Prizzi’s Honor (1985)

Elevator Pitch: Charley Partanna, a hitman for the Prizzi mob, travels to California to dispatch a villain who has robbed a casino in Nevada. He does the job but is surprised to find that, Irene, a woman to whom he had been attracted at a New York wedding, is the man’s estranged wife. Her criminal associations do not deter him from wooing and marrying her, and he finds out later that she is also a contract killer. The two therefore go on a job together, but Irene accidentally shoots a police captain’s wife, creating tension between the law and the Prizzi clan. As a result the Don takes out  contract on Charlie, unknowingly hiring his wife. How will it pan out?

Content: There is a brief sex scene between Irene and Charlie, and a number of scenes of drinking and smoking, mainly of cigars. People are shot with hand guns. There is a wedding and many meetings in smoke filled rooms, plus a number of discussions between Charlie and his dad, as they cook and eat pasta. Essential to the plot are the activities of Maerose, Charlie’s ex-lover, now married to a non-mob character, and therefore out of favour with the Prizzis.

A View: This movie was well liked by the critics with a score of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was nominated a numerous caegories at the Oscars and Angelica Huston won the “Best Supporting Actresss” award. The movie moves between New York and Los Angeles, amusingly indicated by a large jet aircraft flying in either direction. Jack Nicholson looks as if he is sucking a lemon most of the time, which makes one wonder how the glamorous Irene could be attracted to him, but all in all, still well worth the cost of a download.

Additional info: In my continuing search for cars starring in films, this one has the Excalibur owned by Irene, said to have been styled on the 1928 Merc SSK. Despite its role in this film, the company failed in 1986.