Customer Reviews

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unfortunely this movie was a sleeper in the theatres when it first came out. But check out the cast! Jo Ann Fleet (thoughtly modern millie) and Robert DeNiro in a comedy.An a comedy it is. It's just pure fun and a great uplifing movie if you have the blues. It's so funny and you won't be disappointed,,,i promise..

This is such a funny movie, but not in the obvious slapstick or toilet humor vein that passes for modern movie comedy nowadays. In this spoof of the Mafia and an attempted "hostile takeover", the humor is dark, sometimes subtle, with hilarity that simmers just under the surface. It helps to know something about Italian families---both regular and criminal---, but this movie is painfully funny nevertheless, much in the same way as the great British series "Fawlty Towers". This is a very 70's type of comedy, demanding that the viewer have an attention span and a sharp eye for detail. Like British and other genre comedies, it may not be for everyone, but we found it very enjoyable.

The cast is terrific: Jerry Orbach is perfect for the part of the luckless Sally Palumbo, Jo Van Fleet gives an incredible performance as his creepy mother, Leigh Taylor-Young is both tough and sweet as his little sister, and a young Robert DeNiro is superb as the con-artist Mario. The others, including Herve Villechaize, Lionel Stander, Joe Stantos and Frank Campanella, are all great and there isn't a bad actor in the wide array of supporting players. The story line is also well-written, taking the viewer on one sick and crazy ride through the bowels of both the Mafia and a "typical" Italian family---and who can say which is worse?

Pay close attention when watching this; some jokes are more readily apparent than others. Our personal favorites included: the panties' check done on the little sister by the neighborhood thugs as she heads for school (After which they report to her mother that, yes, she's wearing them.), the attempted knife-throw that cuts the power line, the professional mourner at the funerals, the demolitions expert who gets blown up by the cops using their radio to report his suspicious activity, and Sally Palumbo feeding his pet lion the wrong brown paper bag. The list could go on for a mile, but we don't want to spoil things for folks who have never seen this movie.

In summary, this is a great example of a 70's dark comedy in which whatever can go wrong for this hapless gang will go wrong. If you prefer slapstick or obvious humor, you may not like this film, but most people should find it at least reasonably enjoyable. We felt like we got more than our money's worth, if only to get a look at DeNiro when he was a kid. "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" is a wonderfully good time, well-written and well-acted.

This flick is getting panned by reviewers who measure it with the yardstick of DeNiro's other work and Orbach's later greatness as Lennie Briscoe in "Law & Order", but if the truth be known, it's a precursor of "Johnny Dangerously". Orbach plays Kid Sally Palumbo, a "young Turk" of the Mob, resentful of his boss Baccala (Lionel Stander), who has the cliche "moustache Pete" old-line contempt for Kid Sally's small faction. Urged on by his grandmother Big Mama (Jo Van Fleet), he follows her advice not to take anything from anybody. When the Palumbo faction is finally rounded up by the cops, she has a lot to say to news cameras after Kid Sally just flips them the bird. Her first two bits of invective make broadcast as they watch themselves on the news, but then censors start to bleep her out. At that point, she leaps to her feet and shakes her fist at the screen, denying that she'd ever said "beep". The later work "Johnny Dangerously" was dismissed as "puerile" by reviewers and so it was. So's this one, but there's a certain entertainment value to "dopey fun", as you see every night of the week on TV's "reality shows". But they don't get slammed very much. I wonder why.

this is a very funny movie with a lot of action. original book written by jimmy breslin; this is the mafia as never seen before. very early robert deniro in a comedy role. hilarious. must see!

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight has very good acting; and although it's funny it's still not quite as funny as I hoped. The gags are, for the most part, good but the acting is better still; we get a rare comic turn from a very young Robert De Niro and other actors including Jerry Orbach are wonderfully convincing in their roles. In addition, the cinematography and the choreography really lack nothing; these two things are done very well. The movie flows along at a good pace, all right; but there are just not enough really big laughs to bat this out of the ballpark and make it a true classic comedy.

When the action starts, we quickly meet several people: there's Mafia boss Baccala (Lionel Stander) with his buddies including "Water Buffalo" (Frank Campanella). There's also Kid Sally (Jerry Orbach), who is working on a bicycle race project for Baccala (don't ask) and Kid Sally is on pretty good terms with other members of Baccala's group including Beppo (Hervé Villechaize). The bicycle race brings many contestants from Italy; and one of them is the incredibly streetwise Mario (Robert De Niro).

