The Pope of Greenwich Village

Infobox Film
name =The Pope of Greenwich Village


image_size= 200
imdb_id =0087932
writer =Vincent Patrick (novel)
Vincent Patrick
starring =Mickey Rourke
Eric Roberts
Daryl Hannah
Geraldine Page
Kenneth McMillan
Burt Young
director =Stuart Rosenberg
Michael Cimino (uncredited) | cinematography =John Bailey
producer =Gene Kirkwood
Hawk Koch
distributor =Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
released =June 22, 1984
runtime =121 minutes
language =English
language =English
movie_series_label=Series:
movie_series=
music =
awards =
budget =

"The Pope of Greenwich Village" is a 1984 American film starring Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Geraldine Page, Kenneth McMillan and Burt Young. Page earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film. It was adapted by screenwriter Vincent Patrick from his novel of the same name. It was directed by Stuart Rosenberg.

Plot

Set in the Italian section of New York's Greenwich Village, the film features two characters, Charlie (Rourke), a well-dressed maître d' with aspirations of someday owning his own restaurant, and Paulie (Roberts), Charlie's ever-scheming cousin who works in the same restaurant as Charlie, as a waiter. After Paulie gets caught skimming the checks, both he and Charlie get fired. Now out of work and in debt, Charlie must find another job, but Paulie, who has plans to buy into a racehorse, comes forth with a scheme, based on a tip, of a large amount of cash located in a safe of a local business. Needing the money, Charlie reluctantly agrees to participate, and they do manage to crack the safe with help from an accomplice, played by McMillan, but shortly things go sour, resulting in the accidental death of a cop. Charlie soon learns that Paulie neglected to mention that the money they took belongs to a local psychotic Mob boss, "Bedbug Eddie" (Young), who is incensed that someone has robbed him. The mob only knows the name of the safe man, but they try very hard to find the rest of the gang as well.

Michael Cimino

There have been some discrepencies over the directing credits in The Pope of Greenwich Village. Although it is officially credited to Rosenberg, there have been differing accounts as to who directed what scenes. According to Peter Biskind, Eric Roberts, and Mickey Rourke; Michael Cimino was the original director and was fired in the middle of filming by the studio. Other accounts claim that Cimino directed a few scenes as a favor when Stuart Rosenberg suffered from influenza.

Furthermore, in an interview with John Kerwin, Eric Roberts told a story about clashing with whom he referred to as "the original director" over Paulie's look. Roberts, who had lost 30 pounds and grew his hair into a perm specifically for the role, imagined the character as a "momma's boy", while the original director thought Paulie was more of a street tough. Because of this, Roberts says, the original director asked the actor to resign, which prompted Roberts and Mickey Rourke to call the producer, who eventually had the director replaced with Stuart Rosenberg before filming began. It is unclear if Roberts was talking about Cimino, since he never mentioned "the original director" by name in the interview.

Cultural impact

*The movie inspired the name of the band Smoking Popes.
*The movie is mentioned by Vincent Chase (Adrian Grennier) as his favorite film in "The Scene", the seventh episode of the first season of the HBO series "Entourage".
*It is mentioned in the "American Dad" episode "Big Trouble In Little Langley". When Steve accidentally blows off his thumb with firecrackers, Roger tells him to yell, "Charlie, they took my thumb!".

External links

*imdb title|id=0087932|title=The Pope of Greenwich Village