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There’s an underdog sense of determination that hounds this low-budget production about the true life adventures of Danny Greene. Writer-director Jonathan Hensleigh's mobster movie might telegraph a bit more than it should but it is an admirable attempt and an entertaining ride through Cleveland’s underground circa the late 1970s. With a fine sense of period-era locations, Kill the Irishman might not fully dazzle its audience like a Scorsese picture but it certainly explodes like one.
Loaded with a star-studded cast that name drops like nothing else, Kill the Irishman has its roots in a novel, To Kill the Irishman, by Rick Porello. The film is dramatically heightened by a fabulous performance by Ray Stevenson as the charismatic Danny Greene, an Irish-American shore worker who became a crime boss and then, later, took on the mob after assonating one of its cherished own. Written by Hensleigh and Jeremy Walters, Kill the Irishman has its fair share of Goodfellas comparisons but – with a cast that includes Val Kilmer, Christopher Walken, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vinnie Jones, Robert Davi, and (the beautiful) Linda Cardellini – manages to justify its existence in the already crowded gangster genre.
The steely eye of Karl Walter Lindenlaub provides the gritty look of the film. Using a mix of era footage and interviews and mixing it with some tight location shooting, Lindenlaub allows for the picture to pull of an importance all of its own. The merging of era footage with the new is nearly flawless and adds to the film’s overall production in that it immerses its audience in the era of the 1970s. It might never kick its gangster feel vibe, but – when all things are considered – the film depicts a pretty valuable bit of American history as well.
The film is true to its urban flair; the streets are grimy and wise and just as bloody as any New York or Las Vegas gangster picture. Rough and ready, Hensleigh brings the action through the screen with a solid right hook and a slick pacing of events that never runs aground. Maybe it isn’t as true-to-life as it advertises, but it is entertaining and, while Greene never comes off as heroic or power-hungry, he is certainly relatable as a man of action when the chips are down.
According to the movie, Cleveland – during the days of Greene and his war against the mob – the town was victim of over 30 car bombs and countless assignation attempts. It is loaded with racial and cultural stereotypes and – as if it actually is the 1970s all over again – never makes an attempt to placate the more sensitive members of its audience. Kill the Irishman is gritty and realistic and full of promising examples of what low budget affairs can actually do for the medium of film.
MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexual content/nudity.
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