Gangster Cinema Central
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In Scarface, when Sosa’s enforcer recognizes Omar as an informant, Sosa decides to have him killed. But that’s not the only reason he wants him dead. In fact, Omar might not have even been an informant at all. Oliver Stone’s original screenplay reveals that there is much more going on in this scene than the finished film suggests. To understand why Sosa was so eager to have Omar removed, you first have to understand the precarious situation he is in before Tony and Omar ever arrive in Bolivia. Sosa has invested heavily in an enormous cocaine operation, with multiple refining facilities capable of producing hundreds of kilos of cocaine every month. But that scale creates problems of its own. His workers, security, coca suppliers and political protection all have to be paid for, whether the cocaine sells or not. And Sosa has “no steady market.” Traffickers are buying smaller, irregular quantities, leaving him unable to move his product consistently. As he says in the original screenplay: “Nobody can run a business that way.” What Sosa needs is a regular buyer, and he’s offering a great price: 200 kilos at $7,000 per kilo. To put that into perspective, in early 1980s Miami, a kilo of pure cocaine could sell wholesale for at least $30,000. A deal like that could gross around $15 million per month in today’s dollars. And potentially much more once the cocaine is broken down and sold off in smaller quantities. So the question is: if Sosa’s cocaine is so profitable, why doesn’t he have traffickers from all over the United States lining up to buy from him on a regular basis? The answer is simple, but it’s not really spelled out in the finished film… (1/3)
Gangster Cinema Central611,376 просмотров • 2 дней назад
American Made is a highly underrated crime film based on the true story of Barry Seal - played by Tom Cruise - a pilot who worked for the CIA while simultaneously smuggling cocaine for the Medellín cartel. A fantastic movie and one of Cruise's most underappreciated performances.
Gangster Cinema Central351,887 просмотров • 4 дней назад
The hit squad that invades Tony Montana’s mansion at the end of Scarface was inspired by a real Bolivian paramilitary group known as Los Novios de la Muerte — “The Fiancés of Death.” The unit was made up of European neo-fascists, former SS/Gestapo figures, international mercenaries and Bolivian military personnel. The group operated under the financial backing of Roberto Suárez Gómez, the Bolivian cocaine kingpin Alejandro Sosa was based on. Suárez built a vast trafficking empire called La Corporación, which supplied coca paste to the Medellín Cartel. Los Novios de la Muerte was organized with the help of Klaus Barbie, the former Gestapo chief known as the “Butcher of Lyon,” who had fled Europe and was living in Bolivia under the name Klaus Altmann. It was commanded on the ground by West German neo-fascist and former Spanish Foreign Legionnaire Joachim Fiebelkorn. The unit protected Suárez’s cocaine infrastructure, targeted rival traffickers and carried out political violence on behalf of Bolivia’s military-narco alliance. In Scarface, writer Oliver Stone effectively compresses all of this into the simplified figure of Sosa: a powerful Bolivian drug lord whose interests are protected by his own private army.
Gangster Cinema Central287,005 просмотров • 9 дней назад
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Spoilers for Training Day: Denzel Washington says his character Alonzo was originally not supposed to die at the end of the film. However, he refused to play the character unless he suffered a brutal downfall. He explains why: “It was the first time playing a quote-unquote bad guy. The bad guy has all the fun, because you could get away with doing anything. One thing I made sure we changed right from the start—I said, ‘This guy has to die in the worst way.’ No, it was written that he lived. I said, ‘No, I can’t do the part like that. The only way I can justify being the worst guy is if he dies in the worst way.’ It wasn’t an accident that I wanted, when Ethan grabs me and punches me in the face, and I crawl on the floor like a snake, and the whole neighborhood turns against him, and then he gets his brains blown out. I wanted all of that. Then I could be the nastiest guy in the world. And women love that.” Denzel Washington, TIFF Conversation with Antoine Fuqua (2014)
Gangster Cinema Central330,184 просмотров • 14 дней назад
Towards the end of Sicario, Josh Brolin's character delivers a cynical monologue on the reality of the drug trade. The speech closely reflects writer Taylor Sheridan’s own views on the United States’ war on drugs. He explains: “I did a lot of research for Sicario. I was able to talk to some people on the inside. And to be honest, Sicario is the PG version of what it could have been. As barbaric as it is, we were shielded from the drug war. The film was really based on the 2010–2011 drug war. More people died in the five years around that than died in Vietnam… Illegal drugs are estimated at $3.3 trillion a year. We talk about Big Pharma as this fucking monster. Think about the fact that the illegal drug trade is bigger than Big Pharma. And there’s no way to know exactly how large it is, because it’s illegal... I don’t have the answer. I’ve written movies about this, and I don’t have the fucking answer. But look at overdose deaths from prescription medication—OxyContin and all these other drugs. These are heavily regulated narcotics, and the number of deaths is still substantially high. I don’t think it (legalization) would work. I talked about it in Sicario, where he says, ‘Until we can convince 20% of the population not to smoke and snort this shit, a measure of control is the best we can hope for.’”
