Hollywood's Marriage to the Mob This fall's crime wave is just the latest round in the movies' long-running love affair with gangsters and godfathersBY PATRICK GOLDSTEIN Home Edition

• Published in: The Los Angeles times
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, Calif Los Angeles Times Communications LLC 23.09.1990
• ISSN: 0458-3035

Hollywood is certainly playing gangsters big this fall. A trio of flamboyant mobster films are just hitting the theaters, led by "State of Grace" and "GoodFellas." Starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, "GoodFellas" is Martin Scorsese's vivid portrait of cut-rate Brooklyn mobster Henry Hill and his wise-guy pals. It will be followed Oct. 5 by the Coen Brothers' "Miller's Crossing," which stars Albert Finney, Gabriel Byrne and [Jon Polito] in a stylized look at late-1920s gang warfare. Later in October, you can see the seamy exploits of "The Krays," a pair of identical-twin British gangsters played by British popsters [Gary Oldman] and Martin Kemp. On Nov. 2, John Turturro, who also has a juicy part in "Miller's Crossing," stars in "Men of Respect" as a small-time hood who takes over a crime family. And even though [Francis Ford Coppola] was shooting additional scenes as recently as last week, Paramount still insists that it will release its long-awaited Mafia epic, "The Godfather, Part III," on Christmas Day. Expect more mayhem in 1991. Barry Levinson is already in pre-production on "Bugsy," with Warren Beatty as Bugsy Siegel. Robert Benton, who co-wrote "Bonnie and Clyde," is preparing a film version of E. L. Doctorow's "Billy Bathgate," which stars Dustin Hoffman as Dutch Shultz. Sly Stallone is filming "Oscar," a John Landis-directed comedy about a mobster trying to go straight. And producer Steve Roth is doing "Mobsters," about the youthful exploits of Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel. PHOTO: WHAT MAKES GANGSTER MOVIES CLICK: Money: Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Paul Sorvino are gangsters with the loot in "GoodFellas."; PHOTO: GUNS: [Sean Penn], as an Irish-American gangster in "State of Grace," threatens a Hell's Kitchen bartender.; PHOTO: MUSCLE: Albert Finney is the gang boss and Gabriel Byrne is his adviser in "Miller's Crossing."; PHOTO: GODFATHERS: [Al Pacino] returns as [Michael Corleone] in "The Godfather Part III" with Andy Garcia.