SnoopyStyle Charlie (Mickey Rourke) is a slick restaurant manager who dreams of owning his own restaurant. His petty criminal cousin Paulie (Eric Roberts) is a waiter. The owner discovers Paulie stealing and fires both of them. Paulie has a scheme to break into a safe. He brings in locksmith Barney and a reluctant Charlie. A cop is killed in the heist. They steal $150k. Charlie is besides himself that Paulie kept the fact that the money belongs to mob boss Bed Bug Eddie (Burt Young) from him. Charlie's girlfriend (Daryl Hannah) tells him that she's pregnant.Wow! What a performance! The DVD comes with supposed praises like "Explosively funny." (LA Times) and "high-voltage movie that produces tears of laughter" (NY Daily News). The problem is that the movie doesn't come with jokes. The unintentional hilarity all comes from the ridiculous over-the-top Eric Roberts performance. It is an incredible thing to behold and crazier than Al Pacino's Scarface. It almost comes off as a spoof of a gangster movie. One should see this to believe it. I almost didn't believe it.

jcbutthead86 The Pope Of Greenwich Village is an excellent,underrated and overlooked Crime Drama that combines great direction,amazing performances from Mickey Rourke,Eric Roberts and a terrific supporting cast,a fantastic script and a outstanding film score that make The Pope Of Greenwich an entertaining and memorable film that is Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts at their best.Based on the novel of the same name by Vincent Patrick and set in the Greenwich Village section of New York,The Pope Of Greenwich Village tells the story of cousins Charlie(Mickey Rourke)and Paulie(Eric Roberts)two guys who have big ambitions Charlie wants to have his own restaurant and Paulie a schemer that wants to make money but the two have financial troubles. With no other options,Charlie and Paulie with the help of clock repairman and locksmith Barney(Kenneth McMillian)decide to rob a safe at a local business. When the robbery goes wrong Charlie and Paulie have to deal Italian Mob Boss Bed Bug Eddie(Burt Young)as well as the cops in order to get out of danger.Released in 1984,The Pope Of Greenwich Village is a brilliant Crime Drama while earning decent reviews from critics and receiving an Oscar nomination wasn't a hit at the Box Office and didn't get much attention from movie audiences at the time. But,thankfully overtime The Pope Of Greenwich Village has found Cult status throughout the years and is not only seen as a great Crime Drama but is also seen as one of the most underrated movies of the 1980s. I think that one of the reasons The Pope Of Greenwich Village has found Cult status and is an entertaining film is because the film gives viewers a different kind of Crime Drama that combines Crime Drama,Gangster Film and a Buddy Movie and gives the movie not only a incredible energy that keeps you glued to the screen for 121 minutes. What I also like about The Pope Of Greenwich Village is that despite having all of the trademark elements of Crime Dramas such as vicious Criminals,Gangsters,Cops as well as common elements including violence and betrayal,the story in POGV is handled with a great balance of dark and light elements with the dark elements being the Drama,Gangsters and violence and the light elements being the Comedy and Humor showing the friendship and antics of Charlie and Paulie or Paulie by himself which is funny and at times over the top. Another thing that I like about POGV is the authentic feel of the film whether it's the New York locations throughout the city or neighborhoods or the characters and their streetwise attitudes that don't feel forced or fake but real and accurate. The New York locations and attitudes of the characters at times reminded me of Martin Scorsese's classic Gangster Films such as Goodfellas and Mean Streets(a film that The Pope Of Greenwich Village is often compared to)and like Scorsese's New York City Crime Dramas,POGV brings you into a world that is dangerous,violent and at times funny and you are absorbed and mesmerized. The screenplay by Vincent Patrick(adapted from his own novel)is terrific and well-written with Patrick giving the characters dialog that is tough and gritty as well as rich and amazing with most of the characters having depth and power. Patrick also has great scenes in the film that are memorable and truly unforgettable and match the world and tone that The Pope Of Greenwich Village is showing. Like I said before POGV is a buddy movie and it is very true with the main characters Charlie and Paulie because even if the characters aren't always likable we relate to the two because like a lot of people in the world they are both dreamers and have big aspirations to get what they want whether it's owning a restaurant or making money. While Charlie and Paulie have problems with each other they are still family and care about one another even when bad things are happening all around them and it is the relationship between Charlie and Paulie is one of the things that drives the film and is the film because it's funny,real and true to life. The ending of The Pope Of Greenwich Village is amazing,funny and surprising and leaves with a smile feeling like everything will be alright for Charlie and Paulie in the long run. A great ending.The whole cast is outstanding. Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts are excellent and at their best as Charlie and Paulie,with Rourke bringing a coolness and charisma and Roberts being funny and over the top and the two have great scenes and chemistry together. Daryl Hannah does a wonderful job as Diane,Charlie's girlfriend. Geraldine Page earned a best supporting Actress Oscar Nomination for her small but terrific performance as Mrs. Ritter,Bunky's Mother. Kenneth McMillan is outstanding as Barney,a locksmith that helps Charlie and Paulie. Burt Young is fantastic and menacing as Bed Bug Eddie,a vicious Gangster. M. Emmett Walsh is great as always in his small role as Burns,a New York cop. Tony Mustaine is effective as Uncle Pete,Paulie's Uncle. Jack Kehoe is sensational as Bunky,a New York Cop.The direction by Stuart Rosenberg is great,with Rosenberg with Rosenberg doing a simple but effective job and sometimes moving the camera and giving the movie a great style and pace. Wonderful job,Rosenberg.The score by Dave Grusin is fantastic,moody,dramatic and light and matches the tone of the film perfectly. Great score,Grusin. There is also a memorable use of Frank Sinatra's classic song Summer Wind which is used a few times in the film.In final word,if you love Crime Dramas,Gangster Films,Mickey Rourke or Eric Roberts,I highly suggest you see The Pope Of Greenwich Village,an excellent,underrated and overlooked Crime Drama that is Rourke and Roberts at their best. Highly Recommended. 10/10.