Gangster Cinema Central704,160 просмотров • 28 дней назад
The scene in Casino where Joe Pesci repeatedly stabs a man in the neck with a pen came about through on-set improvisation. In earlier drafts of the script, Pesci just beat the guy down. After Pesci came up with the idea, he worked it through with former Chicago Outfit enforcer Frank Cullotta, who served as a technical adviser on the film. Cullotta was the former right-hand man of Tony Spilotro, the Mafia figure Pesci’s character was based on. He taught Pesci how to make the attack look authentic: how to grip the pen and angle it in a way that would do maximum damage. The technique was based on improvised weapon tactics Cullotta had seen used in prison.
Gangster Cinema Central193,490 просмотров • 9 дней назад
According to Quentin Tarantino, after Butch and Vincent’s face off at the bar in Pulp Fiction, Butch went outside and keyed Vincent’s car. Yes, Butch was the “fucker” who keyed his Malibu. Tarantino confirmed this during an appearance on the Opie and Anthony Show in 2007.
Gangster Cinema Central1,219,370 просмотров • 1 месяц назад
Chopper (2000) is one of the greatest Australian films ever made. Based on the true story of Mark “Chopper” Read, Australia’s most infamous standover man. Eric Bana’s performance is extraordinary. A brutal, darkly funny crime film. Wildly entertaining. Highly recommended.
Gangster Cinema Central402,570 просмотров • 24 дней назад
In Scarface, you never once see Manny snort cocaine. This was a deliberate choice by Brian De Palma. He even cut out a scene where Manny was doing coke in a jacuzzi with three naked women. Steven Bauer, who played Manny, explains why: “The funny thing is this: my character, if you watch the film, my character is never, ever shown doing a bump. Brian De Palma — the motherfucker — he never showed Manny doing that, and he did it for a reason. So when he catches me at the end with his sister, there’s more sympathy... It’s just the way it was cut, and it was cut so they would have that effect where it’s like: he killed his best friend, who was such a good guy. There’s a scene where I have the flower shirt on, and Jerry, the banker, is there. Then the guy leaves and Tony goes, ‘Fuckin’ cocksucker.’ Then he turns the thing over, makes some lines, and passes it to me. And they cut, though. You can hear me snorting it (at the 1:21 mark in the video below), but the camera stays on him. So it never shows Manny doing drugs. Psychologically and subliminally, Manny’s clean. And there’s another thing he didn’t do. He cut me out of — he shot two scenes. He shoots me in a jacuzzi, naked, with three girls, with champagne and cocaine — a mirror, a bottle, glasses of champagne, and a girl naked in the fucking jacuzzi. And I’m like, “Hey, come here,” like that. And then he didn’t use it.”
Gangster Cinema Central153,357 просмотров • 10 дней назад
For the prison riot scene in Shot Caller (2017), the extras were all former inmates or former gang members. The scene was filmed at Old Main, a former maximum-security prison south of Santa Fe that was the site of one of the most violent prison riots in American history.
