The Pope Of Greenwich Village

Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts play Charlie and Paulie, a couple of Bronx punks who rob a Mafia heavy, Bedbug Eddie (Burt Young) and find themselves in deep trouble as a result in what is a kind of reworking of Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973) with Rourke taking the place of Harvey Keitel’s level-headed wise guy and Roberts playing De Niro’s crazy kid.  

Despite laying on the Bronx accent thickly, neither actor is particularly well suited to pass themselves off as Italians, whilst Charlie’s girlfriend is played by an improbable Darryl Hannah, whose paradigmatic blonde WASPishness is made a joke of in the latter part of the film. The Scorsese/Coppola style Mafia elements are largely confined to the “private club” where Bedbug Eddie holds court and the main attention is given to the relationship between Charlie and Paulie. It is engagingly gritty stuff with a nice street vibe that also recalls William Friedkin's The French Connection (1971)

Rosenberg who directed the Paul Newman in the classic Cool Hand Luke (1967) establishes Charlie’s character with a terrific opening scene of the narcissistic male togging up to the strains of Frank Sinatra singing "Summer Wind” and in a winning turn Rourke never breaks his stride throughout film. Roberts’ high strung, mannered performance may not to be everyone’s taste but it is certainly never dull, whilst Hannah is largely on hand to show off her leggy frame (including in a gratuitous scene in a ladies' gym). The support cast are strong, notably Geraldine Page as a tough-talking lush, Kenneth McMillan an old safe-cracker out to make one last score and Young as the thuggish mobster. Although getting a mixed critical reception in its day, and the ending is rather unsatisfying, The Pope Of Greenwich Village is an undervalued gem of mid-80s, low budget Hollywood. and a time when Eric Roberts could pull top billing and Mickey Rourke was a rising star.

 

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