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DVD REVIEW ARCHIVE
POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE (1984)
MGM / SHOCK DVD (region 4)
d. Stuart Rosenberg; pr. Gene Kirkwood, Howard W. Koch Jr.; scr. Vincent Patrick; novel. Vincent Patrick; ph. John Bailey; m. Dave Grusin; ed. Robert Brown; cast. Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Darryl Hannah, Jack Kehoe, Burt Young, Geraldine Page, Kenneth McMillan, Tony Musante, M. Emmett Walsh (121 mins)
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Stuart Rosenberg & the Cult of the Social Misfit
Stuart Rosenberg is an intriguing director who has rarely been accorded the attention his works deserve.
Emerging from episodic television, he made a provocative impact with the movie of Cool Hand Luke, thereafter forming a partnership with star Paul Newman for several films. He has a concern for vaguely anti-authoritarian, aimless characters and favours a style of behaviourist observation. Leisurely paced and with an often Naturalistic approach, his non-conformists are prey to disillusionment, his study of such misfits often filled with great reserve about the small injustices in American society. As his misfits are swamped by circumstance though, their alienation is arguably also an ambiguous triumph. Along these lines, Rosenberg made a loose trilogy of films centred on New York City, with The April Fools, Move and The Pope of Greenwich Village, wherein he turned to comedy for the depiction of strugglers in over their heads but who nonetheless dream of personal freedom, to better themselves and their environment. These films were increasingly behaviourist and even socially deterministic, with characters made aware of their discontent. All three made good use of then “hot” actors – a neurotic Jack Lemmon for The April Fools, a highly self-pitying Elliott Gould for Move and in the case of The Pope of Greenwich Village the director was fortunate enough to work with two young actors in the prime of their careers.
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Synopsis (contains spoilers)
The Pope of Greenwich Village tells the story of the unusually strong bond between two Italian-American cousins, played by Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts.
Rourke is a suave and slick figure who aspires to open his own country restaurant with his girlfriend Daryl Hannah. Roberts is a somewhat foolish small-time operator who wants to live a stylish life – he needs money to buy part of the sure-fire track-winning racehorse he expects to give him this wealth. Both are employed at a restaurant where Roberts is skimming from the cheques. He is found out and the both of them are fired. As Rourke’s personal life is collapsing, Hannah tells him not to listen to or stick up for Roberts, whilst Roberts tells Rourke of the perfect heist. Bound to his cousin seemingly no matter what, Rourke agrees and meets the third party, played by an ageing Kenneth McMillan, who also aspires to a better life. They embark on the robbery but are interrupted by a crooked policeman (Jack Kehoe) who dies in the process. Rourke discovers the policeman was wired and takes the cassette tape. He knows there is more to this robbery than there seems and pressures Roberts for more info. Roberts relents and reveals that the cash is tip-off money belonging to a local Mafia gangster (Burt Young) with a penchant for hurting those who cross him. When it seems that Young may indeed know who is responsible, they must consider an out.
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Urban Determinism, Social Darwinism & the Struggle for Self-Assurance
Bound in an evocative sense of neighbourhood and with a genuinely endearing, good-natured humour throughout, The Pope of Greenwich Village is a quiet study of people put upon by urban circumstance and who turn to criminality in an effort to escape.
On its own quiet level, the film thus addresses the desperation of ordinary people who seek financial security in their lives, very much a theme in 1980s American films increasingly influenced by the burgeoning sub-culture of yuppie materialism. Even the corrupt policeman is a decent, likeable figure (making good use of the undervalued character actor Jack Kehoe) who has resorted to corruption to stay afloat and make a better life for himself and for his dependent mother. Into this is woven a touching story of loyalty and responsibility: Hannah tells Rourke that he finally should outgrow Roberts, to which Rourke responds that he can never outgrow people. There perhaps is his main flaw, that he truly loves his rather goofy cousin to the point where loyalty affects his better judgement. In a world where personal and socio-economic hardships seem insurmountable, kinship is the needed bond – the last vestige of humanity, even if it ironically may be detrimental. Roberts in turn believes that everything will work out and it is perhaps this naively optimistic quality that Rourke admires and nourishes. These cousins need each other or one feels they will collapse.