Gangster Cinema Central524,714 просмотров • 1 месяц назад
Gomorrah is by far the best gangster series since The Sopranos. Set in the world of the Camorra, the Mafia of Naples, it’s based on journalist Roberto Saviano’s book. Saviano has lived under police protection since its publication 20 years ago, following threats from the Camorra.
Gangster Cinema Central487,093 просмотров • 1 месяц назад
At one point John Travolta was going to play Manny in Scarface, but they went with unknown actor Steven Bauer because they wanted someone who was actually Cuban. At the time, Bauer was a struggling actor being pigeonholed into becoming a soap star. He explains… "I left Hollywood because I wasn't getting really good roles, I was getting stupid roles in television, and I was like, "Fuck, I gotta get in." And I met Stella Adler, the great teacher, and she said, "Come to New York, darling, study with me. "You have to become an actor." So I went to New York. So I'm in New York for like a year, and at the end of the year, I'm starving - my agents in Hollywood think I'm absolutely nuts, and they're like, "You've gotta come home, or at least go in for a soap opera in New York, you have the right type, blah blah blah" And I'm like, "No, no, I'm not doing that." And they're like, "But you're gonna starve." And I go, "I'll deliver furniture." - So I was delivering furniture. And then on my last day, finally they come in, "We have a meeting for you. An audition for a TV movie, and maybe for another independent feature." And I go, "Okay." "So we'll get you the airfare and come home." - I go, "Okay, I'm coming home." So I'm in New York on that last day, and my manager calls me, she goes, "Wait, before you go to the airport. They're casting a movie with Al Pacino, it's called Scarface, and it's a remake of an old movie. And the second lead is a tall, handsome Cuban boy, who's fun, and that's you - It's to play his best friend." And I go, "Yeah, what shot do I have with that!?" And they go, "No, they want someone new. They want someone new." - So I go uptown… She (the casting agent) opens the door - and she goes, "Come in, come in, come in, come in. Sit down, tell me who you are. Tell me what you've done. Tell me what you're working on - You've done theater? - “Yeah”, and television? “Yes." “You speak Spanish?" - I go, "I'm Cuban." And she goes, "You're really Cuban!?" And I go, "Yeah." And she goes…“Hang on a second…" (Imitating phone dial) - Regular phone, no cell phones - “Yeah, yeah. Brian, I found your guy. Right in front on me! "I found Manny, I found Manny. I swear to God, you got to see him. Can you see him?...okay, I'll send him over” - click. She goes "Go down to - the Village on Fifth and Eighth Street. And go see Brian De Palma… I got in a cab, and there was so much traffic that I had to get out of the cab and run the rest of the way to the Village. Because I was stuck in traffic! And I was running out of money! I had no money left! So I run to meet him, and he opens the door, and he's very lackadaisical. He's very aloof, Brian. And he's like, "Mm….yeah, you look…yeah, I can see it…are you really Cuban?" I go, "Yeah, I'm really Cuban." "Can you really speak Spanish?" I go, "Yes!" And he goes... "Wait, I'm gonna call Marty Bregman. He's the producer. He's in LA." He calls Marty... "Marty, I have this kid. He's perfect…yes, he's Cuban…." He gets up and he goes, "Okay, go to LA. Go see Marty Bregman tomorrow. Go to his office. He'll give you a script, learn it, and in two weeks we'll fly you back here for auditions."…And I was like, "Fly me back? I didn't have enough, I couldn't pay my airfare…" And then I get home, and I tell my agents, and they say, "John Travolta's playing Manny." And I said, "Wait, John Travolta's playing Manny?" "Yeah." And I go, "No, no, no, no. They're telling me I have a good shot at it." And they go, "You're an idiot. And you believe everything you hear." …And they were fired, obviously (laughing). They work on Wall Street now… That’s really how it happened. I met Bregman, and Bregman said, "You're gonna do Scarface." Just like that in his office - And I said, "But, but, how do you know?" - he goes, "You're really Cuban, right?" And he goes, - "I don't want a star. I don't want a superstar. I don't want another star. I don't want a prima donna. I don't want any of that. You're gonna do Scarface.”