However, all does not go well. The bicycle race is canceled after the wooden indoor track is not completed; and Baccala tells Kid Sally that from now on Kid Sally will only be his chauffeur--and nothing else, no chance for climbing the ladder inside the Mafia world. This certainly does not please Kid Sally's mother Big Momma (Jo Van Fleet, who does this role wonderfully); although his sister Angela (Leigh Taylor-Young) doesn't seem to care.

To make a long story short without spoilers, Mario from Italy strikes up a relationship with Angela; and Kid Sally recruits some of Baccala's men to organize an all-out gang war in Brooklyn where Baccala's offices are located. The scenes between Mario and Angela are funny and sweet at once; and Mario's desire for all things American quickly comes to light. In addition, once the gang war starts there are opportunities for funny moments as things don't always go exactly as planned despite the fact that Kid Sally and his men have a lion to terrorize people!

Look also for good performances by Philip Sterling as District Attorney Goodman; Jack Kehoe as a bartender; Irving Selbst as "Big Jelly" and Roy Shuman as the Mayor of New York City. Dorothi Fox has a cameo as a meter maid and Fran Stevens also has a cameo as Baccala's wife.

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight may not be the funniest film I've ever seen; but it's far from being an absolute dud. I would recommend this for fans of the actors in the movie; and people who like dark comedies might also want to consider this for their collections.

This is a classic spoof of the Italian Mafia wanna be. It is a funny film that hasn't lost much from the actual book by Jimmy Breslin. What can be said for a mafia chieftain who hands is wife the keys to start the car while he hides under the breakfast table with his hands in his ears waiting for the explosion!

Another one of De Niro's early film performances being released on DVD, following last year's release of The Wedding Party (De Niro's first film made in 1963 but only released in 1969) and Hi, Mom! (1970, the sequel to Greetings, 1968). As in the case of these three De Palma-directed films, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight featured De Niro in a comedic performance, shortly before he would become better known, later in the decade, for brilliant dramatic performances in landmark films such as Mean Streets (1973), The Godfather Part II (1974) and Taxi Driver (1976). This is probably also the first time that De Niro appears in a gangster film and his first performance as a priest at the beginning of a career in which he would regularly feature as either a doomed gangster (Mean Streets, Godfather II, Untouchables 1987, Goodfellas 1990, Casino 1995) or a compromised priest (True Confessions 1981, The Mission 1986, Sleepers 1997), mostly wrestling with his demons or struggling in a bleak environment of moral ambiguity. Here we see De Niro at the beginning of his career in a spoof about gangsters - three decades before De Niro himself spoofed his gangster persona in Analyse This (1999), Analyse That (2002) and Shark Tale (2004, the latter film collaborating with his old mentor Martin Scorsese, who directed eight top-notch De Niro performances from Mean Streets through to Casino).

De Niro's mock, money-seeking priest has traces both of his equally deceptive character Jon Rubin in the earlier Greetings and Hi, Mom! and his irresponsible, clownish, debt-ridden, small-time gangster Johnny Boy in the later Mean Streets. However cliche'd this may sound, De Niro's sweet performance, two years before he would make his major breakthrough with Johnny Boy, and his relationship with the one gangster's sister is one of the few moments in the film not undermined by the film's propensity for exaggerated Italian accents and mafia caricatures, instead showcasing De Niro's ability to make the most of a very modest role and (in contrast to his later performances in blockbuster comedies and the likes of Rocky and Bullwinkle 2000) put in a remarkably subtle and believable performance.

This hood comedy is a decidedly mixed affair. Most of the film's broad humor is hit or miss, usually miss. There are some moments of inspired comedy here to make it worth your while. What distinguishes the film is a young Robert DeNiro's inspired turn as an Italian thief. DeNiro's work here towers over anything else in the film. His performance here seems to inform his later role as Johnny Boy in Martin Scorsese's classic, "Mean Streets'.

A book by an Irish-American writer about Italian-Americans may seem to have ethnic problems. Put the accent on "American", and it makes sense. The movie version, now on DVD, follows the book closely. One of the movie's selling points now is the early look at the work of a very young Robert Di Nero, who had just been turned down for a role in the origional [b]THE GODFATHER. It's full of raunchy humor, ethnic digs aimed at laughs, and it achieves that goal. I enjoyed Jimmy Brislen's novel in the 1960s, and I enjoyed seeing this version.

loved this movie. I remembered it from the time it first was in theaters but never saw the DVD anywhere. The stereotypes are hysterical. Pay attention to the actress playing the italian grandma, she steals the whole movie.