Married to the Mob

Summary

“We’re your friends, Angela, whether you like it or not.”

Married to the Mob was one of the fastest selling releases from Fun City Editions during their collaboration with OCN. I ordered the film when it was announced, and seemingly within a couple days, the slip covered version of the film had completely sold out. After watching the film, I completely understand why it was in such demand. Between directing Something Wild and Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme directed this colorful mobster comedy-drama featuring a score by Talking Heads’ frontman David Byrne. If you are a fan of Miami Blues or Something Wild, you basically need to purchase this film to round out your collection of three films that have a similar flavor. 

In fact, Demme was meant to direct Miami Blues, but realizing that Married to the Mob would feature a finale that took place in Miami, he decided to produce Miami Blues for director George Armitage (which featured many of the same crew members, including cinematographer Tak Fujimoto.) Married to the Mob is a fun and frequently funny take on a gangster picture, blending comedic and dramatic notes together with hints of danger. The film features one of Michelle Pfeiffer’s best performances and a great performance by Dean Stockwell (who was nominated for an Oscar for his role.) Matthew Modine is enjoyably goofy in his part, which is played so idiosyncratically that I wasn’t sure at first if I liked it or not. He won me over eventually. Alec Baldwin and Mercedes Ruehl round out the excellent cast. I watched the film the other night.

Warning: A pretty significant spoiler is necessary to describe the plot of the picture, so you may want to skip my synopsis.

In New York City, Frank “the Cucumber” de Marco (Alec Baldwin) boards a train with his partner-in-crime Tommy (Paul Lazar.) Both men are wearing suits and they sit behind a man that they are tailing. As the train enters a tunnel, they execute the man and leave his body places as if he was asleep. Frank heads home to his wife Angela (Michelle Pfeiffer.) She is distraught and on the edge of demanding a divorce. They have a child together, and she doesn’t like that her husband is out there committing crimes to make his living. She also has recently turned down an invite from the big boss’s wife Connie Russo (Mercedes Ruehl) for dinner. That snub put Frank in a bad situation. Despite all the stolen items he has brought to the house that she has, she is deeply unhappy. That night, Frank goes to a restaurant for a big meeting with his boss, Tony “the Tiger” Russo (Dean Stockwell,) where he is praised for his well executed hit. Tony afterward meets with a waitress named Karen (Nancy Travis) that works at the restaurant at a specific hotel room nearby. After he leaves the motel room, Tony gets suspicious that Karen is sleeping with another man. He returns to the hotel room and she greets him as if he was Frank. Tony shoots her dead in the bathtub and when Frank arrives, and strips to his underwear, he shoots him dead too. At the funeral, Angela is stressed financially, but she also sees her opportunity to leave this life behind completely. This plan becomes much more difficult when, after the funeral, she is kissed on the mouth by Tony who has taken an interest in her now that her husband is dead. This kiss is seen by his jealous wife Connie. Attempting to leave the life behind, Angela gives away nearly everything she owns and moves with her son to one of the worst neighborhoods in New York City. Their apartment is so bad that it actually has a bath in the middle of the kitchen. At this point, while looking for work, she meets FBI Agent Mike Downer (Matthew Modine) in an elevator to her building. Because he believes she is seeing Tony Russo, he is staying a few floors above her in the building in order to spy on her activities with hopes of nailing Tony. As Angela pursues him romantically and works a job as a hairstylist, he continues to perform his job to the best of his ability.

I really enjoyed Married to the Mob. There are a lot of elements in the picture that set it apart. First off, the script plays loose and fun with gangster film tropes while still developing just enough tension to move the story forward. The film is cleverly written and moves at a steady pace towards a conclusion that makes perfect sense. I love the big hair, loud clothing, and styles of the mobsters and their wives in the film. It is certainly played for laughs, but also not too far off base from reality at that time. Jonathan Demme had a real knack for color and visual pizzazz, and this film is one of his most colorful. He worked with cinematographer Tak Fujimoto who had also worked with him on Something Wild, and would later work with him on both Philadelphia and The Silence of the Lambs. The score by David Byrne has a great rhythm for the backdrop of the film. I’m a huge Talking Heads fan, so it is no surprise I love David Byrne’s work on Demme’s movies. 

