[VIDEO] I'm sharing this "Mob Movie Monday" review from former mobster Michael Franzese due to the untimely passing of actor Ray Liotta. I've never actually had the chance to see Blow, but if you want to know in what ways crime doesn't pay watch this film released over 20 years ago. It's based on a true story.
Now Liotta is most well known for his role as Henry Hill in the film GoodFellas. It's one of my favorite gangster films of all time and people really identify him with that role and of course another gangster movie based on a true story.
Not long before Liotta's untimely passing at 67 in the Dominican Republic - he was shooting a movie there - I did a post sharing a video about a Queens diner where some scenes in GoodFellas were filmed. I made the mistake of thinking that there was no branding in relation to that film however you see in the video by MooneyDashCam on YouTube that there was a sign for GoodFellas Diner. Of course now the diner itself is closed and abandoned although this still could be a place that could reopen and make reference to GoodFellas.
Then again I've gotten much older and who knows how well know this film is to younger generations.
Now back to Liotta for a second. The last role I recall him in recently was doing two characters in The Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark. He played twin brothers and I still think of him as the far more youthful Henry Hill. One twin was the father of the protagonist who later killed his father for abusing his stepmother. The other twin was the protagonist's uncle who is serving a long prison sentence, his nephew started visiting him in prison during the course of the movie.
I know he's done other movies, however, I hate to say none are of as much note as GoodFellas. I rediscovered Corrina, Corrina with Whoopi Goldberg - and I miss the actress more than I miss the panelist on The View. Another film of note was No Escape which has him trapped on an island prison which made its rounds on the premium movie channels back in the day. As far as his time as a movie actor GoodFellas for me is his greatest performance.
Finally, despite the Italian sounding name did you know that Liotta was actually Scottish. He was actually adopted and later in life found his birth mother and realize he has a whole family of half-siblings. I wonder how shocked all his siblings were when they found out who they were related to!
Anyway Blow will be on my list sorry for this long winded post about Liotta. Ray Liotta played the father to the main character who was played by Johnny Depp who was also in the news for a civil trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp is no stranger to the gangster/crime genre as one of my favorite movies with him was Black Mass where he played yet another real life gangster Whitey Bulger.
Perhaps if I want to talk my favorite gangster movies that's worth a discussion in the future.
