), in which he again plays a hit man, terrorizing both 'Cher (I)' (qv) and 'Ryan O'Neal' (qv). Though finding himself invariably caught in a rather tight-fitting typecast, it has been a secure and flashy one that continues to run strong into the millennium. Surprisingly, the one obvious show he has yet to be featured in is HBO's "Sopranos, The" (1999), but it's probably just a matter of time.
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Robert De Niro gives one of his best comedy performances to date in this feel-good Mafia tale from Groundhog Day director Harold Ramis. De Niro stars as a Manhattan Mob boss whose stressful lifestyle causes him to seek undercover therapy from psychiatrist Billy Crystal. De Niro’s deadpan responses to the Freudian dissections, together with soon-to-be-married Crystal’s increasing entanglement with the “family” business, bring on the laughs thick and fast. There’s a clever script packed with fresh repartee, digs at GoodFellas and hilarious moments of joyous farce, and Ramis’s skilled timing allows the two dynamic leads to show their full comic potential.
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You can forgive Britain’s major movie magazines for not spotting the impact this audacious thriller was going to have. Few had even heard of director Bryan Singer or screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, and there wasn’t much feature potential in the jobbing actors of the mug-shot line-up. Yet, by the end of 1995, it was vying with Shallow Grave and The Shawshank Redemption for the number one spot in most people’s top tens and Kevin Spacey was suddenly the coolest actor in Hollywood. Was it because it gave the world the criminal mastermind Keyzer Soze? Maybe it was the intricacy of the flashback-packed script and the deft sleights of hand executed by its fledgeling director. Perhaps everyone admired the outstanding ensemble acting. Yes, Spacey stole the show and fully merited the best supporting actor Oscar for his mesmerising performance, but everyone in that rogues’ gallery played their part to perfection, not to mention the mysterious Pete Postlethwaite and confused cops Dan Hedaya and Chazz Palminteri. Or was it simply that noticeboard that kept coming back to haunt everyone? Whatever the reason, it’s a film that demands to be watched again and again — this is good old-fashioned pulp fiction told in the slickest 1990s style.
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Susan Sarandon must have been full of the wrong kind of yuletide spirit when she signed up for this indie drama. She’s prominent among a semi-starry line-up that includes Paul Walker, Penélope Cruz and (an uncredited) Robin Williams as despairing New Yorkers whose lonely lives intertwine in the most unlikely of ways. It’s a premise so well-trodden by low-budget film-makers that it’s almost become a genre all of its own. Unfortunately, writer David Hubbard adds nothing particularly original to the concept, except to set the action on Christmas Eve and then throw in a couple of jarring twists from out of the blue. Director Chazz Palminteri (best known for playing Mafia hoods in films such as Bullets over Broadway and A Bronx Tale) tries to build a case for modern miracles, but half-baked revelations and saccharine sentiment are tough to swallow and tedious to watch. This is surely the true demeaning of Christmas.
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Fourteen years after it was critically acclaimed on Broadway, David Rabe’s hard-hitting play about moral bankruptcy in Hollywood ends up on screen a dated bore. An outstanding cast makes the most of Rabe’s razor-sharp dialogue, which covers all offensive bases from dark misogyny to cynical drug-taking. Alas, Anthony Drazan’s static direction fails to lift the stagey material, and all attempts to open out this fear and self-loathing talkfest fail miserably. Kevin Spacey, giving his most subtle performance, and Anna Paquin, in her first adult role, bolster Sean Penn’s star turn. Overall, though, this is a draining and mind-numbing experience.
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Little Red Riding Hood gets a low-grade Shrek makeover in this cheap-looking slice of computer-generated animation. Fitfully clever rather than funny, sluggish when it should be sassy, this uses a Rashomon approach to retell the classic tale from four perspectives. Kung fu fighting Red (voiced by a strident Anne Hathaway) remains closest to the original characters, while extreme-sports enthusiast Granny (Glenn Close), undercover reporter Big Bad Wolf (Patrick Warburton) and down-on-his-luck Woodsman (James Belushi) wander off the page. A moustached frog named Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers) is the Poirot of the piece, trying to unravel the anachronistic puzzle. Despite the occasional amusing line and non-stop references to other fairy tales, the sameness of each character’s version of events soon becomes tedious, while the bland songs, ranging between hard rock and show tunes, don’t help.
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