a5c7b9f00b Two cousins unknowingly rob the mob and face the dangerous consequences. &quot;Little Italy&quot; in New York: Charlie and his cousin Paulie aren&#39;t lucky job-wise. Charlie is cool, but Paulie&#39;s maroonic behavior constantly brings them in trouble. Then Paulie comes up with the idea to rob the safe of a small company. Together with a safe expert they go for it. However the $150,000 they get are hot: it belongs to the mob and was intended to corrupt the police. The mob only knows the name of the safe man, but they try very hard to find the rest of the gang, too… The story of two unlucky cousins inspired to do anything to obtain a little lucky success, set against an odd, yet lovable soundtrack.<br/><br/>Rourke describes this filmthe one &#39;he had the most fun working on&#39;, a film which precedes his turbulent career downfall and his sad loss of beauty. Eric Roberts, Julia&#39;s once-estranged brother plays the role of Paulie, a dumb, easily led yet strangely likable character who&#39;s echoes of &#39;Charleeee&#39; will be inprinted in your mind every time you think of this film. This is the first 80s film I have seen featuring Daryl Hannah, in fact the first film other than the Kill Bill films I have seen her in. Her looks and figure in the 1980s were darn near perfection, how she didn&#39;t break out into a full on A-Lister based on natural looks alone baffles me.<br/><br/>Ultimately there is something I find fascinating about watching Mickey Rourke 1980s films, perhaps it is because he was so near to full blown stardom before he ruined it all, perhaps it is the surprise at just how ugly he has managed to become, to the point of being virtually unrecognizable.<br/><br/>Overall The Pope of Greenwich Village is a film featuring two rogues who you cant help but love with a storyline you should really hate, but somehow end up loving. So the same applies to the soundtrack, the cast and everything else involved in the film then… Mickey Rourke (he&#39;s Charlie) and Eric Roberts (he&#39;s Paulie) play a pair of poor Italian restaurant workers fired when the latter is caught stealing. Daryl Hanna is around to attract the lecherous glances. Geraldine Page and Kenneth McMillan are around to attract the awards conscious.<br/><br/>Most obvious is the performance of Mr. Roberts - possibly, the movie fails because he puts more into his character than he puts into the key relationship with Mr. Rourke&#39;s character; for whatever reasons, Roberts steals the all the attention. Even when Rourke hysterically trashes his home, it&#39;s because of Roberts more than anything (in your mind&#39;s eye). Roberts adds some interesting bits to his character - the hair, the accent, the thing he does with his tongue … he is quite memorable. But, the film&#39;s main character, if you had to pick one, is supposed to be Rourke. That character doesn&#39;t work, either. The Italian gang led by the &quot;Bed Bug&quot; makes it a &quot;dangerous crime comedy&quot; when it isn&#39;t a &quot;serious buddy film&quot;.<br/><br/>There is a story - a Roberts scheme to rob a safe peaks about mid-film; it is well done, and involves Ms. Page&#39;s winning performance of a cop&#39;s mother. Though exciting, you&#39;ll find little blood (even in a gruesome scene). An interesting, albeit failed, character study from director Stuart Rosenberg. <br/><br/>***** The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) Stuart Rosenberg ~ Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Geraldine Page Little works in this contrived mess, but by far the worst aspect of it is Roberts' over-the-top histrionics. The film tries hard to create a relationship similar to that of Harvey Keitel and Robert DeNiro in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, but the actors' performances are so out of sync that the effort quickly becomes hopeless.
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