The acting in the film is great. Michelle Pfeiffer completely owns the film as the sweet natured heroine at the center of the movie. Michelle Pfeiffer was such a lovely and lovable presence onscreen, that it is completely understandable why mobsters and FBI men would fall all over themselves to be with Angela romantically. She plays the role as well as anyone could. The other star turn in the film belongs to Dean Stockwell. Stockwell was a staple on my television set growing up due to his work on Quantum Leap, but as I have grown older I have enjoyed discovering his roles in films like Blue Velvet and Paris, Texas. Stockwell was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his frequently hilarious, but still threatening, portrayal of the lovelorn gangster. Alec Baldwin is memorable in his small role. Matthew Modine is an actor that I have come to like as I have gotten older, despite some minor misgivings. I think his performance here will be a great litmus test for if you like Modine or not. He plays the role so loosely and with such strange dramatic energy that it honestly threw me for a loop. After watching the film all the way through, I decided I liked the performance, but I was not sure about it during my first viewing. Mercedes Ruehl delivers a memorable comedic performance in the film as the increasingly jealous and dangerous mobster wife. The script by Barry Strugatz and Mark R. Burns is well written. Balancing comedy with the threat of danger is hard to pull off well, and the script is never too far off base from reality as to pull the viewer out of the film. The characters are all memorable while never becoming caricatures.

Overall – there is a lot to like about Married to the Mob. With strong performances, an upbeat score by David Byrne, and colorful direction by Jonathan Demme, I definitely recommend checking it out.

Video

Fun City Editions have provided Married to the Mob with a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded image in 1.85:1 from a new 2K scan created specifically for this release. Kino had previously released the film on Blu-ray in 2014, but I have not viewed that release for comparison. There is a lot to enjoy in the film due to its colorful nature. Demme had an excellent working relationship with cinematographer Tak Fujimoto on his projects, and Married to the Mob has a similar colorful palette as their collaboration on Something Wild. The new 2K scan looked really good to my eyes. Any limitations are inherent to the source itself. Grain can be slightly distracting at times, but was no big issue for me. I can’t imagine that fans of the film will be disappointed. 

Audio

The LPCM 2.0 track for Married to the Mob sounds great. This track has pretty good depth of field for only using two channels. The film has an excellent soundtrack with a score by David Byrne along with great tracks by New Order (“Bizarre Love Triangle,”) Chris Isaac, Pixies, and more.    

Supplements:

• Commentary features podcasters Danielle Henderson and Millie De Chirico.
• “Writing Married to the Mob“- this excellent interview with screenwriters Barry Strugatz and Mark R. Burns offers a lengthy peak behind the curtain into the working relationship of the two screenwriters and how they developed (and tweaked) the script for the film.
• “It Barreled Into My Life” – actress Mercedes Ruehl talks at great lengths about her experiences with the film from her initial casting to working on the set.
• “A Simple Enjoyment of Life” – actor Matthew Modine lends himself to an engaging discussion of how he landed the role, his memories of Jonathan Demme and working on the film, and some of the more impressive physical moments in the film that he performed without a stunt double. Modine also highlights a moment in the film where he was able to convince Jonathan Demme to change one action of the character to keep the audience sympathetic. Modine seems like he would be a fun guy to hang out with and this is a charming piece.
• Still Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – 3.75/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Married to the Mob is an energetic and enjoyable crime-comedy from Jonathon Demme. With excellent performances from Pfeiffer and Stockwell, a well written script, and Demme’s colorful direction it is a real winner. Demme’s collaborations with cinematographer Tak Fujimoto have always impressed me, and this is one of their most vibrant films. The score by David Byrne fits the film perfectly. Married to the Mob is a really good fit for a release by Fun City Editions with its energetic take on New York and Miami in the Eighties. Fun City have performed an attractive 2K scan and restoration and the new supplements are solid. Recommended.