Gangster Cinema Central1,801,775 просмотров • 3 месяцев назад
One of the most shocking moments in Pulp Fiction was created using one of cinema's oldest editing tricks. The scene where Vincent Vega plunges an adrenaline needle into Mia Wallace’s chest to revive her from an overdose was incredibly difficult - and potentially dangerous - to pull off. Tarantino, however, found an ingenious way to make it work. The crew first planned to use an artificial chest plate on Thurman for the effect. But Tarantino felt it looked too fake up close, so he dropped that plan. That left Thurman's chest exposed -which was a major problem, as he needed Travolta to swing that needle down with enough force so it realistically looked like it was breaking through her ribcage. So Instead, he used an old filmmaking trick: shooting the scene backward. Travolta rested the needle tip right above Thurman's chest. Then, on cue, he yanked it straight up and away as hard and fast as he could. Since he was pulling away from her body instead of stabbing toward it, he could go full-force with no risk of hurting her. When they played that footage in reverse, the fast upward pull turned into a violent, high-speed downward plunge - exactly the effect they wanted. Tarantino's editor Sally Menke cut away right before the needle would've touched skin - jumping straight to a close-up of Thurman's eyes snapping open. The sound team added a heavy "thud" at that exact moment, which sells the impact perfectly, tricking the audience into believing they'd just watched a real puncture, even though they never actually saw it happen.
Gangster Cinema Central865,484 просмотров • 1 месяц назад
Quentin Tarantino wrote Butch in Pulp Fiction for Matt Dillon, but Dillon was unsure about the part. Tarantino needed another big-name actor alongside Harvey Keitel to get the film financed. Luckily, he was able to cast Bruce Willis in the role, he explains how. “We weren’t going out to Bruce Willis. Especially at that time, he was one of the top five, maybe even top three biggest stars in the world - He was definitely popular in America, but you go to Korea or somewhere like that - he was the man. What happened was, I originally wrote the part for Matt Dillon, because Matt Dillon was a fan of my script for Reservoir Dogs. The deal with Miramax was that we had an ensemble cast, but we needed at least one, if not two, Miramax-approved actors. After that, I could cast anybody I wanted, as long as there was somebody they considered a name that they could sell. Matt Dillon fell into the category of names they would accept. So I wrote it for Matt, and it seemed like getting him would be easy. But he read it and he wasn’t so sure. He liked it, but he was disturbed by the fact that you never actually see Butch boxing. He said, “I want to see the fight.” And maybe he didn’t one hundred percent get it. Also, he didn’t want to play that part. He wanted to play Vincent - that happened a lot. Any time I offered somebody a part, they wanted to play somebody else. So Matt didn’t say no, but he didn’t say yes. He still had to think about it. That was a little scary, because I thought I had him in the bag. With him, I had a go movie. Then all of a sudden, I didn’t have such a go movie anymore. Harvey Keitel, who's in the movie - he was one of the guys - so I had him. He was he was shooting in town. When he was shooting in town, he'd usually rent a house in Malibu. And so he would invite friends to come over for the weekend and hang out. And so I came over and I'm hanging out at Harvey's place. And then, well, it turns out that Bruce Willis was only living about three or four or five houses down the way. OK. And so I come over to Harvey's - and there's Bruce Willis. (1/2)
Gangster Cinema Central1,197,855 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад
Brian De Palma originally wanted Andy Garcia to play Capone's enforcer Frank Nitti in The Untouchables, but Garcia turned it down and lobbied for the role of George Stone instead - partly because he wanted to work alongside Sean Connery. Garcia explains... "Obviously I wanted to work with Connery. He was one of my childhood heroes, so I lobbied immediately to play the other part. I had to be firm about it —I wanted to roll the dice. Eventually I met with Brian, and I auditioned for George Stone, and they gave me the part…. The dynamics in the film were basically the dynamics on set. We all became very close, but the hierarchy stayed the same — he (Connery) was the older, wise guy, always jabbing at us, and it was my job, as my character, to push back. Respectfully, but to keep the exchanges going. I love Sean Connery. I’ll tell you a quick story — I’ve told it before, but it’s funny.... (1/2)