Socio-economic impulses may impel these people into criminality but they all have varied reasons for finally making the leap. For some it is a last resort but for others it is merely an easy alternative. Interestingly, Hannah says that she was raised to believe that criminals were weak, to which Rourke counters that no other code will work in this city.
This illustrates a running theme – the analysis of weakness and strength in the battle against an entrapping social environment. Despite their better plans, it all starts unravelling for Rourke and Roberts, who seem a modern variant on the bumbling cowboy partners played by Paul Newman and Lee Marvin in Rosenberg’s earlier Pocket Money. The twist is that where the cowboys almost innately fought to keep themselves honest, modern city dwelling has made criminality a much more formidable option. Nevertheless, the film builds to the one moment of triumph allowed these characters, however fleeting that may be: such is the environment that spawned them and to which they disappear back into, elusively battling the nature of responsibility. With several ingratiating performances, especially by Roberts (who is dismissed as an “idiot” by Hannah who in turn represents for Rourke the stable, conventional nine-to-five working future that he ultimately rejects), this is a surprising gem of a movie, achieving a resonant but gently comedic social determinism.
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CLASSIC SCENES
"The Bedbug took my thumb"
Economic Desperation
Socio-Economic Transcendence: the New York City Neighbourhood Blues
The transfer is functional although alas is presented in 4:3 fullscreen only, though is in widescreen in the region 1 (US) release.
There is a gritty authenticity to the New York locations which emphasizes the sense of neighbourhood and its socio-economic hardship. At times, the transfer has an ugly, almost greasy quality, but this makes for an added emphasis to the contrast between the dark warmth of interiors and the greying cityscape outside. There are occasional striking shots of light sources in the frame, and a nice use of reflective glasses in a restaurant stands out in one instance. Rosenberg manages a fine sense of illusive openness to the neighbourhood as it soon gives way to more constricting pressures. Thus, there is a stress on people’s movement through the frame as contrasted to stasis: both Rourke and Roberts seemingly have difficulty keeping still. Most of the time the film manages an understated, Naturalistic look, with more shadow and colour reserved for the interiors, the exteriors managing a fine autumnal feel. The sense of urban determinism pervades this film, contributing to the characters’ struggle to somehow stand out. Rosenberg’s camera is often fluid and concentrates on observing these people, stressing the importance of performance: backgrounds are thus often out of focus to give attention to the people, but at other times the use of deep focus anchors the characters in location – film style reflecting their battle to transcend their environment.
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Bustling Lives, Neighbourhood Ties and the Sounds of the Cityscape
The sound transfer in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo is effective as the gentle film hardly renders itself to home theatre spectacle.
Much of the film’s sense of authenticity is carried in the aural design as the noises of the city work as a frequent background, as only the interiors offer any protection from bustling lives. A sense of busy-ness (people moving, traffic, trains, etc) thus runs throughout this design. The film features a nice recurrent use of the Frank Sinatra song “The Summer Wind”, a motif signalling the continued optimism possible, the sweet hope for a change in the weather. It is refreshing. Voices are always clear, as the amusing contrast between Rourke and Roberts comes across as much through voice as it does in the way they present themselves physically. Behaviour is as much tone of voice in this film, and Hannah in that sense is a potential stabilizing force, an alternative possibility for Rourke as much as a tempter who would urge him away from his childhood friends and neighbourhood ties. The transfer preserves an effective aural feel for neighbourhood and the respite from urbanity that people seek is briefly found in the scene where Rourke and Hannah drive out to the country restaurant they would ideally like to take over. Different locations have suitably different audio presences, hence the tense, effective contrast between the streets, the interiors and the race-course at the end of the film.
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Bare Bones for the Home Viewer
Special features consist of an original theatrical trailer and a photo gallery of movie stills. Multi-zone collectors may wish in turn (or prefer) to acquire the region 1 DVD version, which is listed in Dolby Digital mono but is presented in anamorphic widescreen.
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