Posted on 03/14/2023 2:06:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
I grew up in that kind of area, too, so this is a fun topic.
I agree that Redford and Pitt could play father and son.
I didn't watch Friends when it was on TV. (Seinfeld was the show I watched every week back then.) But, in recent years, I have watched some Friends episodes online. Funny show. All the actors had perfect timing. I never thought about it, but you're right that Monica does not look or sound at all like she could be Ross's sister.
In O Brother Where Art Thou, I was surprised by, but did not question, the casting of Turturro. But, now that you mention it, I guess the average white southerner in that time and place wouldn't have looked like him.
Some actors can pass as different ethnicities. I agree that Andy Garcia can play Hispanic or Italian roles, but those two ethnicities are pretty closely related.
OTOH, some actors are mostly cast in roles that don't match their ethnic background. Giancarlo Esposito is black, so black roles were offered to him. But, because Americans assume his surname is Spanish, he's also been cast in Hispanic roles. The truth is, his father was Italian (from Italy).
Then, there's Robert DeNiro, He's only a quarter Italian descent, but he's made a fortune playing Italian gangsters. AFAIK, Robert Duvall has no Italian background at all, but he still looked the part in the Godfather. James Caan didn't look the part at all. JMHO.
You're right Al, you're nothing but an ultra rich, liberal hack whose only claim to fame is standing in front of a camera pretending to be someone you're not.
If you're on my TV screen, all I have to do is change the channel or turn it off and you no longer exist in my world.......
Then she nailed it. But the whole movie is really unwatchable.
DeNiro, drop-dead gorgeous in Godfather II, has come to illustrate that old saying, "After the age of 40, a person's soul is on his face." He is hideous to me now.
James Caan was Jewish, but didn't particularly look it, being tall and fair. Playing Sonny, he had the wiseguy body language and rage tantrums down pat, so he "passed" from my point of view—my having lived in a close-knit Italian neigthborhood amongst Mafiosi for almost 20 years. Caan was rumored in real life to have had friends in La Cosa Nostra.
As for Robert Duvall, a navy brat and Mayflower descendant who grew up near Annapolis, Maryland, he had the New York accent part down perfectly; but not New York Italian. His character Tom Hagen was adopted, remember?
And in that scene when Tom Hagen went to Hollywood to try to get a movie part for Vito's Godson Johnny Fontane, Hagen mentions his ethnicity in this memorable exchange with the movie producer, Marty Woltz:
WOLTZYet another historically accurate script that could not be written, much less produced and released, today.
Are you trying to muscle me?TOM
Absolutely not.WOLTZ
Now listen to me, you smooth-talking son-of-a-bitch! Let me lay it on the line for you and your boss, whoever he is. Johnny Fontane will never get that movie! I don't care how many dago guinea wop greaseball goombahs come out of the woodwork!TOM
I'm German-Irish...WOLTZ
Well let me tell you something my kraut mick friend, I'm gonna make so much trouble for you, you won't know what hit you!
[Source: The Godfather Trilogy transcript]
Yes, he is Cuban, and there were many white Spanish-descended people there in Cuba when his parents were growing up. His parents and he were refugees to this country and it has apparently turned out pretty great for Andy.
The ancient Celts spread all over Europe, down into Spain, Portugal and parts of Italy. So he definitely “passed.” That scene with him teaching Sofia's character how to make gnocchi was so sweetly erotic, with his hand over hers.
LOL. DeNiro was handsome back then. We agree about Caan. You are right about Duvall. My memory does not serve me well. Even though I watched the first two movies a few times, I only vaguely remember them. (I grew up in a Little Italy myself, but not in NYC.)
Why do you think the script couldn’t be written or produced today?
Well, you stated that he ‘overacted’, so I guessed that you knew something about acting. I guess you don’t.
Not the whole script, but certainly that particular exchange posted above because of the colorful ethnic slurs. When you actually hear it spoken, it’s pretty shocking.
I was just about to post again to you, with an answer to my own question: “Oh... the ethnic slurs.”
People did throw those slurs around much more freely in the old days.
I need to add to my previous comment.
It struck me after I posted, that ‘Glengarry, Glen Ross’ was the first movie I’d ever seen with no females in it at all.
But there’s another one: the 1997 version of ‘12 Angry Men’.
No females, except at the very beginning, where the female judge is giving jury instructions.
Great actors all around.
(Sort of a spoiler: George C. Scott is the ANGRIEST man, and gives a fabulous performance.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Angry_Men_(1997_film)
Andy Garcia was a nice-looking man. Some websites list him as a Republican (hopefully true).
Most of the Cubans who fled here from communism, like his family, are conservatives.
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