Gangster Cinema Central1,194,686 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад
In the final scene between Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in American Gangster, the moment when Denzel swats his coffee cup across the table was completely improvised. Russell Crowe then responded with his own subtle piece of improvisation. Ridley Scott explains: “That just happened. Denzel swatted the coffee off the table. It comes off Richie’s line, "And everything can return to normal." Denzel starts to talk about what he means by "normal", and he literally lost it; he got enraged and swatted the coffee. I thought that was pretty cool, so I just let it run. It’s only going to happen once; you can’t predesign these things. If it happens, it happens, and that’s great because you know it’s real. Then Russell, during the right moment, decided during the take – because I was running four cameras on them – to push the coffee back as is to say, "The ball’s in your court." Denzel didn’t immediately use that. I was waiting for him to slide it back. And then he chose the right moment to slide it back. That all happened spur of the moment.” Quote comes from an interview with Jeremy Smith. Oct, 2007
Gangster Cinema Central494,063 просмотров • 1 месяц назад
When Tarantino was casting Pulp Fiction, the script had so much heat on it in Hollywood, even Daniel Day-Lewis wanted to play Vincent Vega. But Tarantino was adamant the role had to go to John Travolta, despite the studios seeing him as washed up. Tarantino explains… “Absolutely nobody in the studio wanted John Travolta. And not only that, but it was also considered a really hot script at that time. When he was turning everything down, Daniel Day-Lewis expressed interest in playing Vincent. I like Daniel Day-Lewis —but I really wanted John. I had my heart set on him. And it's one thing to want the guy who's out of fashion when nobody else wants him, right? But when there's actually a hot guy who you can actually get, and you want to go with the guy from Barbarino? — Yes, I want the guy from Barbarino, I’m sorry... I was just kind of tough on it, in so far as — they really wanted to do the movie, and I just said, "look, I want to go this way, and if you don't agree that this is the way to go, then maybe we shouldn't make this movie together. Maybe I should make it with somebody else." It wasn't a take-it-or-leave-it kind of situation, right. It's like, "look, I think he's a terrific actor. I think what you should do is you should watch him in Brian De Palma's Blow Out, and if you don't think he's a terrific actor after that, then maybe we should talk about whether we should do this movie together." ...But also, aside from just that, there was this aspect: John Travolta is a movie star. Just because everyone in Hollywood had forgotten about it just shows how dumb they are. I actually walked down the street with John Travolta at his lowest ebb, in pre-production of the movie, and people would lose their minds when they saw him. We'd walk into a regular restaurant and we had to leave. Tourists in Hollywood would see him and just lose their minds. People were dying to see him in something worth watching. It's just stupid Hollywood didn't realize it.” Quote comes from Quentin Tarantino's appearance on the Opie and Anthony Show, 12-13-2012
Gangster Cinema Central622,060 просмотров • 1 месяц назад
In Casino, Scorsese packed the film with mob‑connected guys as extras and bit roles. One of the best examples is the scene where Pesci calmly confronts two wiseguys trying to shake down the Tangiers for $200K. The one on the left was cast perfectly, giving off the vibe of a slimy, low‑rent scumbag — because in real life, that’s exactly what he was. The part was played by John Manca, a former corrupt NYPD detective with connections to the Colombo and Bonanno crime families. He used his badge to coordinate burglaries and shake down bookmakers, was kicked off the force, did three years in prison for bank fraud, then rolled over on his mob associates and entered witness protection. His reaction to Pesci is priceless. Scorsese shoots him from a slightly lower angle that exaggerates the height difference, so even though Pesci is much shorter, he still leaves Manca completely shook with just a subtle warning.
Gangster Cinema Central785,221 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад
Mark Wahlberg was in the running to play one of the leads in The Departed, but when he got the call from Scorsese that he would be playing the much smaller role of Dignam instead, he hung up on him. He later accepted the role under one condition: he'd be allowed to improvise his lines and harangue his co-stars - the same ones who got the parts he missed out on.
Gangster Cinema Central1,356,921 просмотров • 3 месяцев назад