Vig [Import allemand]

What a great movie. I remember seeing this.fair as t on. Showtime and bring.moved by it then. It still is a moving film with great l performances by Peter Falk, Timothy Hutton, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Tyne Daly. I cannot rave about it enough. A pleasure to own.

The movie went both ways, more than what I was expecting and less than what I was expecting. I liked it.

Viewers will love Peter Falk!

The preview/trailer on the Amazon page shows this movie as widescreen, but the DVD product description says this is a 4:3 'full screen' version.

I bought this for someone else - I know nothing about the movie itself. The service in purchaseing the DVD was fine.

great

One of my favorite OC movies, It supposed to take place in Boston, but it's so obvious it's Brooklyn NY, (N 11th street and Kent Ave. ) Tim Hutton plays a not so swift husband of Lauren Holly unusual role for him but he really pulls it off, If you enjoylow budget OC movies definitely get this one.

Money Kings (1998) is a movie that has lost none of its relevance,even 10 years after its completion. Although billed as a mob movie,this picture is very realistic and natural about those who arecompelled to gamble, the loansharks who profit from the juice, thebookies who reap big profits on the bets, and the police who getfat from payoffs for looking the other way.The entire activity seems symbiotic, and harmonious, until awildcard is thrown into the mix, in the form of the nephew of amade man, controlling the territory in which the pub is located,played by Freddie Prinze Jr., his uncle being Frank Vincent'scharacter, (who seems type cast in this type of role), played toperfection.Vincent's goal is to replace the bookie, played by Peter Falk, withthe nephew, and there is no end to the chaos brought about by the25 year old novice, first trained as a collector of illegal debts,and then as a partner to the bookie, to the point that aPezzoNovante or Capo Regime (Tony Sirico), warns that he will clipboth Uncle and Nephew if their operations are not runprofessionally, and free of public scandal.Lauren Holly plays the golden hearted wife of a clueless bum,played by Timothy Hutton, unfortunately, associated with this lowlyrole, unlike Torrents of Spring, in which he played a rich man withNastassja Kinski in the 1980's.A questionable aspect of this movie, is Falk, playing a charitablebookie, who covers the debts of his players, and soft on collectingfrom his clients, patient enough with their human failings to thepoint of limiting or rejecting their bets when they're jobless orgoing through tough times.Another questionable decision, is to suggest a generation gapbetween Falk, his clientele and the young Prince, who is goingthrough the school of hard knocks here, with an impressive lack ofnatural ability in the underworld. Rudeness, lack of grace andrapport with the patrons, accepting sexual favors in place of cashof debts, a with a cocaine habit, blind ambition, trigger happy,lack of religious feeling, all associated with the youngergeneration here, unjustly.Conversely, the strength of the script, is the up-close andpersonal, realistic, natural humanity, poverty, alcoholism,unemployment, over-work for low wages aspects, coupled with hunger,the inner city, the compulsion to gamble, the use of cheque cashadvance services or drinking whiskey from a brown paper bag on apublic bench.Overall, the lessons are two-fold, and concern first, the obviousdamage that a gambling addiction can unleash on the working class,who are often are already under duress and distress; and secondly,the chain-reaction that results when "efficiency" is rabidlydemanded at the higher echelons of the underworld, from thebookie's clientele ( the pressure to repay illegal debts) resultingin violence, intimidation, immorality, the likelihood of death,implicating not only the authors of the mess (gamblers), but alsotheir immediate and arms-length family, who get tied to theunderground, to their astonishment. Needless to say, the risk of ashootout is high when the ends justify the means, when it comes tocollecting money and debts.The wide-screen release on DVD is welcome, however, the overallfeel of this work is that of made-for-TV, despite the flawlessacting.