Prizzi's Honor: this one makes the Sopranos look tame

Every now and then, Hollywood takes a book, and makes a movie that outshines the novel. This was one of those films. Directed by the late John Huston, it took a funny, grim novel about the Mafia, and turned it into one of the more interesting films to come out of the 80's.

Charlie Partanna (Jack Nicholson), who is thought of as the "All-American Hood," is a soldier in the Prizzi family. The Prizzis, run by the malicious, twisted Don Corrado (William Hickey), have their fingers in all sorts of pies, from lawyering, to the police, to the more usual fare of gambling and prostitution. And Charlie is trusted, so much so that he was once engaged to the beautiful Maerose Prizzi (Anjelica Huston), the old Don's granddaughter. And therein lies the forthcoming delimna for Charlie.

The movie begins with the wedding of Maerose's younger sister, a grand gala, that is lovingly shot in an equally grand cathedral, packed with Prizzi family loyalists, the cops, an soprano warbling "Ave Maria," and assorted guests. Charlie is there out of duty, along with his father, one of the Don's advisors. And during the wedding and the reception after, he notices a beautiful blonde -- Irene (Kathleen Turner). Charlie is smitten on the spot, and moves heaven and earth to meet her -- enough so that he flies out to the west coast to court her.

And Irene is smart, a canny businesswoman working on her own, and the pair hit it off. Very quickly they're in bed together, and the chime of wedding bells isn't that far off. And who should notice but Maerose -- who has her own reasons to see Charlie get married -- for it's her ticket back into the Prizzi Family, and her spot as a favorite grandchild of the Don.

But when a kidnapping goes terribly awry, Charlie finds himself way over his head, and caught up in family politics, and situation that just might cost him Irene to boot.

I'm not going to give away much more of the plot here, it's simply too good to miss. The script, written by the author of the novel, Richard Condon, is funny, hysterical at times, but with a grim, biting humor to it. The setting is somewhere in the classic time of mobsters, someplace in the 60's, and the sets are terrific -- especially Charlie's apartment.

But here, it's the actors who stand out -- Nicholson as Charlie is a simple man, but with street smarts, and he plays it perfectly, looking mystified and befuddled at just the right moments. Anjelica Huston is slinky, cunning and the real brains of the outfit as Maerose, always looking perfect, especially when she manipulates her father, the Don's not-so-bright son, Dominic (Lee Richardson). Kathleen Turner, well, she's equally on par with Huston here, playing a not so dumb blonde. Other great bits of casting are Robert Loggia as Eduardo Prizzi, the family lawyer; John Randolph as Charlie's dad, and especially William Hickey as the malevolent Don Corrado. I don't know who came up with the idea of having Hickey playing the part of the dessicated, evil old man, but it was a brilliant move.

The film rarely drags, and the viewer is advised to pay attention to the twists and turns of the plot. The score, lifted from Guiseppe Rossini's operatic overtures, is another brilliant touch, giving the film just the right flare, and helping the pacing along in one pivotal scene.

However, this is one of the more violent films around. You're not going to see gore splattering across the screen, but there is a very high body count in this, often delivered in close-ups. There's also kidnapping, arson, some sex, but little nudity, and very adult language. Some may find the idea of mafiaosos as heroes to be a bit objectionable as well; no one in this movie is clean, not even the women.

I found some of the accents to be a bit broad, but when I compare this one to the Godfather flicks, I've discovered that I prefer it to that trilogy. It's got a certain seediness and black humor to it that fits. There are a few stereotypes, but again, it's handled well enough that most shouldn't find it objectionable.

This one scooped up quite a few Oscar nominations, with a win going to Anjelica Huston as Best Supporting Actress. Alas, although it was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director, it lost to Out of Africa, but it did garner a host of other awards, including quite a few BAFTA's and Golden Globes. In this humble reviewer's opinion, it's one of the best films to come out of 1985 - a great year for movies that included The Color Purple, Out of Africa, Witness, Runaway Train, Brazil and Kiss of the Spider Woman.

For those of you who are curious, there are four novels written by Richard Condon about the mythical Prizzi family: Prizzi's Honor; Prizzi's Money, Prizzi's Family and Prizzi's Glory.