Prizzi's Honor (1985)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Richard Condon (novel)
Richard Condon (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 June 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Hired killers by day. Devoted lovers by night. Until they found their next assignment was each other.

Plot:

A professional hit man and hit woman fall in love, only to discover that they have each been hired to kill the other.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Battle Of The Sexes | Assassination | Father Son Relationship | Wedding

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 23 wins & 11 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 19

8:00 AM

MAX

Cast

Jack Nicholson	...	Charley Partanna
Kathleen Turner	...	Irene Walker
Robert Loggia	...	Eduardo Prizzi
John Randolph	...	Angelo 'Pop' Partanna
William Hickey	...	Don Corrado Prizzi
Lee Richardson	...	Dominic Prizzi
Michael Lombard	...	Rosario Filargi 'Finlay'
Anjelica Huston	...	Maerose Prizzi
George Santopietro	...	Plumber
Lawrence Tierney	...	Lt. Hanley
CCH Pounder	...	Peaches Altamont (as C.C.H. Pounder)
Ann Selepegno	...	Amalia Prizzi
Vic Polizos	...	Phil Vittimizzare
Dick O'Neill	...	Bluestone
Sully Boyar	...	Casco Vascone

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (re-rating) (2004) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) (original rating) | Iceland:14 | Hungary:16 | Spain:18 | Finland:K-15 (re rating: 2001) | France:U | Singapore:M18 | West Germany:12 (re-rated) | West Germany:16 (original rating) | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Spain:13 | Ireland:15

Filming Locations:

Alpine, New Jersey, USA

Company:

ABC Motion Pictures

Trivia:

Mia Farrow was considered for the role of Maerose Prizzi.

Goofs:

Continuity: Irene Walker's red car often has the wax on various panels. When we first see the car the left-hand door is an unusual matt color while the rest of the car is buffed to a shiny finish. You can even see swirl marks in the door at it stops. Later when we see the car again we see it from the front left. The door is clearly polished this time but the front left wing isn't. Probably an attempt to hide the crew from reflecting in the cars bodywork.

Quotes:

Irene Walker: I can't get over it. What kinda creep wouldn't catch a baby? If it was real it coulda been crippled for life.
Charley Partanna: He wasn't paid to bodyguard the baby.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Night Court: Chrizzi's Honor (#5.15)" (1988)

Soundtrack:

O mio Babbino caro

Mr.&Mrs. Partanna

When a whole lot of his contemporaries were dead or in retirement, John Huston was still making some very good movies and even winning Oscars for family members. Prizzi's Honor was kind of a coda to his career having directing his father Walter for Best Supporting Actor for The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre in 1948, in 1945 daughter Anjelica Huston wins for Best Supporting Actress in Prizzi's Honor. That's a feat that will really be hard for any director to duplicate.

The Prizzis are your Eighties version of the Corleones, a Mafia family headquartered in Brooklyn with far reaching interests including Las Vegas like the Corleones. Jack Nicholson is Charlie Partanna, not the most polished knife in the drawer, but one of the sharpest. Mafia families inbreed more than royalty or hillbillies and Charlie's expected to marry Maerose Prizzi who is played by Anjelica Huston, the ultimate Mafia princess. He's practically been raised to be her prince consort.

But one look at the beautiful and sophisticated Kathleen Turner and Nicholson's hormones are at light-speed overdrive. But Kathleen's got a secret or two as well. She was in on a scam that took $720.000.00 from the Prizzis in Las Vegas. And in a real bow to women's liberation, something indeed from a tradition bound organization like the Mafia, she's also a hit woman with a contract on Nicholson.

Some 20 years before those marrieds Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were trying to bed and kill each other simultaneously in Mr.&Mrs. Smith, Nicholson and Turner were going at it, tongue and gun. John Huston after 30 years finally repeated a black comedy, a much better black comedy than Beat The Devil.

Besides Anjelica's win, Prizzi's Honor was up for several more Oscars in 1985 including Best Picture, Best Actor for Jack Nicholson, Best Supporting Actor for William Hickey, Best Director for John Huston and others. Prizzi's Honor is the kind of film where the jokes sneak up on you, don't expect belly laughs, but minutes after something is said, the line will kick in.

And Prizzi's Honor was a great film to have to your credit in the twilight of your career for John Huston.