Derek Winnert

Palookaville **** (1995, William Forsythe, Vincent Gallo, Adam Trese) – Classic Movie Review 340

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This refreshing, sweet 1995 little gem comes from director Alan Taylor, who went on to become a TV segment veteran before his big-screen chance as the maker of Thor: The Dark World (2103).

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Adam Trese, Vincent Gallo, William Forsythe star as Jerry, Russ and Sid, a New Jersey trio of bumbling burglars, who try to pull a gem heist but bungle it by coming out in the bakery next door. Undaunted, they decide to cut their losses by upping the ante and trying another job – an armoured-car robbery.

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The film is spot-on in every department, with a hilariously sly sense of humour, a deliriously sleazy atmosphere, a credible plot by screenwriter David Epstein and a series of memorable low-life characters. Paying homage to the films of yesteryear, it’s meant to appeal to old movie buffs and it really does. The crooks even watch the old 1950 film Armored Car Robbery for tips how to pull their planned heist on the armoured car!

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Excellent of its oddball, US independent kind, this crime caper is truly witty, witty, tense and original. Trese, Gallo and Forsythe give perfectly judged performances as the bungling burglars, so lowlife you’d need a limbo pole to get under them.

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I can give you a clue to the teasing title. ‘I’ve got a one-way ticket to Palookaville’: Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) says in On the Waterfront (1954).

http://derekwinnert.com/thor-the-dark-world-film-review/

http://derekwinnert.com/on-the-waterfront-classic-film-review-351/

© Derek Winnert Classic Film Review 340 derekwinnert.com

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