Product Details

• Actors: Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, Annabella Sciorra, Isabella Rossellini, Vincent Gallo
• Directors: Abel Ferrara
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Italian
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Evergreen Ent
• VHS Release Date: July 14, 1998
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304422679
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,271 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Mystery & Suspense > Crime > Gangsters

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In this period family drama set in the Depression-era world of organized crime, director Abel Ferrara (King of New York, Bad Lieutenant) weaves a dark and impressive morality tale of revenge and family loyalty. Christopher Walken plays Ray Tempio, a low-level mobster who with his unstable younger brother Chez (played by Chris Penn) plots revenge for a rival mob's assassination of their younger brother. As they contend with their families--Ray's wife, Jeanette (Annabella Sciorra), who pleads with Ray to forego avenging his brother's death, and Clara (Isabella Rossellini), who has to cope with the unraveling and increasingly paranoid Chez--the struggle between family loyalty and the insatiable drive of revenge leads to tragic consequences. This is a raw, stark, and affecting film with fine ensemble acting and powerful direction from one of the independent film world's most original voices. --Robert Lane

Product Description

Academy Award®-winner Christopher Walken (Pulp Fiction, Batman Returns), Chris Penn (Mulholland Falls) and Isabella Rossellini (Death Becomes Her, Don Quijote) star in this critically acclaimed tour de force of underworld betrayal and explosive retribution from celebrated director Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant). In the 1930s, a powerful New York crime family is caught in lethal crossfire between union organizers and brutal corporate bosses. Against this turbulent backdrop, the family's three street-hardened brothers and the women they love are about to be plunged into a deadly confrontation with their enemies, with each other, and with their own dark heritage of violence, madness and murder. Ignited by the unforgettable performances of its brilliant ensemble cast, The Funeral is a provocative, unflinching crime-action thriller The New York Times applauds as, "Hot-blooded, broodingly well-acted!"

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The conscience of gangsters, May 14, 2001

By	Allan MacInnis (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

Abel Ferrara, like his star here, Christopher Walken, is not much noted for subtley. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed BAD LIEUTENANT, but it's not a particularly morally complex film, and tends to go just a wee bit over the top to make its points (which, really, is one of the reasons it's as impressive as it is -- sometimes bold strokes work, if you'll pardon an obvious pun). What's most interesting about THE FUNERAL is that it takes characters -- gangsters -- who all too often are treated in a cartoonish, romanticized fashion, and lends them considerable moral complexity. All the gangsters in this film are forced to continually confront their consciences in regard to what they've become; the characters played by Walken and Penn in particular are both extremely reflective, troubled men, and capable, in different ways, of being quite articulate about the moral ground they find themselves on. There IS something uneven and choppy about the film -- it almost feels like Ferrara was forced to cut it down from a considerably longer length to satisfy the studio, and there are things I'd've liked to see better developed -- but there is simply TOO much to recommend this film to take a star away for that. The performances are top-notch, and there's genuine thought put into a genre too often coloured with crayons. There may well be good things to say about GOODFELLAS and all that, but for their ills, this film is the remedy. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars slow meditation, viral violence, August 31, 1999

By A Customer

Saw this film this weekend on cable and was wonderfully surprised by the somber atmosphere, striking performances, and the director's intent to not provide the kind of action and conclusions demanded by the ganster movie genre. This film is not Scorese's milleau; rather, it offers a familial portrayal about the viral effects of violence within a small family--and where that compulsion can lead. The cast is excellent, performances are rich, and the mise-en-scene is perfectly dark for the subject matter. Be patient, and be rewarded.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark and Twisted Reality, February 21, 2001

By	"suzabbe" (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews

Am I the only person who enjoyed this film? Does that say something about me? Abel Ferrara's The Funeral was amazingly created with class and dignity. Although very dark and frigthning at times, this film gives new meaning to the "mafia flick" that everyone is used to. This is not in any way a Godfather or Untouchables film, but it has it's own flavour with, I believe, one of Christopher Walken's best performances. The cast is supurb, I'm not too sure about Benicio Del Toro's Italian, but he along with other members pull off an intensely in depth look into the "American Family".