Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman premieres at the New York Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center on Friday, September 27, 2019. From $25
The movie gets a limited theatrical release on November 1 and hits Netflix on November 27.
The Irishman
An all-star cast builds a story around the unsolved Jimmy Hoffa disappearance.
Jimmy Hoffa
Hoffa, the Detroit leader of the Teamsters drivers union, disappeared in 1975 and has never been seen again. It was a era when unions were corrupted by organized crime.
Hoffa (Al Pacino) worked with gangsters and was a quite a gangster himself.
I Heard You Paint Houses
The film quote “I Heard You Paint Houses” is a reference to the source book I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa by former investigator Charles Brandt.
The book was the investigator’s memoir and recounts what Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran told the investigator shortly before he died. The movie story is Sheeran remembering is life as an old man.
Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran
Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) was a mob hitman and labor union official with links to the Bufalino crime family in Northeastern Pennsylvania. He was Hoffa’s close assistant.
Russell Bufalino
Joe Pesci plays Russell Bufalino, the boss of the Bufalino family. The film is cast with many stars including Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale and Ray Romano.
Great Art Tends to Arrive at Meaningful Times
Film at Lincoln Center describes the movie as “a film about friendship and loyalty between men who commit unspeakable acts and turn on a dime against each other, and the possibility of redemption in a world where it seems as distant as the moon.”
That sounds a bit like the scandalous administration in Washington D.C. now. Great art has a way of arriving coincidentally at meaningful times.