Richie-67-485852 I was raised in New York. Those are my credentials and I say we got a winner of a movie on our hands here. Everything presented and discussed is a bulls eye bar none. The dialog, eating habits, dress, attitudes, cops, locations, high buildings, local goombahs, music, sports (stickball), mother of a cop, and on and on. That is why this movie fits like a comfortable glove to anyone watching it. It is so natural and real life. That is the secret. When I was a kid, looking for opportunities never stop and here we have a couple of guys looking for the same although sloppily. That is what draws you in. You know they are going to fail and that could be you. I mean you don't rob a place in your own neighborhood. Even dumb criminals know that. As far as the story and plot go, it is neat and doesn't waste time setting you up and pulling you in. The actors all take their parts and send them back with vigor on the the screen and into your memory quite effectively. Grab something to snack on to turn up the enjoyment meter although its running high and join those that have seen this movie several times over.

Robert J. Maxwell Nobody would accuse this tale of being taut. It meanders around sufficiently that we get to know the characters, their families, their values -- and therein lies its charm. Eric Roberts is Pauli, the reckless Italian optimist, and Mickey Rourke is his more sensible, principled Irish cousin. The milieu is New York City and it is captured most impressively. These two street proletarians -- waiters and busboys -- ooze with the desire to own a Coupe deVille. Roberts brags that he never ordered a brandy that wasn't Courvoisier VSOP. Their ambition and their taste are palpable. I say this despite having grown up in the area without the slightest desire to live their life styles and lacking any intense affection for Frank Sinatra.Basically, the plot is a cross-cousin of "Mean Streets", with Rourke in the Harvey Keitel role and Roberts as the maniacal DeNiro. Not to suggest that this is an imitation of anything else. The writer, Vincent Patrick, has street lingo down pat, even to the smallest parts, and Stuart Rosemberg has executed it flawlessly. Even "mozarella" comes out properly as "moozarell." The two cousins alternately joke and fight with one another, depending on their position on the regression line between Robert's wild schemes and Rourke's more banal impulses. Roberts puts a "horse physic" in the drink of a ruthless cop. He engineers a lucrative burglary with the help of Rourke and a locksmith, Kenneth MacMillan, that results in the accidental death of a corrupt police officer, Jack Kehoe, whose only motive for being corrupt was to make enough money to move him and his sickly mother, Geraldine Page, to Phoenix in order to improve her health. (As I said, the script meanders, but meaningfully.) Geraldine Page gives a fine performance, by the way, as the self-destructive tough-as-nails street-savvy Mom.The money from the burglary belonged to the neighborhood Mr. Big, a villainous and revengeful Burt Young, who forces MacMillan to leave his family and blow town. He also removes one of Eric Roberts' digits. And just as he is having a duel of wits with the third party to the crime, Rourke, Roberts feeds Burt Young a cup of espresso filled with lye. The poisoned Young leaps through the storefront window and runs off down the street. The last shot has Roberts and Rourke strolling off, carefree, down the street, arguing about whether it would be better to live in Miami. That's a bit of a weak ending. Given Burt Young's vengeful nature and his position in the organization, I wouldn't give two cents for either of their well-clad behinds. If they wind up as lowly waiters again they'll be lucky.Well, I suppose I've made the film sounds like a terrible tragedy, but it's not. The street lingo and many of the incidents make it as much comic as anything else. One of Roberts' schemes has to do with betting a bundle on a horse that absolutely cannot lose. But Roberts' knows as little about racing as he does about keeping out of trouble. He's confused about which part of a stallion must be removed to turn it into a gelding. He's concerned about the colors of the jockey because it makes him look like a fairy. Roberts bets the whole shebang on a win, and the horse loses in a photo finish. The more prudent Rourke has made twenty large by betting on the horse across the board.It's a pretty good movie, full of well-drawn colorful characters and considerable suspense and humor.