The Legend of Al, John and Jack
The Legend of Al, John and Jack | |
---|---|
Italian | La leggenda di Al, John e Jack |
Directed by | Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo Massimo Venier |
Written by | Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo Massimo Venier Paolo Cananzi Walter Fontana |
Produced by | Paolo Guerra |
Starring | Aldo Baglio Giovanni Storti Giacomo Poretti |
Cinematography | Arnaldo Catinari |
Music by | Andrea Guerra |
Distributed by | Medusa Film |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 min |
Country | Italy |
Language | Italian |
The Legend of Al, John and Jack (Italian: La leggenda di Al, John e Jack) is a 2002 crime comedy film directed by Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo and Massimo Venier.[1][2]
Plot
The story is set in New York City in 1959. Three gangsters, named Al, John and Jack, are spying on Sam Genovese, the most wanted mob boss of the city by pretending to watch a film at a drive-in theater. Genovese, who’s also named "chicken thigh" after his favourite food, plans to kill one of his men who betrayed him, and the three gangsters are there because they want to record the killing and send it to the FBI. But, as soon as Genovese is about to pull the trigger, he chokes on the food he is eating. The traitor saves him and gets forgiven, but while the gangsters are about to leave, Al gets electrocuted by a cable, which leads him to lose his memory.
Some days later, the gangsters–Al Caruso, nicknamed "Four-fingers", Johnny Gresko, also known as "Handsome Johnny", and Jack Amoruso, nicknamed "Not-everything-turns-out-as-it-should"–are in a hotel room; due to the electrocution Al suffers from a rare syndrome which erases his memory every time he falls asleep. They then tell him the whole story in the hope that they could manage to restore some of his memories back: four days before, it was Jack's birthday. Johnny got him a book about Caravaggio (who gets called “Carabbaggio" by Jack due to his heavy Sicilian accent) and Al got him a new gun. They work for Genovese, but they are clumsy and unreliable: they recently killed an innocent barber, "Against-growth" Frankie, because they mistakenly thought he was "Rubber-ass" Frankie, a traitor who used to collaborate with FBI. Also, whilst in a pub run by Genovese's gang, they started a shootout because Jack mistook a gangster with "Little weasel" Frank, a gangster he thought was dissolved in acid.
Genovese gives them one last chance: they will have to pick up his old aunt at the bus station and carry her around the town. But, as soon as they meet the old lady, Jack kills her by accidentally shooting her with his new gun, which is defective. (According to Johnny, the gun shot because Jack "held the barrel up", something he already told him not to do seven times.)
The three run away and hide at Herbert's home; Herbert is Al's homosexual brother who will later turn out to be in love with Johnny. They make up a plan in order to betray Genovese and get him arrested by the FBI thanks to all the proof they have of him killing the man at the drive-in, but the plan fails. So they make up a new one: they'll fake an attempt to kill Genovese and will foil it: Al will hide in the wardrobe in Genovese's hotel room and wait for the room service to deliver him the meal; John and Jack will hide the gun in the tray. When the room service guy will enter the room, Al will jump out the wardrobe, pick the gun and kill the waiter, and then they'll explain the "attempt" and get Genovese to forgive them again.
By climbing the outer wall of the hotel, Al avoids the boss' bodyguards, "Hard Back" Tom and "Butterfingered" Sam, and gets into Genovese's room, but before Genovese arrives, he hears the news. A guy named Calogero Buccheri is missing. His most particular traits are a missing pinky on his left hand and a very rare syndrome which erases his memory every time he falls asleep. Al then realises the truth: he is actually Calogero Buccheri; John and Jack are a gang named La Paglia (two scammers who planned to fake Buccheri's kidnapping and accuse Genovese of it, in order for them to get rewarded). The two of them, along with some policemen, break into Genovese's room, but Al is not in the wardrobe. He was planning to leave and return to his family, but he changed his mind and hid under the bed. They find him and Genovese gets arrested for kidnapping. Al forgives John and Jack and returns home.
Two years later, John and Jack are broke again. They spent all their money, but hear at the radio that Hurricane Hogan, a very famous boxeur, will pay $5,000 to the man who will beat him. Calogero Buccheri goes missing again.
Cast
- Aldo Baglio as Al/Herbert
- Giovanni Storti as John
- Giacomo Poretti as Jack
- Aldo Maccione as Sam Genovese
- Antonio Catania as Fred
- Giovanni Esposito as Frank "Against-growth"
- Ivano Marescotti as Chief of police
- Paolo Dell'Orto as Null
- Marco Beretta as Ben
- Giovanni Cacioppo as Tom "Hard Back"
- Frank Crudele as Sam "Butterfingered"
Accolades
Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2003 | Nastro d'Argento | Best Cinematography | Arnaldo Catinari | Nominated | [3] |
Best Scenography | Eleonora Ponzoni | Nominated |
References
- ^ Rooney, David (30 December 2002). "The Legend of Al, John and Jack: Review". Variety. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ "The Legend of Al, John and Jack (2002)". Film Italia. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ "La leggenda di Al, John e Jack Premi vinti e nomination". ComingSoon.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
External links
- The Legend of Al, John and Jack at IMDb
- v
- t
- e
- Aldo Baglio
- Giovanni Storti
- Giacomo Poretti
- Three Men and a Leg (1997)
- That's Life (1998)
- Ask Me If I'm Happy (2000)
- The Legend of Al, John and Jack (2002)
- Do You Know Claudia? (2004)
- Il cosmo sul comò (2008)
- The Santa Claus Gang (2010)
- The Rich, the Pauper and the Butler (2014)
- Fuga da Reuma Park (2016)
- I Hate Summer (2020)
- I corti di Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo (1996)
- Tel chi el telùn (1999)
- Potevo rimanere offeso! (2001)
- Anplagghed (2006)
- Ammutta muddica (2012)
- The Best of Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo (2016)
- All the Moron's Men
- Mai dire Gol
- Morgan Bertacca
- Marina Massironi
- Massimo Venier